OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
WILSON ATTEMPTS TO SAVE FACE
WITH CALIFORNIANS
Gov. Wilson is trying to cover up the bad
decisions he made in the past by promising —
not to increase community college tuition 2.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING
TO WEAR TODAY?
Students speak out on the
different fashions and trends
on campus
4
MEN’S BASKETBALL
LOSES BADLY 108-66
No. 1 ranked LA. City College
whips PCC at home as /
Lancer woes continue C
• LEADERS SPEAK
OUT ON CONTRO¬
VERSIAL ISSUE
Affirmative
Action rally
draws few
By JOSE INOSTROZ
Courier Staff Writer
PCC’s Associated Student Body
made good on a pledge it made in
October to support Affirmative Ac¬
tion by sponsoring a rally in the
Quad.
The noon event last Tuesday, co¬
sponsored by the Cross Cultural
Center, featured speakers Nicole
Davis from Californians for Justice,
Joel Hicks director of the Los Ange¬
les Multi-cultural Cooperative and
Lance Charles, director of the Affir¬
mative Action Department for the
City of Pasadena.
While most students in the Quad
opted to spend time with friends and
do other things during the lunch
break, a crowd of about 50 mostly
black and brown students intently
listened to the speakers.
Tess Coleman, AS coordinator of
cultural affairs who has been spear¬
heading efforts to raise awareness of
Affirmative Action on campus,
opened the rally.
“What we vow is to keep access
to education open for all students.
We promise to empower you, to give
you some knowledge. We want you
to come out, listen and learn because
this affects everyone,” Coleman told
students. However, the talk shifted
from Affirmative Action to criti¬
cism of the California Civil Rights
Initiative and the right wing.
“I want you people to understand
who the enemy is,” Davis told stu¬
dents. “The people who brought you
the California Civil Rights Initiative
are the same people who brought
you Proposition 187 and the three
Please see RALLY, Page 4
ABOVE THE RIM
SAMUEL HERNANDEZ
/
THE COURIER
PCC second-year forward Toutoule Ntoya dunks 66 home loss last Saturday. The Lancers, plagued
over an L. A. City College player in the Lancers' 1 08- with injuries, are 8-1 5 overall. See story on page 6.
• PETITION SIGNATURES DEEMED VALID;
THREE OFFICERS AWAIT THEIR FATE
Recall petition
approved as rift
widens in the AS
By ARDA HAMALIAN
Courier Staff Writer
Tensions have been mounting on
the Associated Students Executive
Board since the campaign began to
recall three board members. The stu¬
dent representatives are fighting
amongst themselves, they are violat¬
ing the AS Constitution, and some
are asking that the Student Affairs
adviser resign.
Kim Smoot executive vice presi¬
dent , Laura Duran vice president of
student services, and LaVonne
Ramirez coordinator of campus ac¬
tivities, are the board members be¬
ing targeted for recall . The official
allegation stated on the recall peti¬
tion was “parking injustices.”
Early last semester, the AS board
was approached by PCC student, J.P.
Henderson, who complained about
parking problems and specifically
asked Smoot and Ramirez what they
would do about them. Smoot ad¬
vised him to be patient and wait. She
said the problems would soon die
down. Ramirez agreed.
“However, Laura (Duran) wasn’t
involved in the issue at all,” said
Ramirez.” Someone must have
checked the by-laws and decided
that since she was on the parking
committee, she should also be re¬
called.”
AS President, Roldan Herrera,
who is in favor of the recall, said :
“Students feel that those three are
apathetic about the parking prob¬
lem.”
However, Smoot said that the
Roldan Herrera Kim Smoot
Lavonne Ramirez Laura Duran
parking situation is always hectic at
the beginning of each new semester.
Therefore, she said that it was inap¬
propriate for the board to be asked to
take action in the second week of
school.
Another, unofficial reason for the
recall is that the targeted officials are
“pawnsoftheadministration,” claims
Darrell Price, a student activist and
leader of the recall campaign. “They
are giving the administration full
capacity for doing what it wants.”
Herrera agreed and said that the
administration was trying to keep
those members in office.
“The Student Activities Office
has made many poor judgment calls
in the past,” he said. “So, they’re
trying to retaliate against me be¬
cause we’re trying to get things done
Please see RECALL, Page 3
• WITH ALMOST A DECADE OF WORK COMPLETED, PCC
PRESIDENT DR. JAMES P. KOSSLER HOPES TO COMPLETE HIS
PREDECESSOR'S $100 MILLION VISION
THE MASTER PLAN
• SEARCH BEGINS AS LYON'S CONTRACT IS FULFILLED
P.E. department looks for coach
By ALEX VALLADARES
Courier Staff Writer
The PCC Athletic Department is once again looking
for a head coach for the college’s football team after
former head coach Chuck Lyon fulfilled his one year
contract to serve as interim coach.
Lyon, 40, took over the program in June, replacing
former head coach Dennis Gossard, who resigned in
December of 1994. Lyon has been a instructor at PCC
for eight years and served as an assistant for seven years
under Gossard.
Athletic Director Skip Robinson said that Lyon took
the job that nobody wanted, “ft was a situation where he
really didn’t want the job. But there was no one to come
forward and he stepped up. I thought Chuck did a good
job on very short notice. Now we ’re looking for a person
who will take over the football program on a long-term
basis.”
According to Robinson, the position was reopened at
the end of last season. “It was an interim position from
the very beginning. It was only an interim position for
Chuck, who stepped in at a very crucial time.”
Lyon took over a team that went a dismal 2-7-1 in
1994 and was plague with internal problems. There
were rumors of players affiliated with gangs and fights
among team members. There were also player suspen¬
sions, players challenging the coaches authority, and in
one incident a player pulled a knife on his own teammate.
All the problems ultimately led Gossard to resign.
“There have been people who have called and in-
Please see COACH, Page 6
• NEW SERVICE GIVES STUDENTS RAPID ACCESS TO THEIR GRADES
Getting your grades the FAST way
By REYNA GRANDE
Courier Staff Writer
PCC is now offering a new ser¬
vice that enables students to get their
grades three weeks faster. Fast Ac¬
cess to Services by Telephone pro¬
vides students a more rapid access to
their grades through thephone. FAST
has also saved PCC at least $40,000
in mailing and printing costs by elimi¬
nating the need to send out report
cards.
“Getting grades by telephone has
been available to students since the
second summer session of ’95,” said
Dr. Stuart Wilcox, dean of admis¬
sions and records, “but there are a lot
of students who still don’t know
about it.”
Students can get their grades 10
days after their last final exam was
taken. Last year, it would take four
to five weeks for students to receive
their grades by mail. Postcards were
usually an alternative to the prob¬
lem, and students would have to buy
postcards to give to their teachers in
order for them to find out their grades
a lot sooner.
Students can get a free copy of
their grades by simply going to the
registration office in D204.
FAST began in 1993 with tele¬
phone registration. This service en¬
abled students to register by phone
instead of going to the registration
office in person. In 1995, PCC added
the registration priority time, where
students could just call and find out
their priority time to register. The
goal of PCC is to save students and
the staff time by reducing long lines.
Before these services were added,
students would waste between 30
minutes to three hours by waiting in
long lines to take care of business.
Please see FAST, Page 5
By GILBERT RIVERA
Courier Staff Writer
magine PCC looking like this in
the year 2000:
Two amphitheaters, a sculp¬
ture garden and a running stream
next to the U building. A sprawling
65,000 square foot state-of-the-art
P.E. facility with a three-court gym¬
nasium. Refurbishedbuildings. Aes¬
thetic landscaping and lighting. More
parking.
This is the vision former superin¬
tendent-president Dr. Jack Scott had
almost a decade ago when the Board
of Trustees approved the develop¬
ment of his ambitious Master Plan.
And it is a vision that the current top
administrator Dr. James Kossler in¬
tends to complete.
With the parking structure and
the Shatford Library
/
Media Center
already finished, Kossler will be able
to do just that if Proposition 203 is
passed. Voters will get a look at the
$3 billion bond act in March now
that Gov. Pete Wilson and the state
legislature agreed to place it on the
ballot.
Also called the Public Education
Facilities Bond Act, Proposition 203
would provide needed funds for all
sectors of California public educa¬
tion: $2 billion would be allocated to
FACTS AND FIGURES
♦ Total cost: $100 million
♦ Estimated year of
completion: 2000
♦ Already completed
projects: Shatford Library
/
Media Center and the
parking structure
♦ Major on campus
projects left: P.E. facility,
the sculpture garden, fitness
center /pool, and student
services center
К-
1 2 schools and $ 1 billion to higher
education.
If passed by voters, PCC would
get $25 million in July which would
help fund the $100 million Master
Plan. The money would be used for
construction of a P.E. facility, a stu¬
dent services center in the old library
building, the working drawings of a
fitness center /pool and several re¬
modeling projects.
“If it goes through, a lot of good
things will happen for this college,”
Kossler said.
The $1 million sculpture garden
project, which is in its design stages,
will be funded by private donations.
“Everybody in California educa¬
tion is hoping that the proposition
will pass,” said Mark Wallace, pub¬
lic relations officer. “Since there
doesn’t seem to be revenue available
from the state to fund much needed
repairs and improvements in educa¬
tion, this seems to be the only way to
keep up California education with
the advancing technology.”
Under the Scott administration,
two of the Master Plan’s major
projects were completed. The park¬
ing structure and the Shatford Li¬
brary/Media Center were funded
through state, district, and private
donations.
The new Community Skills Cen¬
ter and Child Development Center,
also part of the Master Plan and both
funded by the state, are under con¬
struction.
Although Kossler said that the
remaining projects are complicated
projects, he figures that total comple¬
tion of the Master Plan should be in
the year 2000.
“We intended it to be a 10 year
plan, and it looks like we’reonsched-
ule,” said Kossler.
However, if Proposition 203
doesn’t pass, Kossler said that it will
go back on the ballot in November.
“I actually think that we are in a
really good position for it to pass,” he
added. “I would be surprised if we
Please see PLAN, Page 3
