PCC Courier, December 11, 1986

Air Force Muzzles Reporter Page 2 School Closed for Christmas Vacation Dec. 22^Jan. 5 PCC Faces Revealed Page 6 The VOL. 63, NO. 15 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 1 1, 1986 Mix-up at MEChA; President Impeached AIDS Testing Available PCC students can be tested for Acquired Immune Deficiency (AIDS) in the studenthealth center. For a nominal fee students will be given a blood test, commonly known as the screening in test. The results of the test will let students know if they have the virus in their system. There is no known cure for the AIDS virus, but there are preven¬ tative measures which can be fol¬ lowed. Dr. Shamsid-Deen, of the PCC Health Center suggests that students remember the following facts: □ The virus does not come looking for you, you have to look for it. □ The virus does not like good hygiene or common sense. □ When you have sexual relations with someone, remember you may not be the only one this person is having sexual relations with. The student will receive the results of the test within two work¬ ing days, and the results are com¬ pletely confidential. If the results of your tests are positive, if you think that you have come in contact with someone who has the virus, or if you suspect you may have the disease immediate consultation with a physician is recommended. If you would like more in¬ formation, contact the PCC Health Center at 578-7244. Clubs Helping Santa Make Kids Happy By Keith Foster Staff Writer If you have any new or old toys lying around the house, or if you want to help a kid have a merry Christmas, here’s your chance! The Inter-Club Committee is cur¬ rently holding its annual Toy Drive. Anyone wishing to donate may do so in the campus center. Toys must be received by Friday, Dec. 19. All donations go to “Friends of the Needy.” For more information on how you can help make a kid happy, contact Dordo Byles or Con¬ nie Hurston in the Campus Center. By Andre’ Coleman News Editor Jean Otto, PCC MEChA club presi¬ dent, was impeached on Nov. 25 follow¬ ing a very controversial meeting. That session also resulted in the resignation of the club’s adviser, Dr. Enrique’ C. Orozco, and the MEChA cabinet. The only officer that did not resign was Gino Morales, who made the rec¬ ommendation for impeachment. Mo¬ rales, vice president of MEChA, claims that among other things, Otto was making decisions without the club’s consent. Since Otto’s impeachment, Morales has been acting MEChA presi¬ dent. According to club adviser, Dr. Enrique C. Orozco, the impeachment procedings were unconstitutional. • According to the MEChA constitu¬ tion, the Recording Secretary shall record the minutes of all meetings, including special and emergency meet¬ ings. No official record of minutes were recorded for the Nov. 25 meeting, and there was no official roll call. • On the day of the impeachment meet¬ ing, MEChA adviser Orozco arrived late. He asked for a call of roll but the meeting continued. This has led to several accusations that some of the people that voted on the impeachment were not active MEChA members. (An active MEChA member is a student that has attended 51 percent of the MEChA meetings.) • The MEChA adviser and a security guard called in to keep order were asked to leave because they’re not voting members. • Otto was denied any opportunity to speak on her own behalf. “The impeachment was handled un¬ constitutionally and the procedure was completely unparliamentary. I was ig¬ nored, so the officers and I resigned and I have turned the matter over to the dean of student services, Alvar Kauti, and the Supreme Council,” said Orozco. According to former MEChA social chairman Sal Huerta, the trouble began over an outside meeting. A summit was held recently in Berkeley for all California MEChA chapters. PCC, along with other area chapters including UCLA boycotted the summit because they felt that it had been infiltrated by the LRS (League of Revolutionary Struggle). LRS is an organization that works to advance the communist movement in the U.S. According to Otto, all of the MEChA officers except Morales decided to boycott the summit. Morales suggested that he attend the summit, not as a MEChA representative but as an active observer only. Otto and the other of¬ ficers agreed. “Gino was very disappointed that MEChA did not attend the summit. He thought it was very educational. After he returned and the impeachment proceedings started, I was totally suprised,” said Huerta. “Nobody wanted to here our side, or why we boycotted the Berkeley meet¬ ing,” said Huerta. After the matter was brought to Dean Kauti’s attention, a special Su¬ preme Council meeting was held last Thursday with the dean present. At that time chief justice Jose’ Rodriguez revealed that Otto had formally called for an official hearing concerning the impeachment. That hearing was to have been held this week. Otto and Morales would have the opportunity to submit written statements from everyone involved. Each party would also have the op¬ portunity to have three people and one faculty member speak on their behalf. Morales could not be reached for comment, and Otto refused to com¬ ment on the accusations made against her. However the special Supreme Council meeting which was to be held today to review the impeachment pro¬ cedures and charges was canceled af¬ ter Otto dropped the complaint. MEChA SCANDAL — MEChA President Jean Otto (Above left) ) Constitution, the Supreme Council (Above) held a special meeting last was impeached from her position on Nov. 25. In response to charges Thursday. The meeting was called after Otto filed a complaint against that the impeachment was not conducted according to the MEChA the impeachment procedures. —Courier photos by Alan Duignan Campus Gives to United Way By Keith Foster Staff Writer PCC is doing its best to help others. PCC’s annual United Way fund drive ended last Friday. The goal was to raise $13,000 in donations this year, a $2,000 increase over last year’s effort. The annual PCC drive is part of a larger effort throughout Los Angeles county. The county-wide goal is to raise over $90 million. Last year’s effort in L.A. county netted $85 million for the United Way. As of Tuesday, PCC was only a mere $25 short of its goal, a fact that really pleases Dr. William Goldmann, Acting Dean of Instructional Advancement and Executive Assistant to the presi¬ dent. Goldmann is happy with the amount of money that has come in. “I’m confident that by the end of December we will have met and surpassed our goal.” The United Way was looking for about a 10 percent increase in dona¬ tions this year. This increase is due to what the United Way calls “good in¬ creases” over the past three years. The United Way was organized in Denver in 1887 by a priest, a rabbi and two ministers. They called it the Char¬ ity Organization Society. This was the first effort to get a community to care for its indigent, poor and infirm. They organized local services and held their first fund-raiser for 22 agencies. The idea of pooling all the organiza¬ tions was simple. This way, one could organize the efforts of all the local charities and avoid duplicating, and it would also address the priorities of need. Now, the United Way is active in over 2,100 communities nationwide. Its involvement has also gone beyond just raising and allocating money. The United Way now is involved with other things, such as volunteer and profes¬ sional development, agency relations and outreach, information and referral, community problem-solving such as helping the homeless, combatting hun¬ ger and campaigns to prevent youth violence. The United Way also conducts research to help address the future of human care needs. In the past twenty years, the United Way has seen an increase of over 400 percent in contributions. In 1970, over $26.4 million was raised. During last year’s campaign, over $85 million was raised. To aid the campus in its fund raising effort, the AS Board and the safety office teamed up. The two teams alter¬ nated working the parking lots and the results left both groups very satisfied. “This system of handing out the envelopes at parking lot exits was a very good way to get people involved who wouldn’t have known about this fine organization,” said Philip Mullen- dore, Director of College Seafety. “I’m so heartened by the heavy student involvement this year. They were a significant part of meeting the goal this year,” added Goldmann. The AS is also planning to make a contribution to the fund-raiser inde¬ pendent of the other efforts. They considered holding a car wash to raise the money for their contribution, but unfortunately urgent matters has made that highly unlikely. Instead $200 will be allocated from the AS fund. The system of cadets passing out contribution envelops at the parking lot exits seems to have worked well, a fact that makes AS president Steve Amezola very happy. “Doing it this way is very effective, much more effective than having a contribution table in the quad,” said Amezola.