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VOL. 88 NO. 18
www.pcc-courieronline.com
FEBRUARY 20, 2003
On Campus
Visa
Students
Need
Insurance
Ricki Yuen
Staff Writer
Foreign students not only pay
$134 per unit for tuition, but they
must pay a mandated $3 1 2 for med¬
ical insurance every semester. Until
recently, foreign students who had
insurance of their own could sim¬
ply waive the school insurance fee.
But that has changed.
Annie Teoh, like many other for¬
eign students who have their own
insurance, was puzzled when she
couldn’t get her insurance fee
waived.
“I have insurance with Blue
Cross,” she said. “Why should I
pay for the school insurance?”
Over the past 10 years, PCC has
waived foreign
“ The $312 student medical
is a very insurance fees
reasonable lf students
- could prove
amount for t
J that they wrere
insurance covered by an
for six outside insur-
months. ance company.
The policy
changed in last
Fall, according
ance com- t0 cha
panies will Mancini, secre-
charge you tary of business
that services-
Mancini
amount said that the
per school was
month . ” having difficul-
ties verifying
--Cha and updating
Mancini medical insur¬
ance informa¬
tion that stu¬
dents provided.
“A lot of students dropped their
insurance or they would bring me a
bogus card in Japanese,” Mancini
said. “I had no way of knowing.”
Even though Mancini reminded
students who pay quarterly premi¬
ums to come back and show her
their renewed insurance card, stu¬
dents just never showed up.
“We just couldn’t tolerate that
abuse any more,” Mancini said.”
According to Mancini, the
Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS) requires all foreign
# see Insurance, page 3
Most of
the insur-
Crystal Samuelian/Courier
Once upon a time, this car blaze was a blazing 1994 Pontiac Firebird.
USC student Zachery Urbina said he “smelled something burning”
when he pulled over into lot 3 to check his vehicle. A small flame
burst into a large spectacle as the fire slso damaged a neighboring
Mitsubishi Montero and Nissan Altima. Urbina was on his way to
pickup his cousin Justin, who is a PCC student.
СТА
Rejects
Last Proposal
For the first time
in history the
PCC
СТА
voted
down a tentative
agreement from
the Pasadena
Area Community
College District.
Terrance Parker
News Editor
The Pasadena City College
chapter of the California
Teacher’s Association
(СТА)
rejected a tentative contract
agreement last week by a vote of
81-66.
This was the first time in the
CTA’s 27-year history at PCC that
the union membership turned
down an offer from the negotiat¬
ing teams.
According to several union
members, the biggest problem
was over the issue of retroactive
pay raises.
“People who were employed
in the first year, retired full-
timers and adjunct faculty, would
not be eligible for retro-activity,”
said Elvio Angeloni, professor in
the social sciences department.
The agreement states that
retroactive payments for 2001-
2002 and 2002-2003 will be made
to people who are still employed
by the district on the day the
board of trustees approves the
agreement.
“This provision would have
denied maybe a hundred or more
part-time faculty a significant
amount of money that they
® see
СТА,
page 3
Anti- War Event Attracts Hundreds
Whitney Porter
Staff Writer
The thoughts of war can
divide nations, families and stu¬
dents.
While there are some who
condone the war with Iraq, an
equal number are against it.
Students had the opportunity
to learn more about U.S. policy
and the reasons for the push for
war at a forum on Thursday.
Hundreds filled the Campus
Center hoping to learn more,
while some came to earn extra
credit for a class.
The Students for Social
Justice hosted the teach-in that
was billed as outlining the costs
of a war within the United States
and abroad.
However, it appeared at the
beginning of the lecture, that the
event was to be used as a
platform for multiple protests
against corporations and the fed¬
eral government.
The Coalition of Immokalee
Workers started the event with a
plea to join with them and
Florida tomato pickers to boy¬
cott Taco Bell on Feb. 24.
The representative from the
Global Women’s Strike and
Every Mother is a Working
Mother spoke about her belief
that the United States is
“squelching freedom of speech.”
Margaret Prescod believes
that the problems in government
and thoughts of war directly
point to the Bush administra¬
tion.
Prescod advocated for
women on federal welfare pro¬
grams and pointed out how the
government is trying to strip sin¬
gle mothers of their livelihood.
Alvaro Maldonado, identified
as a peace vigil organizer, said
he was fired from his job as a
PCC shuttle driver, due to his
beliefs and his encouraging stu¬
dents to know their mind about
the war.
The event also featured a
panel of additional lecturers
against the possible war.
Ban Al-Wardi, an American-
Iraqi attorney; Jackson Baugh,
student activist Anti-War
Students gathered in the CC-Lounge last Thursday for anti-war discussions.
American people.
Al-Wardi said that he
believed the American people
have dehumanized the image of
those people residing in Iraq.
# see PROTEST, page 3
Coalition; Bonnie Blustein,
Interfaith Communities for
Justice and Peace; Nicole Fuller,
Students for Social Justice;
Prescod, Global Women’s
Strike; Hollis Stewart, PCC
Instructional Support Services
Union, and Maldonado dis¬
cussed this country’s motives
for going to war.
Many see the war in Iraq as a
means to obtain oil, power over
the Middle East, and to take
away valuable assets from the
Auditors Vouch for College Finances
Terrance Parker
News Editor
The current state budget crisis has
put a premium on number crunching
at schools throughout California,
including here at PCC.
According to the recent independ¬
ent auditors’ report, the numbers that
PCC relies on for planning and esti¬
mating its fiscal needs for the next 18
months are accurate and reliable.
At a recent board of trustees meet¬
ing, Heidi White, of the firm
Vavrinek, Trine, Day & Co., LLP,
presented the 2001-2002 district
financial audit to the board.
After giving an overview of the
audit’s purpose and the format of the
report, she pointed out specific find¬
ings byJho^uditors. “The district has
maintained its reserves and is in line
with govern¬
mental account¬
ing standards,”
White said.
In the audi¬
tors’ opinion,
this show that,
“in all materia!
respects, the M 3
П П
financial position
of the business-type activities of the
Pasadena Area Community College
District, as of June 30, 2002, and the
respective changes in financial posi¬
tions and cash flows, for the year then
ended in conformity with accounting
principles generally accepted in the
United States of America.”
“There were no findings repre¬
senting reportable conditions, materi-
‘al weaknesses, or instances of non-
compliance related to the financial
statements that are required to be
reported in accordance with
“Government Auditing Standards.”
White also said the district had
fixed all problems and followed all
suggestions from the previous year’s
audit report.
“Is it common to issue a report
with no reportable findings?” asked
board member Geoffrey Baum.
“For an institution of this size it is
unheard of,” White replied. She
added that independent auditors can
find something wrong almost any¬
where. “This report confirms that
internal controls are in place and the
system is functioning well.”
“The district has been accused at
times of hiding funds through various
practices,” said trustee Jeanette
Mann.
“Did you find any evidence of
that?”
“We specifically search for those
things,” White answered. ‘TMothing
like that was detected.”
“I’m a little awkward right now
because I’m' not used to giving out
complements,” White said. “Usually
I report what needs corrected.”
“The audit committee met with
the auditors and we were very
pleased,” said John Martin, president
of the board of trustees.
Martin then drew a connection to
the current labor negotiations
between the district and the faculty
members’ union.
“I want to point out that there is a
very close correlation between the
ending balance and the last, best and
final offer by the district.”
Terrance Parker can be reached at
parker_courier@yahoo.com
AS Fills Vacancies
Terrance Parker
News editor
The associated students (AS)
board filled their remaining two
vacancies yesterday when they
approved Tran Tu and Shahin
Younessi as new vice presidents.
Tu was named to the position of
vice president for academic affairs,
while Younessi became the new
vice president for external affairs.
The new officers bring the AS
board back up to a full complement
of nine voting members for the
first time since Dec. 1 1 .
That was the final day in office
for former academic affairs vice
president Elaine Wong, who
resigned in order to transfer to the
University of California at Irvine
in January.
The external affairs position has
been open since Jan. 22 when
Gabriel Gayhart resigned for job-
related personal reasons.
The vice president for academic
affairs serves as a liaison between
the students and the faculty. Wong
reactivated the student commis¬
sioners to help maintain communi¬
cation during iier term.
She also attended faculty meet¬
ings, such as the academic senate,
and served on several committees
alongside faculty members.
“This feels really great because
I really wanted to be on the board
for a long time,” Tu said. “Elaine
had this position and she did a
great job. Hopefully, I can do the
same thing.”
# see A.S., page 5