Pasadena City College
Serving PCC
since 191 5
R I E
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES PCCCOURIER.COM
JULY 16, 2015
VOLUME 112
ISSUE 1
Neon Retro Arcade brings together kids of all ages
Erica Hong/Courier
Nine-year-old Nick Banuelos of Pasadena plays soccer pinball for the first time as his dad shows him the games he grew up with
at Neon Retro Arcade on Raymond Avenue on Friday, July 3.
ACCJC
Kristen Luna
Editor-in-Chief
Pasadena City College officials
announced last week that the Ac¬
crediting Commission for Commu¬
nity and Junior Colleges (ACCJC)
decided to maintain PCC’s accred¬
itation while putting the school
on probation for not being able to
work together for the betterment of
the students and the institution.
According to the ACCJC letter
to PCC, an institution is placed
on probation when the institution
drastically strays away from the
commission’s eligibility require¬
ments, accreditation standards, or
commission policies, but not to an
extent that justifies the termination
of accreditation.
When ACCJC met in early June
to review the Institutional Self
Evaluation Report and the report of
the External Evaluation Team that
visited in March, Assistant Superin¬
tendent and Senior Vice President
Robert Miller, along with other
school representatives, addressed
the commission’s recommendations
puts school on probation
and their plan to improve the col¬
lege’s community.
“I have full respect for the
accrediting commission and for
the recommendations they have
brought forth, and I believe that
this college will rally around those
recommendations that we need to
do in order to be successful,” Miller
said the day after the report was
released. “I think we need to come
A
4. _ /Summer and Fall 2014
' Comprehensive edit of
self-study submitted
to ACCJC in December.
together as a college community
to rally around the most important
aspect of the institution, which is
accreditation.”
Newly elected Superintendent
President Dr. Rajen Vurdien of
PCC said he is well acquainted with
the work it will take to successfully
move the school out of probation.
When Vurdien first arrived at Ful¬
lerton College, they had just been
June 3-5, 2015 | |
ACCJC mooting , * J
Commission took action to
impose probation status on PCC
March 2-5, 2015
External Evaluation
Team site visit
.?
Accreditation
Timeline
! _
October 1, 2016
PCC to submit follow-up report
“The Follow-Up Report should
demonstrate that the College has
resolved the deficiencies which
led to noncompliance and that it
meets the Standards.”
placed on probation and within a
year, the school was fully accredited.
“The college fully embraces the
recommendations of the ACCJC
and will aggressively address these
issues working towards quick reso¬
lution,” Vurdien said. “The college’s
academic programs continue to
be among the highest-ranked and
well-regarded in the nation. The
college’s commitment to providing
a high-quality, academically robust
learning environment that encourag¬
es, supports, and facilitates student
learning and success will continue
unabated through this process.”
Katherine Scott, associate vice
president of academic affairs, took
over as the accreditation liaison
officer in February. Working along¬
side accreditation faculty leader
Stephanie Fleming, they formulat¬
ed the changes that needed to be
implemented in order to address the
recommendations that were made
after the site visit.
“When we had a sense of what
the recommendations were going
CONTINUED PAGE 2
Rocha retains severance with new settlement
Kristen Luna
Editor-in-Chief
After a Los Angeles Superior
court judge nullified former Super¬
intendent President Dr. Mark Ro¬
cha’s severance package last April,
ruling that Rocha and the Board of
Trustees violated the Brown Act
by not listing his severance package
negotiations in closed sessions, the
district signed a new settlement
agreement with Rocha allowing him
to keep $403, 826, along with the
$16,000 in legal expenses negotiated
in his severance package agreement.
According to the settlement
agreement signed by Board Pres¬
ident Berhnda Brown last month,
Rocha hired a lawyer in May 2014
and threatened to sue the district for
breach of contract and defamation.
On two separate dates between
July and August, Rocha and the
board met in closed session with
both of their attorneys concerning
those threats, listing the meetings in
the agenda as “anticipated litiga¬
tion.”
“No other facts or circumstances
regarding the threat of litigation
were stated, because it was the
opinion of the district’s counsel that
to have done so at either meeting
would have required the disclosure
of information which was not yet
known to potential litigants, includ¬
ing but not limited to Dr. Rocha,”
the settlement agreement states.
In October 2014, the non-profit
group Californians Aware filed
a lawsuit against the Board of
Trustees and Rocha that accused
the board of violating open meeting
laws and demanded that the school
retract Rocha’s package. A judge
agreed and nullified the agreement
in May.
The financial terms of the latest
agreement have not changed, as
Rocha received a sum equal to 1 8
months of his salary and a letter of
recommendation from the board.
The settlement also states that the
agreement has enough necessary
information that “neither party' will
make any further statements to the
CONTINUED PAGE 2
Eric Haynes/Courier
New football coach on
campus!
Erica Hong/Courier
Summer is Here! Turn to
page 4 & 5 for Scene!
Griffith
cleared,
settlement
reached
Kristen Luna
Editor-in-Chief
The district recently signed a
settlement agreement stating there
was no evidence found that former
architecture instructor Coleman
Griffith committed sexual harass¬
ment, agreeing to allow Griffith to
resign with full retirement benefits
and pay $18,000 to a search engine
optimization firm to “perform
online reputation management
services.”
According to the settlement
agreement, Griffith has not filed
any lawsuits against the district and
he agrees that he will not sue the
district in the future.
One of the provisions in the
settlement is that all records
involving Griffith and the district
are to placed and remained in a
“sealed envelope and marked with
instructions that the contents shall
be disclosed only upon written au¬
thorization by Griffith,” according
to the letter.
Even though the district main-
CONTINUED PAGE 2
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