PCC Courier, January 20, 1994

OPINION FEATURES SPORTS Tuition fee increases threaten economy Page 2 The PCC marching band makes its 69th appearance in the Rose Parade Page 5 Men's basketball team still confident despite injuries Page 6 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE Pasadena, California Vol. 78 No. 1 COURIER Serving the PCC Community for 76 years THURSDAY January 20, 1994 Tbition may increase to $20 per unit AL SANTANA/The COURIER Last Monday’s 6.6-magnitude earthquake destroyed properties and caused $30 billion in property damages and claimed 48 lives. Earthquake! RAFAEL VEGA/THE COURIER Seismograph in E building □ A 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Los Angeles last Monday. PCC suffered minor damages. By ROBERT W. ARMIJO Staff Writer At 4:32 a.m., under the cover of predawn darkness Monday Jan 17, Southern Californian’s were again reminded that they live in earth¬ quake country. Jolted to a rude awakening by a 6.6 magnitude quake, the trembler shook the greater Los Angeles basin but was felt as far away as Las Vegas and San Deigo. Countering images fraught with collapsed or imploded structures, were those of firemen, policemen and citizens alike braving the pres¬ ence of eminent danger to them¬ selves. In the precious moments fol¬ lowing the quake, acts of heroism sometimes seemed futile as efforts to reclaim the lives of loved ones, neighbors and strangers trapped under the rubble turned into hours and hours into days. Left in its wake: 48 dead; inju¬ ries and those left homeless in the thousands; the destruction to pri¬ vate and public property estimated to be $30 billion. All figures are certain to rise in the coming days. The epicenter was centered appoximately two miles northwest of Northridge. The mainshock was followed by more than 600 hun¬ dred aftershocks. However despite Please see QUAKE, Page 4 □ Another possible tuition fee hike faces community college students under Wilson’s proposed budget for 1994-1995. By P ATRIA G. ABELGAS Editor in Chief The good news: California com¬ munity colleges will receive $32.2 million more than last year under Gov. Pete Wilson’s proposed $55.4- billion budget for 1994-1995. The bad news: Community col¬ lege students may have to pay $7 more per unit if the budget is ap¬ proved. Wilson set aside $18.8 billion for К- 1 2 and community college educa¬ tion, with most of the funding going to elementary and secondary schools. The proposed budget will give community colleges $2,742 billion, a 1 .3 percent increase from last year’s $2,705 billion projected funding. However, the budget calls for a 54 percent tuition fee hike over the $13 per unit students are already paying. If Wilson has his way, community college students would be paying $20 per unit. This would be the fourth time fees have been increased since 1984 when students were initially charged tu¬ ition. Before that, enrollment in com¬ munity colleges was free. Tuition rose to $6 per unit in the fall of 1 992, then to $10, then to $13. Dr. Jack Scott, PCC president/ superintendent, assured students that the $20 fee hike “is not yet a law.” The legislature still has to vote on the proposal in June or November. “The legislature probably won’t go for a steep increase. It’s like the $13 increase we got last fall. It was originally $30 but the legislature did not approve it,” said Scott. Scott said he is worried that the possible fee hike would result in a □ College reacts to Wilson's plan to in¬ crease tuition yet an¬ other time Page 4 □Where to get help: Financial aid is avail¬ able to students. Page 4 lower number of students enrolled. “This would mean a loss of students. Even though there is financial aid available, a lot of students don’t know that. They might be discour¬ aged,” he said. Since fall of 1992, enrollment in California’s public higher education systems decreased by 159,000 stu¬ dents, 137,000 of which came from community colleges alone, accord¬ ing to an editorial in the Los Angeles Times. “Tuition fee increases hurt en¬ rollment,” Scott said. “These are not encouraging times for public higher education. In these lean times, I’m glad we didn’t get a cut. The only thing that balances out the budget is an increase in tuition.” According to a statement from the office of David Mertes, chancel¬ lor of the CalifomiaCommunity Col¬ leges, the proposed budget is mostly good news. Wilson’s plan allocates $10 mil¬ lion for “new technology to link the community college campuses by telecommunication networks” and $2million to develop “technological innovations.” The budget will also provide an additional $1.2 million for expan¬ sion of high-tech centers for disabled students, $4.8 million for adminis¬ tration of the Board of Financial Assistance Program, and $850,000 for the CARE program for disadvan¬ taged single parents. Parking construction begins □ Parking becomes a nightmare as PCC cuts spaces to make room for multi-level parking. By PAT ROBISON Staff Writer The parking situation at PCC is certainly at its darkest and the dawn will not come until January, 1995. That is when the new $9.5 million parking structure will add 2,064 spaces to bring the total campus park¬ ing capacity to4,329 spaces for stu¬ dents and faculty according to Philip Mullendore, director of police and safety. Until then, he said, the total num¬ ber of spaces has been cut from 3,172 to 1,866. “Parking is a mess right now but it always is at the start of a semester. We are doing what we can,” he said. He also said that when the struc¬ ture is finished, PCC will have a Smoking banned in the Palms Cafe □ Alternatives to the parking nightmare: carpoo! ride the bus use the Green St. lot use the shuttle lot use special permit neighborhood parking comparable number of spaces to other area community colleges like El Camino for example. They have similar circumstances and now have adequate parking. While the structure is being built, Mullendore said, alternative means of transportation, which are always available, should be used by anyone having difficulty parking. Informa¬ tion for alternatives such as carpooling, alternative lots, neigh¬ borhood parking lots, the shuttle and riding the bus are available in the Transportation Trolley in the Quad. The new structure will have secu¬ rity features such as glass backed elevators, a staffed security station, lighting and visibility on each floor and an emergency communications system. Dr. James Kossler, dean of ad¬ ministrative services at PCC, said Please see PARKING , Page 4 □ AB 291 prohibits smoking in all state buildings. By JOEL HELD Staff Writer Smoking has been banned in what used to be PCC ’ s on ly smoking area, the Palms Cafe, next to the Mini¬ mart. The smoking ban now includes the cafe after a law went into effect on Jan 1. that prohibits any state employee or member of the public from smoking a tobacco product in¬ side a state owned and state-occu¬ pied building. The law also prhobits smoking in state vehicles or within five feet of a main entrance or exit of such buildings. This bill, AB 291, was intro¬ duced last February and was amended and passed in July by a 59- 13 vote. This law replaces an existing law which requires each state depart¬ ment to adopt a policy on smoking that addresses the rights of the non- smokers to have a smoke-free envi¬ ronment in formal meetings, infor¬ mal meetings and work stations. The new law specifically includes Cali¬ fornia community college campuses and each campus of the California State University and the University of California. It also requires these state agen¬ cies to offer tobacco smoking con¬ trol programs to their employees using existing employee training funds to pay for the training. Adver¬ tisement of tobacco products is also prohibited. A1 Kauti, dean of student ser¬ vices, said that they have not had a problem with students breaking the ordinance. He said a student was smoking early Monday morning but when he explained the situation to the smoker he was glad to oblige. Some smokers, when asked, felt it was fair and said they would “just smoke outside.” Other smokers did not feel that way. One student said, “The only place on campus were I could smoke has been taken away. It was a quiet place were we could relax.” Another student said, “Smok¬ ers are the only ones in there, so what’s their problem ?” dents who ENRIQUE ARMENDARIZmHE COURIER A student is caught smoking in Palms Cafe even after the new law took effect. if «