OPINION
The cost of a college
education is strained
enough without any help
from California lawmakers.
Page 2
FEATURES
Eaton Canyon
Nature Center is
in danger of
closure.
Page 9
SPORTS
Track coach George Mehale
resigns after one year on the
job. Mehale cited personal
reasons for his departure.
Page 14
Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
VoL 76 No. 1
COURIER
Summer Edition
Thursday
July 23, 1992
PCC feels budget crunch
Education cuts may force a 233%
fee hike for community colleges
Student Stephen Whilden joined the protest over a
possible increase in community college fees.
By ALFREDO SANTANA
News Editor
In an effort to offset a S2.3 billion shortfall in ele¬
mentary and secon¬
dary education, Gov.
Pete Wilson has pro¬
posed to the state leg¬
islators a plan that
would raise Califor¬
nia community col¬
leges fee by as much
as 233 percent.
The plan is part of
a general spending program that Wilson created to
balance an Sll billion budget deficit for the 1992-93
fiscal year.
Currently, students enrolled at community colleges
pay $120 a year. If the increases are adopted, students
would be charged S20-per-unit with a $200 semester
cap.
Wilson also proposed that students who have taken
90 units or more of college credit pay up to $ 1 1 2 a unit,
and receive no state subsidies.
“California community college fees are the cheapest
in the nation,” the Republican governor said in an
interview last week.
“The increment will still keep our stale college
system with the lowest fees across the country.”
The increase proposal has encountered stiff opposi¬
tion from the Democratic-controlled Legislature and
college officials, who said the raise would virtually
eliminate the state’s promise of accessible higher edu¬
cation for students unable to pay the new fees.
“It would be disastrous for students who attend
Please see “FEES,” page 8
Feeling the
Budget Squeeze
Suspect still sought in rape
By EDWIN FOLVEN
Special Correspondent
Problems with magazine
subscription sales on campus have
prompted campus police offi¬
cers to keep a watchful eye for
unauthorized solicitors. The
peddlers often harass students.
An arrest warrant has been is¬
sued for a salesman involved in
an incident that began on cam¬
pus in May.
Investigators from the Glen¬
dale police departmentare seek¬
ing a 24-year-old man for alleg¬
edly raping a female student from
PCC at her home in Glendale,
after contacting her on campus.
The incident is presently under
investigation and police are
awaiting charges from the Dis¬
trict Attorney’s office, said in¬
vestigator Susan Hodgeman of
the Glendale police.
According to campus police
Sgt. Vince Palermo, the female
student was contacted by a
magazine salesman on May 21.
He said the salesmen often use
high pressure sales tactics and
mainly target women.
The student purchased a
magazine subscription and ap¬
parently made plans to spend
time and socialize with the sus¬
pect later that evening. Accord¬
ing to Palermo, he met with the
student and raped her later that
night.
After filing a report of the
incident, Palermo was able to
track down two of the unauthor¬
ized salesmen. Through inter¬
views with them , he made a pos¬
sible identification of a suspect.
“After talking to the salesmen, I
determined we definitely had a
suspect and he had recently left
the magazine company,” said
Palermo. After the questioning,
he turned the information over
to investigators in Glendale.
Philip Mullendore, director
of campus police and safely, said
the magazine salesmen come
from all over the country and are
shipped to different locations by
a magazine distribution com¬
pany. “A controller brings the
groups to work in different areas
such as college campuses, shop-
Please see “SCAM,” page 12
Summer enrollment
down 23% this year
By AZADOUHIE KALAYDJIAN
Staff Writer
Still reeling from the
effects of statewide educa¬
tion cuts, area students suf¬
fered yet another blow when
PCC halted summer regis¬
tration early, resulting in a
23 percent drop in enroll¬
ment compared to last year,
a college official said.
Stuart Wilcox, associate dean of admissions, said because
of the state’s tighter grip on education funding, 25 percent of
classes were cut for the summer session and the admissions
Please see “DROP”, page 12
4
Feeling the
Budget Squeeze
White professors charge PCC with racial bias
By ANISSA VICENTE
Editor in Chief
Two white history professors
have charged PCC with reverse
discrimination, and one has filed
a lawsuit charging the school
gave a job to a less experienced
Asian American.
Leon J. Waszak, 37, filed suit
in Pasadena Superior Court on
May 20. Deanna Williams, 50,
said she will also sue PCC after
she receives clearance from the
Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission as required by law.
Waszak said PCC failed to
follow procedure and ignored
his requests for a fair hearing
after he was turned down for the
tenure-track position in Decem¬
ber.
“I tried to keep it in-house,
but I didn’t get any hearing of
any substance,” he said.
The Board of Trustees prom¬
ised him a full accounting of a
meeting they held about the case,
but he has heard nothing from
them, Waszak said.
“I can’t pinpoint Scott,” he
said, referring to Dr. Jack Scott,
superintendent-president. “He’s
been very invisible in resolving
this matter.
“I’m arguing a case of merit
over quotas. Their line of ques¬
tioning [in the interview] was a
litmus test to see if I was sensi¬
tive to diversity.”
Williams, who holds three
master’s degrees in Western
European history, art history and
religious studies, told the “Los
Angeles Times” in an interview
July 15 that the panelists were
“really rotten, implying that it
would not be appropriate for me
to teach minorities because I
wasn’t one.”
Waszak, who has a doctorate
in European history and has
taught at PCC part-time for three
years, said he does not under¬
stand the school’s hiring prac¬
tices. “I feel just because I’m a
white male. I’ve been judged
not fit to teach, but for many
years I have proven that I am,”
Please see “BIAS,” page 7
