I
SPORTS
MEN’S BASKETBALL ENDS
ON A HIGH NOTE
Lancers knock off ELAC 65-62
in final game; PCC finishes ^
fourth in SCC, miss playoffs
О
• ONLY AN INCREASE OF 400 FROM LAST SEMESTER
Student count stays constant due to trend
By BEATRIZ VALENZUELA
Courier Staff Writer
Thousands of students cross PCC ’s
campus every week. This semester,
20,911 students are currently regis¬
tered for credit courses for the Spring
1996 session. That is an increase of
about 400 students from the 1995
spring enrollment.
The increase in the spring semes¬
ter is part of a trend. Within the past
five years, the gap between the num¬
ber registered in fall and spring se¬
mesters has been decreasing. Be¬
tween the 1991 and 1993 terms, there
was a difference of about 1,000 stu¬
dents. That number has been steadily
decreasing, according to Dr. Stuart
Wilcox, division dean of admissions
and records.
“This semester has been quite
unusual,” said Wilcox. “This semes¬
ter the spring enrollment is almost
equal to the fall semester totals.”
The difference between fall 1995
and spring 1996 enrollment is only
about 100 students. Considering there
are more than 20,000 students at¬
tending PCC, 100 is not a very large
number, Wilcox said.
Last year, the difference in en¬
rollment between the spring and fall
semesters was still considerably
larger than this semester. There
were about 500 fewer student en¬
rolled for the 1995 spring semester.
A reason for this may be that PCC
has been offering fewer credit classes
between 1991-1993. During that
time, there were more students en¬
rolled at the college than what the
state was paying for, and the college
was losing money. Classes were cut
in order to save money. This helped
students take classes that they needed
to receive their degrees and graduate
sooner. Wilcox believes more stu¬
dents began to concentrate on needed
classes and returned for the spring
semester.
There has also been a four-per-
cent increase in full-time students
within the past four years. That is
roughly a one percent increase each
Please see NUMBERS, Page 3
• ALUMNUS TO
HEAD DEPARTMENT
Purchasing
Director
appointed
By ARDA HAMALIAN
Courier Staff Writer
Former PCC student and teacher,
Edgar Nandkishore, was appointed
the new Director of Purchasing for
the college district, by the Board of
Trustees on Wednesday, Feb. 7.
Nandkishore ’ s predecessor was Mark
Robbins who left the position in
September of 1995.
“A Purchasing Director under¬
takes to contract all district bids and
is the authorized agent of the district
to enter into contracts,” said
Nankishore. “The Board of Trustees
then approves an award based on my
selection.”
“For example, when the district
wanted to build the new Community
Education Center, many architects
submitted bids of how much they
would charge to undertake the
project. It is my responsibility to
make sure the most responsive, re¬
sponsible bidders get the award,” he
said. “I don’t hold the purse strings,
so to speak, but the Purchasing Di¬
rector advises the Board which course
to follow.”
Nandkishore first came to PCC as
a student in 1972. While attending
the college, he focused his interests
on real estate.
In 1976, after receiving his juris
doctorate from Western State Uni¬
versity of Law in Fullerton,
Nandkishore began teaching part-
time at PCC. He taught business law
and real estate courses until the Real
Estate Department was moved from
PCC to the Community Education
programin 1994. Many of his former
Please see DIRECTOR, Page 3
SAMUEL HERNANDEZ
/
THE COURIER
By JOSH JACOBS
Courier Staff Writer
Legendary L.A. disc
jockey Shana has a new
home and a new job as as¬
sistant program director at
89.3 KPCC-FM. Shana
joined the staff of the ra¬
dio station last month.
The well-known disc jockey is
already contributing her ideas to
KPCC programming. “She’s very
impressive,” saidKPCCprogram di¬
rector Larry Mantle. “One reason
she was hired was her enthusiasm
for the job. She said that this job was
designed for her. She has a love for
this kind of work.”
And Shana is enjoying the cam¬
pus atmosphere after spending 20
years in Los Angeles commercial
radio.
“I’m not used to walking out here
on the campus and having lunch,”
said Shana, 42, as she strolled around
PCC. “I usually had to walk back and
forth waiting for a record to end and
would have five minutes to eat. I
HANAI
M KPCC
love this.” She said she especially enjoys getting out and
seeing students.
By coming to KPCC, Shana is returning to her roots.
Originally planning to be an astrophysics major in
college in North Carolina, she turned on the campus
radio station and “fell in love with it.” Then and there,
her career began 25 years .ago in public radio.
“I always loved the radio. Since I was 10, I knew I
would either marry a disc jockey or a singer, I did one and
got the other, “ said the mother of three who’s married
to a vocalist. Shana’s parents were natives of Germany,
and she learned English by watching cartoons and
listening to the radio.
While in college, Shana worked for four radio sta¬
tions, even though it was difficult in the early ’70s for
women to get work as disc jockeys. “I was a fill-in for
male disc jockeys who were too drunk to come to work,”
she said.
After leaving college, Shana went to Wichita for six
months. HavingreadthatSanFrancisco’sNo. 1 Top 40
station, KFRC-AM, “the
BIG 6 1 0,” was looking for a
female personality, she in¬
quired. The audition tape she
sent wasn’t very good, but the
staff liked her personality.
“Thebigbreak came,” she said.
“I had just turned 21 and it was
great, because AM was still in.”
At KFRC, Shana worked with
legends like Dr. Don Rose and Chuck
Buel. “They were just the best group
of people,” she said. After two years
in San Francisco, KFRC’s sister sta¬
tion inLos Angeles, the RKO-owned
KHJ-AM, was looking for a female
disc jockey. Shana got the job, but
“that really scared me, being in the
majors,” she said.
After getting to know the other
Boss Jocks at KHJ such as Bobby
Ocean and Charlie Van Dyke, Shana
felt great. “In the biggest markets,
we are never competitors over the
air. We’re just people, friends. We
help each other out when we can.”
Following KHJ, she went to KEZY-
Please see SHANA, Page 4
• THEATER IN LONDON TRIP
MOVES FORWARD AMID
TERRORISM IN ENGLAND'S
CAPITAL CITY
The Show
Must Go On
By GILBERT RIVERA, Courier Staff Writer
Public Relations Officer Mark Wallace remembers
1994’s version of Theater in London pretty well.
A day after arriving in Heathrow Airportjustl5
miles east of England’s bustling capital city, four mili¬
tary shells landed on one of the airport’s terminals. The
shells were unarmed and didn’t explode, however, and
no one was injured.
The British papers the next day pointed a finger at the
Irish Republican Army. “The papers said that the IRA
was trying to show that they could park their missile
launchers anywhere on the perimeter of the airport,” said
Wallace, who at the time was a first-time participant in
the PCC sponsored Theater in London program.
The incident, however, didn’t send him packing back
to the United States. The undaunted Wallace knew
beforehand about the difficulties that already existed
between the IRA and the British government.
As for the 7 million British who call London home,
it’s something they have been dealing with for a quarter
of a century.
The IRA’s violent and lengthy campaign to end
British control over six Northern Ireland Counties and to
unite the region with the predominantly Roman Catholic
Irish Republic to the south could not have been clearer
two-weeks ago. The 500-pound bomb that killed two in
London’s east end on Feb. 9 was the first of three terrorist
acts in just 10 days within the London district. It also
shattered the truce between the IRA and the British
government which began in August of 1994.
Explosions. Three dead. Terrorism in London. A
broken truce between two uncooperative participants.
Has that caused the college to pull its Theater in London
program for the first time since it began 12 years ago?
“Absolutely not,” said Amy Ulmer, English instruc¬
tor, who will co-lead this year’s March 8 to 17 trip along
with English professor Patricia Savoie. “The IRA isn’t
interested in PCC.”
This year, the college will send its largest group ever
in the Theater in London program. Fifty-one will travel
across the Atlantic for visits to Cambridge and Ely. They
Please see THEATER, Page 5
• BALLOT MEASURE TO FUND PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION WILD ART
PCC, public schools await fate of Proposition 203
By JOSE INOSTROZ
Courier Staff Writer
Pasadena City College could re¬
ceive up to $25 million if a majority
of California’s voters approve Propo¬
sition 203, a capital outlay bond
measure that would provide K-12,
community colleges and universi¬
ties with badly needed funds for
construction, restoration, and earth¬
quake retrofitting of buildings.
The Pasadena Unified School
District, along with the school dis¬
tricts in the San Gabriel Valley, will
also benefit by receiving up to $62
million.
With overwhelming support from
Gov. Pete Wilson and the state leg¬
islature, Proposi¬
tion 203 was ap¬
proved for inclu¬
sion on the
March ballot.
The proposition
required passage
of an election
code waiver bill,
which the legis¬
lature also ap¬
proved in Janu¬
ary.
Defeat of sev¬
eral bond measures in 1 994 caused a
backlog of projects in higher educa¬
tion and the state’s public schools.
With enrollment beginning to
climb significantly and many older
THE RUN DOWN ON '203'
♦ California voters will
decide its fate when it
appears on the March ballot
♦ The $3 billion capital
outlay bond will fund all
sectors of California public
education
♦ If passed PCC will get
$25 million
buildings in
need of seismic
upgrade or im¬
provements in
their technologi¬
cal capabilities,
the need for a
capital funding
bond measure
has never been
more critical.
Community
colleges have a
$1.3 billion
backlog with $190 million worth of
projects that have been approved by
the state but have not been funded.
That need is evident on this cam¬
pus since the money would be used
to fund the remodeling of the old
library, located between the CC
Building and the D Building, into a
new student services building.
The funds will also help with the
construction of a athletic complex
and sports field next to Del Mar
Boulevard to replace the existing 67 -
year-old Men’s Gym. The physical
education complex is part of PCC’ s
Master Plan which includes the com¬
pleted Shatford Library, the five-
story parking structure, and the near
complete Community Skills/Educa¬
tion Center.
If voters approve the measure, the
Men’s Gym and field will be con¬
structed to provide added instruc-
Please see PROP. 203, Page 3
PJ. DATRI/ THE COURIER
An untitled work by artist Gul Cagin, one of the entrants in the PCC
Annual Art Contest. See story on Page 4.