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Since 1915
VOL. 86 NO. 17
www. p cc-courieronline. com
February 1, 2001
inside-. Broken water
main disrupts
students, staff
<* A Different View
Multi-award winning
columnist, Jon Heller
«
is running out of
things to complain
about. He's politely
begging the student
* body to wreak a lit¬
tle havoc or just
make some noise.
But make it snappy,
he's on deadline.
>• SEE PAGE 2
Operatic Dreams
Hey, did you know
that the college has
a handful of budding
opera divas?
There's a Feb. 3
benefit performance
to help finance the
next wave of Marie
Callases.
> SEE PAGE 3
Lancers win
Nuff said.
SEE PAGE 6 1
By Kristen Glover
Managing Editor
Students, faculty and
were feeling the pains in
staff
their
stomachs and bladders yesterday,
after a broken water main forced
the closure of almost all the bath¬
rooms and food services on cam¬
pus.
Long lines snaked through the
Shatford library, the location of
the only available bathrooms on
campus.
Students waited in long bath¬
room lines, risking being late to
class, or missing classes.
“Our teachers should cancel
classes so we could go home and
use the restroom in peace,” said
Angela Valdez, student.
“This is horrible! Going from
class to class I didn’t have enough
time (to use the restroom), so 1
had to hold it until after my tests
were over,” said Rina Khen, stu¬
dent.
In addition to the restrooms
being closed, all food services
were closed on campus.
“Of course it hurts us to be
closed,” said
Ту
Yu, corporate
chef at Cafe Supreme'.
According to Donald
Holthaus, manager of building
services, a gardener discovered a
leak Tuesday
morning in a
planter near
the R
Building. He
saw water
bubbling up
through the
ground.
However, before facilities work¬
ers could do anything, they need¬
ed to pinpoint exactly what was
leaking and from. where.
“We didn’t know if it was a
sprinkler or water main. So we
needed to investigate, and that
took time,” Holthaus said.
Once facilities staff discovered
It took workers hours to discover the source of the broken water pipe and begin to make repairs.
the problem, they started to dig
up the planter to find the exact
source of the leak. However, this
was difficult because water kept
filling up the hole.
They had to wait until 10 p.m.
for classes to let out before turn¬
ing off the water. Once that was
done the water had to be pumped
from the hole.
“We had to shut off the water
in all of the buildings because of
the pressure. When you pressur¬
ize one building, you pressurize
them all,” said Richard Van Pelt,
director of facilities services.
The workers used three
pumps to remove the water, and
p*' see Pipe, PAGE 3
Black History
First in a series
By Tim Alves
Editor In Chief
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles dealing
with Black History Month. In a unique move, the ‘ Courier ’ is
soliciting relevant pieces from instructors, staff and students
who make up the PCC community. All submission should be
sent to the ‘Courier’ office CC220.
Seventy five years ago this month, Dr. Carter Woodson
had a dream.
The son of former slaves, Woodson grew dismayed during
his academic career that African American history was being
conspiciously left out of the scholastic cannon.
Unwilling to let the triumphs and accomplishments of an
entire group of Americans go unnoticed and unappreciated,
the Harvard-trained professor became increasingly disen¬
chanted with a history that seldom included blacks. And
when any mention was included in the history textbooks,
Woodson felt it was always with a negative connotation and
in the worst possible light.
In 1914, hoping to, in a sense, re-write the history books,
Woodson established the Association for the Study of Negro
Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of
Afro-American Life and History).
After this initial success, a year later he founded the “Journal of Negro History” which became the
first publication to detail the accomplishment of African American inventors, scholars and anti-slavery
activists.
Looking to increase the public’s awareness of black history, in February of 1926, Woodson established
what was then called “Negro History Week.” After some initial resistance from colleagues and the pub¬
lic, the idea began to gain acceptance and eventually became a month-long celebration.
Selecting February for Negro History Month was not accidental. Woodson chose the second week of
that month because its directly between the birthdays of Frederic Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two
men he felt made major contributions to African Americans.
Through Black History Month, America slowly became familiarized with the contributions of math¬
ematician and astronomer Benjamin Banneker and agricultural chemist George Washington Carver.
Born in Maryland, Banneker who was self-taught, constructed ):► SEE History, PAGE 3
Dr. Carter Woodson
Another AS VP
leaves office
Brandon Yu resigns post citing ‘health reasons’
By Melissa Stephens
Staff Writer
Brandon Yu, vice president of
business affairs, resigned from his
position at the Wednesday, Jan.
24 AS board meeting.
Dealing with and accepting
resignations is by no means a new
issue for Associated Student
boards.
Throughout the last six years,
13 members have resigned for
many reasons, primarily because
they transferred to four-year col¬
leges. Yu’s reasons, however, were
somewhat different.
“I have resigned from my posi¬
tion as vice president for business
affairs because of personal and
health reasons,” said Yu.
Another factor contributing to
Yu’s decision was his desire to
focus more of his time and energy
on finishing up here at PCC by
the end of the fall 2001 semester.
Yu said he hopes to “transfer to
Azusa Pacific, and become
involved again in business
affairs.” .
As vice president for business
affairs, Yu was responsible for
keeping track of the AS budget.
From financing office equipment
to funding retreats, Yu acted as a
treasurer for the board. It was his
responsibility to manage student
funds and allocate money accord¬
ingly.
“Most members spend an aver¬
age of 15 hours a week maintain¬
ing their responsibilities to the
board,” said George Davidson,
vice president of external affairs.
“It’s not uncommon for AS mem¬
bers to get behind on their school
work. 1 would really love it if the
members who join would stay,
unfortunately that’s not the reali¬
ty-”
Daniel Loh, AS president
agreed that “applicants need to be
educated more as to what the AS
involves.”
Adding to the numerous
responsibilities, AS members
must carry a minimum of nine
units, and maintain a 2.0 GPA.
AS resignations seem to have
become the new trend. Since
August, four members have quit.
Lina Chai resigned from her posi¬
tion as vice president of public
relations. Nelly Niebles, vice
president for student services,
and Laurie Yelton, vice president
for external affairs also stepped
down. Now Brandon Yu, made
the same decision to leave the AS.
With another member resign¬
ing from the board, the AS is
faced with the now-familiar
dilemma of having to select a
replacement to fill Yu’s shoes .
The process of choosing another
equally-qualified candidate will
>• see AS Resign, page 3
‘Small Particles’ makes art out of ordinary things
Ignacio Gcnzon
/
The Courier
Nancy Kyes’ “Particle Garden” consists of tiny bits of common items to create the cohesive piece.
By Torin Miller
Staff Writer
Broken bits of a Bjork CD case, pages
from classical works such as Kipling’s
“Kidnapped” and The Los Angeles
“Thomas Guide,” a patterned, purple
bra and a Barbie Doll wired together
might not sound like much but to
Nancy Kyes it’s art.
One of the exhibits, comprised of
five separate pieces of art, stands
approximately four feet high each,
arranged in such a way that they resem¬
ble a Chinese Dragon. Artist Nancy
Kyes’ “Particle Garden: Study For Wave
of Uncertainty” can best be described as
a conglomerate of “stuff.”
“She goes around and she uses any¬
thing she finds. She wires, ties, nails or
sews it together. [Kyes] has the most
incredible stuff in here. I mean, you
could look at it every day and see some¬
thing different,” said Tracy Hendrix,
gallery attendant.
The dragon-like “Particle Garden” is
just one of the works in the exhibition
called “Small Particles,” currently
showing through Feb. 9 in the campus
Art Gallery.
The exhibit showcases a variety of
artists who have created large works of
art from smaller elements.
“Yellow Up” by Seth Kaufman uses
craft beads melted together to form a
plaid pattern.
“It expresses a complex plaid pattern
which is designed to. elude perception,”
said Geoffrey Allen, gallery director.
Allen said there are many similarities
between the artistic and the scientific
process. In general, both endeavors are
intrigued by natural and synthetic sys¬
tems in the pursuit of truth, knowledge
and beauty.
“In many cases, solutions to the
most complex of questions regarding
the order of our universe can be the
most beautiful. The human genome,
which is based on the structure of the
double helix, will no doubt continue to
amaze the world with its simplicity and
dense complexity,” said Allen.
Other works include Kaufman’s
“Shroom,” which is made from extrud¬
ed high-density polyethylene beads,
giving it a 3-D appearance, and
“Incidences” by Connie Zehr, which is
a high-resolution printout of a digital
picture of sand.
“Zehr has transformed sand particles
into pixilated particles. These digitized
>-SEE Art, PAGE 4
