Photos by Nagisa Mihara and Barney Soto/Courier
Student -run clubs met in the quad this week to show off their diversity, uniqueness, and skill sets. Some that were represented
include the salsa dancing club, the fencing club, and the engineering and math clubs.
New board president brings
no-nonsense attitude
Paul Ochoa
Staff Writer
With a no-nonsense approach to the job,
new Board of Trustees President Anthony
Fellow hopes to change the school for the
better with his simple take on politics.
“I think that politics need to get back to
the basics,” Fellows said. “I just want to be
honest and do the best I can to help the
college.”
Fellow, who is no stranger to politics, has
served as a vice mayor and city councilman
in El Monte, president of the Upper San Ga¬
briel Valley Municipal Water District Board
of Directors, vice chair of the Metropolitan
Water District Board of Directors, and as vice
chair of the Metropolitan Water District of
Southern California.
Former Board President and current
Trustee John Martin said he looks forward
to working with Fellow because of his and
passion and previous political experience.
“He’s so capable, it’s nice when someone is
both intelligent, passionate and nice to work
with,” Martin said.
Politics aside, Fellow is also the author
of three books. A former journalist at the
San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Fellow currently
serves as chair of the Department of Radio-
TV-Film at Cal State Fullerton.
Senior Vice President Robert Bell feels that
Fellow’s background in education is going to
contribute to his success in the new role.
“He is going to be an outstanding pres¬
ident. He understands how colleges work,
how colleges work well and how they don’t
PRESIDENT page 2
Academic Senate
outraged over job fair
John Peters II
Asst. News Editor
The Academic Senate ex¬
pressed concerns about the
hiring process for the Faculty
Job Fair at its regular meeting
this week, arguing that new on¬
line faculty don’t have the proper
expertise to teach useful courses.
Eduardo A. Cairo, President
of the Academic Senate, said
the lack of online teaching
experience and training for new
online faculty recruited at the
job fair on January 18 is unfair
to students. He also said the Ad¬
ministration broke college policy
by creating its own list of faculty
hiring priorities.
Matthew Jordan, Interim As¬
sociate Dean of General Educa¬
tion, said all faculty at PCC have
to meet minimum qualifications
and that the administration did
not violate college policy in iden¬
tifying faculty hiring priorities.
The Faculty Job Fair flyer
states no online teaching expe¬
rience is necessary to teach the
seven online classes listed.
“It is common for 30% of
online students to drop or fail
a course,” Cairo said. “We can
expect an increase in students re¬
ceiving a non-passing grade for
students who receive instructors
with inadequate experience.”
Jordan said new hires must
meet all minimum qualifications
required of all professors to
teach at Pasadena City College.
The standards are the same
whether they teach in the class¬
room or online.
Cairo said professors for the
new online courses will only
receive a quarter of the previous
required training for online in¬
structors before being “tossed”
into an online environment and
then expected to complete the
training at the same time they
are teaching the course.
JOBFAIR page 2 ^
Benjamin Simpson/Courier
New Board President Anthony Fellow at
the Board of Trustees meeting in the
Creveling Lounge on Jan. 15.
Former Courier adviser
returns to campus
Aubrey Quezada
Staff Writer
Former Courier adviser Warren
Swil was reinstated as an instruc¬
tor at the college this Spring and
is teaching classes in the Courier
newsroom, despite admitting to
showing nude photos of himself
to a student and facing a lawsuit
against alleged sexual harassment
and grade retaliation.
Swil was placed on paid ad¬
ministrative leave last March after
Courier staff member Raymond
Bernal accused Swil of showing
him nude photos of himself and
unfairly lowering his grades after
Bernal turned down Swil’s sexual
advances. The incident led to a
months-long investigation that
concluded with Swil’s reinstate¬
ment.
“I’m delighted to be back
teaching, but 1 can’t say anything
beyond that,” Swil said.
General Counsel Gail Cooper
declined to comment and referred
File photo by Lissett Matos
Warren Swil outside the CC
building on March 29, 2013.
the Courier to Robert Bell, senior
vice president of academic and
student affairs, who said that Swil
is not prohibited from being in
the same room as Bernal.
“Professor Swil has been made
aware of the requirements of his
SWIL page 2 ^
VOLUME 109 ISSUE 1
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM
January 23, 2014
WHAT'S INSIDE :
Eat invisible cake and
catch with a mime.
HONOR THE
ROSE
every rose has
rts horn w'rtb the PCC
honor band.
PAGE
6»
SPEAK OUT!
Do you think the
"Affluenza Defense"
holds water?
Vote at
PccCourier.com