FEBRUARY 20. 1981
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE. PASADENA. CALIFORNIA
VOL 51. NO. 3
Committee Seeks Funds
SECRET BALLOTS — Elections for Associate Student Body offices were
held Wednesday and Thursday. A total of 20 students ran for the 13
government positions, although eight candidates ran unopposed. Results
jjj»— W
will be posted after ballots from day and night school have been tallied
While voter turnout appeared to be good, no statistics are available yet. The
new government will meet next week. — Courier photo by Doug Ayres
«1 Ш
CANDIDATES SPEAK — Barte Masiarelli campaigns for ASB vice
president in the Free Speech area Tuesday at noon as ASB candidates were
introduced to the student body. Candidates' debates were televised over
the closed circuit video system on campus Tuesday, Wednesday and
i hursday. _ Courier photos by Angie Maiorca and Rob Wells
College Reps
Aid Students
For International Growth
By Rosemary Cameron
Staff Writer
Visiting the Career Center to consult
with a four year university represent¬
ative can be invaluable in helping
students plan for upper division educa¬
tion, said Forrest Brigham, UCLA
counselor who visits PCC regularly to
advise students.
The Career Center has a number of
representatives from different four
year universities who come to the
college regularly to recruit students.
•“We try to have representatives
come from colleges that students most¬
ly transfer to: UCLA, California State
University at Los Angeles and
Calfornia State University at North-
ridge,” said Jan Platt, Career Center
counselor. They are the state colleges
nearest to PCC, she added. “Occasion¬
ally we have representatives from out
of state colleges,” she said.
PCC has built up a reputation for
being one of the best city colleges in
the area, and out of state represent¬
atives are eager to come here to
recruit students, said Ms. Platt.
Transcript records are available to
representatives which makes it easier
to advise students, said Ms. Platt.
Counselors see students on a one-to-
one basis to discuss individual needs,
although some counselors also hold
group meetings where they give more
information about the schools they
represent.
Visiting a counselor enables the stu¬
dent to find out about the different
programs colleges offer. Some univer¬
sities have stronger programs in par¬
ticular majors than others, said Ms.
Platt. Depending on the major, one
college may be more suitable for
transfer.
As well as outlining the steps neces¬
sary to transfer to a four-year college,
counselors are able to give up-to-date
information regarding policy changes
and requirements particular to the
school they represent. They can also
answer miscellaneous questions about
eligibility, or how to clear course defi¬
ciencies. But a counselor’s value lies
mostly in showing students how to
maximize the time they will spend at a
four-year college, according to
Brigham.
Students can waste a lot of time
taking classes that are not appropriate
for them, he said. “We try to show
students all the possibilities that are
open to them within their majors, as
well as explain in detail all the services
the colleges offer.”
“More people need to be aware that
the representatives are available at
PCC and that they provide a really
good service,” said Ms. Platt, who
arranges their visits.
The UCLA representatve is on cam¬
pus twice weekly, on Tuesday and
Thursday. The Cal State LA represent¬
atives visits twice monthly, and the Cal
State Northridge representative comes
once every six weeks, according to Ms.
Platt. Other colleges are invited ac¬
cording to student interest, she said.
By Leslie Sheinbaum
Contributing Writer
Spearheaded by the International
Education Committee, plans are in
progress to apply for a grant for
international education from the De¬
partment of Education. To qualify for
the grant, members of the committee
will submit a proposal outlining plans
to provide students with a sense of
their relationship to other peoples and
nations of the world. The proposal will
include explicit programs designed to
meet the needs of PCC students and
faculty. Mainy options and alternatives
will be considered, such as adding
additional courses or expanding the
present ones.
As a member of the Consortium of
Community Colleges for International
Development, PCC joined the recent
trend to include more international
issues in college curricula. At present,
this focus varies with the individual
faculty member and his interests.
At a conference for Consortium
members, PCC’s extensive language
program was singled out as excellent.
This program, it was suggested, could
be utilized in the proposal, to be used as
models. These mini-courses could be
incorporated into existing classes to
show how language reflects culture and
values. Classes, such as history and
philosophy, could then include the con¬
cepts of how language, thought and
behavior inter-relate.
“Education is a logical place to
make students aware that they are
global citizens, that whatever happens
to one country influences other coun¬
tries,” said Karen Shapton, special
project development officer and co¬
ordinator of resource development for
the IEC. “If approved for funding, the
plan could initiate staff development
and increased emphasis on foreign
language study, in addition to the cur¬
riculum changes,” she said.
In the past, three community col¬
leges, members of the Consortium,
have received grants or $45,000 to
$50,000. Grants last for one year but are
renewable for the second and third
years. Although Ms. Shapton estimates
that there will be 50-60 applicants, she
feels PCC has a good chance to acquire
one of the 15 grants available.
The funding from such a grant would
provide faculty with the time and
opportunity to institute curriculum re¬
view and development. Shapton said,
“It would provide faculty with the time
to be creative.” Students will soon reap
the benefits of this innovation, as mate¬
rials will be developed for use in the
second semester of the grant cycle. In
addition, she said “Perspectives
broaden when one is exposed to the
viewpoints of people of other coun¬
tries.”
Festival Recognizes Work
Students Receive Awards
Credit/No-Credit
Classes Offered
For those students wishing to take
classes outside of their major, without
fear of lowering their grade point
average, PCC offers a number of
classes on a credit/no-credit basis.
Applications mav h" obtained at the
office of admissions.
The administration asks that stu¬
dents apply for these typ f )i classes
when they register, however they will
consider students with special requests
up until the 10th week of the semester,
provided the student has permission
from the teacher of the class, and the
dean of admissions.
Students wishing to take a class to
broaden their interests, or add to their
own personal development, may apply
for a credit/no-credit, without fear of
receiving a poor grade. The student is
then evaluated at the close of each
semester, and if he has adequately
completed the required work for the
course, is given a pass grade. If the
work falls below the C level then he is
given a no-credit, without having a D or
F appear on his transcripts.
A student must not, however, take
more than 12 units of credit/no-credit
classes per semester while attending
PCC, with a limit of one per semester.
By Lucio Villasenor
Associate Sports Editor
Three PCC students received Merit
Awards for drama at the American
College Theater Festival held last Sun¬
day at UCLA.
De-Vera Joe, Willis Taylor and
Rhonda Tretsven were honored for
their performances in the production
“Spoon River Anthology.” They were
among 44 junior college and university
students that were selected in recog¬
nition for their work. The judges re¬
viewed the students’ performances
from about 46 productions, and at the
end they chose the top ac¬
tors/actresses in leading roles and the
top musicians.
Ms. Joe, a sophomore, received her
award for acting. She played the role of
seven different characters. She felt
that her best role was playing a crazy
woman. “That was fun,” she said.
Taylor, a freshman, received a musi¬
cian’s award. He created his own mu¬
sic, acted and sang. Ms. Tretsven, a
sophomore, won a musicianship award
also.
Ms. Joe grew up knowing people ir
the entertainment business. Her father
was a musician, and that’s how she gol
interested in acting. “Until this year, 1
have developed different characters,”
English Department Offers Variety
Afro-American Literature Stressed
By Mike Mendez
Contributing Writer
Since the 1960s, interest in Afro-
American literature has grown, along
with society’s move toward civil
rights for all.
Off and on PCC’s English Depart¬
ment has offered an Afro-American
literature class but it has often fallen
victim to lack of student interest.
Roger Marheine has resurrected this
class here at PCC and brings to the
class an historical perspective with
which to view black prose and poetry.
“I enjoy the very rich material that
comes from the Afro-American ex¬
perience. The quality of black liter¬
ature is just as good as European
literature, the difference is literature
by black authors uses materials from
black folk culture or the lower
classes, as a result the literature
relies on the oral tradition more than
the European literature does. This
creates a different aesthetic
challenge for • the artist,” said
Marheine.
He hopes to explore with his stu¬
dents how the various artists deal
with the historical epoch in which
their stories take place.
Starting with a story written by
Margaret Walker about the Civil
War, students will journey from the
post Civil War days into the Harlem
renaissance period of the 1920s.
From here the class will focus on
Ralph Ellison’s “The Invisible Man"
and finish up with a look at what
Marheine characterized as the “ex¬
treme poetic experimentation of the
’60s.”
“Historically it (Afro-American
literature ) had to be taught separate¬
ly because many students demanded
special attention be paid to it," said
Marheine.
He felt there is still a need to teach
it separately to affirm the academic
integrity of black artists though he
worries that teaching the subject as a
separate school of literature may
encourage the segregation of their
works.
Marheine hopes by making stu¬
dents as well as his contemporaries
more aware of the significance of
black literature he and others can
effect a better integration of Ameri¬
can literature.
she said.
Taylor is new to this area. He was
born in Japan, then traveled to Ameri¬
ca, Africa, England, and ended up in
the United States. He has lived most of
his life in London.
“I’m really excited about it,”
Tretsven said. “I feel very honored.
I’ve been in music for a long, long
time,” she said.
“It was their ideas, their music and
they did a good job,” Director Bruce
Gill said about Taylor and Tretsven.
“They are two special kids.” He de¬
scribed Ms. Joe as an “ideal acting
student.”
WINNERS' CIRCLE — Willis Taylor (front). De-Vera Joe and Rhonda
Tretsven received Merit Awards at the American College Theater Festival
on Sunday. The students were honored for their performances in the
production "Spoon River Anthology." — Courier photo by Kimberly Glidden
