THURSDAY JAInTUARY 28, 1 999 - VOL. 84# 1 6
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CONTRUCTION UPDATE
Pool Construction Reaches Final Stage
After some delay, workers begin plastering surface of brand new swimming facility set to be ready on Monday
DANIEL ARCHULETA
/
THE COURIER
Workers drill away on the pool site.
BY ERICK RUIZ
Staff Writer
Many students have been ready since the first day of
the semester to swim in the new, Olympic size pool
located on the south side of campus. Instructors had
planned to use this state-of-the-art facility in their class¬
es to provide the student body with a great swimming
program. The problem: the pool is still under construc¬
tion.
The final stage of the pool construction began yester¬
day. Over 60 workers started plastering its surface and
almost put on two coats by 1 1 a.m. Jack Schulman, pro¬
ject manager, commented, “Finally, the day is here. We
waited a long time. Hopefully by Monday we’ll be able
to use the pool.”
When the semester began, the official word was that
the pool would be ready by Jan. 25. The pool was sched¬
uled to be filled last Friday. As the week of the Jan. 22
drew to a close, the weather changed and another delay
was announced. As Schulman commented, “Right now,
we’re at the mercy of mother-nature.”
The main task that lies ahead is the pouring of the
plaster which is cured by water that is added immedi¬
ately after the plaster is laid down. For this to happen,
the weather needs to dry up for at least 48 hours. The
plaster has to be poured and cured. It then needs 24
hours to dry. Pouring will begin during the first avail¬
able dry, sunny day.
During the winter break, and before announcing
when the pool would open, the college administration
had already taken possible delays into account. Fleeman
met with Skip Robinson, athletic director, to make sure
there was a contingency plan. Since the pool wouldn’t
be used for the first couple of classes, a window of
opportunity existed in case of any delays. But just in
case, Robinson instructed teachers to plan other activi¬
ties until, the pool became usable.
Coach Lori Jepsen, who teaches five swimming
classes, planned accordingly. “We’ll do some cardiovas¬
cular work and go over water safety before we start
swimming.” But she added, “Mid-February is the latest
POOL pags 4
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TECH BEAT
Disabled
Student
Problems
BY ROGER CHENG
Staff Writer
The library has finally set in motion
remedies to several complaints that the
Helping Hands Club had brought to
the attention of librarians.
The most pressing issue that the
club complained about concerned the
doors of the library restrooms. The
way they are designed, the door latch¬
es back into place when closing.
This makes it extremely difficult for
wheelchair-bound students and faculty
members to reopen the door once
inside. As a result, these individuals
must ask for assistance to leave the
restroom.
“We just want to be like every other
student and go to the bathroom without
having to announce it to the whole
library,” said Done Dennison, vice
president of the Helping Hands Club.
However, the library has failed to
fully follow up on this problem as well
as other suggestions. The cause for
DISABLED, pagE 3
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
New VP
Elected
BY DAISY LEE
Staff Writer
Marisol Hernandez, former vice
president for student services, has left
some pretty big shoes to fill on the AS
board after her departure from the col¬
lege last semester.
After the agonizing process of
appointing a new officer for the open
seat on the board, the AS selection
committee has appointed Alex Flores,
current treasurer of MEChA.
Flores was sworn in during the
weekly AS Executive Board meeting
yesterday by president Robert
DeOcampo.
His new duties and responsibilities
as a new vice president cover a vast
field of services.
It includes responsibilities for facil-
VP, pags 3
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE JENNINGS
New ID Cards Have Various Uses on Campus
BY GAU RAVAL
Staff Writer
Although everyone was required to get
new IDs at the start of the semester, does
the campus community fully understand
what the new and reportedly improved
LancerCard is all about?
Most students seem to be having the
same reaction as Claudia Diaz, who said,
“I don’t know what the ID is for. There
are many extra things I don’t know
about.”
The newly implemented card, that has
most everyone guessing, features a com¬
puter chip that will be used to gain access
to most campus services such as the book¬
store, the cafeteria, and parking fees.
The college will internally manage
accounts for those who wish to do busi¬
ness with it, an option that will soon be
available. Aside from being merely a
form of identification, the LancerCard has
the capacity to hold several different
accounts, or “purses,” which will be made
active sometime near the end of the first
summer session.
The maximum amount that may be
deposited into the holding account is $50.
Unfortunately, the amount will not be
replaced if the card is lost. The deposit
will be treated as cash.
Up to six “cash to card” machines will
be installed at various locations on cam¬
pus also by the end of June. “Reducing
cash transactions reduces the amount of
time in lines waiting for small purchases,”
said Judy Gilbert, supervisor of office ser¬
vices.
The imbedded chip will serve double
duty by providing a convenient way of
tracking attendance. Students who partic¬
ipate in job development or career center
programs, such as CalWorks, will be eas¬
ily tracked to make sure that they are ful¬
filling their obligations.
Information obtained will be used to
make sure that the college is providing
adequate services in a timely manner.
This type of attendance record keeping
may prove to save the college in both the
time it takes to call roll and the money it
costs to maintain paper based records.
Between August of 1999 and January
of 2000, college officials plan to have
three additional secured “purses” that
require a pin number to activate. Backers
of the card hope that students use the
accounts to pay for registration fees and
textbooks.
Nearly two years ago, Rod Fleeman,
vice president of administrative services,
initially introduced the project that may
effectively end all cash transactions on
campus. A small committee was formed
to further investigate options.
The LancerCard steering committee,
headed by vice president Ernestine
Moore, said other colleges found the tech¬
nologically advanced ID card system
proved to be effective as a method for
CARD, page 3
MATT ROBINSON
/
THE COURIER
While the lines for smartcards might have
been long, they seemed to move quickly.
The wait was usually under 1 0 minutes.
On-Line
Stores
Offer
Choices
BY TIM ALVES
Staff Writer
With the promise of great sav¬
ings, three upstart companies are
selling brand new college text¬
books to students at discount prices
over the internet, but critics warn
that unforeseen charges could take
a “byte” out of those savings.
Varsitybooks.com,
Campusbooks.com, and
Bigwords.com are the newest
entries in the cyber domain of inter¬
net business that are filling the
demand for niche products at bar¬
gain prices.
These internet retailers claim
that since they conduct business
online, they have less space
requirements, employ fewer hourly
workers, and their overhead is gen¬
erally lower than a campus book¬
store.
They boast savings from one all
the way up to 40 percent, and in the
case of Bigwords.com, suggest the
savings on used texts could be sim¬
ilar. These sellers contrast them¬
selves to a campus bookstore
model that employs between 30-80
full-time and part-time employees,
has a higher markup margin, and
has an increased level of interper¬
sonal customer service.
The Pasadena City College
bookstore, as previously reported
in The Courier, has the lowest
prices on new textbooks for college
bookstores in the area. A price com¬
parison between the PCC bookstore
and the internet retailers revealed
differences not only between the
bookstore and the internet sellers,
but price variations among those
retailers as well.
The textbook for History 7A,
The American Promise: A History
of the United States to 1877 by
James L. Roark, sells at the PCC
bookstore for $46.70. At
Varsitybooks.com it’s listed for
$46.65, only a five cent savings. At
Bigwords.com, the same text sells
for $32.55, a $14.15 difference, or
a 30 percent savings.
College Algebra by Ron Larson
and Robert Hostetler, the Math 3
textbook, sells for $74.40 at the
bookstore, but $60.49 at
ONUNE, pags 3
www.pcc-courieronhne.com
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