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PCC dancers produce Searchlight: An evening of contemporary dance
Keely Damara/Courier
PCC students perform a contemporary dance piece titled "Clay" choreographed by Helena Cardiel-Stevens during "Searchlight: An Evening of Contemporary
Dance" in Sexton Auditorium on Saturday.
50 new hires by fall
John Orona
News Editor
After adding a record 35 new full¬
time faculty this year, PCC will be
hiring 50 more full-time instructors
for fall 2016.
The new instructor positions
are well-distributed throughout
divisions, with at least four new
faculty in the Business, Math, En¬
glish, Health Science, Social Science,
Natural Science, and Performing
and Communication Arts divisions.
Seven new counselors will also be
hired, four general counselors and
three specializing in financial aid,
DSPS, and EOP&S.
“[The number of hires] is in¬
credibly high,” said Valerie Foster,
Academic Senate President. “This
will really benefit our students. For
a college of our size, there are defi¬
nitely not enough counselors.”
The staff increases for this year
and next are mandated by the
full-time faculty obligation number
(FON) set for each community
college by the state Board of Gov¬
ernors, based on the amount of full¬
time equivalent students the school
had in the previous year.
The intention of the law requir¬
ing schools to hire full-time instruc¬
tors based on growth was to en¬
courage having full-time instructors
in the classroom, the goal was to
ensure 75 percent of all instructors
were full-time. The more full-time
equivalent students in a school, the
more money that campus receives
2016
from the state; ideally that means
more full-time instructors as well.
“Having the ability to hire more
full time faculty is significant for the
college and for our students,” Asso¬
ciate Vice-President for Academic
Affairs Kathleen Scott said in an
email. “Full-time faculty have more
office hours to meet with students
and are on campus more. They are
the ones who create curriculum.
They participate to a greater extent
HIRING PAGE 3
PCC club challenges school and authority
Courtesy of Young American for Liberty
Left to right: Young Americans for Liberty Parliamentarian and
Outreach Director Marshall Roe , Vice President Victor Reyes,
Co-founder and President Woodrow Johnston II, club Treasur¬
er Karen Kim of the PCC chapter of YAL.
John Orona
News Editor
When the PCC chapter of the na¬
tional organization Young American
for Liberty came to the Inter-Club
Council for chartering, which
typically accepts clubs en masse
and uncritically, ICC members had
some questions for YAL’s president,
Woodrow Johnston.
“Who do you endorse?”
“Is this legal?”
“What organization are you from
again?”
Woodrow smiled wide and
deftly took questions as three of
the things he seemed to most enjoy
came together in his very first ICC
meeting: political opposition, a
captive audience, and the chance to
spread the ideas of liberty.
Young Americans for Liberty is
a grassroots organization founded
on the heels of Ron Paul’s popular¬
ity among college-age voters who
don’t see their interests served in the
dominant political parties. However,
at least this chapter stresses political
activism of any kind over advocacy
of their ideology.
Their meetings focus on “liberty,”
not necessarily libertarianism, and
Johnston is quick — and seemingly
sincere — in offering help to any
club that wants to become political¬
ly active, no matter which side of
the aisle.
That point was. made clear after
Student Affairs Advisor Carrie
Afuso explained the school rules the
ICC representatives were to follow
in running their clubs. Including,
crucially, that all club events are to
be sanctioned by an activity request
form, and all off-campus activities
must be approved eight weeks in
advance.
During the next ICC meeting,
Johnston had an announcement for
everyone.
Walking up to Afuso while still
YAL PAGE 3
Accrediting
commission
under close
scrutiny
Kristen Luna
Editor-in-Chief
The accrediting commission that
placed Pasadena City College on
probation this past summer is now
being investigated for not comply¬
ing with accrediting standards and is
expected to reevaluate their system
for accrediting colleges.
In early November, the California
Community College Board of Gov¬
ernors (CCCBG) voted to create an
accreditation task force and directed
the Chancellor’s Office to create a
new model for accrediting the 113
colleges in the California Communi¬
ty College system.
The Accrediting Commission
for Community Colleges (ACCJC)
is responsible for executing the
required accreditation reviews with
accuracy and transparency, and
recently placed PCC on probation
for not meeting the standards of
accreditation. When evaluating an
institution, the commission has the
power to place the school on a pub¬
lic sanction, which could be in the
form of a warning or probation that
may result in the institution losing
their accreditation.
According to the resolution
signed by the Board of Governors
at the Nov. 16 board meeting, be¬
tween 2009 and 2013 “ACCJC had a
sanction rate of
ACCJC PAGE 3
