PCC Courier, June 28, 2001

Jontrae Byrdsong Murdered see page 6 New Computer Lab Now Open see page 3 Check Out the Football Preview see page 6 P A S A D E N A C l T Y t О L 1 E G E _ _ • _ _ _ _ • _ • _ ' ' _ • _ ■ _ ; _ ' . • _ _ _ • _ ' COURIER Since 1915 VOL. 87 NO. 1 www.pcc-courieronline.com JUNE 28, 2001 Matt Robinson / Courier Board member Warren Weber (right) has words with an ISSU supporter before last week’s meeting, at which a faculty pay raise was imposed. ISSU: ‘What About Us?’ Historic Changes in Teachers’ Union ‘Pro-faculty’ slate wins СТА elections On Campus Got Eggs? Donor clinics try to lure students with big bucks By Natasha Bakody Staff writer . Fliers posted on bulletin boards all over the PCC cam¬ pus suggest that some students may be worth more than others. In this case, “some stu¬ dents” means females between the ages of 18-35. This month, the fliqrs are i asking for European ancestry, but at other times, Asian females are in demand. The signs which offer big • money to females are designed to attract those interested in selling their eggs. Although it is not recom- t mended, women could conceiv¬ ably donate their eggs regularly during their reproductive years and earn in the hundreds of . thousands of dollars. Females who fit the needs of the egg donor centers could be worth up to $714,000 more than males in their same age group. “More women are interested in helping others for humanitar¬ ian rather than economic rea- . sons,” said a spokesperson for the Pasadena egg donor clinic. The selling or donation of human eggs is illegal in many parts of the world, including Please see EGGS, page 5 By Vincent D'Orazi Managing editor A year of contentious salary negotiations between the СТА and the district ended last week when the board of trustees voted unan¬ imously to impose a 6 per¬ cent non-negotiated salary increase on full-time faculty members. The board made its deci¬ sion at a meeting where members of the Instructional Support Services Unit (ISSU), the union of classi¬ fied employees, picketed the trustees for their refusal to deal with staff contract issues. Staff members protested the board’s action to address the faculty contract before theirs, even though a fact¬ finding report for the classi¬ fied employees was complet¬ ed well before the faculty’s. Some board members became embroiled in heated debates with the protesters on their way into last week’s meeting. ISSU representative, Susan Talbot, addressed the board towards the end of the meeting, which did not include ISSU’s fact-finding report on the agenda. “I strongly object to the manner in which this has been handled,” said Talbot. “Our report had been sitting in the district’s hands for three weeks, and we couldn’t be put on the agenda. There’s something wrong with that. There’s something deceitful, dishonest, and fishy, and I’m here to object to that.” The board is scheduled to meet this Friday to review and consider the ISSU fact¬ finding report, which sug¬ gests a 7 percent raise for classified employees. The trustees also voted to raise part-time faculty Please see ISSU, page 3 By Bethany Johnson Contributing Editor A slate of delegates calling themselves “Pro-Faculty” pulled off one of the biggest upsets in PCC history by oust¬ ing the leadership of the local chapter of the СТА that has been in office for more than 20 years. Last May, teachers voted to oust the current board in favor of four new members. In an overwhelming victory, John Jacobs, of the art division won the presidency, replacing Gary Woods, of the business educa¬ tion division. Karen Carlisi, an instructor in the English and foreign lan¬ guages division, will take over for vice president Elvio Angeloni, a social sciences professor. Suzanne Anderson of the social sciences division will replace secretary Mabel Duncan of the Community Education Center. Part-timer Preston Rose will replace СТА directorDaniel Petta, instructor in the physical education divi¬ sion. Once the election results became official, the slate start¬ ed planning for their takeover. One of the first things the new officers did was sponsor an ini¬ tiative so they could take office on July 1. According to the CTA’s constitution, the new board cannot take control until Oct. 15. By taking office early, the new members hoped to begin making changes during the summer and avoid an abrupt change of leadership in the middle of the fall semester, said Rose. “We think it is a problem that we cannot take office until Oct. 15 because negotiations John Jacobs for the new contract begin immediately,” Rose said. The new board members held a meeting in which the 25 percent of union members who attended overwhelmingly sup¬ ported the initiative for the early change over. Yet accord¬ ing to Jacobs “it is still up in the air.” “Unfortunately, Gary Woods, the current president wasn’t there, so it’s unclear whether the meeting was offi¬ cial or not,” Rose said. “Gary Woods and the other officers are still in office, so that puts Please see СТА, page 4 ‘No Quiero Taco Bell’ Students join boycott of fast food chain By Matt Robinson and Crystal Samuelian Students protested outside a Taco Bell last Thursday during the lunch hour to show their . Matt Robinson / Courier Students picket in front of Taco Bell near campus. support for the nationwide boycott called by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a farm worker union in Florida. The group was protesting working conditions and slave wages being paid to tomato pickers by the Six L’s Farm, the main supplier of Taco Bell tomatoes. Between 60-70 students gathered in front of the Taco Bell at Colorado Boulevard and Berkeley Street to protest unfair working conditions that many blame on Taco Bell, which is ope of the primary consumers of tomatoes from the low-paid workers. The coalition has been ask¬ ing Taco Bell to pay only 1 cent more per pound for toma¬ toes, a move that would con¬ siderably boost farm workers’ working conditions and wages. Taco Bell has refused. Cyndi Donelan, who repre- see BOYCOTT, page 4 Warning Issued on Campus Vans By Aaron Harris Staff Writer Fifteen-passenger vans, sim¬ ilar to the ones used to trans¬ port PCC athletic teams, have been involved in an increasing number of rollover accidents across America. This development has prompted the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to release a consumer advisory warning about the dangers that arise when the vans are over loaded. The advisory, released in April, comes as the result of a study undertaken by the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTA) on the safety hazards associated with passenger vans that are overloaded. The study shows that 15- passenger vans face an extremely high risk of turnovers when they carry more people than recommend¬ ed plus heavy luggage or equipment. The DOT’s advisory states that “15- passenger vans (with 1 0 or more occupants) had a rollover rate in single vehicle crashes that is nearly three times the rate of those that were lightly loaded.” Consumers can gage the importance of the release on the fact that the DOT rarely if ever gets involved in making consumer warnings to the pub¬ lic, as they are a federal agency whose main jurisdic¬ tion is the safe management of the nation’s highways , water¬ ways and air traffic. The study from the NHTA comes in the wake of a series of accidents involving college sports teams in which team members were either hurt or killed on the way to college sponsored sporting events because the vans that they were in rolled over . The Texas A&M University Track team experienced tragedy when the van they were in rolled over killing four , and injuring seven oth¬ ers . There were also other col¬ leges that have had their teams involved in rollover accidents; the DePaul women’s track team in Chicago, Kenyon College’s swim team in Ohio, and the Wisconsin -Oshkosh swim team. The 15-passenger vans involved in those accidents are similar to those used by PCC to transport students to and from the Community Please see VANS, page 5 Rosario Cuevas / Courier PCC’s 15-passenger vans, like this one, may pose a threat to safety of students. ЙА! 3 0 2203