PCC Courier, July 16, 2009

For exclusive stories and photos check out the Courier on the web @ pcccourier.com Entertainment: PCC goes Broadway: Students prepare for musical theater per¬ formance. Page 5» Volume 100, Issue 1 ‘The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915" Thursday, July 16, 2009 winter cut Union to fight Board faces boisterous crowd cancelin8g°essionS Barbara Beaser Editor-in-Chief The Board of Trustees was greet¬ ed with a crowd of students and faculty protesting the budget cuts after its closed session at its most recent meeting. Amid chants of "Cuts are nuts" and "Hey hey, ho ho, these budget cuts have got to go" it took several minutes before the Board President, Jeanette Mann, was able to call the meeting to order. Nor was that the last time Mann was prompted to call for order. Several students spoke against the budget cuts already implemented and those still only proposed, draw¬ ing cheers and applause from the crowd. The normally strict protocol that the meetings follow was inter¬ rupted several times by the audi¬ ence yelling at the board. "I understand several of you stu¬ dents are getting extra credit by being here tonight," Mann said, which drew the first outburst. Continued on page 6 unfair, improper Katelyn Fike Staff Writer The Faculty Association is plan¬ ning to take legal action in response to the sudden cancella¬ tion of PCC's winter session, which has resulted in conflicting reactions among students and staff. Talks of action are already underway just weeks after the Board of Trustees' decision to can¬ cel winter intersession in an effort to balance the projected deficit of $7.7 million for the upcoming fis¬ cal year. "We are looking into filing an Unfair Labor Practice [action]," said Faculty Association president Roger Marheine, who asserts that the board did not legally negotiate with the FA before making the cut. "We were not involved in any kind of discussion about cutting winter," said Marheine. Saying they had no prior knowl¬ edge of this development, board members declined to comment. Marheine explained that cutting winter session violates a contract which sets the school's calendar year, and legal action could be taken as early as this week. "As union leaders, we are obli¬ gated to do our best for the faculty, students, and education in gener¬ al," said Marheine. Vice President of Instruction Jackie Jacobs said she is "not aware that [the cut] had to be negotiated with the Faculty Association," and believes the board did not violate any con¬ tracts. Mark Zacovic, Interim vice pres¬ ident of Administrative Services, Continued on page 6 Rosa Vazquez/Courier The entrance facing Colorado Boulevard of the new Industrial Technologies Building, which is almost finished. New IT Building is open for business Mike Haidar Staff Writer The new Industrial Technology Building on campus has been completed and was occupied about three weeks ago. The new IT Building is situated on the far west side of cam¬ pus, adjacent to south Hill Avenue. The new building features 11 smart classrooms with 85 new Dell Computer systems and four major automotive or "heavy" labs. Other rooms include classrooms for Electronics and Engineering, Drafting Production, Model Production, and Electrical Technology, along with an engine assembly room and over eight rooms dedicated to extra storage. "[The building] has the intelligence and technology to accommodate our students," said Douglas Haines, dean of engineering and technology. Haines enjoys the new building calling it "modern'' and says that it is "more than I expected. [I'm] thrilled and happy." Some have other views, such as Mark Keehn, assistant pro¬ fessor of drafting, who says, "it has been well laid out" yet it does have design problems. Continued on page 6 Police, safety services are reduced Rosa Vazquez Staff Writer Police and Safety Services horns have been reduced starting July 1 as budget cut effects are becoming more and more visible. Not only are the hours affect¬ ed but the number of cadets has been cut by half. The front counter in the police dispatch center is now closing four hours early; it used to be open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. but is now closing at 5 p.m. "There are two reasons why hours have been changed," said Chief of Police Peter Michael. "One: budget cuts. Two: the new building we are moving to will have a different setup where the dispatcher will be in a separate room so he won't be able to help." That is not to say that there will not be police on campus after 5 p.m., according to Lt. Brad Young. Five to six cadets will remain on campus until about 11 p.m. and there will be one dispatcher and one police officer until 6 a.m., Young said. This officer is respon¬ sible for patrolling the main campus, CEC, CDC and enforcing parking policies. "The Police Department will remain operating 24/7," said Young. Those affected by the new office hours include peo¬ ple who need customer service, those asking ques¬ tions about parking citations and faculty and staff who normally get their keys issued to them at the police station. The cadet positions were cut from about 100 to 50, said police officials. "We used to have about 16 cadets [on duty], now we only have five to seven during the day, including the two that patrol CEC," said Michael. Because the number of cadets was cut, the cadets Continued on page 6 Features: Living cheap: Students cope with life during a recession Page 4» Sports: Football: Coach Kuk optimistic about upcoming season Page 8» ONLINE POLL Did the Board make the right decision to cancel winter session? VOTE AT: pcccoyrier.com