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COURIER
Since 1915
VOL. 87 NO. 15
www.pcc-courieronline.com
JANUARY 31, 2002
On Campus
Popcorn
for Pell
Grants
By lan Downs
' Staff Writer
During the first two weeks of the
semester, students walking by the
* Campus Center during the noon
hour were treated to free popcorn
as part of PCC’s financial aid drive.
The drive was an effort by the
Office of Scholarships and
Financial Aid to increase awareness
about various types of aid that are
available but often overlooked.
The popcorn seems to be attract-
’ ring students. “I sell out every day,”
said Lillian Matthews, financial aid
СТА
Learns
Budgeting
Practices
Budget expert Alan Frey gives PCC
instructors a lesson in how to get more
for their money in salary negotiations
— — —
By Aaron Harris
Opinion Editor
interviewer for PCC.
“I’m glad that she’s out here,”
«
said PCC student Staci
MacDonald. “It’s a lot easier to
have access to ask a question.” The
lines in front of the financial aid
desk in the L building are long,
with waits longer than 10 minutes.
At first glance it would seem
that the school would not need to
lure students with popcorn to inter-
* est them in money for college, but
statewide community colleges find
it difficult to inform students of all
the options available for financial
aid. “A lot of students are not
applying for financial aid. They’re
only applying for the student fee
waiver,” said Kim Miles, assistant
dean in the financial aid office.
* According to Miles, some of the
current push was sparked by a Los
Angeles Times article a few years
ago that revealed “one of the prob-
«
lems with financial aid at commu¬
nity colleges is students were not
aware that those programs existed.”
The cornerstone to financial aid
at PCC is the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
Many other avenues for financial
aid cannot be used if PCC does not
have a student’s FAFSA on file.
® According to Miles, about 3,000
PCC students filled out the FAFSA
last year, which is low for a college
the size of PCC. Miles said that
a their goal was to increase that num¬
ber to 5,000 this year.
Copies of the FAFSA for the
2002-2003 school year are avail¬
able in the financial aid office.
Students may sign up online as
# see GRANTS, page 3
Ian Downs/Courier
Don’t let the spring clouds fool you. Those clouds brought unusually
low temperatures and snow to parts of southern California this week.
Division Divided
Former dean of social
sciences Dr. Gretchen
Anderson.
By Matthew Robinson
Editor in Chief
Accusations that “white faculty
members” conspired to have the
dean of the social sciences division
removed from her job was just one
of many allegations hurled by dis¬
gruntled faculty members at a
recent board of trustees meeting.
In an emotionally charged,
soap-opera-like drama, Dr. Milton
Brown, a history instructor, and
Marc Dollinger, an American
Jewish historian, squared off
against Michelle Ireland-Galman,
a professor of social science and
other faculty members who taught
classes as part of the Humanities
Block. The characters made
charges and countercharges about
incidents that date back to 1999.
Although faculty members in
the social science division have
been clashing for years, tensions
recently escalated when Dr.
Gretchen Anderson was removed
from her position as dean of the
division. While the administration
says there was a need for a leader¬
ship change, Dollinger and Brown
charge that Anderson was removed
because she refused to back down
when facing pressure from “senior
white faculty members.”
The public squabbling began in
1999 when the Humanities Block
instructors invited Irv Rubin,
Jewish Defense League chairman,
and Rabbi William Gordon to
speak to a class on contemporary
responses to anti-Semitism. Even
# see FEUD, page 3
Several representatives from the
Community College Association
met with more than a hundred
members of PCCs faculty and staff
last week in an effort to show them
where and how the funds from last
year’s college budget were spent.
The budget analysis was pre¬
sented to show PCCs California
Teachers Association union mem¬
bers how $9 million of the col¬
lege’s money was carried over
from last year’s budget and not
used to help settle salary negotia¬
tions with the
СТА.
Union leaders
brought in budget expert Alan Frey
to show its members how PCC
administrators effectively hid the
surplus by transferring money to
different accounts.
Using visual aids on an over¬
head projector, Frey spent the bet¬
ter part an hour going through
budget documents line by line
showing union members where
they could find money the district
said didn’t exist.
Frey explained to the audience
that the college budget was put
together to make it appear
extremely complicated when just
the opposite is true. Frey stated,
“I’m on a crusade to make sure
community colleges know how
budgets work. This is not like
rocket science; it’s just like a
household budget where money
comes in and money goes out.”
The teacher’s union is starting
negotiations again after it was
forced by the district to accept a
one-year 6 percent nori-negotiated
salary increase for full-time faculty
members.
David Uranga, treasurer of the
PCC/CTA chapter, feels that the
administration has been taking
advantage of the union members’
inability to understanding the
budget documents. He said, “The
administration assumes that we are
not keeping track of what is being
spent.” There was $9 million left
unspent last year alone. “Dr.
Kossler needs to allocate the
money to the proper places.”
The new executive board of the
СТА
is taking a fresh approach by
including its membership in its
decisions. Uranga said, “Our
strength is in our numbers. We are
trying to communicate with the
membership so they remain aware
of what’s going on when it comes
to the new budget and negotia¬
tions.”
® see
СТА,
page 3
Asbestos Poses No Threat
By Andrew Campa
Assistant Sports Editor
Returning to campus for the first day, some
PCC students were horrified to find asbestos
warning signs near their classes. What they
didn’t know was that the removal had taken
place before the spring semester began. The
final step of asbestos, removal from rooms in
the R Building took place last Friday when
contractor Tri-Span cleared out their equip¬
ment.
The most visible areas of removal of
asbestos were the management information
systems area and R416. Dr. Richard Van Pelt,
PCC director of facilities services, explained
the construction process.
“The major area was the former MIS area,
R416, and the other rooms in that suite. That
suite is totally separate from the others, and
was easily isolated. We are preparing to
remodel the area over the next months in
order to put it into new use”, said Van Pelt.
Although removal of asbestos from R416
and the MIS area was completed before the
semester began, a number of students com¬
plained of coughing and nausea after attend¬
ing classes nearby.
“I was there the first night [Jan. 14],”
said student Virginia Leigh. “The first 10
minutes I was in class my throat starting
closing. That stuff was blowing out of the
vents; it wasn’t air like I was told. It was
either asbestos or chemicals or something.
I have had a severe sore throat for the last
12 days. I won’t go back there this semes¬
ter.”
Dr. Richard Van Pelt, PCC director of j
facilities services, said that the asbestos
.# see ASBESTOS, page 3
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CourierFile Photo
Murder suspect
Johnny Ortiz in 1999.
By Rita Vega-Acevedo
Courier Correspondent
Fernando and Myriam Ortiz
were thrust into the public spot¬
light in a court appearance on
Friday. They will be witnesses in
a murder trial. Their son, Johnny
Ortiz, 30, is charged with the
murder of PCC student Maria
Isabel Fernandez.
The case pits two families
against each other. One is trying
to be supportive of their son who
is accused of a heinous crime.
The other is a father on a crusade
to see that his daughter’s killer
pays for his crime.
Deputy District Attorney
Mirian Thompson does not want
the parents of the accused to leave
the vicinity to avoid testifying
during the trial. So Judge Teri
Schwartz ordered the Ortiz’s to
return to court for the next hear¬
ing on Feb. 25. The jury trial will
begin in April or May.
Court records show that
Johnny Ortiz telephoned his
father shortly after the crime took
place and alerted him to trouble at
Maria Isabel’s house.
In response, Fernando Ortiz
placed a 911 call to the Pasadena
Police. He requested that police
check the Fernandez residence for
a problem.
His was the second 911 call.
When police finally entered the
residence, they found the body of
Maria Isabel. She had been
stabbed 46 times. Johnny Ortiz
disappeared and a warrant was
issued for his arrest.
Ortiz’s relatives may have pro¬
vided him with financial assis¬
tance after the warrant was issued
for his arrest.
Ortiz’s parents have main¬
tained a low profile. They live in
Chino Hills and are salespeople.
They stand by their son but have
not been in the public eye.
In contrast, Miguel Fernandez,
the father of Maria Isabel, has
waged a non-stop campaign to
find and charge Ortiz with mur¬
der. Fernandez assisted the
police, the district attorney and
investigators. He wrote letters to
high-ranking politicians.
He went as far as appearing on
the Spanish-language “Christina
Show” seeking the public’s help.
A tip from a viewer led to the
arrest, extradition and arraign¬
ment of Ortiz who was living in
Mexico under the name of Alvaro
Aguilar Najera.
On Aug. 31, 2000, Mexico
approved Ortiz’s extradition to
the United States. He was extra¬
dited only after legal representa¬
tives agreed not to seek the death
penalty. The agreement honors a
treaty between Mexico and the
United States. Ortiz is not a
Mexican citizen, but was born in
Colombia.
Miguel Fernandez says that
jealousy and possessiveness were
the motives for his daughter’s
death. Fernandez testified that
Maria Isabel was in the process of
terminating the relationship with
Ortiz. On Feb. 5, 1999, she
placed a frantic 911 call to the
Pasadena Police. Police arrived,
investigated and left after they
reported finding nothing unusual
at the residence. They were
unable to enter the residence. It
was only after the second 911 call
was placed by Fernando Ortiz that
police found Maria Isabel
Fernandez dead at the home she
shared with her father. She was
stabbed 46 times. Fernandez, a
PCC student and flamenco
dancer, was 17 years old.
On April 23, 2001, Johnny
Ortiz pleaded innocent to murder
in Pasadena Superior Court. If
convicted, Ortiz faces 25 years to
life in state prison.