Banana Museum
has Major
A-peel
see page 5
Tennis Team
Swats the
Opposition
see page 6
COURIER
Since 1915
VOL. 87 NO. 16
www.pcc-courieronline.com
FEBRUARY 7,2002
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»
PCC Students
Charged with
Armed Robbery
By Joseph Narvaez
Copy Editor
Two PCC students, 20-year-old
Michael Herried and 19-year-old
Sabrina Cheng, were arrested and
charged with armed robbery on
Jan. 30 after a botched follow-
home robbery.
According to Detective Sgt.
Mike Ingram of the Pasadena
Police Department (PPD), the sus¬
pects followed a local resident to
his house and used something that
resembled a handgun to rob the
victim. As the suspects tried to
make their get-away, the quick-
On Campus
Tracking
of Foreign
Students
To Begin
thinking victim gave chase in his
own vehicle.
After a short Dursuit. the sus¬
pects were involved in a car acci¬
dent at the intersection of Sierra
Madre Boulevard and Orange
Grove Avenue. The suspects
jumped out of the car and attempt¬
ed to flee the accident scene on
foot..
The area was quickly cordoned
off by PPD and a manhunt ensued.
Witnesses to the accident were
able to identify Herried and Cheng
as the occupants of the vehicle,
and the two were quickly picked
up. The robbery victim also iden¬
tified the suspects as the assailants
in the earlier incident. Both were
subseauentlv arrested and booked
on suspicion of armed robbery.
When questioned by police, the
suspects said that they did what
they did in order to pay for tuition.
Both Herried and Cheng are
also suspects in a second incident
of attempted robbery.
The two were arraigned on
Friday, Feb. 1 and face several
felony charges. The suspects were
charged with second-degree armed
robbery, second-degree attempted
robbery and assault with a deadly
# see ARRESTS, page 4
I
LJ
Martha Hernandez/Courier
Make No Bones About It: College Day
at PCC brought representatives from
universities all over the state to get
students thinking about transfer options
College Prepares to Switch to XP
By Ian Downs
Staff Writer
The nation’s system for tracking
international students is changing,
and Pasadena City College is one
of the many schools affected
nationwide. In response to the
recent terrorist attacks, the
Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) is redoubling its
efforts to computerize its records
on foreign students.
PCC’s international student
adviser, Barbara Griffith, said, “We
have a new reporting process that
goes into effect this month, where
information about the students will
be reported automatically to immi¬
gration.”
International students on the
campus seem to be largely unaware
that any change is taking place.
“But this is not something new,”
said Griffith. “We’re not reporting
anything that the student has not
agreed to have us report for the last
10 years.” According to Griffith,
the reporting process has not
changed the amount of data that is
collected.
Science and Technology in
Congress reports, “Colleges and
universities are required to keep
track of several types of informa¬
tion for each of their foreign stu¬
dents, including program end date,
field of study, credits completed per
semester and any employment a
student engages in.” The system
generates massive paperwork,
which is hard for schools and the
INS to keep up-to-date.
The first bombing of the World
Trade Center in 1993 prompted
federal law enforcement agencies
to search for a better way to moni¬
tor foreign students. In 1996
Congress mandated that the system
be computerized, but opposition
has slowed its implementation.
The tracking system, named the
# see INS page 3
By Jaynita Carney
Staff Writer
Computing Services is investi¬
gating what it will take for PCC to
transition from Windows 2000
operating system to Windows XP
for the more then 4.000 computers
on campus.
Windows XP is faster, newer
and offers a lot of benefits for the
campus, said Bob Cody, head of
Computing Services. Before a new
operating system can be installed
campus wide, the program must
undergo months of testing. Cody
said his department plans to set up
a small XP environment to test out
any problems. Because XP is not a
DOS based system, it may cause
problems interfacing with data
stored on Windows 2000, which is
DOS based.
When the campus transferred to
Windows 2000 it took nine
months. Like the Windows 2000
changeover this program will not
appear over night, it may be
months before the students and
staff actually see Windows XP up
and running on campus.
“ We are planning to install it
over the next winter break the time
between now and then about 10
months.” Dr. Robert Cody said
Although there may be slight
problems with Windows XP, one
expert sees the program as a step
forward. “The operating system
XP Professional version is what
we in the industry consider the fix
for. Windows 2000. It is actually
one of the better platforms the
company put out,” said Eric
Lindemann, senior base tech for
Levis Strauss Co.
“The XP has better security,
better handling, and is superior to
almost everything else out there. It
also backs up everything automat¬
ically. The only draw back to that
would be that it backs every record
unless the user deletes them to
save space. People who forget
about that function can find that
their hard drive space is disappear¬
ing fast,” Lindemann said.
There are also going to be a few
new computers added to the cam¬
pus this semester. The math lab in
R211 is on the list. Math resource
will be getting an upgrade and the
faculty may get between 35 and 50
new computers as well. However,
because of budget cuts there will
not be as many computers, hard¬
ware and software equipment pur¬
chases as last year.
Computing Services, located in
D106, houses the file servers, an
elaborate system of main comput¬
ers that send out messages that tell
all the other computers on campus
how to function properly.
Computing Services has 12
staff members and nine techni¬
cians that are in charge of ordering
and fixing computers, and any
hardware and software problems.
They also test programs for com¬
patibility and reliability. Cody
said, “It’s our job to keep all of the
computers on campus fully func¬
tional, and to install the new ones
when they come in and take away
the old ones.”
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Acclaimed Black
Authors Take Part
in Book Signing
ШШШ
Lee Michelsen/Courier
Feeling a little stressed? Follow student Jonathan Johnson's lead: get your
blood pressure checked by the Health Center's skilled nurse practitioners.
Health Center Provides
Quality Medical Care
By Angela Faranda
Staff Writer
Many students are wondering why they pay a $12
health fee every time they register. Where does that
money go? Some students just pay the fee, not giving it
a second thought, after all it is only a few dollars.
What most students don’t know is that fee can take
them a long way. It gives all PCC students full access
to resources and services at the Student Health Center,
regardless of class load.
Many students are under the impression that the
health center is run by nursing students. While nursing
students help with shot clinics and other projects, med¬
ical doctors and registered nurses staff the center.
The center staff includes five part time doctors and
two nurse practitioners. Each doctor has a particular
specialty, ranging from sports to internal and preventa¬
tive medicine. Of the two nurse practitioners, one is a
volunteer specializing in OB/GYN, and the other, Jo
Buczko, college health nurse, specializes in adult care.
For those with no insurance, the services offered can
help save a student’s hard-earned money. Just some of
the services include hearing and vision screening,
breast and pelvic exams, low cost birth control, STD
tests for as low as $1 .50, pregnancy tests, and free con-
m see HEALTH, page 4
By Jasmine Chopra
Staff Writer
They are award-winning poets,
journalists and activists for social
justice. Now with the release of their
individual debut books, they are
critically acclaimed novelists too.
They also happen to be married to
one another.
Husband and wife, Michael
Datcher and Jenoyne Adams, are
scheduled to participat in a reading
and book signing, open to the pub¬
lic, today in the campus center
lounge at 6:30 p.m.
Datcher’s novel, “Raising
Fences,” presents a picture of young
black men rarely seen in the media,
men who desire loving, secure mar¬
riages, active participation in child-
rearing, and homes in safe commu¬
nities. He drew on his experience of
growing up without a father in the
inner city of Los Angeles for this
novel.
As a preteen, Datcher was on the
lookout for men who could practice
being a father on him, he said.
In the years that followed,
Datcher served as a Big Brother for
young black boys, has written about
black male issues, contributed arti¬
cles to the Los Angeles Times, The
Washington Post, and The
Baltimore Sun, and has appeared as
a guest analyst on numerous televi¬
sion and radio shows, including
Nightline and Dateline. He is also
the director of literary programs at
the World Stage Writers’ Workshop.
Before deciding to go it alone
with their individual novels,
Datcher and Adams collaborated on
various projects, including a series
of fundraising poetry readings
across the nation in response to the
events of September 1 1 .
In “Resurrecting Mingus”,
Adams presents the story of
Mingus, a young woman who
appears to have it all, but beneath
the surface Mingus is struggling to
find peace. She deals with powerful
and painful questions about what it
means to love, to be loyal, to accept
family, experience her bi-racial
roots and possess the strength to
deal with great personal conflict.
Adams, a PEN Center USA West
Emerging Voices Fellow, has been
featured in programs at the J. Paul
Getty Museum, the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, the Essence
Music Festival, the National Black
Arts Festival, and the Mark Taper
Auditorium at the Los Angeles City
• see AUTHORS, page 4