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The
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 83, NO. 15
1915
http://www.geocities.com/~pccnewscourier/
THURSDAY
DECEMBER 11, 1997
Shared Governance Committee Refuses AS
■ The group denied student
participation on the faculty
hiring committee, but it
may be contrary to Title V.
By MARY ANA ARENAS
Courier Staff Writer
The College Coordinating College re¬
fused a request by the AS to allow students
to sit in on the faculty hiring committee
meetings.
In order to reach a compromise, the stu¬
dent representatives accepted a solution by
Dr. James Kossler, college president, that
would allow students to look over the con¬
cluding draft of the newly proposed faculty
hiring procedures and give their opinions
before the final draft is drawn up.
The CCC favored accepting Kossler’s
proposal. When asked if the students are
satisfied with this compromise, Aaron
Schaefer the AS President replied “No, not
in any way shape or form, but at least it’s a
start.”
Schaefer said, we are not asking to par¬
ticipate on credential matters, but simply to
have input on the faculty matters that will
affect students. Ellen Ligons, the faculty
senate president, indicates that the faculty
senate took a strong position that the aca¬
demic and professional matters spelled out
in Title V are preserved for only faculty to
handle.
“We don’t negotiate with students, we
don’t negotiate with staff, only with the
board of trustees; that’s the law, we didn't
write it,” said Ligons.
The AS board’s position comes from two
articles in Title V section 51023.7 of the
shared governance law, which states: “The
governing board of a community college
district shall adopt policies and procedures
that provide students the opportunity to par¬
ticipate effectively in district and college
governance. Among other matters, said poli¬
cies and procedures shall include the follow¬
ing: 1) Students shall be provided an oppor¬
tunity to participate in formulation and de¬
velopment of district and college policies
and procedures that have or will have a
significant effect on students. This right in¬
cludes tire opportunity to participate in pro¬
cesses for jointly developing recommenda¬
tions to the governing board regarding such
“We don't negotiate with students, we don’t negotiate with
staff, only with the board of trustees; that’s the law, we
didn’t write it,” .
Ellen Ligons ,
Faculty Senate Representative to the CCC
policies and procedures. 4) C. The govern¬
ing board shall give reasonable consider¬
ation to recommendations and positions de¬
veloped by students regarding district and
college policies and procedures pertaining
to the hiring and evaluation of faculty, ad¬
ministration, and staff.”
Because of shared governance. Jackie
Ordonez, AS vice president, believes that
students would have appreciated if the gov¬
erning board or CCC had asked for a student
representative to sit in on the committee
meetings.
Ordonez pointed out that students feel
this is important. She mentioned that several
Please see REFUSED, page 4
Stands and Parking
Provide Funding
Rose Parade Connection Pays
Off For Administration, Staff
Student Government
By DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writer
The stands being constructed in
front of campus lor the Rose Parade
may be a hassle to get around now,
but come New Year’s Day, it will all
pay off.
To increase revenue, administra¬
tors have rented space along Colo¬
rado Boulevard to the Mike Brown
Grandstand Co. specifically for Rose
Parade seating.
Administrative services estimates
that $52,000 will be generated
throughparaderelatedventures. The
money raised is funneled into the
general operating fund for the insti¬
tution.
Rod Fleeman, vice president of
administrative sendees, said that the
money is included in the yearly bud¬
get. It is something that the college
looks fonvard to every fiscal year.
“It is expected because we have
been doing this for a number of
years,” Fleeman said.
Aside from the revenue produc¬
ing aspect of the college’s involve¬
ment in the Tournament of Roses,
the Lancer band will also preform in
the parade.
“I get a lump in my throat w'hen I
see them,” Dr. James Kossler, col¬
lege president, said. He added that
considering that the campus is on the
“It’s expected because
we have been doing
this for a number of
years, ”
Rod Fleeman,
Vice President of
Administrative
Services
Administration
\LJ
FILE
Christmas Already?
CESY URBINA
/
THE COURIER
Alpha Gamma Sigma supplied Santa in the quad last week.
New Constitution
Created to Update
Current Procedures
■ Associated Student officers drafted the new
document to clarify the one presently in use.
parade route, it also “puts us on the
map.”
In addition to the rented space,
the college has embarked on two
different plans that will accommo¬
date those w'ho wish to view the
yearly spectacular.
One such plan is strictly for em¬
ployees. Titled, the First Annual PCC
Staff & Family New Year’s Eve
Blowout, the event will offer a whole
slate of activities for the families of
Please see ROSES, page 6
.
DANIEL ARCHULETA
/
THE COURIER
Grandstand seating and parking have supplied the college with
increased revenue for years, administration officials report.
By CHRISTINE GOMEZ
Courier Staff Writer
AS president Aaron Schaefer has
spent the last six months re-writing
the AS constitution, which has not
been revised in the past 10 years.
According to the accreditation
team that visited the college, PCC’s
AS Constitution is outdated, disor¬
ganized and contradictory. Those
comments motivated Schaefer to
re-write the document.
Schaefer w'as helped by Stephen
Johnson, the assistant dean of stu¬
dent affairs, Rebecca Cobb, the stu¬
dent affairs adviser.
Schaefer said a few years ago that
the AS members presented a pro¬
posed constitution to the board, but
it was not approved.
“That one was written in a week.
This time the constitution has been
completely re-written, but the for¬
mat is similar to the rejected pro¬
posal,” Schaefer said.
The new' proposal is being ana¬
lyzed by the policy and procedures
committee. In addition to Schaefer,
the committee is made up of student
trustee Yusef Robb, and Michael
Gorzynski, coordinator of external
affairs Michael
Gorzynski .
Their goal is to
find any flaw's
in the proposal
before the
board votes on
it.
“ We need to
clean up the
constitution to
make it clear
and precise,”
Schaefer said.
Once it
passes through
policy and pro¬
cedures, the AS
board will vote
on it at the first
meeti ng of next "
semester. The
AS will also present the proposal to
the inter club council, the faculty,
the board of trustees, and the Col¬
lege Coordinating Council.
"1 want faculty and the trustees to
be aware of what the AS is doing.
The constitution will also be given
to the school’s attorney to make sure
we arc not in violation with the
Please see AS, page 6
“We need
to clean
up the
constitu¬
tion to
make it
clear and
precise, ”
Aaron
Schaefer,
AS
President
Students Take Stand Against Plus/Minus
By LUIS E. REYES
Courier Staff Writer
The Associated Students took a
stand against the plus/minus grading
system that the community college
board of governors proposed last
month.
The plan would allow California
community colleges to implement
plus/minus grading if they wished.
The system is based on a scale in
tyhich an A plus and an A equals a
perfect four gradepoints, an A minus
3.7 points, and a grade of F would
receive no points.
Officers argue that C minus should be
included in the grading proposal.
“It’s better if we have it because
we’U know' exactly what we are get¬
ting,” said Angelo Nery, an art ma¬
jor.
One of the reasons why the pro¬
gram was not backed by the AS
board w;as because it does not con¬
tain a C minus. This affects students
with borderline C and D grades.
“We are against the board of gov¬
ernors’ policy. We believe there
should be C minus grades,” said
Michael Gorzynski, AS coordinator
of external affairs.
He also cited the fact that plus/
minus grading w'ould not be imple¬
mented throughout the community
college system, but w’ould be put in
place on a campus by campus basis.
“The board of governors did not
make the system universal. That w'as
the main cause of our disagreement,”
Gorzynski said.
“I think we should have plus/
minus grading here because there
are other colleges that have it,” said
EDUCATION
REPORT
Man in Asuncion, a history major.
The AS argues that if this system
is not implemented statewide, trans¬
ferring students would be severely
affected by it.
“Plus/minus grading is essential
in giving students accurate feed¬
back,” said Hugo Schwyzer, history
instructor. “Just because it isn’t
done statewide, it doesn’t mean we
should not have it.”
KPCC Spring Ratings Down
By LISA MENCHACA
Courier Staff Writer
According to a report presented to the Board
of Trustees recently, KPCC 98.3 FM experi¬
enced a significant decline in ratings during
the spring quarter.
During the spring rating period, the weekly
audience w'as 193,000 w'hich was a 20 percent
drop from the winter quarter. KPCC’s average
quarter hour audience during the spring was
7,200 listeners, which was a 24 percent decline
from the pre\ ious quarter. The report stated a
long pledge drive may have been a contribut¬
ing factor to the decrease.
“The drop was seasonal,” Larry Shirk, as¬
sistant general manager, added.
Current rating numbers w'ere not available.
Seasonal
changes are *
being blamed
for the
decrease in
listeners.
MARCELA
ROJAS
/
THE
COURIER
I
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