OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
Go v. Wilson proposed fee
increase shows his lack of
commitment to affordable
education. Page 2
New Nursing Department Chair makes
students her focus.
Page 4
Men’s basketball wins
back-to-back games.
Page 6
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No. 17
™E COURIER
Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
THURSDAY
February 9, 1995
Soft drink
giants fight
for student
market
By ANDREW McDIARMID
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Under a proposal being considered by the
Board of Trustees, the campus may get an
exclusive soft drink vendor and an estimate
$35,000 a year. Both Coca-Cola and Pepsico,
which distributes Pepsi-Cola, are seeking
exclusive vending rights on the campus.
Pepsico is offering twice the cash incentive
than Coca-Cola.
The money would be used for student
services and to create fund-raising programs
for the proposed physical education facility.
While the money would be a welcome
influx of funds for these departments, the
proposal would require the soft drinks sold
on campus to change from Coca-Cola to
Pepsico. The Board spent almost an hour
discussing who would make the decision
and how.
A contract proposal from Pepsico was
presented by Dr. James Kossler, assistant
superintendent of administrative services. It
would include exclusivity of Pepsi products
in the vending fountains, and machines on
campus. In return for that contract, Pepsi
would pay the campus $35,000 for each year
of a ten-year contract, with a guarantee of at
least five years.
“It is important to note that currently
Coca-Cola has exclusivity on campus,
through PFM, the food service, but the
campus does not benefit at all. It is purely by
coincidence that Coke has this contract.
Their bid for vending on campus is $18,500
when compared to Pepsi’s much higher
amount. The preference is clear,” Kossler
said.
Beth Wells-Miller, trustee, then ques¬
tioned whether the Board should accept this
proposal without any student input. $he
suggested that a poll be taken. $he also
suggested that the length of contract seemed
to create a monopoly that commits the col¬
lege to Pepsico too long. Fellow trustee
William A. Shatford stated that 10 years
seemed to long.
“I have serious doubts about this. Why
should we be favoring one over the other?”
Shatford said.
Ernie Romine, director of athletics who
Please see SOFT DRINKS, Page 2
The most dangerous seat in the house...
ANDREWZIMA/THE COURIER
This student, looking for a better view of one of the many activities in the Quad,
chose the railing of the second floor of the R building. That’s against the school
safety policy. “We don’t allow this. He could have been killed or disabled. It’s
only common sense to stay off of the railings,” said Officer Leroy Henderson,
who added the campus police encourages students to immediately report
such dangerous activities.
Instructor files suit
for $2 million over
harassment charge
By PAT ROBISON
COURIER STAFF WRITER
A $2 million lawsuit alleging defama¬
tion, wrongful termination and intentional
infliction of emotional distress has been filed
against PCC. Also named in the suit are
Patricia Mollica, dean of human resources,
and an unnamed student. The suit, filed by
Benedict J. Amorelli, part time business law
instructor, claims that he suffered damages
because of the unfounded
complaint of sexual harass¬
ment lodged by the stu¬
dent and the subsequent
handling of the complaint
by Mollica. He is also
claiming breach of con¬
tract and negligent super¬
vision by the school.
Amorelli was informed
last Nov. 1 by Mollica that
a sexual harassment com¬
plaint had been filed against
him by one of his students
and that he would not be
offered a new contract un¬
til the matter was resolved.
After 12 weeks, an ex¬
change of a dozen letters
and the filing of the suit,
Dr. Jack $cott, PCC presi¬
dent, wrote a letter to
Amorelli that said the com¬
plaint turn out not to be
sexual harassment.
In the letter dated Jan.
25, Scott said: “The Col¬
lege has investigated the
complaint thoroughly and
found that the behavior
complained of does not rise to the level of
sexual harassment. One of the major com¬
plaints raised by (the student) was the grade
she received in your class. We have advised
her to pursue the matter through the College
student grievance process.”
Amorelli said, “After I received the letter
from Scott I felt that I had been vindicated.
He said it is not sexual harassment but a
grade grievance, and according to what Pat
Mollica said, I should have been offered my
job back, but that has not happened.”
According to Stephen Johnson, assistant
dean of student affairs, all complaints of any
sexual nature go directly to Mollica’s office
and the rest are handled by the student
grievance process. Johnson also said that the
first step in that process is that the person
filing the complaint is asked to contact the
person with whom they have a problem. If
in this case that has not happened, it should
be noted that the student would be allowed
reasonable time to contact the instructor.
Amorelli said he has not been contacted.
In the Nov.l letter in which she informed
Amorelli of the complaint and her decision
not to rehirc him, Mollica
requested that he set up a
meeting with her. At that
meeting, according to
Amorelli, he asked what
exactly he was being ac¬
cused of. He was told that
he would not be shown or
given a copy of the com¬
plaint nor would he be
told the details of it. He
said although she would
not tel 1 h im any thing about
the accusations, she did
tell him the name of the
student who filed the com¬
plaint.
At that point, Amorelli
said, he expressed his be¬
lief that the case was not
filed because the student
actually felt that she had
been sexually harassed but
that she was unhappy with
the grade she was receiv¬
ing in the class. He told
Mollica that not only could
he show her copies of the
student's work, but he
could provide her with the
work from her classmates
as well to offer as justification for her grade.
He said that at that point, Mollica argued
with him saying that this was not just a case
of sour grapes, even though she had not yet
begun investigating.
Mollica refused to be interviewed for this
story.
In several letters sent to Mollica, Amorelli
attempted to obtain a copy of the complaint
filed against him or at least what exactly the
charges were.
Mollica informed Amorelli in a letter that
Please see LAW SUIT, Page 3
What constitutes
sexual harassment?
According to PCC guidelines:
♦Any unwelcome sexual ad¬
vances.
♦Requests for sexual favors.
Inadition, other verbal or physi¬
cal conduct of a sexual nature
constitute sexual harassment
when:
♦ Submission to such conduct is
made either explicitly or im¬
plicitly as a condition of a
student’s continuation or grade
in a class or other activity.
♦ Submission to or acceptance
of such conduct is used as the
basis for a decision affecting
such individual.
♦ Such conduct has the pur¬
pose or effect of unreasonably
interfering with an individual’s
performance or creating an
intimidating, hostile or offen¬
sive study environment.
Loan defaulters given a second chance
By LUZ MARIA CASTELLANOS
COURIER STAFF WRITER
For years the cost of defaulted
loans has hovered above $2 billion in
annual losses to taxpayers. In the
fiscal year 1994, defaulted student
loans cost taxpayers some $2.4 billion .
As a result, the Clinton administration
has announced that individuals who
have defaulted on student loans will
have an opportunity to pay off their
debts through a new plan that allows
borrowers to make reasonable pay¬
ments according to the individual’s
income. Borrowers who do not choose
to honor their loan through the new
repayment provision may face hav¬
ing their wages garnished.
Defaulters will first receive a no¬
tice of garnishment at which time the
borrower will have 30 days to reply,
or payments will be taken out of their
wages.
Under the new system, defaulters
will be notified by mail that they can
pay off their outstanding loan through
monthly payments adjusted to their
income and outstanding balance. Leo
Komfeld, senior adviser to the edu¬
cation secretary for direct lending,
said, “I encourage individuals who
may have defaulted on loans to take
advantage of this opportunity to re¬
pay their loans at an amount they can
afford and get back into good stand¬
ing.”
According to Carla Henderson,
assistant dean of scholarships and
financial aid at PCC, 250-300 loans
were given to students in the
1994/
1995 fiscal year, but 10,000 students
during that period applied for finan¬
cial aid.
“There hasn’t been much of a
reaction [to the proposed plan] from
the students at PCC, because there is
really not a problem with defaulted
student loans here,” said Henderson.
She added that out of the 8,000
student loans issued last year only 18
students defaulted.
Although the new repayment plan
seems to be an effective form of
collection, the U.S. Department of
Education will also continue the col¬
lection of defaulted student loans
through IRS offset (or withholding)
of tax refunds from those individu¬
als who do not honor the repayment
plan. Over the past eight years, IRS
offset of taxes has been successful,
but collection of IRS offset tax re¬
funds together with the new repay¬
ment provision will speed up collec¬
tion of defaulted loans.
“Some defaulters don ’t repay their
loans because they can’t afford the
monthly payments,” said U.S. Sec¬
retary of Education Richard W.
Riley. “We now have options that
enable responsible borrowers to make
affordable payments. But those who
refuse to pay face serious sanctions.”
And indeed those sanctions are
serious. In addition to being sub¬
jected to the threat of federal income
tax refunds being withheld and wage
garnishment, defaulters are ineli¬
gible for further student aid (either
loans or grants). Their default status
will be reported to credit bureaus,
thereby jeopardizing the borrowers
chances of obtaining a credit card or
other loans.
Default costs hit an all-time high of
$3.6 billion in fiscal year 1991, but they
have dropped steadily over the years
due to a variety of clean-up methods.
Schools must now carefully screen all
applicants before a loan is issued.
High rates of defaulted student
loans are the main reason that schools
lose eligibility for financial aid. Those
rates serve as a warning that some¬
thing may be very wrong with an
institution. High default rates could
mean students are not graduating
with qualifications to get positions
that will enable them to pay off their
debts. Another problem maybe that
students aren’t graduating at all.
High default rates may also mean
that institutions may be giving loans
and financial aid to too many border
line students. Schools argue that loans
and financial aid are given to those
students because they are giving them
a chance at higher education. But
inevitably, many of those students
go into debt and eventually default
which could do long-term damage to
their financial status.
For more information call (800)
624-3115, toll free.
Students immunized
against mumps virus
By BEN DUGGAN
and DANNY TAM
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Students in five PCC classes
had to be immunized last week
after a student attended classes
carrying the mumps virus.
“If you have the mumps, stay
home. Don’t come to school,”
Kathleen Konrad, acting head,
nurse at PCC, said. “You are
exposing all the other students.”
Konrad also added, “There’s
no danger to anyone at this point
because everybody who came in
contact with the student was
reimmunized.”
Anyone who has gone to gram¬
mar school in California has been
immunized, but students from
other countries may not have.
At the UC and Cal State uni¬
versities, students are required to
show their immunity records be¬
fore enrollment, but at the com¬
munity colleges students are not.
The mumps is a virus charac¬
terized by fever and swelling be¬
low the ear and jaw area. It is
spread very much like the com¬
mon cold virus: by direct contact
with saliva of an infected person.
The incubation period lasts for
two to three weeks. The mumps
can cause hearing loss and, in rare
cases, even death.
This mumps case was the first
to be reported at PCC in at least
five years.
Marion Thorpe from the Pasa¬
dena Public Health Department
said, “It’s a good time for people
to get imm unized . There ’ s always
the chance of getting the mumps
among people who haven’t been
immunized.”