Morale Problems
Examined in Poll
By
Магу
E. Jones
News Editor
Is Dr. Richard S. Meyers, PCC
superintendent-president, causing
low faculty morale? Some faculty
members give a resounding “yes”
when asked that question. Accord¬
ing to the Accreditation Commit¬
tee’s recent Fifth Year Report on
PCC, most of the faculty feel that
morale has declined considerably.
Dr. Gordon Brown, Faculty Sen¬
ate president, recently conducted
a poll to find out just how many
faculty members hold that view¬
point. The poll was sent to 375 of
the 405 full-time instructors, and
195 responded.
Brown feels the poll confirms
the above allegation and provides
a fair assessment of faculty opin¬
ion. Others contend that the poll’s
results are vague ; confirming that
there is a morale problem, but not
tying down the cause or showing
any solutions to purported prob¬
lems. The poll’s exact results are
shown in a box at the bottom of
this page.
Of the poll Meyers said, “There
doesn’t seem to be enough (in¬
formation) to draw any con¬
clusions of a definitive nature.”
He added, “People expend a lot of
energy on polls that could be more
constructively spent.”
Meyers pointed out that of the
106 community colleges, 28 hired
new presidents this past year.
“Not only are superintendent-
presidents getting blamed for eco¬
nomic problems by the faculty, but
many times the Board of Trustees
does the same thing and the presi¬
dent gets caught in the middle.
“There is a morale problem, not
" I've seen this year's
Faculty Senate leader¬
ship take on a very
antagonistic view,
but I'm hoping we can
go beyond that.
— Dr. Richard Meyers
only with the faculty, but with
administration, the Board and
throughout education,” Meyers
said. “Most of it is economic, but
not all of it.”
Meyers listed several reasons
why he feels faculty morale prob¬
lems exist. They include: low
salaries, poor building main¬
tenance and the changing quality
of students. “There is a general
feeling among the faculty that the
commitment to study is less than
it has been in the past,” he said.
All of these things, Meyers con¬
tinued, combine to make teachers
feel dissatisfied.
But Brown sees the problem as
stemming from Meyers himself:
“Authoritarianism— that’s the
problem. He has repeatedly used
economic problems as a
scapegoat.” Brown said that the
faculty lacks confidence in Meyers
and does not believe that he is
sincerely trying to communicate
with them, he added.
Meyers agrees that communica¬
tion is a problem, but one that
exists throughout society and even
within the faculty itself. “Very
few faculty have come to talk to
me,” said Meyers. “They tend to
make a conclusion before they
check it out.
“When I was hired, it broke a
tradition of 53 years. Being an
outsider, no one could relate to me
because they didn’t know me like
they would have if I’d been here
and been promoted. Now that I’ve
been here awhile, we’re beginning
to solve that.”
Brown, however, feels that
Meyers is not breaking down bar¬
riers, but building them up with a
hierarchial form of government
through which he is isolating
himself.
To this charge Meyers replied,
“We are a hierarchy. I am a
"Authoritarianism —
that's the problem.
He (Meyers) has
repeatedly used
economic problems
as a scapegoat. "
— Dr. Gordon Brown
president of a college. Just the
titles vice presidents, deans, as¬
sistant deans and faculty, show
there are layers of people between
me and the faculty. I don’t know if
that’s called isolated, perhaps in¬
sulated. That’s the nature of a
hierarchial group, but we’re trying
to get through that.”
Brown charges that there should
be no hierarchial system in a
college, but that the power should
rest equally between the adminis¬
tration, the faculty and the state
representatives. “It is important
to have a balance of power to avoid
a hierarchial structure,” Brown
maintains. “Schools are modeled
after our governmantal system to
train people to be thinkers. It’s
A New Chapter Opens
Lewis Retires From Post
By Rosemary Cameron
Feature Editor
Retirement steps forward to
meet all working people as they
near the end of a career. Some
dread its approach; others see it
as a welcome change. Dr. Irvin G.
Lewis, vice president for student
personnel services, who has
served at PCC for 34 years, sees
retirement as the beginning of a
new chapter in his life.
“Retirement should be viewed
as a promotion into a new environ¬
ment. I don’t intend to just quit,”
he said. “The experts say you need
to plan for retirement. I think it’s
inportant to have a continuing
interest that takes you into contact
with other people.”
Outside Interests
Lewis is looking forward to the
increased time he’ll have to spend
with his family. He and his wife
have relatives in England and
friends in Japan, and hope to
travel to both countries in the
foreseeable future. “England is
one of my favorite places,” he
said.
His predominant interest, how¬
ever, lies in developing a private
consulting business to help col¬
leges set up or improve foreign
student programs.
His special interest in foreign
students dates back to when he
taught English as a second lan¬
guage at PCC. Lewis has been
actively involved in the National
Association for Foreign Students
for the past nine years. It is
concerned with programs for for¬
eign students in high schools, and
senior institutions.
Many new colleges, not realiz¬
ing the ramifications of a foreign
student program, have admitted
foreign students without providing
adequate counseling, language as¬
sistance, or services to assist with
immigration procedures, he said.
“PCC has one of the best foreign
student programs in the nation,”
he added.
Serving Students
PCC has had only seven presi¬
dents over the last 56 years. Lewis
has worked with six of them.
During his career here, which
began in 1947, Lewis has served as
teacher, counselor and adminis¬
trator. As vice president for stu¬
dent personnel services, he was
responsible for eight different de¬
partments, dealing with all
aspects of student services.
After majoring in English at
York College in Nebraska, he
moved to California and com¬
pleted a master’s degree in speech
at USC. In 1940 he began teaching
at an Orange County elementary
school.
After serving as a civilian
teacher at the Santa Ana Army Air
Base for one year, Lewis enlisted
in the United States Army Air
(Continued on Page 6)
f
4
ЁШ
Dr. Irvin G. Lewis
City Directors Focus on Parking
Solutions to Problems Discussed
crucial to have that balance.
“Once you make it a hierarchy,
you’ve thrown out democracy and
made the individual subservient to
the person on the higher level. The
problem is that he (Meyers) views
himself as representing the facul¬
ty. The role of the faculty as an
independent, autonomous voice is
being lost,” he said.
Brown sees another problem as,
“his apparent desire to build a
national/international image for
himself while many faculty mem¬
bers feel that our educational
problems are suffering. We don’t
care what he does as long as he
benefits the college, but our prob¬
lems are continuing.”
“There are so many changes in
the community college that if the
community isn’t aware of them,
we might as well be dead,” said
(Continued on Page 6)
By Barbara Lamprecht
Associate Opinion Editor
A partial solution to the campus
parking crunch was the focal point
of a presentation by PCC repre¬
sentatives before the Pasadena
City Board of Directors July 7. By
closing off Sierra Bonita Avenue
and Francisca Street to two-way
public traffic, and installing an¬
gled parking on the west and south
sides of those streets respectively,
43 guest and staff parking spaces
would be established.
Warren Weber, president of the
PCC Board of Trustees, told the
city directors, “We see this pro¬
posal as an interim step, not a long
term solution to our problems.”
Ultimate Objectives
The “long term solution” goes
back eight years, to the 1973 mas¬
ter plan for the PCC campus.
According to a recent city man¬
ager’s report, the ultimate objec¬
tive of the plan is to acquire the
sites of Frank’s Restaurant (at the
corner of Colorado Boulevard and
Sierra Bonita Avenue) and the
auto transmission shop (at the
corner of Colorado Boulevard and
Bonnie Avenue), and widen Bonnie
Avenue to permit easier perimeter
circulation.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have
the money to buy Frank’s right
now,” said PCC Superintendent-
President Dr. Richard S. Meyers.
“The city presented us with a set
of conditions for the street
closures— we’re able to meet sev¬
en of them.” The conditions set
forth by the city basically turn
over all liability and responsibility
for those streets to PCC, including
pedestrian safety, lighting and
storm drainage.
Future Bright
“I’m optimistic,” continued
Meyers. “We’ve never had a bet¬
ter chance at it than right now—
we’ve never had a more sympa¬
thetic Board of Directors of the
city.”
Meyers estimated the cost of
closing the two streets at approx¬
imately $20,000. In addition to
moving a gate presently in the
west faculty parking facility and
buying another to prevent en¬
trance on both streets, the esti¬
mate would also include the erec¬
tion of a small information booth.
The information booth would
mean hundreds of people, in¬
terested in obtaining information
about PCC, could acquire catalogs
and applications without parking
on campus, Meyers further
elaborated. The booth would be
built by students in the building
trades classes, so the only expense
would be in the purchase of mate¬
rials.
Some Problems
Although PCC representatives
were optimistic about the city’s
final decision on the street
closure, several directors raised
reservations during the discussion.
Director William Thomson
asked if PCC had a game plan for
acquiring Frank’s. Director Don
McIntyre was concerned about
present access to Frank's if one of
the exits was barred to the public,
as under the proposed plan. Both
McIntyre and John Crowley were
anxious to explore alternatives in
financing the purchase of Frank's.
Weber assured the city directors
that PCC officials would speak to
Frank's owners about the poten¬
tial impact of the proposed plan.
He also indicated that plans for
creative financing of the actual
purchase of the restaurant site
would also be forthcoming.
After the presentation, Meyers
was still confident of a “yes” vote
from the city directors at their
next meeting. The estimated
$20,000 for street closure is a far
cry from the $260,000 estimated
cost of street widening, and even
farther away from the $1.25 mil¬
lion needed for land purchase of
the two sites.