PCC Courier, January 14, 1988

Lancers Upset Dixie (Utah) For CCHC Title Page 4 Pornography : Pro or Con? Page 2 Lady Hoops Start SCC With Win Page 5 COURIER VOL. 65, NO. 16 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA JANUARY 14, 1988 PCC Mourns Death By Chris Bengford Special Correspondent Bob DePew, professor of Life Scien¬ ces, passed away Friday, Jan. 8, from a massive heart attack. “He had no history of any heart problems,” said Dr. Mel Stehsel, Life Sciences professor who shared an of¬ fice with DePew for the past 23 years. “His abscence has left a complete void here.” Depew, 65, had been at PCC since 1956 and planned to retire in June. In the course of his life DePew played professional football for the Cleveland Browns, worked on the Man¬ hattan Project, served in the Navy from 1942-1946 and traveled through 100 different countries. In an interview two weeks before his death, He acknowledged that “he had seen most everything in this world.” The news of DePew’s death, when announced to his classes, shocked his students who had come to know and love him. DePew is survived by one daughter, Denise Carr, who resides in Glendora, and his sister, Mary Jean Jones of Elkhart, Indiana. Funeral services were held on Tues¬ day at Glenkirk Presbyterian Church in Glendora. Courier/Jay Dorfman Sitting behind his new desk, Jose Rodriguez is now the AS president. Oberholtzer Stuns Board By Calling It Quits By Mark McElrea News Editor In a surprise development that sent shock waves rippling through the audience at the last Board of Trustees meeting, Lance Oberholtzer, who assumed the AS presidency follow¬ ing Brendan O'Brien’s ouster, decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if he resigned. Oberholtzer’s decision brought an end to the 47-day conflict over who was legally the president. “Nobody directly forced me into this decision,” Ob¬ erholtzer said. “But Dr. Scott (Superintendant-President) put it to me this way: ‘Lance, you can either resign, which means that everyone accepting your resignation has admitted you were the president, or you can face the expectation of being forced to resign.’ ” The ongoing controversy reached the Board of Trustees on Nov. 26 when Jose Rodrigues, along with his attorney Sue Sweetman, informed them that unless Rodrigues was installed as president, a suit would be filed against the college. It was their contention that upon the removal of the president, the vice-president then becomes president. The college on the other hand, declaired Oberholtzer the new president because he had come in second in the presidential race. Rodrigues and Sweetman agreed to the idea of a re- election as a means to end the dispute, but threatened legal action unless such a decision was reached by Dec. 18 — the day following the Board meeting. Oberholtzer refused to agreed to a new election. “It would be an admission that I did not belong in office.” Oberholtzer said. Oberholtzer feels that the threat of legal action was the primary reason that he no longer received the full support of the college for his presidency even though County Counsel fully backed his position. “I once attended a Board meeting and saw a student stand up to address an injustice without an attorney present. Nothing was ever heard of his problem again,” Oberholtzer said. “I thought about seeking legal action, but what would be the point. Litigation could take up to four years to resolve. I did not run for office to be president four years from now.” Oberholtzer’s decision to resign caught everyone by surprise. Scott had opened the discussion at the Dec. 17 Board meeting by informing everyone that as late as 4:30 p.m. no progress had been made in resolving the problem. “I was surprised at first,” said Jose Rodrigues, who after the announcement officially became the president as decreed in the AS Constitution. “But after I thought about it, I realized that he has been thinking about such an action for some time.” The new president has appointed Louis Zamorano as executive vice-president. One of Rodrigues’ main objectives this semester is to have the AS Constitution rewritten. “We're looking into the possibility of bringing in a former student who has experience in student government at- PGG;”- Rodrigues -said, “This is the second time an incident of this nature has taken place. I want to ensure that a third never happens.” Forensics: No. 1 in U.S.? By Paul Allen Editor-in-Chief The communications program at Pasadena City College is one of the more reputable when matching talents with fellow city colleges. The radio and television program’s have “Working World” placement records that are impressive. But when mentioning communica¬ tions and PCC in the same breath, somehow the topic of forensics gets overlooked. Fact is, PCC has one of the best forensics teams in the nation and they showcased their talents to two-year and four-year schools Jan. 2 and third at the annual UCLA Invitational. PCC beat all two-year and four-year schools with a cumulative total of 176. The closest JC was San Joaquin. Delta and it finished with only 96 points. In the four-year department, PCC found no contender as it beat the likes of Cornell University (second), Brigham Young (fifth), Stanford (sev¬ enth), Princeton (eighth) and Harvard (tenth). Said Director of Forensics Tony Georgilas who is also synonamous with PCC forensics: “We were phenomenal. The talent of the other schools seems to be getting better every year, bnd it’s nice to see our team improving. We still have a ways to go (before national competition in Minnesota) but we’re getting there.” Individually, the best Lancer, Daniel Hurst, took part in a tournament at Fullerton College where it offered the National Debate Topic: NATO and Europe. Hurst took eigth place in speaker points and also took eighth place at the USC tournament, held over Christmas vacation. At UCLA, Linda Hall trophied in Sales; Persuasive Speaking; Duo-In¬ terpretation (with Anthony Horton) and Readers’ Theater. For Dennis Anderson, the junior division of the Radio Speaking was to his liking as he took first prize. He was also part of the Readers’ Theater team that trophied and grabbed first place in Impromptu Speaking with Jeff Tap- peiner placing. Wendy Holvand, with Sharon Sancer, trophied in Duo-Interpretation. She also placed in Peotry and Junior Radio. Sancer trophied in Readers' Thea¬ ter; Prose; poetry and the Duo with Holvand. The forensics program is now busy preparing for the Governor’s Cup State Final competition to be held in Sacra¬ mento Jan 29, 30, 31 and Feb. 1. This should give Georgilas a good indication of what he will have to offer in Minne¬ apolis (Site of the nation’s finals), when his team, again, will compete against the nation’s best on the two- year and four-year level. Religions Ask for World Peace By Jim Gunther Staff Writer The Interfaith Center to Reverse the Arms Race is holding part two of Religions and Peace at PCC in the Forum on Jan. 21, at 7 p.m. The topic is religions of the east and features discussions with religious leaders and teachers. The seminar was a cooperate ef¬ fort between PCC theology instructor Dr. Joe DiMassa and the center. The PCC Foundation has also contributed time and money toward the event. The center’s roots can be traced to a friendship between a rabbi and a priest. Both shared an active interest in working toward a reduction in world armaments. Rabbi Leonard Beerman of Leo Baek Temple in Los Angeles, and Dr. George Regas, priest of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, have seen their shared commitment in arms reversal lead to a two-day Interfaith conference aimed at furthering nuclear arms reduction. Their dream has progressed to the point of establishing an Interfaith Center. Their future goal is to form a national network of centers led by leaders from all faiths. These centers would be united in an attempt to bring about a total arms reversal. According to Marty E. Coleman, director of outreach at the center, man’s obsession with his own de¬ struction is a problem of ideology. She feels this can be counteracted through a better understanding be¬ tween races. The goal of the lecture series is to take people one step closer towards changing man’s dan¬ gerous outlooks. Coleman sees the main problem in establishing a significant social movement as finding “a direction. A plan of action that would bring to¬ gether and involve all religious lead¬ ers.” Up to now, the groups’ efforts have been aimed at reaching the public through seminars, conferences and writing campaigns. Although nuclear arms reversal is the organization’s chief goal, Col- Joe DiMassa eman sees “nuclear weapons as just being the tip of the iceberg. What we’re trying to accomplish is a change in peoples’ thinking, which requires a change in their pro¬ grammed ideologies that can only be accomplished through better under¬ standing.” Courier/Lolita В Parker The PCC forensics team, reaping the benefits of winning, swept all competition in its last meet at UCLA. Fall Play Struggling for Actors Shortage May Cause Fall Production to Be Put to Wayside By Sean DuPont Staff Writer Due to disappointing audition turn¬ outs and the scheduled installation of the theater organ in Sexson auditorium, the PCC Spring musical, Man of La Mancha, is in danger of being cancelled. “We’ll have to see how things are going, everything is up in the air,” said director Duke Stroud. Stroud reported that only eight men have tried out so far through three days of auditions. The musical contains 13 male and five female roles. The five women’s roles have been filled. The turnout is disappointing because notices were placed in the LA. Weekly, the LA. Times, the Campus Crier, the Hollywood trade papers, and on cam¬ pus bulletin boards. Also standing as a roadblock in the path of the production is the planned installation of the Wurlitzer theater organ donated to PCC by the Los Angeles Theater Organ Society. The installation, originally planned for summer has been rescheduled for this spring, which would cut into the rehearsal time of Man of La Mancha. The prospects of rescheduling re¬ hearsals from the afternoon slot origi¬ nally planned, along with the problems encountered during auditions has caused Stroud to reconsider the feasibility of putting on the production. He said that because of these dif¬ ficulties he may not choose to direct the play, choosing instead to concen¬ trate on his other spring production at the smaller but more accessible Little Theater. If it does move ahead, Man of La Mancha would be a co-production put on by the Spring Theater Arts 29 and Musical Arts 125 classes. The story, based on the mythical character Don Quixote created by Cervantes, involves a meeting between the author and the man he made. The meeting takes place in a prison during the Spanish Inquisition's in 16th cen¬ tury Spain. The book is by Dale Wasserman, the music by Mitch Leigh, with Joe Darion providing the lyrics. The musical opened on Broadway in November of 1965, and went on to win the Tony award for Best Musical of the year. Stroud’s credits includes the direc¬ tion of 40 plays and musicals, including performances of Fiddler on the Roof. Follies, and an earlier production of Man of La Mancha 15 years ago.