PCC Courier, June 04, 1987

COURIER VOL. 64, NO. 15 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA JUNE 4, 1987 Community Colleges Granted $100 Million “It doesn’t answer all of our needs, but we think the governor is beginning to realize that community colleges play an important part in the education of the citizenry of this state.” By Catherine F. Reynolds Editor in Chief In response to Governor George Deukmejian’s pledge to increase state spending for community colleges by more than $140 million, Dr. Bonnie R. James, assistant superintendent of ad¬ ministrative services, gave a summary of how PCC will benefit from the projected $100 million in additional funding to the community college sys¬ tem state-wide. “No one knows exactly what the governor means by the extra $100 million. The $100 million is above and beyond his presentation of January 10. As of January 10, he was granting somewhere around $45 to $47 million in new monies above and beyond the 1986/87 fiscal year. He says he’s going to give community colleges another $100 million above the $47 million sys¬ tem-wide.” What this means for PCC will have to be translated by James into a preliminary budget based upon his own projections of how PCC will benefit. “On Thursday, May 28, we presented the first preliminary budget. That rep¬ resented our best estimate of what was presented in the governor’s budget in January. There were some things that were not exactly as he presented it, but those things will be picked up and corrected at the time of the tentative budget due July 1. “I have presented some new monies in the preliminary budget based upon the $47 million. In the tentative budget, I will then add to that based upon the new $100 million. Of course, the reven¬ ues will change to reflect that. We’re in the throes now of trying to decifer how that $100 million is going to be dis¬ tributed among a number of categories of needs.” According to James, some of those needs include salary increases and operations costs such as supplies, equipment, maintenance and utilities. “Theoretically, it will cost more next year to do same thing we did this year in 1986/87— no new programs, no new equipment or additional personnel than we had this year— it will cost more to do those things next year. That’s called, as you know, inflation.” Inflation is referred to in the gov¬ ernor’s budget as COLA, an acronym for cost of living adjustment. The governor’s January 10 budget provided a 1.35 percent annualized increase. “Actually, what the governor did was place a 2.7 percent increase start¬ ing January 1, 1988. Annualized, it’s 1.35— half of that. We can take a look at increased costs of operation beginning January 1, 1988, but PCC’s fiscal year will begin July 1, 1987. We need relief now beginning in July 1987.” A portion of the $100 million will provide an increased cost of living adjustment from the original 1.35 per¬ cent to 3.4 percent. According to James, this increase in cost of living alone will require $40 million state¬ wide. “So, already we’re down to $60 mil¬ lion,” said James. The next major portion of the new funds will contribute $21 million toward what the department of finance calls remediation or basic skills. “When the governor first made the comment we initially thought that he was referring to what they had mis¬ stated as metriculation and catego¬ rized it as remediation. Well, it was not a misstatement at all. It was specific and by design. We’re presently trying to get that recategorized not as basic skill monies but as metriculation monies because that’s what our major need is.” Average Daily Attendance (ADA) will receive $19 million out of the projected $100 million. “$19 million is provided to fund above the ADA cap, cap meaning the maximum number of students the state will pay for. The state is saying to us we cannot fund all of your growth. So, this money is to fund growth slightly above the cap.” Instructional equipment will receive an additional $9 million, while $7 mil¬ lion will be set aside for data process¬ ing equipment and software associated with metriculation. Deferred main¬ tenance will receive a much needed $2.3 million. (continued on page 4) Conference Via Satellite Unites Illiteracy Battle By Coleen Meyers Associate News Editor An initial step towards reducing adolescent and adult illiteracy will be taken as PCC hosts the Literacy Educa¬ tion Action Program (LEAP) Tuesday, June 23 at 5 p.m. in the Forum. This program, a nationwide video teleconference, will be beamed via satellite to approximately 1,000 com¬ munity and technical colleges across America. It will originate from BizNet Studios, a section of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. LEAP’S goal is to bring together local and national leaders to discuss ways of reducing adult illiteracy. Or¬ ganizers hope that each participating community will leave the tele¬ conference committed to developing a local Literacy Education Action Pro¬ gram. LEAP’S long-term goal is to double the number of individuals taking and passing the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) test, demonstrating a high school education equivalency. According to Victoria Johnson, a member of the California Literacy Campaign, there are at least 20,000 functionally illiterate adults in Pasa¬ dena. “The number is hard to pin down since the definition of illiteracy varies. But looking at the demographics and comparing them to the national statistics, there are at least 20,000 adults in Pasadena who can’t read or write at a performance level required in the work force.” If the immigrant population is added, the number may reach as high as 40,000. Immigrants may be literate in their native lan¬ guage, but not in English, she added. The two and one half hour program will open with a panel discussion on “The Urgency of the Illiteracy Prob¬ lem for our Country’s Work Force.” Through use of a two-way satellite hook up, viewers may exchange comments and questions with literacy advocates, state and national government of¬ ficials, as well as business and in- New Pep Squad Tryouts Set Due To Controversy By Meta McCullough Special Correspondent In the aftermath of last month’s controversial cheerleading tryouts, new tryouts have been scheduled for June 25 when finals have been com¬ pleted. The results of the original tryouts were disputed by the Black Student Union (BSU). The Union challenged the racial make-up of the 1987/88 squad, which included no black women, and alleged judging irregularities, arguing that “the squad didn’t accurately re¬ flect the ethnic diversity of PCC.” BSU President Vyron McCllelan originally charged that “the selection process was conducted unfairly” and that “the black women who competed were unjustly passed over simply be¬ cause of the color of their skin, regard¬ less of their abilities and knowledge of the routines and manuevers.” McCllelan added that “we need to question the legitimacy of non-faculty judges and to insure that the judging panel reflects the minority students.” Contestant Tashaan Swayne and other hopefuls also questioned the fair¬ ness of the proceedings which included a request for photographs at the orien¬ tation. Others also question the low number of contestants that were selected. Shomari Davis, BSU vice-president, charged that Lanny Alexander, the only black chosen, “was selected because a male was needed to assist and perform some of the more difficult maneuvers, such as the pyramid, where strength was needed.” According to Connie Hurston, stu¬ dent activities adviser, an orientation will be held Thursday, June 11 at noon in the campus center lounge for all candidates interested in being added to next year’s squad. Hurston also said that “no one will be dropped from the present squad.” The new panel of judges will reflect PCC’s ethnic diversity,” said Hurston. Adding new members to the squad will increase it to about 30. This will allow for some dropouts,” said Hurston. “For now, the short term issue is resolved. However, we need to imple¬ ment policies and procedures that will address all other concerns in order to make certain that nothing like this happens again in the future,” she said. dustrial leaders in the Capitol. The next segment “How are Com- munites Responding to the Problem?: Solutions Underway” will feature videotape clips of exemplary com¬ munity organized literacy programs around the country. Following the video clips, a second panel discussion on “Where can com¬ munities Turn for Help?: Resources for Literacy Programs” will feature national and state experts that will provide concrete resources for com¬ munities as they develop their literacy education action plans. This segment will also be followed by an interactive call-in period. Next, videotape “Community Col¬ leges Literacy Programs and Serv¬ ices” will present a panorama of model literacy programs currently used by community, junior and technical col¬ leges nationwide. Finally, during the “Call to Action” segment of the program, John L. Clendenin, Thomas Donahue and Ernest Boyer will address education, labor and business leaders, asking them to become personally involved in the fight against illiteracy. The teleconference will be hosted by Dale Parnell, president of American Association of Community and Junior Colleges (AACJC) and moderated by Hugh Downs of ABC’s 20/20 news pro¬ gram. Among the guests at the Capitol will be Massachusetts Senator Ted Ken¬ nedy, Missouri Governor John Ashcroft and Andrew Young, chairman of the National Governor’s Association Task Force on Adult Literacy. According to David Ledbetter, as¬ sistant superintendent of educational services, two hundred invitations have been sent to city directors, volunteer literacy programs, adult basic educa¬ tion programs, library literacy pro¬ grams, job training, vocational educa¬ tional programs, the United Way and many other organizations working to fight illiteracy. He added that anyone interested in participating is welcome. A follow-up committee headed by Bill Goldmann, dean of institutional advancement and executive assistant to the president, will maximize the efforts of the teleconference by “set¬ ting up a network or steering commit¬ tee” to define the number of active people and programs in the com¬ munity. Newsletters will be sent out to avoid duplication of programs. The conference is sponsored by AACJC and Project Literacy US (PLUS), the National Association of Private Industry Councils, American Association of School Administrators, the Council of Chief State School Of¬ ficers and the Association of Com¬ munity College Trustees. Financial support for the conference came from IBM Educational Systems. The judges at Friday’s competition for the communication department’s new photojournalism magazine PCC Photojournalism: Portfolio were honest and encouraging about the qualify of the students’ work. Photojournalism instructor, Wilhelm Bleckmann (third from left), looked on as judges Karen Geller-Shinn, Rick Meyer and Reed Saxon chose the winning pix. courier photo by Jennifer Landis Magazine Focuses on Talent By Jennifer Landis News Editor The communication department will publish a new magazine to show¬ case the talents of its student photog¬ raphers early in the Fall. The magazine, PCC Photo¬ journalism: Portfolio is a “learning tool for the students to understand photojournalism better,” said Wilhelm Bleckmann, professor of communications and art. Not only is the magazine a learning tool it is a “reward for the students to showcase their superb classwork,” he said. Students in the Spring and Fall photojournalism classes were given assignments to get a minimum of two shots for each of the 12 categories. There was a two week deadline for each catagory. The 12 catagories were children, animals, environmen¬ tal portrait, humor, action, drama/entertainment, night, special effects, weather, art, social com¬ mentary and on-the-spot. Many stu¬ dents turned in extra shots. Prior to the judging Lorene Rosen, graphics editor for the magazine, separated the 225 photographs into the different catagories and put a code number on the back of each one. Bleckmann started working on the project last September but Portfolio didn’t truly become a reality until the judging took place last Friday. The three judges were all from the professional world of photography, Karen Geller-Shinn, editor of Peter¬ sons Photographic Magazine; Rick Meyer, staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times and Reed Saxon, staff photographer for the Associated Press (AP). On Friday, the judges were given a set criteria to judge each picture. First, the judges viewed each catagory, chose his three favorites and gave their code numbers to Bleckmann or Rosen. When each judge had seen all the catagories Rosen and Bleckmann pulled the prints the judges had selected. The different judges often duplicated the favorite choices. Meyer, Geller-Shinn and Sexon worked together to narrow down the choices to the first, second and third place winners in each catagory. Meyer believes the “magazine is a good idea. It gives students a chance to show off their work. When I went to Valley College we had a number of magazines to get published in. Now employers want to see clips with the photographer’s name under it before they will give him a job.” That proves he can do the artistic as well as the technical work of a photogra¬ pher. Sexon, a former classmate of Bleckmanns at Valley College, re¬ membered from his school days “how dificult it can be to shoot a picture that fits into a catagory. Especially in a short time.” Sexon noted that some of the action shots were wire service quality and that the childern’s catagory stood out. “Animals, children and sports are mainstays in photography,” he said. Geller-Shinn has seen thousands of photographs at Petersons Magazine and said that the pictures were “very solid. Not as good as the best but, nowhere near the worst I’ve seen. My highest priority in judging was if the photographer was thinking about what he was shooting and not just taking a picture. It’s alsorefreshing to see photographers doing their own darkroom work. Not many professionals or amateures have the darkroom craftsmanship.” All the students were excited when they were noitified they had won in the competition. At Tuesday’s class meeting, all present were given certificates of merit for their partici¬ pation. Portfolio will be composed of the top three photos in each catagory along with a caption about the shot. There will also be an introduction as well as a biography on each judge. According to Bleckmann, Portfolio is a “PCC public relations veichle so that the Pasadena community and the PCC student body can find out what photojournalism students produce for campus publications such as Courier and AirPlay. It will promote the journalism and com¬ munication department as well as the art photography department.” Rosen is currently working on the design and copy for Portfolio. Both Bleckmann and Rosen hope to put Portfolio into the statewide journal¬ ism competitions next year.