PCC Courier, February 17, 1994

OPINION FEATURES SPORTS A disturbing trend is growing on campus: separatism. Machine shop technology student builds his own dirt bike , a ' miniature road racer.' Major universities sign 11 Lancer football players. PASADENA CITY COLLEGE Pasadena, California Vol. 78 No. 5 ™E COURIER Serving the PCC Community for 7 6 years THURSDAY February 17, 1994 New security device goes up □ “Mobile Security Unit,” with its extended arm gives police a bird’s eye view of campus. By ENRICO PIAZZA News Editor The campus police depart¬ ment, constantly looking for in¬ novative ways to deter crime, will have 90 days to evaluate a new product that will allow offic¬ ers to have a bird’s eye view of the campus. The “Mobile Security Unit” has an extended arm that is ca¬ pable of elevating a security offi¬ cer in a compartment 20 feet above the ground. The unit includes four adjust¬ able quartz halogen floodlights, that can also be used as tower lights. Because of its versatility and easy transportability, the unit can be very useful to campus security in a number of situations, from crowd control to parking lot se¬ curity. “The Mobile Security Unit is extremely versatile and can be used virtually anywhere,” said Phil Mullendore, chief of campus police. “It can be moved around every night, so the thieves will never know where it is going to be.” VICTOR SO LI S/The COURIER Campus police have 90 days to test the Mobile Security Unit. The unit has an extended arm that can lift an officer 20 feet from the ground. Camp Police According to Dennis Van Deventer, security consultant for New Heights Inc., the Georgia based manufacturer of the unit, the stron¬ ger points of the device are its high profile deterrent effect and its maxi¬ mum surveillance capability. Van Deventer said that the high clearance of its heavy duty axles and tires make it easier to move around. In addition, the trailer on which the unit is built also has space to trans¬ port a security cart. “A police car pulling the trailer with a cart on top of it, will allow officers responding to emergencies to deploy three units at once,” Van Deventer said. “It provides effective coverage with fewer personnel.” The cost of the Mobile Security Unit is around S 10,000. In addition to the four lights, it includes an air conditioner and a generator that is capable of running for eight hours. The unit, that could also be pow¬ ered by batteries or by a AC electric cord, is designed to be accessible to wheelchairs. Once it’s above two inches from the ground, the door locks to prevent accidental openings. It reaches its highest elevation in an average of 40 seconds. Report proposes assessment tests □ Students may have to pass exams before entering and leaving community college. By PAT ROBISON Staff Writer The Commission on Innovation for the California Community Col¬ leges has recommended that com¬ munity colleges should require en¬ try-level examinations for all stu¬ dents coming into the system and standard assessment tests before they transfer, or get a degree or occupa¬ tional certificate. The commission was a group cre¬ ated by the Board of Governors in 1991 to examine the future of com¬ munity colleges. W. Bernard Bowler, vice chair of the commission, said in a meeting with PCC faculty Tuesday that the reason for the recommendation is that “most people go to college to prepare for a job.” He said the community college system should be more responsive to the needs of the business commu¬ nity, particularly the need for em¬ ployees to be equipped with specific job skills and to be trained to a minimum level of competence. The commission report states that “accountability for community col¬ leges should rest primarily on how well their students perform, rather than on their record of student course completion.” In a response issued by the Fac¬ ulty Association of California Com¬ munity Colleges and written by Jane Hallinger, its president, the FACCC said traditional standardized tests have been attacked during the last years for both cultural and econom ic bias. “It would seem an impossible task to devise an entry test for the com¬ munity colleges that could address the demographic variations, cultural distinctions, geographic separations, and economic range that could be equitable to all potential students,” wrote Hallinger, a PCC English pro¬ fessor. The response also said that even though individual instructors in their respective classes have tried to elimi - nate such bias their efforts may not be effective if tests arc the same for each class and each school in the system. The FACCC recommended that the learning emphasis should be on exploring ways to ensure student success in the classroom rather than to create testing barriers that “will certainly exclude the students who belong to historically and economi¬ cally disfranchised groups.” Hallinger also commented that “exit tests can also face the same problem of cultural and economic bias, even though the instruction has tied to address such bias through classroom test preparation.” Bowler, during the faculty meet¬ ing, outlined three broad goals for community colleges. The first is that they enhance learning opportunities through what he called “systematic innovative thoughts.” The second recommended goal is “expanding the role of the commu¬ nity colleges in increasing econom ic development in the state. The third, as defined by the commission, should be modernizing the technological capacities of the schools. Campus honors heritage □ BSA sponsors activities celebrating Black History Month. By JOSE INOSTROZ Staff Writer In celebration of Black History Month, the Black Student Alliance invited Historian Ashwa Kwesi to speak as part of the campus celebra¬ tion. Kwesi spoke on the origin of world civilizations, and the origin of traditional holidays. “We have been oppressd, de¬ pressed, and suppressed. We have been enslaved for 400 years in this land. Why can it be talked of the jewish holocaust but neglect the greater holocaust of the Black people!” Kwesi said. Kwesi said, “The black history month is the shortest month of the year to tell the longest story in hu¬ man history.” His extensive research was pre¬ sented with slides which he used to emphasize his thesis that the cradle of human civilization is in the Afri¬ can Nile Valley in Ethiopia. He said the Egyptians exchanged ideas and customs with the people in the Nile Valley area allowing aspects of each other’s cultures to be incorporated in the Egypt dynasties. He began by respectfully asking the elders in the audience to be al¬ lowed to speak, “In African values, we always honor our elders and an¬ cestors because they struggled for us in ancient times and left for us a great and important legacy” he said. He also addressed the audience with African, Islamic, and Christian greet¬ ings. He also demonstrated that an¬ cient stories of the African Nile Val¬ ley were borrowed, taken, and pla¬ giarized by what later became Jew¬ ish and Christian thought systems. He said the African ancestors were the originators of pyramid technol¬ ogy, the calander, a number system that predated Roman and Arabic The visual evidence featured comparisons of African mythology with Western mythological symbols as discovered through archeological records that were portrayed in the arts. “The African man is a victim of racism and our story is not told in history books,” said Kwesi. Monkeying around ANITA NARDINE/The COURIER An animated salesman shows a customer his wares on sale at the monthly Flea Market. Ethnicity on California campuses According to the Jan. 26, 1 994 issue of “The Chronicle of Higher Education," California was at the top of the class in 1 992 for total numbers of ethnic minority students, though New Mexico now enrolls a slightly higher percentage (38.9 percent to California’s 38.6 percent.) No. of students Ethnicity Hispanics Asians Blacks Native Americans California 315,485 287,552 139,748 21,936 National 954,422 696,812 1,393,483 118,845 Source: FACCC College information night set for tonight By JACKIE LEE Staff Writer College Information Night is scheduled tonight to provide trans¬ ferring students with information con¬ cerning transfer requirements, ma¬ jors, and financial aid. Representatives from 20 colleges and universities will be in the quad from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., or in the Harbeson Hall in case of rain. The event is one of two college informa¬ tion nights held every year. Each participating college will send at least one representative to answer student questions about their school’s offerings. Interested students can walk up to the booth representing the college of their choice or interest, and pick up pamphlets and other handouts about that school. “This service is beneficial to stu¬ dents who have not yet decided on which college to transfer to,” said Dina Chase, a transfer and matricu¬ lation specialist. “This way, stu¬ dents get to see which college offers a better program to follow up with in their major.” Thecollegeinformationnightwill also help broaden the scope of poten - tial majors for students still “unde¬ cided.” “The major objective of the rep¬ resentatives,” said Chase, “is to in¬ form students of possible transfer opportunities. Once students have decided they are ready to transfer, they know they can contact one of these representatives for help. Students who are still looking for a major, however, should look to the Transfer Center in D200 for help. They can also contact Chase at (818)585-7287.