PCC Courier, February 16, 1989

First Class Victory For Lancers Page 4 President’s Day Is Monday — No Classes in Session Last Rites For Harry Page 3 The COURIER VOL. 68, NO. 1 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA FEBRUARY 16, 1989 Todd Hiskexj/ The Courier As seen from the top of R Building, a student ponders the approaching storm the arctic cold front delivered. Robinson Takes Heat For Visiting So. Africa Wanted: Blood for Life More than a thousand people need blood in Los Angeles and Orange Counties every day. Nearly all of the blood is provided by volunteers; heroes who, in exchange for an hour of their time, can save a life. The supplies of О negative and О positive, the most common blood types, are now critically short said Monique Brinkman, field representa¬ tive from the Red Cross. Hospitals are postponing elective surgery until the blood supply is replenished. The Red Cross is now recruiting donors at PCC. Brinkman will be on campus today and again on Tuesday to make appointments for donations that will be taken on Wedneday and Thurs¬ day Feb 23 and 24. The campus clubs are assisting in the campaign to recruit donors. The Red Cross will host a pizza party for the club that signs up the most donors. To record the achievement for posterity, the Red Cross will give the winning club a plaque. Any healthy person over 17 years of age, who weighs more than one Robbins, First Female President of PCC, Dies Dr. Catherine J. Robbins, the only woman president of Pasadena City Col¬ lege died in her sleep at 4 a.m. Monday at the South Pasadena Convalescent Hospital. Robbins who was 88, received her AB (Phi Beta Kappa) and M.A. and Ph.D from Stanford University. After completing her masters degree in 1923 she taught at Pasadena High School in the commerce department. A year later she became a charter faculty member at PCC. She began as a business teacher. In 1931 she was appointed Dean of Wo¬ men, a post she retained until 1950 when she became Dean of Curriculum. From 1959 to 1965 she served as presi¬ dent of the college. A memorial service was held at 2 p.m. Wednesday in the Forum. Contributions may be made to the Catherine J. Robbins Scholarship Fund at PCC. Asian American Lecture Series To Explore Histories, Cultures Asians have been residing in Califor¬ nia for more than six generations but have received little recognition for their contributions to American culture. The 1989 lecture series will focus on the broad history of “Asian Pacific Americans: Six Generations in Califor¬ nia. ”Dr. Ron Takaki, professor of ethnic studies at U.C. Berkeley, will begin the series on Japanese American literature.” We need to view the im¬ migrants as men and women with minds, wills, and voices. “By ’voices,’ I mean their own words as expressed in oral histories, letters, conversations, novels, short stories and poems,” said Takaki. By looking at the writings of Toshio Mori, Hohn Okada and many other first-generation Japanese- American writers. Takaki believes we can learn why they immigrated, their experiences and hardships, and their bold efforts to transform themselves from temporary residents to American setters. This Series will combine different activities ranging from films, exhibits and lectures. These programs will bring well known individuals and humanities scholars from all over California to PCC. Tritia Toyota, KCBS anchorperson, hundred and ten pounds can give blood. The donation itself only takes about eight minutes. First the donor registers and privately answers questions about his health on the registration form. Next a nurse will ask the donor more questions and check his temperature, blood pressure and hemoglobin level. After giving blood the donor will relax and enjoy some refreshments for about 15 minutes. The effect of donating blood is mini¬ mal even for athletes, said Brinkman. The body will replenish the lost fluids within 24 hours. It takes about six weeks to replace the red blood cells, but that is no reason for the donor to change his routine. A football player could play his best game the very next day, said Brinkman. PCC Track coach Skip Robinson in a series of legal maneuvers has thus far avoided being suspended from The Athlete Congress (TAC) for participat¬ ing in a number of South Africa track and field meets last fall. The TAC is the U.S. governing body of the Interna¬ tional Amateur Athletic Federation which oversees all world class athletic events along with the Olympics and Olympic trials. Although Robinson is not a member, such an action by TAC would prevent Robinson from coaching in any track events where world class or Olympic athletes are participating. But Robinson may be approaching the end of his legal loop holes as TAC appears determined to take Robinson to task for his part in participation in a number of South Africa track and field meets last fall. TAC has become interested in coach Robinson and 16 other coaches and track competitors who participated in a series of four track and field events in apartheid ridden South Africa last Oc¬ tober. Thus far, Robinson has not been able to attend any of TAC’s hearings which surprises Federation members. As TAC counsel Alvin Chriss puts it, “Mr. Robinson says that it’s difficult for him to make a hearing. I question that. He was able to make it to South Africa all right.” Coach Robinson, declined to accept TAC’s offer to pay his expenses to the New York hearing on Feb. 3, claiming the hearing would be outside his TAC district. Robinson noted TAC’s bylaws specifically stated TAC hearings were to be given within an individual’s district. Robinson did not attend a TAC hearing in Covina on Dec. 15 because he was not told to. TAC commented that it did not learn about Robinson’s involvement in the South Africa track meets until after Nov. 18, and hence could not give Robinson the required notification time for the Dec. 15 hearing in Covina. Robinson has refused to attend hear¬ ings in San Jose on Jan. 18, and the New York hearing on Feb. 3. So, the coming March 30 hearing in Covina appears to be the show down between coach Robinson and TAC. Thus far, all other 16 American coaches and players involved in the meets have been su¬ spended for periods ranging from three years to twelve years. The Pasadena Star-News reported that Robinson who was on leave from PCC at the time he participated in the South Africa track and field meets received $30,000 for his work. Other coaches and players involved in the meets are reported to have received between $30,000 and $50,000. The money was paid by Trek Petroleum of South Africa in order to draw the Americans into a track and field com¬ petition with South Africa which has been censured by other countries because of its Human Rights violations and separatist Apartheid policy. Refusing to address the Apartheid policy and Human Rights violations of South Africa in connection with his ac¬ tions, coach Robinson only said, “The situation [with TAC] is a political issue not an athletic issue, and my actions had nothing to do with PCC.” But InCAR, a PCC student Organiz¬ ation disagrees with Robinson on the meets not having to do with PCC policy issues, InCAR spokeswoman Jodi Grippa says, “Robinson is dead wrong here, his action did violate PCC policy in relation to apartheid.” Grippa also noted that a college coach, as a leader of young men and women in highly emotional and physical events, not only influences these athletes and their peers, but also influences the area’s young people in the junior and senior high schools. “A lot of them read the L.A. Times or Pasadena Star-News Sports, and when they do, they don’t separate PCC and coach Robinson, all they see is the headline,” she said. President Scott has released the offi- cal PCC policy in the form of RESOLUTION NO. 94 adolpted on Nov. 7,1985. The Resolution condemn¬ ing racism of the govenment of South Africa reads as follows; The official racism of the government of South Africa is abhorrent, and it is not socially responsible to own the secruites of companies doing busi¬ ness in South Africa, and which com¬ panies do not subscribe to the Sullivan Principles. Be it Resolved that, as to invest¬ ments directly controlled and or invested by the College ad¬ ministration of the Pasadena Area Community College District, there be no further investment in com¬ panies doing business in South Africa which companies do not subscribe to the Sullivan Principles. So what it really seems to come down to is did coach Robinson earn his reported $30,000 in subscribing to the Sullivan Principle. By Jim Dyce ‘In fact, Asians have been part of California History for six generations.’ —Joanne Kim will speak on Asian American women and media issues. The objective of this special project is to re-emphasize Asian American contributions and to bring greater recognition ond appreciation of the history of generations of Asian Pacific Americans in California. “The San Gabriel Valley has witnessed a large increase in the Asian population in the last 10 years. But many people do not realize that not all Asians are im¬ migrants. In fact, Asians have been part of California history for six genera¬ tions,” said Joanne Kim, co¬ coordinator of this program. The project series was made possible by a $7,500 grant from the California Council for the Humanities. The series will begin February 22 and run through the fall semester. All lectures and films start at 7:30 p.m. in the PCC forum and are open to the public. “We hope there is a large turnout combining all ethnic backgrounds.” said Kim. Spring Enrollment Jumps to Record Total Enrollment numbers at PCC have increased with 18,968 students enrolled for 1989 Spring semester classes. That’s an increase of 395 over last Spring, yet students who registered for classes this semester found the enrollment lines much shor¬ ter because 8,287 students registered by mail. “We weren’t as packed as we were last year,” a staff member who worked on registration said. “People seemed more worried about adding and dropping classes than register¬ ing.” “Mail-in registration went very well,” said Dr. Stuart Wilcox, dean of admissions and records, “We’re very satisfied with it.” Wilcox quickly pointed out that although mail-in registration was a huge success, it was far from flawless. The mail-in system encountered 3,729 problems, such as registration forms incorrectly or incompletely filled out, which further halted pro¬ cessing. A notification mailed to students informing them why their registration had not been fully processed promptly solved the vast majority of the problems, Wilcox said. “Out of 8,000 or so people, there’s going to be some that don’t read the information carefully,” explained Wilcox. “But, we made every poss¬ ible effort to process them,” he ad¬ ded. He then explained that of the 213 students who did not include suffi¬ cient money to cover the required fees, all fully were processed and all but two paid the required fees when notified, thus completing their registration. According to Wilcox, the early fill¬ ing of numerous classes presented the greatest problem with the current mail-in system. Students attempted to enter closed classes 1,490 times. The registration forms were processed by priority numbers. Students with more units completed received higher priority. “Under the current method, I would say we are saturated,” said Wilcox. “The last 500 or so people ran into a lot of closed classes.” Wilcox intends to make adjust¬ ments in the mail-in system that might further ease the process of registra¬ tion. If the college processes mail-in applications on two seperate dates and lists the revised schedule of classes after processing the first group, students would have a better idea of what classes were available. Although the advantages of mail-in registration have Dr. Wilcox and most students singing its praise, Wilcox believes that there is another medium better suited for registration than our postal service: the telephone. “In the future, I’d like to see all registration done over the phone,” said Wilcox. He explained that the telephone registration system, already employed by some community col¬ leges enables a student, using a touch tone telephone, to receive immediate response to the availability of classes. “It would be helpful to the student and school alike,” he said. “It’s a major expense. We still have to look into it. It’s a little like buying a car. You want to check it out first and kick the tires.” Although mail-in registration has eased some of the hassles for some students, the line to register still snakes back through the mirror-pool courtyard past E Building.