EDITORIAL
NEWS FEATURES
SPORTS
Bookstore $$
Is a cornered-market fair to the
students? Page 2
Humanities
Joe and Maria DiMassa team up to teach course.
Page 3
Season Ends
Fullerton eliminates Lancers
from playoffs. page 4
The
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
Vol. 73 No. 2
COURIER
Thursday
February 28, 1991
Newsline Vons strategy targets Latino needs
ELECTRIC VEHICLES
Want to know more about electric
cars and alternate energy sources? Then
attend the multi-media presentation
sponsored by the engineering and tech¬
nology on March 2 at 1 p.m. in the
Forum. Guest speaker is Paul Mac-
Crcady, the “father of human-pow¬
ered Hight.”
Don’t let the future be a shock.
Come learn how and why alternative
sources of energy are important. For
more information, please call (818)
578-7267 or (818) 585-7267.
INCAR RALLY
The International Committee
Against Racism (INCAR) continues its
protest of the U.S. involvement in the
Persian Gulf.
INCAR members have organized a
demonstration at noon today in front of
the the armed services recruitment office
across the street from the campus on
Colorado Boulevard.
TAX WORKSHOP
The AS and Student Activities arc
sponsoring three tax return workshops
geared to help students with their taxes.
The workshops are free and will be
held in the Campus Center, 220, on:
March 14 and March 28, from 4:30 to
6:30 p.m.; and March 20, from 3 to 5
p.m.
Interested students are advised to
bring the following: W-2 form for 1990,
1040 EX (or 1040 short forms only),
state and federal booklets and forms,
1099 Dividend Earnings form, PCC
student ID and pens and pencils.
AUDITIONS
Actors, singers, dancers and state
technicians are needed for “GUYS AND
DOLLS”. Auditions are as follows:
Feb. 28, at7 p.m. in the Sexson audito¬
rium, March 1 , at 7 p.m. in the Sexson
auditorium, and March 2, at 10 a.m. in
Harbeson Hall.
For more information, call Don
Brinegar at (818) 585-7124.
WRITER’S FORUM
Whether you are a practiced pro¬
fessional writer with credits, or a
“ wannnabe” writer who needs a bit of
a shove, you’ll find the writer’s forum
to be very helpful.
Guest speakers from every field of
writing tell you the tricks of their trade.
Whether your writing interests arcchil-
dren’s stories, mystery novels, biogra¬
phies, TV writing, magazine articles,
or even if you aren’t sure, the writers’
forum is for you.
To register in person, pick up your
registration form in Cl 17 between 8
a.m. and 4:30 p.m. To Register, call
(8 1 8) 585-7608 for Visa or MasterCard
orders.
GULF WAR DEBATE
The PCC Peace Coalition for will
sponsored a debate featuring the pros
and cons of the war in the Middle East.
The debate will be held in the quad
Tuesday, March 5 at noon.
For more information, contact Paul
Hannosh at (818) 585-7384.
INDEX
Opinion
Editorial
News Features
By CHRIS LANGREHR
Staff Writer
By the year 2010, more than 40
percent of the Southern California popu¬
lation will be Latino. Therefore, companies
need to understand how to market to an
ethnically diverse community.
Bill Davila, presidentand chief operating
officer of Vons, told students at a social
science forum Tuesday how Vons is ad¬
dressing the needs of the growing Latino
community.
Davila said, in planning a Latino store,
you need more than Latino products and
bilingual personnel. “It requires good loca¬
tion, appropriate design, and bilingual sig¬
nage and labels. Above all else, it requires
insight into the needs and desires of Latino
shoppers.”
Vons acquired these insights by visiting
food stores in Mexico and central and
South America, and studying their cul¬
tures, products and customs.
In January 1987, Vons opened its first
store targeted at the Latino market called
“Tiaguis,” which is an Aztec word mean¬
ing “the marketplace.”
“Four years after the opening of the first
Tiaguis, it became a uemendous success,”
said Davila. “It was the first major
breakthrough by a chain-store, that meets
the needs of the Latino food shopper. We
currently have eight stores and are hoping
to soon have fifteen. Tiaguis stores will be
going into predominately Latino commu¬
nities, with the criteria for such being that
60 percent of the surrounding area residents,
within a two mile radius, must have Latino
surnames. This project has been in devel¬
opment for over two years, so far costing
over $2 million. Vons has created a sepa¬
rate, specialized management team for Tiaguis
stores, focused on the needs of Latino
shoppers. “We’ve discovered tremendous
opportunity exists when we put our custom¬
ers first,” said Davila.
“Vons recognizes the importance of
the Hispanic market. It is very important to
the future of our company. We also recog¬
nize that if we are to be a successful group
Rain at last!
John E. Quintanilla /The COURIER
Julie Venegas and Robert Fernandez get caught in the rain yesterday, which was welcomed by the drought-stricken area.
of food retailers, we have to learn how to
serve the food needs of the fastest growing
segment of our food market.”
“The potential winners in business are
those who are flexible, listen and respond."
A sure bet for losing is to focus on your com¬
petition instead of your customer,” said
Davila. “Losers forget that no matter how
automated our technological systems be¬
come, they are still dependenton the people
that operate them.”
“When push comes to shove it’s the
people you have in the market dealing with
the consumers that really make a differ¬
ence,” Davila said. “Trained people are the
most important assets of any business."
Farm workers
picket Davila
presentation
The United Farm Workers pickets greeted
Bill Davila when he arrived to speak at the
forum Tuesday. Five PCC security officers
were present to ensure Davila’s speech was
not disrupted.
Once his presentation began, protesters
began walking into the Forum carrying
banners. However, the speech went on
without interruption.
Public Action Director, Barbara Ritter
said, “Vons agreed not to advertise or pro¬
mote grapes that contain cancer causing
pesticides. Vons broke that promise. The
pesticides cause workers in the field to
develop cancer and also cause birth defects
in children.."
Ritter said it’s not the issue of Vons
carrying the pesticide covered grapes.
United Workers just asked Vons not adver¬
tise them. Davila said Vons is not buying
grapes to injure anybody.
‘ ‘We feel we have to offer our customers
the choice of buying a product or not. We
also abide by what the state and federal
regulators consider a safe product.
“We have no ax to grind with of any of
the workers or the people who represent
them,” said Davila.
-CHRIS LANGREHR
Ruling against high school dropouts deferred until June 30
Sports
By CANDY DANIELSON
Staff Writer
The controversial December ruling by
the U. S. Department of Education to deny
high school dropouts federal aid and admis¬
sion to community colleges has been post¬
poned until June 30.
The postponment came about after the
California Commuity College Chancellor
David Merles challenged the courts.
The halt resulted from several temporary
restraining orders granted by the U. S. Dis¬
trict Court in San Francisco, and effectively
blocks any further implementation to the
federal ruling until mid-year.
The surpriseing apparatus of the commu¬
nity colleges was dealt with by the federal
Department of Education in the following
forms: a time- squeezed, 1 1 ih hour ruling at
year-end just as the colleges were preparing
to enroll thousands of students for the spring
semester; and the overt threat to community
colleges that federal aid in the millions would
be withheld for non-compliance.
The core of the controversy is the regula¬
tion’s requirement that prospective commu¬
nity college students who lack a high school
diploma must take and pass an equivalency
test before admission.
The Student Loan Default Prevention
Initiative Act of the Omnibus Budget Rec¬
onciliation passed by Congress last year,
was designed as one of many avenues for
cutbacks to help reduce the federal budget
deficit.
The stringent rule indiscriminately tar¬
gets all non-high school graduates who re¬
quest federal aid as high-risk students and
the likely future drop-outs who will default
on their loans, further exacerbating the defi¬
cit.
The original ruling , which was prccei ved
by many as a direct attack on California
community college's "open enrollment" pol¬
icy , drew no distinction between non-high
school graduates who do and those who do
not request federal aid. A modification
since then, limits testing only to federal fi¬
nancial aid applicants.
According to the U. S. Department of
Education, the intent of these is to demon¬
strate which students possess the basic abil¬
ity necessary to benefit from taking commu¬
nity college courses.
There is a presumption by the federal
government that if students requesting fed¬
eral aid pass such tests, they would be less
likely to drop out and default on their loans.
According to Dr. Jack Scott, superinten¬
dent-president, students lacking high school
diplomas have been erroneously targeted as
the likely causes of future loan defaults.
Scott identified California’s proprietary
schools (which arc also receive federal aid)
as the instutions most responsible for “very
high” rates of student loan defaults.
Currently working in tandem with the
Chancellor’s office during this period is
Rep. George Miller (D-Mariinez), whose
Washington aide for educational matters,
Diane Shusl, said that Miller hastily devised
legislation “providing the quick technical
corrections needed so that the colleges can
be functioning.”
The Community College Chancellor in¬
tends to press Congress for an amended law
applying only to private schools. If such an
amendment should fail to pass in Congress
before July 1 , they expect another round of
confrontations on this issue in the courts.
Student loan defaulters beware of wage garnishments
Community college students plan¬
ning to apply for federal government-
guaranteed loans to pursue their educa¬
tion should be aware of certain provi¬
sions in President Bush’s proposed budget
which advocate wage garnishment as a
solution to the growing problem of
student loan defaults.
As the proposed budget moves through
the committee process on Capitol Hill,
more will be heard on this issue from
individual members of Congress. One of
the first to speak out forcefully is Rep.
Clyde C. Holloway (R-La.) who flatly
declared that “there should be an end to
the gravy train.”
In a recent speech to House colleagues
citing the latest available figures through
the end of 1990, the Congressman dis¬
closed that “outstanding student loans under
the government-guaranteed program to¬
taled nearly S53 billion, roughly double the
amount in 1982.” He also quoted an
increase in gross default rates “from about
12 percent in 1980 to 16 percent last year.”
Holloway believes that “those who will¬
fully fail to repay their student loans should
be required in some way to pay.” He cited
the President’s proposal as a remedy which
would “authorize wage garnishment to
those who default on student loans repay¬
ments and would let slate and federal
agencies trade information to locate
them.” He added that the proposal
would also require debtors to show
hardship before having their default
forgiven through bankruptcy.
In another reference to the proposed
budget, the Congressman said “no one
can be happy with a federal budget which
is hundreds of billions of dollars in the
red.”
He called the loan defaults which
contribute to the deficit “a disgrace”
and added “it is high time those who
have benefited from the government’s
good will to pay the piper.”
-CANDY DANIELSON