PCC Courier, January 09, 1981

76 TROMBONES? — No — complete with their individual amplifiers, the numbers, the choristers seemed pleased to represent PCC in Pasadena's PCC Swing Choir singers added to the Rose Parade a sound other than the 92nd annual New Year's parade brassy resonance of the many bands Smiling as they sang patriotic —Courier photo by Larry Goren ASB Office Still Empty By Cheryl Robinson Staff Writer The office of the Associated Student Body president apparently will remain vacant until Feb. 19 when the spring ’81 ASB cabinet is elected. Since Dec. 17, when Jorge Caamano, former ASB president, resigned from his position due to scholastic ineligibili¬ ty, no one has been appointed to fill the vacant office. According to the ASB constitution, if the president leaves office, the ASB vice president automatically assumes the position. However, Charles Sifuentes, ASB vice president, said he has non-school related reasons for not assuming the presidency for the remainder of the semester. In light of Sifuentes’ refusal to fill the role, according to the ASB constitu¬ tion, Shelley Winnaman, sophomore class president, would assume respon¬ sibility. It has been questioned whether Si¬ fuentes is currently enrolled in the 10 units necessary to maintain scholastic eligibility for either his office or the presidential position. In fact, there is some doubt whether Ms. Winnaman or Gordon Robinson, freshman class pres¬ ident, remain scholastically eligible for the offices they now hold. Jennifer McKinney, Student Activities adviser, who ran the record check that found Caamano ineligible, does not think she will check on the other ASB Board members’ eligibility. “At this point I don’t know whether I need to, because it’s so late in the ball game,’’ she said. Ms. McKinney feels the 10-unit re¬ quirement, mandatory for all those wishing to hold ASB office, should be lowered to eight, the standard upheld by many community colleges. “Eight units is a good level for those involved in student government be¬ cause they will still have time to meet their other goals and priorities,” she said. She feels a lot of students would like to get involved, but have part-time jobs and feel they could not handle 10 units successfully. In the two remaining ASB meetings before the semester’s end, the ASB Board can still vote on issues as long as they obtain a quorum. Ms. McKinney said the Board has no more pressing issues or action to carry out except for planning the end of semester recog¬ nition banquet. “I think we’ve been losing attendance in the past few ASB meetings due to students’ increasing scholastic priorities,” she added. “Each semester, ASB is a situation all in itself. The personalities of the students involved will affect their per¬ formance,” Ms. McKinney said. Also Pass Grading, Probation Changes Trustees Vote on English Classes By Sylvia Cann Editor-in-Chief In response to concerns of the Eng¬ lish Department that English basic skills at PCC are declining, the Pasa¬ dena Area Community College District Board of Trustees voted at its Dec. 18 meeting on several curriculum changes to take place in the fall. The vote was approved with Trustees Rog¬ er Gertmenian and David Hannah ab¬ staining. Dr. Gary Adams, Board clerk, was absent. English 432, a basic reading course geared for students who use English as a second language and for those with similar reading limitations, was ap¬ proved as a new class by the Board. Two three-hour-a-week courses, English 400 and 100, will be extended to four hours a week next fall as a result of the Board’s vote. If students do not qualify for English 1A they are re¬ quired to take English 100. If, after completing this course, these students are still not up to 1A standards, they must take English 400. The vote to increase the hours of the two basic skills courses came as a result of Trustee Richard Green’s sug¬ gestion to convert two classes to four hours a week instead of having labs to increase emphasis on English. Whether to incorporate labs as a means of pulling up students’ basic skills' in English has been debated by the Board for the past few weeks. The trustees also voted to change English 132, a three-unit reading skills course, into three one-unit classes, 132 A, В and C. Each module in this modular/mastery course is designed to help students move to a more ad¬ vanced level of reading. The student must pass one module before moving to the next. The Board also decided to delete the proposed English 3, a separate re¬ search paper course which would allow the research paper segment to be taken out of English 1A. In addition, the trustees approved inclusion of the placement testing pro¬ gram. This program involves using students scores on the English portion of the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills to decide placement in freshman composition courses, according to Dr. Stanley Gunstream, vice president for Instruction. In other action, the Board voted 5-1 to approve policy changes in grading, probation and dismissal to be included in the 1981-82 College Bulletin. Gertme- ASB Reexamines Early Term Plan By John Vande Wege Cheryl Robinson The possibility of an early semester program is being reexamined by the Student Curriculum Committee and the Associated Student Body Executive Board. The proposal will be on the ballot for the student, elections to be held Feb. 18 and 19. If a favorable response is received from students, the ASB will make a formal request to the Board of Trustees. If the new schedule is adopted, stu¬ dents would end the fall semester before Christmas vacation, thereby creating a three-week recess between the two semesters. Presently, after a two-week break for the holidays, two more weeks of classes remain before finals begin. Some students and faculty have called the present system a con¬ tributor to a low morale and work attitude that seems to occur after the holidays. One possible calendar discussed calls for the first semester to begin on Aug. 15 and continue until Dec. 15. The second semester would run from Jan. 2 to May 15, allowing for two six-week summer sessions. Fifty-one percent of junior colleges now follow this type of schedule, ac¬ cording to Alvar Kauti, dean of Student Activities. He feels there is a trend toward the early semester and said the new schedule might be enacted here for the 1982-83 school year. Several California junior colleges are now following the early schedule in a pilot program to test its effective¬ ness. El Camino College, a former participant, returned to the late sched¬ ule when they experienced a decline in student enrollment. The pilot program hopes to measure faculty opinion and the degree of student interest in retain¬ ing the early schedule on a permanent basis. Leonard Shymoniak, research analyst for the Chancellor of California Community Colleges, said, “Six of the colleges are participating in a pilot flexible calendar program which re¬ duces the 176-day minimum attendance requirement to 160. This makes for greater flexibility and opens up a lot of scheduling possibilities. Those not un¬ der the program have a harder time readjusting but most have stayed with it.” According to Shymoniak, those colleges that have instituted an early start have found that students try harder, attend more classes, and show higher morale than under the tradi¬ tional calendar. By changing to an early semester program, the transfer student at PCC. would benefit the most. “Most state colleges and universities in California operate under an early scheduling sys- ( Continued on Page 3) nian abstained, saying he needed more time to consider a vote on the board report. The changes proposed in the board report included making the deadline for class drops initiated by the student or teacher be the 12th Friday of the semester and the deadline for withdrawal from the college will be the 14th Friday instead of the current 16th Friday. Another change recommended in the board report involved the time given to make up a grade of Incomplete. Cur¬ rently, the Incomplete should be made up in the next semester of enrollment, and no penalty is given if it is not made up. The Board’s approval changes the time frame for makeup to one year and means the units will be considered as attempted for purposes of grade point computation. Other changes that will take place as a result ot the Board’s vote are in academic and progress probation, re¬ peat of substandard work and dis¬ missal. Academic and progress probation now must be based on 12 or more cumulative units attempted instead of semester by semester. A course may be repeated if a student receives a substandard grade (D, F or NC |no creditl). If that student receives a grade of C or better, the first grade may be disregarded. A student may be dismissed if he or she earns a grade point average below 1.75 for more than two semesters while on academic probation. That student may dismissed for lack of progress if 50 percent of the units attempted are W (withdrawal), I (incomplete) or NC in two consecutive semesters while on progress probation. 1 8-Year-Old Men Must Register Now Two Campus Groups Protest Draft Mandatory draft registration of 18- year-old males, that started Jan. 4 at U.S. post offices, has evoked opposition from some PCC students. On Dec. 16, students gathered in the PCC free speech area for the Interna¬ tional Committee Against Racism ral¬ ly and then again on Dec. 18 for an anti¬ draft rally. The group of 12 InCAR members gathered and marched through campus to a military office on Colorado Boulevard in protest of military re¬ cruiters on campus. Through a number of speeches, club members tried to persuade other stu¬ dents to “join the fight against im¬ perialism. racism and facism,” which they said is amplified by the military presence on campus. “The recruiters are helping build for war,” said one club member. “The recruiters are all over the place,” said Jennie Cohen, InCAR member. “They are always wandering around campus and talking to stu¬ dents,” she said. However, according to Dr. Irvin G. • Lewis, vice president of Student Per¬ sonnel Services, the military can come on campus only to give students in¬ formation and not in a recruiting capability. “The rally is a kick-off campaign of an anti-war movement,” said one club member who refused to be named. “It will take a movement of millions of people to fight back war plans of the bosses.” Club members walked through cam¬ pus displaying numerous posters and chanting “One, two, three, four, we won’t fight the bosses’ war,” along with other slogans. At one point the group was asked to move on because they were causing a disturbance. “The problem was with amplification,” said A1 Kauti, dean of Student Activities. “The free speech area is the designated area for pro¬ grams,” said Kauti. Outside of the military office, the group marched around for approx¬ imately 10 minutes in a circle chanting, then returned to campus. Among the speakers at the anti-draft rally on Thursday was Phyllis Bennis from the May 4th Anti-Draft Coalition, an organization formed to fight the draft. Ms. Bennis related that there are two kinds of draft. “There already is one kind of draft, the poverty draft. The lack of jobs in poor communities, especially for blacks and Latinos, forces young men and women into the army,” she said. “Resistance is easy to do. The facts have already been estimated that a half a million people won’t register this January. If you register you invite the draft," said Michael Carlin, a PCC student. Signs with slogans such as, “What if Ray Gun gave a war and nobody came” to “Don’t register for World War Three, the war without winners,” lined the free speech area. The Gas Moguls played music be¬ tween the speakers. Carlin said, “The Gas Moguls were very supportive.” The band wrote a special song for the rally titled, “Don’t join, or you’ll crash and burn.” No Clues Yet In Counselor Disappearance No new leads have been uncovered by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s of¬ ficers in their investigation of the disappearance of Donald DePledge, a member of the PCC applied arts coun¬ seling team. DePledge, who disappeared Dec. 9 after dropping his roommate off at work, is a resident of Sierra Madre. The missing person investigation was initially handled by the Sierra Madre Police, who later turned it over to the Sheriff’s Department, because of a lack of staff for the detailed investiga¬ tion. The Sheriff’s Department has dis¬ counted the theory that DePledge has gone to Mexico, after talking to friends of his there, according to Det. John Cordischi of the SMPD. DePledge had earlier scheduled a vacation in Mexico during the winter break. Students Speak Out On Draft Registration PCC students were asked about their response to the recent draft registration and whether President elect Ronald Reagan would change the registration program. Mark Wes Matlock, 18 years, first semester: “I have mixed emotions about the draft; I think I would join the ROTC first so that I could go in as an officer. Right now I am not going to register but rather wait on Reagan because he may repeal it (the draft).” Kent Kishi, 19 years, third semester: “I have already registered, but only because I had no other choice. I look better in green (army fatigues) than in black and white (prison fatigues).” Peter Thompson, 19 years, first semester: “I registered because it was the law. I think the United States should build up its military forces. I would be willing to fight for U.S. freedom.” Ray Bias, 18 years, first semester: “I’m going to register but only be¬ cause if I don’t, I am eligible for a $10,000 fine or five years in jail. There’s nothing wrong with Reagan building up the military, but I don’t think that women should fight.” Martin Lathrop, 18 years, first semester: “The, draft is good for the nation; the military is not ready for war right now, and I think the next war will be a conventional one. I am going to register today.” Juanita Wright, 19 years, third semester: “I’m against the draft, why should we (the blacks) fight somewhere else when we haven’t even accomplished our civil rights here at home. I am only for the draft if someone threatens U.S. freedom and then I think they should take women as much as the brothers (men). Personally I think we are heading for war with Reagan.”