PCC Courier, March 01, 2001

Pasad ena City College 2001 Courier il home Ш ■я :»»> 3 G ” ently If you and age, fertili- med- ;t not appli- sdical irred. hnici- aces! ansa- call i The f о r ealth 661- iiiy ^ifexv ц Since 1915 VOL. 86 NO. 20 www.pcc-courieronline.com March 1, 2001 X ■ Xf i 'lilt ■ # 'f I : A Different View Dripping with obvious sarcasm, multi-award winning columnist Jon Heller asks why he wasn't told that the col¬ lege's library is the last bastion of wasting time and finding a great place to sleep. Once again, keep in mind that it's sarcasm folks. >* SEE PAGE 2 Exploring Science Elementary-and middle- school girls from the Pasadena area will descend on PCC this weekend for an eye¬ opening look at the wide range of jobs and opportunities in math and science. SEE PAGE 3 New AS member The Associated Students approved Julian Yu as vice president for busi¬ ness affairs. Yu assumed office yesterday and said he is looking for¬ ward to jump into the cutthroat world of stu¬ dent government. SEE PAGE 6 Team Leader Franklin Temple is a leader on the men's basketball both on and off the court. He's a dominant force on the hardwood and a moti¬ vating force for his teammates. >• SEE PAGE 8 Student says college mishandled his complaint about history instructor By Vincent D'Orazi Staff Writer A PCC student is outraged after his name was revealed to the instructor against whom he filed a complaint. According to the student, John Patton, 19, school officials assured him that he, and the other student filing the written complaint, would remain anony¬ mous. However, his name was released to the instructor. In late January, Patton made a verbal complaint about his histo¬ ry instructor to Mike Finkenbinder, interim dean of the social sciences department. Although Finkenbinder said that when Patton first voiced his verbal complaint, he asked Patton if he could disclose his name to the instructor. He said that Patton gave him permission to do so. The student, however, disagrees. “This is absolutely false,” said Patton. He claims that he was assured by both Finkenbinder and Dr. Jacqueline W. Jacobs, vice president of instruction, that he would remain anonymous. “My policy is, when a student first comes to me, 1 say to them, ‘you’re anonymous as far as I’m concerned, unless you want to write it up, and sign your name, and make it formal,”’ said Jacobs. “My issue at the time was to remain anonymous, because 1 wanted to stay in the class," explained Patton. “1 wasn’t out to ruin the teacher’s reputation.” Patton was shocked to discov¬ er that his name had been revealed. “If you are going to make a complaint and you want some¬ thing changed, you have to be willing to divulge who you are,” said Ernestine Moore, vice presi¬ dent of student and learning serv¬ ices. “The teacher has the right to know who filed the case against him.” On Feb. 21, Patton, and another female student who wished to remain anonymous, filed a written complaint against their History 2A (history of world civilizations to 1500) teacher, Eloy Zarate. The written complaint filed contains allegations, which include the statement that “Zarate has an aggressive attitude in his teachings and discrimi¬ nates against certain groups of people.” The students claim that in his teachings, he discriminates against “Caucasian Americans, Caucasian Europeans, and Caucasian Americans of European descent.” According to the female stu¬ dent who filed the complaint 'P' see Student, PAGE 6 The International From across the world, students deal with highs, lows, lan¬ guage gaps and different traditions by Marcela Toledo- Villegas Staff Writer ■ I • Л, V ■ : : XX" X :VxvX' ’• ; • X- llllllii ЩШ 'fcj I: J Tatiana Basanez / The Courier The international students at PCC are a close-knit and supportive group that rely on each other. They come full of dreams and aspirations, ready to learn and sow the seeds for a brilliant future that will open doors in a strange country. Once they are here, they find one common language, strange customs and traditions, very different from theirs that become at times obstacles or nightmares that awake them to reality. They are very young and feel very alone. Far away from their families, they lack someone to hug or care for them in their loneliness, sadness or des¬ peration. Some remain here to live. Others return to their countries of origin against their will. They depend on their parents who live out their hopes and dreams in them - the international students. “1 feel very lonely here. I have some friends, but they are not close friends. 1 miss my parents, and I visit them every winter. Here, in the United States, there is a culture and language difference. I had a language problem and had difficulty communicat¬ ing with other people. I felt very nervous when I first arrived here. It was a new environment for me,” said Mike Lee from Taiwan. Lee is studying mechanical engineering at Pasadena City College (PCC). He has completed almost four years at PCC, and lived seven in the United States. He listens to American music to learn new words. He came to the United States alone, lived in Van Nuys and now lives in Arcadia. “The difference between then and now is that 1 can now communicate better with other people.” Lee is supported by his parents, who spend between $25,000-530,000 a year for him to stay in the United States. “I plan attend to Cal State Long Beach for one and a half to two years. After that, I might go back to Taiwan, but I want to stay here. My parents want me to go back to Taiwan.” Lee is typical of the thousands students who come every year to study in this country. Carol Kaser, supervisor of Administration Records, stated, “There are around 1,083 interna¬ tional students with F-l student visas,” which rep¬ resents around 3 or 4 percent of the total student- population at Pasadena City College. Barbara Griffith, International Student Counselor at PCC, who counsels approximately 15 international students every day, said, “They have to compete with Americans that have already mas¬ tered English, and most of these international stu¬ dents do not practice English consistently. Their foreign cultures teach them that they should never question their teachers and that they are god-like. In America, we believe every student will be better than us. 'P see International, page 4 > Barbara Griffith International student COUNSELOR "These students are like knowl¬ edge ambas¬ sadors. Whatever they learn here, they take back with them." Students and faculty weigh in on Kossler Board of trustees mail survey for his upcoming evaluation By Tim Alves Editor in Chief About four out of every 1000 people on campus will have a chance to influence the board of trustees as it makes its annual evaluation of Dr. James Kossler, PCC president and superintendent. As the college’s board of trustees nears its yearly June evaluation of Kossler, it is actively soliciting opinions about his job performance in a 21-ques¬ tion survey mailed out to a semi-random sample of the college community. “When the board finally sits down to do its evaluation, all of the members will get together and make all kinds of comments and talk about the president’s performance. We’ll look at the results from those teacher and student surveys and take those into consideration,” said Luther Renfroe, president of the board of trustees. In a letter sent to those selected to participate, Renfroe requested that they rate Kossler’s perform¬ ance on a 1-5 scale, with one meaning “to a very small degree” and five meaning “to a very great degree,” as a way “to provide support and rein¬ forcement to the president for the things he is doing well, and to provide guidance and assistance to him regarding those things that might need improvement.” The questionnaire asks respondents to evaluate Kossler on a host of topics that include his ability to make the college’s educational mission the cen¬ tral focus of his job, his commitment to the long¬ term fiscal stability of the college and working in relative harmony with the numerous groups on campus Approved by the board three years ago, the questions range from “Demonstrates effective interpersonal skills” to “Provides effective leader¬ ship in developing a vision for the college” to “Demonstrates effective problem solving leader¬ ship in a collective bargaining environment.” Given that the college is going through pro¬ tracted salary negotiations with faculty and staff and has seen its share of high-profile protests by p" see Evaluation, page 5 Shipment of cards solves ID shortage By Peter Mason Hauge -x) Staff Writer After almost a month of frustration, for students who have needed a PCC Lancer ID card, they are once again available at the Computer Cafe. On Jan. 29 PCC ran out of ID cards, and until earlier this week has been unable to issue them to students who either never got one or lost theirs. “I can’t do any of the things 1 used to be able to do. It’s like I’m being punished for having my card stolen and I can’t even pay to get it back,” says Albert Arredondo, student. Fortunately, the problem was solved Feb, 27 when thousands of cards were delivered to the col¬ lege. The Campus Police immediately began issu¬ ing the cards. More than an inconvenience, the lack of cards made campus life very dificult for students who have not been able to get their IDs for more than a month. The PCC Lancer Card is not your typical student ID. Not only does it show proof of enrollment, but it also makes access to free programs and services such as the library, the Computer Cafe and the Learning Assistance Center quicker and more effi¬ cient. “It just moves faster if you have your card,” said Anne Green of the Reading Center. To help alleviate the problem, the Shatford Library was allowing students who didn’t have their ID cards to use their driver licenses to check out materials. The library estimated that around one-fifth of students who try to check out books seem to be without ID cards. The staff of the Computer Cafe, on the other hand, seems to have been just as frustrated by the problem as the affected students were. Without an ID card the Computer Cafe was unable to offer the ID-deprived students a free place to type and print last minute papers “It’s been tough for me because I don’t have a computer at home’ and I can’t use one here. I’ve got to use my friend’s computer to get my papers typed up,” said Shannon Hougfq student. However, no place on campus was hit as hard by the lack of the ID cards as the Writing Center, which is home to the two-year-old English 1000X >*see ID Cards, PAGE 3 Embattled teacher’s fight to over¬ turn evaluation is winding down By Tim Alves Editor in Chief Moving one step closer to a final resolution on his high-profile and protracted battle with the col¬ lege over a disputed performance evaluation, Douglass Staley, instructor in the business division wrapped up two days of arbitration hear¬ ings. His case will now be decided upon sometime before 'May. “I felt the whole process was fair and each party had the opportunity to present their sides,” said Staley’s personal Sta ley attorney Francis Smith. The arbiter, Richard Callister, a San Diego attorney will now rule whether the evaluation stands or if it was flawed and should be thrown out. Either way, Staley said he thinks the process, which began in 1998, has highlighted some of the problems in the way the college evaluates instruc¬ tors and the level of representation an instructor can expect when dealing with the administration during arbitration. “It’s sad that I had to go through this, but I hope this will create an environment for better and more competent legal representation,” said Staley. At the heart of the dispute, Staley claims the col¬ lege gave him a glowing written review but when it came time to decide whether he had done a “satis¬ factory” or “needs to improve” job, the college chose the latter, blaming it on low retention rates in his classes. The college’s evaluation said, “We need to work together 'over the next year to determine what are the issues that are causing this reoccurring, exces¬ sively high “drop” rate, as compared to your col¬ leagues in the accounting department.” Smith said the college should use the across-the- board results to see if Staley’s total dropout rates are >- see Staley, page 4