PCC Courier, January 14, 1993

FEATURES ‘Gong Hay Fat Choy:’ Discovering a whole new world with the Chinese New Year. Page 5 NEWS Seeing stars: lecturer to speak on space exploration. Page 4 Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 74 No. 15 COURIER Thursday January 14, 1993 Students call fee proposal unfair move By PATRIA ABELGAS Staff Writer Students are crying out “it’s not fair!” in response to Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposal to increase com¬ munity college tuition by another 200 percent. “Why does he have to keep hit¬ ting on education?” Louela Gutier¬ rez, a nursing major, complained. Gutierrez feels betrayed by the state’s higher education system. “The reason why I’m here in a community college in the first place is because it’s cheap,” she said. “If even that is slipping away, what more is left for me and all the other students who can’t afford to go to universities?” Nicolette Angelos, a dental hy¬ giene major, pointed out that the poor will be the ones most affected by this projected tuition hike. But she added that even with the in¬ crease, California is still a good place to get an education. “It’s not fair for those who don’t have anything at all to never have the chance to get an education.” Angelos already has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UC Irv¬ ine. She, and other degree holders, will be paying as much as $105 per unit if the state Legislature approves Wilson’s proposal. ‘That’s a big jump,” Angelos said. “But, to be honest, that is still rela¬ tively cheap.” Claire Morgan, a telecommuni¬ cations major, agrees. “Even with a 200 percent increase, California would still be one of the few states with affordable education ,” she said. Morgan, unlike Gutierrez, has no objection to the tuition hike. “Our tuition is still reasonable compared to East Coast colleges’,” she said. Tuition for a community college in New York costs around $1700 per year. Morgan said she will support the proposal but would not like to see it get out of hand. “I don’t want to see our tuition raised more and more every year. We have to protect our junior colleges. It would be foolish to underestimate what they do for our people,” Morgan said. “The only way for this nation to be great again is through education,” Gutierrez said. “How can we achieve that if the government keeps sacri¬ ficing our chance for an affordable education?” she said. Jennifer Hutton, a communica¬ tions major, suggested that there should be a cap or limit on tuition increases. “If there is none, the government will just keep increasing it more,” Hutton said. “They should’ve started raising tuition gradually 20 years ago,” Angelos said. “If they had, it wouldn’t be as much of a shock as it is now,” she said. John Robinson, student trustee, agrees. “I’m certainly against the proposed increase,” he said. “I understand that fees have to be in¬ creased over a period of time, but not this much in such a short period of time,” he said. “Everybody’s having a hard time now,” Gutierrez said. “Students are striving to achieve something through education. If we can’t give that to them, what’s going to happen to them? To their dreams?” she asked. Gutierrez warns of a domino ef¬ fect following another tuition in¬ crease. “If we keep knocking down education, we will eventually knock down our great nation,” she said. Record rain Photo by ANDREW ZIMA/ The COURIER An unprecedented amount of rain fell on the Southland this week, causing a waterfall to form on the staircase leading up to parking lot number one. Weather forecasters predict the second storm of the year will arrive in the Los Angeles area this weekend. Wilson proposes 200% fee increase Budget proposal calls for hikes in all three higher education systems. By ALFREDO SANTANA News Editor Gov. Pete Wilson, trying to offset deep cuts for the commu¬ nity colleges, has called for steep tuition fee increases in the California community college system. If Wilson’s $51 .2 billion budget proposal becomes law, it will raise community college fees for un¬ dergraduate students by 200 per¬ cent from current levels, going from $10 to $30 a unit. If ap¬ proved by the Legislature, the stiffer fees will be effective this fall semester. The higher fees would affect about 1 .5 million students enrolled in the 107 two-year colleges across the state. For those students who hold bachelor’s degrees or any other advanced academic degrees tak¬ ing classes at any state commu¬ nity college, the Republican gov¬ ernor has suggested eliminating public subsidies in their educa¬ tion fees. In his budget proposal, Wilson plans a fee hike from the current $50 per unit to $ 1 05 , covering the full cost of their education. If enacted, the new fees would severely affect nearly 120,000 students holding four-year de¬ grees. That figure represents the number of degree holders state college officials believe are tak¬ ing classes in the system. If the tuition goes up, unem¬ ployed and low-income students with four-year degrees would be exempted from those fees. Wilson’s spending plan for the 1993-94 fiscal year would cut state revenue to community colleges by $301 million or 1 1 percent below what they expected to receive this year. In order to bridge that gap, the governor suggested hiking tuition costs. “The students are receiving a very sub¬ stantial subsidy from the taxpayers of Cali¬ fornia, including from people who don’t have children attending,” Wilson said. “In any other state, it would be considered a bar¬ gain.” However, the tuition-hike pro¬ posal will certainly face tough legis¬ lative scrutiny as the once cherished ideal of open, affordable two-year schools recedes into the past. The governor’s austere budget proposal is the smallest since the $48.6 billion budget enacted for the 1989-90 year. It has been sharply reduced from the $57.5 billion spend¬ ing plan estimated for the current fiscal year. Wilson’s recession-driven budget was sent last Friday to the state Legislature for review. Lawmakers are required by the state Constitution to return it to the governor no later than June 15. Last year, budget differences between Wilson and the Democratic- controlled Legislature led to a 64-day stalemate that ended on Sept. 2. For the University of Califor¬ nia and California University sys¬ tems, Wilson also proposed a fee increase in their tuition. Although he didn’t specifically mention to what extent university fees would be raised, the gover¬ nor said he would back up whatever amount the govern¬ ing boards of the two systems pro¬ posed. Although UC raised its un¬ dergraduate fees 22 percent this year, university officials have al¬ ready warned their 166,000 stu¬ dents enrolled in the nine-cam- See, “WILSON,” page 4 ‘It’s a very poor policy to raise the fees this dramatically when students are trying to get an education or job-training skills while the state is in the midst of a recession.’ Ann Reed, California community colleges vice chancellor Wilson recall campaign on campus □ Supporters of recall movement talk about Wilson’s public education policies and the students and labor unions that form the backbone of their campaign. By RODNEY MITCHELL Staff Writer Petitioners from a statewide or¬ ganization seeking to recall Gov. Pete Wilson targeted PCC faculty, staff and students on campus this week. The recall organization which calls itself Bite ‘Em Back, combed the campus handing out anti-Wilson lit¬ erature and soliciting signatures in conjunction with Earthwise, a PCC- based organization Trish Bailey, spokeswoman for the Bite ’Em Back chapter of Pasad¬ ena said that Californians are dis¬ gruntled with the way Wilson handled last year’s state’s budget crisis and the harsh presentation he proposed to the Legislature last week. She said that sacrifices to heal the budget must be made across the board. Bailey said that these cutbacks must also be shared by the affluent and the big corporations. “Pete Wilson believes in the sur¬ vival of the richest,” a spokesman for Bite ’Em Back in Los Angeles said. “ This dog¬ matic ideologue would permit Cali¬ fornia to become a ‘Mississippi on the Pacific.’ He would do anything but tax the wealthiest and most powerful segments of our society. Two more years of Wilson and the California we cherish will only be a fable, like Camelot.” Bailey also argued that the eld¬ erly, the blind, disabled, children on welfare, teachers, public employ¬ ees, students and the working poor have been targeted by Wilson’s “slash and bum budget.” Theanti-Wilson campaign began in 1992 in San Jose by volunteers of the Ross Perot campaign who were disenchanted with Wilson’s policies. Bailey said that child advocates, state employees and students sup¬ port the recall effort. “Students and the labor unions are the backbone of our organiza¬ tion,” she added. During his first two years in of¬ fice, Wilson has been criti¬ cized because he cut funding in all areas of government except the prison system and his own ex¬ ecutive staff. However a spokesman from the Republican govemer’s office said the threat of recall is not being taken seriously. Bob Pipkin, spokesman for Wilson, was quoted in the Glendale News-Press. “A recall petition comes with being governor,” Pipkin said. “ Every gov¬ ernor of California in recent history has been subject to multiple recall petitions, and none has been suc¬ cessful.” Jorge Cornejo, a public relations major and former Associated Stu¬ dents executive vice-president, does not favor recalling the governor. However, he said he cannot afford to take as many units this spring se¬ mester because of Wilson’s tuition hike implemented last summer. Cornejo said Wilson needs to work with the state Legislature to find a solution. “But getting rid of the the governor is not the answer,” he said. However, Faith Ernest, a politi¬ cal science major, said that the path Wilson is now taking is merely self- defeating and that his cutbacks in public education are creating “a state of illiterates.” In order to recall Wilson, 1 ,250,000 voters’ signatures must becollected. Only registered voters can sign the petitions. If the campaign to recall Wilson is successful in collecting the needed signatures, Wilson would be the first governor to be recalled since 1927. Wilson would have to step down and Lt. Gov. Leo Me Carlhy would replace him until a special recall election could be held. Bite ’Em Back representatives may be back on campus next week. ‘...Wilson’s cutbacks in public education are creating ‘a state of illiterates.’ Faith Ernest, political science major !