OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
Affirmative Action should be
improved and updated, not
abolished.
Page 2
The COURIER celebrates 80 years of
news coverage. A look at the events
that highlighted PCC's early years.
Page 4 & 5
The Lady Ldncers softball
team wins one of four games
at Yuma, Arizona
Tournament. Page 8
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No. 15' | f
THE
COURIER
Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
THURSDAY
February 23, 1995
Students feel
excluded in
compressed
calendar talks
By LUZ MARIA CASTELLANOS
COURIER STAFF WRITER
In the continuing controversy over the Fac¬
ulty Senate’s proposed 17-week calendar, stu¬
dent government officials feel students are pur¬
posely being excluded from the debate.
In addition, the compressed calendar pro¬
posal has met strong opposition from classified
staff members, who fear job losses. They claim that
the changes are unnecessary and that the pro¬
posed calendar change is more beneficial to the
faculty and would not be in the interest of classi¬
fied staff or students.
On the other hand, the faculty argues that the
calendar change would be beneficial to the stu¬
dents because it would better prepare students for
the 15-week university calendar.
Dr. Philip Ricards, chairman of the Faculty
• Senate calendar committee, says that it will also
reduce the learning fatigue that is now evident
with the present 18-week system. In addition
the longer breaks in the summer and winter
sessions will give students and faculty a real
break. However, the shorter semester proposed
by the senate, also faces opposition within the
faculty. Science instructors feel that a shorter
semester will only make their classes more com¬
plicated for students. In addition, the music
instructors are also wary of the new plan because
it would interfere with music shows and prac¬
tices.
The Calendar Committee was originally
formed because of concerns surrounding the
implications of the compressed calendar on vari¬
ous departments. The committee was formed in
December and met for the first time on Feb. 7 to
discuss changes in the 1996-97 calendar.
Both sides say student participation is vital.
“The changes in the calendar are designed to
improve and promote student education. We
want student input as to its implications,” Ricards
said.
Yet, while there was sufficient staff represen¬
tation at the first meeting, there were no students
present.
Robert Bowman, AS President , expressed
his concerns about student exclusion from the
Calendar Committee meeting, “They [faculty]
Please see CALENDAR, Page 3
How things have changed...
A vertical intertype Model C4 typesetter/linecasting machine built in March 1948.
This machine, used in the production of The CHRONICLE and The COURIER for many
years, is still used by the PCC Printing Services for specialty printing projects.
The professional typesetter cast the type in hot metal, and it was placed in forms
and printed. The whole process, which now includes full pagination, is all done on
computers by students.
Instructor fired after
challenging chairman’s
decision to deny tenure
By PAT ROBISON
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Gloria Gomez, an instructor with
30 years in early childhood education
including four at PCC, was fired Tues¬
day night effective at the end of the
semester by the Board of Trustees.
Gomez and the PCC chapter of Cali¬
fornia Teacher’s Association claim
that Dr. Gretchen Anderson, social
sciences chairperson, recommended
her firing as retribution for an earlier
confrontation between Gomez and
Anderson.
That earlier confrontation came
when Gomez and the
СТА
repre¬
sentatives successfully had removed
from Gomez’ file the 1 993-1 994 sum¬
mary evaluation report in which
Anderson cited a “need to improve.”
According to the PCC/CTA, Gomez
was not notified of anything she
needed to improve until May 25, 1994
after the semester had ended instead
of the specified deadline of Feb. 20,
when she would have had time to use
the suggestions.
In that 1993 evaluation, Gomez
said Anderson ignored positive stu¬
dent evaluations. According to
Gomez, Anderson addressed the 90
percent combined “outstanding” and
“good” ratings by Gomez received
from her students by saying, “Stu¬
dents are incapable of evaluating their
own learning.” However, the district
agreed to remove the evaluation from
Gomez’ file on Sep. 29, 1994.
For the next evaluation, the one
that should have earned tenure for
Gomez, she wrote to the district ask¬
ing for different evaluators. She said
that it would be “extremely unfair and
biased” to be evaluated by the same
people who issued the last one.
The district denied her request
and Anderson wrote the evaluation.
PCC/CTA president Gary Woods, in
a flier distributed to faculty members,
said, “It was of little surprise then that
AMAL MASSHOUR/THE COURIER
Gloria Gomez
on Feb. 1 1995 Ms. Gomez recieved
an unfavorable evaluation report.”
Anderson, in that evaluation, then
used the student evaluations to make
a point. She wrote that the combina¬
tion of student evaluations in the “out¬
standing” and “good” catagories was
84 percent. This, according to Ander¬
son, placed Gomez last when com¬
pared with three other instructors;
one regular and two part-timers.
Also in that evaluation issued just
five months after the first one was
removed from the record. Anderson
uses the majority of the report to
criticize Gomez for procedural prob¬
lems like submitting scheduling pref¬
erence documents late and not at¬
tending enough meetings.
Dr. Ed Ortell, grievance officer
for PCC/CTA, said, “This is not just a
fight for one instructor’s job, but a
fight for academic freedom and the
right to due process.” The PCC/CTA
flier quotes him as saying, “A teacher
must have a fair hearing.”
Ortell also added, “Gloria has 31
years of experience in early child¬
hood education. The instructors who
evaluated her have none.
“Inmy 35 years with theCTA, I’ve
never seen a person who has been
treated more unfairly,” he said.
Dr. Jacqueline M. Jacobs, chairperson of the life science dept.
Jacqueline Jacobs runs for School Board
By GARY MAAT-HOTEP
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Dr. Jacqueline M. Jacobs, chair¬
person of the life sciences and allied
health department, is running for Scat
No. 4 on the Pasadena Unified School
District (PUSD) Board of Educa¬
tion. This is not the first time Jacobs
has made a bid for a school board
seat. In 1971 she made it to a run-off
election for a seat on the Mobil
Alabama School Board. During that
election campaign she had to put up
with harassment from the Ku Klux
Klan (KKK) and the White Citizens
Council.
Jacobs considers it an honor that
some of her colleagues and commu¬
nity people are confident enough in
her qualifications to ask her to run
for the Board of Education. For her
the trust and perceptions of her col¬
leagues and constituents are very
important.
With the March 7 election less
than two weeks away, Jacobs is busy
campaigning while still covering her
duties as chair of her department.
She has gained the endorsement of
Elbie Hickambottom, who is retir¬
ing from school board Seat No.4, as
well as those of Pasadena Mayor
Kathryn Nack and Pasadena School
Board President George Van Alstine,
Jacobs feels that her creativity
and the good spirit that she possesses
are some of the invaluable qualities
needed to help guide PUSD in the
right direction. She said she brings
an open mind, and the ability and
skill to listen and act fairly on behalf
of all constituents.
After talking with students, par¬
ents, teachers, administrators and
board members, Jacobs has found
some of their primary concerns are
strengthening academic performance,
increasing retention, providing
school safety and funding.
Jacobs says a change in demo¬
graphics and diversity can not be
ignored. Previous standards and
methods should be reviewed and
changed as needed. The world and
our local community have also
changed technologically as well as
demographically, therefore our life¬
styles and educational system must
acknowledge and address these
changes, said Jacobs.
Being aware of the ongoing prob¬
lem of inadequate funding for public
education, Jacobs believes that fund¬
ing alone is not a barrier to education
reform. Jacobs does, however, ac¬
knowledge that adequate funding is
important, but she also feels it is how
the educational dollar is spent that
can “creatively and effectively be
changed.”
She says conflict resolution train¬
ing would help build the skills nec¬
essary for people working together
to succeed in their endeavors. In a
more productive manner, Jacobs said
that having conflict resolution train¬
ing available for parents, students,
administrators, and staff is one of the
possible ways of dealing effectively
with “people problems.”
Many students Jacobs has spoken
to feel that “nobody cares whether
they learn or not.” This is a percep¬
tion she wants to change.
An idea that Jacobs says that par¬
ents and schools could benefit from
are parenting classes. Parenting
classes would help teach how to be a
better parent. Successful parents
could share their ideas with others.
She said a viable way of setting up
the parenting classes could be through
a cooperative effort between the
schools, the city, social workers,
and or churches.
In addition, Jacobs said most school
sites are not used in the evenings and
on weekends. She said that tutoring,
mentoring, and other student enrich¬
ment type programs along with rec¬
reation programs should be put into
effect in the evenings and on week¬
ends. She feels that many of the cre¬
ative socializing changes that are
needed would also inherently help
improve school safety.
Jacobs’ experience as a parent
and educator has proven to her that
parental involvement in the educa¬
tional process is essential. She says
parents must provide mental support
and guidance in the home life as well
as being aware and participating in
the school lives of their children.
Jacobs emphasized that all stu¬
dents should be given an opportu¬
nity to develop to the highest of their
potentials. She stresses that there
should be no restrictions on going to
college.
She wants to see multiple mea¬
sures of assessing students rather
than just one standardized test. “As¬
sessment of students should take into
considerati on the f ul 1 background and
experience of each student. This
would allow the innate ability to be
brought out and cultivated,” she said.
Jacobs does not have faith in the
Please see JACOB, Page 7