Feature:
Proano-Gomez
adds a bit of flavor
to Latin studies
Raymond Daigneault
COURIERONLINE EDITOR
Bicycle thefts are on the rise at PCC with
10 bikes stolen in the last five weeks.
The 10 recent thefts that have occurred
have been on the east side of campus at the
U Building, E Building, R Building and
Shatford Library bike racks. The thief is tar¬
geting the most expensive mountain bikes.
The rack on campus hit most is the one
on the south end of the U Building.
Because of the construction of the new
parking structure, a fence blocks the view
of anyone walking past the rack.
This has made it very easy for someone
to steal a bike and not have to worry about
people seeing what is happening.
"We believe that the bikes are being
stolen by one person because there is only
one bike stolen a day," said Lt. Brad Young.
The pattern that the robber has fol¬
lowed is one of stealing one bike per day
for about three to four days straight, then
nothing for the next week or two.
This is also the same for the entire city
of Pasadena, which has also had bike thefts
on the rise. Both PCC's and the city's bicy¬
cle theft problems have begun around the
same time.
Prior to the rash of bike thefts, campus
police report only 22 bike thefts were
reported from Jan. 13, 2003-Oct. 28, 2003.
Shawn Cunningham, a student at PCC, is
one of the victims of the bike thief on cam¬
pus. Cunningham's Sirrus Specialized bike
was stolen sometime during his Wednesday
class between 4-6:30 p.m. on Nov. 26. "I
got there early; there was a bike to the
right of mine. When I got back there, there
was a different bike where mine was," he
said.
Cunningham's bike had been locked up
with a half-inch cable lock. When
he returned after class, his bike
and lock were gone. "It's my only
form of transporta- £ee page
tion. Fortunately I
Students Try to Cheat at
the Social Science Lab
Andrew Acosta
Contributing Writer
Numerous cheating incidents
have been occurring in the social
science lab over the past few years.
According to some students and
lab technicians who work there,
situations involving copying, brib¬
ing, and forging happen often.
Victor Interiano, 26, a PCC stu¬
dent, has worked as an English
tutor in the lab. He says that as a
tutor he received plenty of offers
to write some of the papers that
he had been working on with stu¬
dents while tutoring them.
"One student offered me $50 to
write his English paper," said
Interiano. "Another student came
in who had to write six or seven
essays for her class, and offered me
$100 per essay." He said that even if
students do not directly ask him to
write the paper, they ask if he
knows anyone else who would be
willing to write the paper for them.
Interiano said his response
consists of informing them of the
consequences of such actions,
and then refusing to participate.
Some students, he said, are more
subtle in their approach in asking
for his services.
"I had one student come in
here a week or so ago for help on
his English paper. He would keep
asking me what would I put in
the paper, what I would choose
to say in this sentence, or things
to that effect. It was obvious he
was lost and didn't have a clue
what to do. He tried to get me to
write it without directly asking.
He came in about a week later
and asked me to proofread it.
And he gave me a perfect paper."
Interiano said he knew the stu¬
dent had either plagiarized some¬
one's work or had someone else to
write it because of the drastic
turnaround in the student's
knowledge from the week before.
There was no way of proving it.
Interiano said he did not bother to
go to the teacher. He does not
understand why it is not obvious
to the teachers when a student
turns in suspicious work.
Not all dirty work goes by
unnoticed. According to
Interiano, there were many stu¬
dents in a humanities class taught
by Professor Robert Foreman
who were caught plagia¬
rizing their papers. The
scholar's option program
was noti¬
fied and
See page
Controversial Cornel West Visits
Princeton professor gives an inspirational speech to students
Men’s soccer goalie
up close and
personal
Alberto Velasquez/Courier
The U Building bike rack is the place with the most thefts on
campus. Others include the R and E buildings and the library.
Sports:
Entertainment:
Journey with the
world’s most
extreme athletes
Photo Illustration by Julian Philips
The two big guys: Dr. James Kossler, PCC president, sits on Santa's lap to ask
him to grant the holiday wishes of faculty, staff and students.
Foundation Undergoes Changes
Rita Vega-Acevedo
Staff Writer
While many people would be
discouraged by the erratic losses in
the stock market and a limping
economy, Janet Levine has
revamped the PCC Foundation to
make the organization stronger in
the coming year.
Levine, with nine months on the
job, is both the executive director of
the foundation and the dean of
external relations. "We are starting
to come back. We have good finan¬
cial advisers," she said.
The foundation has assets of
$5 million and typically allocates
more than $1 million in grants,
most of which are restricted to
specific projects. In addition,
between $25,000-$40,000 is allo¬
cated for faculty "mini grants"
and for student scholarships.
Beginning in the coming year,
the staff will start an alumni
board, fine-tune the database for
donors, produce an annual
report, upgrade the website and
tighten the policies and proce¬
dures for acknowledging gifts
and awarding funds.
The foundation staff also plans
to strengthen its ties with the
community. "We want to estab¬
lish categories such as "circles of
friends" to allow individuals to
give to specific programs at PCC."
Levine and her staff want to
encourage not just large dona¬
tions, but smaller donations to
programs that directly impact
students. Every year the founda¬
tion sends out letters to PCC divi¬
sions when money becomes avail¬
able. Faculty apply for grants
directly through their division
dean. The maximum amount for
mini grants is $2,500.
A 33-member board of busi¬
ness and community leaders who
meet quarterly governs the foun¬
dation, established in 1979.
The board focuses more on
fundraising for large capital proj¬
ects. The gym, football stadium
and Shatford Library are some of
the big projects the foundation
board helped fund. The board
also decides how unrestricted
funds are spent.
Levine and her staff recently
completed a long-term plan and
evaluation of the division of
external relations that encom¬
passes the foundation. While
time-consuming, she believes the
exercise will pay off in the long
run. The staff will maximize and
share resources while adhering to
very specific goals that include
improved communication with
the public and people at PCC.
As executive director, Levine
also plans to bring alumni togeth¬
er with new students. She envi¬
sions sponsoring campus tours and
inviting alumni to get involved
with specific projects.
With many years in the
fundraising world, Levine
has come full circle. She
no longer
believes
See page
George Pigman
Staff Writer
Dr. Cornel West brought his afro
to entertain a full crowd in Sexson
Auditorium on Friday, Dec. 5.
At 7:30 p.m. West was intro¬
duced and the black national
anthem, "Lift Every Voice and
Sing," was sung by a trio. The dis¬
tinguished Princeton Professor
began his speech, titled
"Restoring Hope," by thanking
and acknowledging people. He
called Carrie Afuso, coordinator
of the PCC Cross Cultural Center,
a "gem and a jewel."
West emphasized the distinction
between hope and optimism. He
liked hope better. In the program,
he said, "Optimism adopts the role
of the spectator who surveys the
evidence in order to infer that
things are going to get better," and
"Hope enacts the stance of the par¬
ticipant who actively struggles
against the evidence in order to
change the deadly tides of wealth
inequality, group xenophobia, and
personal despair."
He said in his speech, "You can't
talk about hope if you're comfort¬
able. Maybe optimism, but not
hope. Hope talk is for people who
are maladjusted."
The auditorium was packed
with faculty members, PCC stu¬
dents, high school students and
normal citizens that hung on
West's every word. There were
black and red
balloons on
either side of the
stage and the
lights were dim.
West's good
friend, NPR radio
host Tavis Smiley,
was in atten¬
dance. He helped
mediate the
question and
answer session
after the speech.
West
denounced "atti¬
tudes that lose
sight of the
humanity of
other people,"
such as white
supremacy, male supremacy,
wealth inequality, national arro¬
gance, imperial hubris, social con¬
descension and homophobia. He
said these evils have "shot
through" not only our world but
our souls, hearts and minds often¬
times.
He emphasized his admiration
of Socrates and quoted him, "The
unexamined life is not worth liv¬
ing." He said, "You can't talk
about a serious examination of
oneself, serious examination of
society and the world, unless
you're talking about forms of
death, in the past and present."
"When you talk about race in
America," he said, "you're actually
Kenny Kimura/Courier
West gives his speech "Restoring Hope."
talking about what does it mean
to be human, you're talking about
the various ways in which forms of
death in America's past and pres¬
ent are often hidden and con¬
cealed, and you're wrestling with
who we really are."
The emphasis in West's speech
was on his delivery. He spoke like a
preacher, with long pauses
between words, drawn out
emphasis on words that ended
with "tion," and sudden leaps in
volume.
He sounded threaten¬
ing at times but he also
made lots of jokes. He
crouched
over a bit
See page
Bike Thefts Hit Campus
A rash of thefts leaves owners throughout the Pasadena area stranded
