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Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
Vol. 75 No. 2
The
COURIER
Serving the PCCCommunity for 75 years
Thursday
February 25, 1993
Preference
proposal
draws fire
By ALFREDO SANTANA
News Editor
Saying that they don’t have enough
money to educate all students, com¬
munity college officials are consid¬
ering a plan to give enrollment pref¬
erence to young students with well-
defined educational goals or spe¬
cific majors.
The plan
would limit the
educational op¬
portunities of
older students
who have re¬
turned to the two-
year institutions
for job training
or to continue
their education.
State college
officials say en¬
rollment prefer¬
ences are needed
because budget
cutbacks im¬
posed by the state
-■ — - . . ■■ government have
left the community college system
unable to provide classes for the
system’s 1.5 million students.
Ann Reed, vice chancellor of the
California community college sys¬
tem said that because the school’s
lack of space to acommodate stu¬
dents, about 100,000 of them were
turned away by the 107 two-year
colleges.
The preference plan establishes
two categories of students: those
‘Open
access [to
community
college
education]
is already
vanishing
in
California,’
Dr. Jack Scott,
superintendent-
president
who have and those who have not
decided what academic goals they
are pursuing. Students who plan to
transfer to four-year universities or
get vocational degrees would get
class preference.
There would also be a ranking
within these two categories. Con¬
tinuing college students would re¬
ceive top priority, followed by high
school graduates and new and re¬
turning students without college
degrees. Those who have bachelor’s
degrees enrolled in the institutions
would come at the end.
The preference plan is currently
under scrutiny by state college offi¬
cials. It will be formally presented to
the California community college’s
Board of Governors in March for
discussion. Afterreviewingtheplan,
they are expected to vote on it.
“Matriculated students have edu¬
cational goals and educational plans.
They are making progress to meet
those goals and plans,” Reed said.
“They need to get their degrees to
move out to make spots for the next
students.”
She said the plan was drafted
because “the state Legislature keeps
asking us, ‘When there are not enough
seats, who gets the seats, and in what
basis?’
“Otherwise the Legislature would
have come up with their own plan,
and we don’t want that,” Reed said.
According to Reed, approximately
60 community colleges across the
states are setting enrollment prefer¬
ences without state mandate. She
See, “PRIORITIES,” page 4
Sign of the Times
EXCUSE ME, BUT
ARE YOU...?
A student
eloquently answers
the most-asked
question heard on
campus parking
lots. Neither
parking, fee
increases, reduced
classes and a pared
down faculty will
deter a student’s
determination. He’s
not leaving.
Photo by NATHAN
WOOD/ The
COURIER
Police orders evacuation
Classes disrupted as C Building air vents fill with fumes
By RODNEY MITCHELL
Staff Writer
An invisible assailant disrupted
night classes and sent students and
staff scurrying for safety Feb. 17.
Noxious fumes filled classrooms on
the second floor of C building,
prompting campus police and safety
officials to order an entire building
evacuation.
Police said they suspect foul play
in that incident and will investigate
the incident further.
Helen Levia, a college employee,
reported the incident to campus
police when fumes emitting from
the air vents became overwhelm¬
ing. Campus police ordered an en¬
tire building evacuation involving
more than 500 students and staff.
Sgt. Vince Palermo, supervisor of
all security forces on campus, de¬
scribed the evacuation as smooth
and orderly.
Assisted by the City of Pasadena
fire department, campus police con¬
ducted a room-to-room search of the
entire building, primarily looking
for any incendiary devices, such as
smoke bombs and tear gas canisters.
In a supposition, Palermo stated
that mace or tear gas may have been
dispersed into one of the main air
ducts, which would explain how the
fumes spread throughout the build¬
ing. Studentsand staff werekeptout
of the building until Dr. James
Kossler, assistant superintendent of
administrative services, gave the all-
clear.
Some students and staff com¬
plained of mild chest pains and eye
irritation from the fumes.
Campus police have made no arrest
in connection with this incident.
Police suspect that the incident was
the result of a prank. However, the
person responsible for this incident
endangered the lives of 500 students
and staff and will face serious con¬
sequences if caught, a campus po¬
lice official said.
Palermo said that there have not
been any incidents of this kind for
quite some time. However, he said
during final examinations and mid¬
terms, building evacuations are some¬
times frequent due to unfounded bomb
threats. These are called in mostly
by students, campus police and safety
officials said.
Campus police officials suggest
that students familiarize themselves
with emergency procedures that are
posted in most classrooms through¬
out the campus.
These include information about
fire evacuation alarm signals. This
alarm consists of intermittent 10
seconds, two seconds and 10 sec¬
onds signals, followed by a longer
alarm of five seconds to signal an
all-clear.
Other information include tele¬
phone numbers to call in case of an
emergency, explosion, earthquake,
chemical or radiation spill, air raid
ornuclear attack, utility failure, duty
assignments and medical and first
aid.
Rainy weather hampers
new library construction
Photo by ANDREW ZIMA
/
The COURIER
Despite of heavy rains, construction continues to progress for the
Walter Shatford Library, set to open in the Fall of 1993.
□ After wind and
rain present building
problems,
contractors for the
new Walter Shatford
Library struggle to
meet scheduled
opening.
By ELIZABETH SCHMIDT
Staff Writer
Groundbreaking ceremonies for
PCC’s new library were held Sept.
1991, and the weather has been play¬
ing unfriendly tricks ever since.
The first disaster, Hurricane
Andrew, hit southern Florida last
April. According to Ernie Church,
director of facilities services, the
main contractor for the new Walter
Shatford library, Moran Construc¬
tion, had secured a huge order of
steel beams and other materials tor
the project.
However, when Florida builders
were desperate for materials, the
supplier used the materials for hurri¬
cane repairs. Although this delayed
the PCC project, Moran Construc¬
tion was able to resume the original
schedule a few months later.
Everything looked good by De¬
cember, with concrete roof panels in
place and a thin temporary water¬
proof coating applied in case of rain.
Unfortunately , the heavy Decem¬
ber rains exceeded the strength of
the waterproofing, and the concrete
panels became watersoaked. Dow¬
ell said it takes at least five days of
warm weather to dry out the con¬
crete. But every time the roof began
to dry it rained again. Despite a
variety of plastic roof coverings, the
wind continued to rip off enough of
the covering to allow leakage.
To make matters worse, when
the windows were ready for glazing,
the installation subcontractor went
bankrupt.
As a result, January and February
storms blew rain into the open win¬
dows, wetting some of the drywall.
Fortunately, the drywall contractor
guaranteed replacement for any
drywall damage from their work being
done before the roof and windows.
Church says that work is still far
behind schedule, because almost all
the finish work with other subcon¬
tractors now has to wait until the
roof and windows are in place.
However he said he is confident that
Moran Construction will be able to
accelerate the schedule as soon as
the roof is done.
According to library director David
Dowell, one unexpected benefit of
California’s economic troubles has
been that many first-class subcon¬
tractors and specialists are available
for reasonable wages. This was first
evident with the original contractor
bids for the library — PCC ended up
with a much better deal than first
expected. There was so much com¬
petition for the contract that several
items in the original plans, cut by
state officials for budget reasons,
were replaced at no cost in contrac-
Please see, “LIBRARY,” page4
Campus police
suspect theft an
inside operation
By RODNEY MITCHELL
Staff Writer
A mock radio station in the C
building where broadcast students
practice their skills on state-of-
the-art equipment lost $4,000
worth of brand new broadcast
equipment in a burglary that
campus police describe as an “in¬
side job.”
Michael Bloebaum, chairman
of the communications depart¬
ment, reported the theft at ap¬
proximately 10:30 a.m., Tuesday
Feb. 23.
However, he said that he sus¬
pects that the theft took place
over the weekend.
Bloebaum reported that the
items missing include a reel to
reel tape recorder valued at $3,500
and two microphones valued at
$250 each missing out of C114in
the basement of the C building.
“When equipment is open to
the public, of course, sometimes
theft occurs,” he said.
Campus police and safety of¬
ficials suspect that a student or
staff were responsible for the
theft because there was no evi¬
dence of forced entry.
Police said that either the door
to the room was inadverdently
left open or the thief or thieves
had a key. The thieves also had
enough time to unbolt the reel-to-
reel tape recorder from the furni¬
ture stand it was attached to.
Officer Leroy Henderson of
campus police and safety said
that the area where the equip¬
ment was stolen did not have any
kind of alarm system.
He also said that students and
staff should ensure that their ar¬
eas are secured after use. “Secu¬
rity is everybody’s business,” said
Henderson.
Henderson concluded that
sometimes staff members and
students unlock doors to use the
equipment and then forget to
lock the doors again.