.сом
1999
■
Snow Show?
CDC children ooed and aahed in
as they stuck their hands in
something cold, wet and fluffy.
President’s Off! c t :
д—
College offers
apology for ID
mix-up
By Tim Alves
Courier Staff Writer
Stung by intense criticism over
the recent Social Security mix-up,
the college is now issuing an expla¬
nation and written apology detailing
how thousands of students were
mailed out IRS tax form 1098-T
with the personal information of
other students.
In a letter dated Feb. 17, and sent
out to the 3 1 ,000 students potential¬
ly affected by the mix up, Dr. James
Kossler, college president admits
institutional culpability and promis¬
es correct forms are being sent out.
“First, I want to apologize to you
for this error,” reads the letter, “We
have reprinted the forms and new
copies should be arriving soon.”
Kossler placed the blame square¬
ly on the shoulders of the
Management Information Services
(MIS) division and refers students
with questions to directly contact
Dale Pittman, the department direc¬
tor.
“Due to a lapse in quality assur¬
ance in the MIS department, the
information on the two sides of the
form did not always match. This
resulted in some students receiving
the address and Social Security
number of another student.”
Kossler advised that anyone who
received a 1098-T form with the
name, address and Social Security of
another person should destroy the
form. He assured that the college
“will save the erroneous print tapes
error
so that if there is any inappropriate
use of your personal information as a
result of our error, we can reproduce
for law enforcement personnel the
name of the individual who received
your information.”
“I’m glad the school is finally
explaining what happened. It was
kind of scary not knowing what was
going on, but if they’re telling us
what’s going on, that’s great,” said
Diem Chi Le.
However, for many students con¬
cerned with the very real possibility
of identity theft, the college’s assur¬
ances were of little comfort.
Benjamin Winter went before the
board of tmstees at the Feb. 16 meet¬
ing and voiced his uneasiness about
the situation. Winter strongly urged
the board to take steps that would
prevent, or at least reduce, the
chance of a similar incident from
occurring again.
Concurring with Winter, Dr.
Jeanette Mann, board president,
placed the issue on a future agenda
for discussion.
The administration said the error
was traced to a high-speed, high-vol-
ume printer that has been in use for
the past year. It produced a number
of college forms including class reg¬
istration slips and midterm report
cards without any similar problems.
Kossler assured students in his
letter that he has “directed the man¬
agers involved in this error to take
immediate action to ensure that this
kind of mistake does not happen
again with sensitive student infor¬
mation.”
Courtesy of KPCC
KPCC:
By Jim Lindsay
Courier Staff Writer
Editor’s Note: This story is
the first in a series of stories on
the histoiy of on-campus radio
station KPCC, 89.3 FM, and an
analysis of the transfer of its
operations to Southern California
Public Radio.
As he walked around the
Pasadena City College campus
one day in 1957, Don Wilson’s
ear tuned in to the songs of Elvis
Presley, Little Richard, Pat
Boone, and Doris Day. The Top
40 music was being broadcast by
the PCC Radio Club, the ancestor
of KPCC. In those days, the
Club’s broadcasts were closed
circuit, hard-wired from the
Club’s radio rooms to speakers in
the student lounge, bookstore and
Memorial Court. Consequently,
they could be heard only on-cam-
pus.
Wilson thought it would be
great if the Radio Club students
could experience real on-the-air
broadcasting over the airwaves,
rather than just extending speak¬
ers around campus.
Wilson, who also worked at
local radio station KWKW, knew
the station had a 200-watt
General Electric FM transmitter
it wasn’t using. He talked to Ken
Johnson, his friend and fellow
electronics instructor in the tech¬
nology department, about acquir¬
ing the transmitter and installing
it at PCC so the students could
get real hands-on broadcasting
experience.
Johnson went to the Pasadena
Unified School District, which
oversaw college operations at
See KPCC, page 6
Gearing
up for the
elections
By Mike Cervantes
Courier Staff Writer
Republican State Assembly of
the 44th district hopefuls were on
campus in the CC Lounge to speak
their minds on various political
issues yesterday. Gearing up for
the primary election on March 7,
all the candidates had a chance to
let students know their views on
education, gun control, three
strikes laws, and other concerns.
Susan McMillan talked about
the importance of women and
minorities in society and protect¬
ing children against child
molestors. She said that education
is vital to students and that it
should be mandatory that students
not be allowed to graduate if they ■
can’t read or write. Regarding the
amount of money being spent on
schools and how to improve it,
McMillan was quite vocal. “We
don’t need more money, but better
management. Fifty three percent of
the state budget is for education,”
she said.
Damian Jones argued his case by
saying he supports the three strikes
law and that he had a different view
on gun control from his opponent.
“AK-47s were meant to kill people.
We just have to be careful about
what is sold,” he said. Both candi¬
dates said they would uphold the
death penalty, but McMillan did not
endorse it because of her religious
beliefs. By the time the representa¬
tive for candidate Robert Wagner
arrived there were only a few ques¬
tions left. He said Wagner is propos¬
ing an interesting change in educa¬
tion. In Georgia, students that main¬
tain a “B” average go to college for
free. Wagner would like to do that in
California.
Night Vision: Through a fish-eye lense the campus is transformed
into surreal images. The R Building looks like its falling into the sky.
Curtis Gregory/ The Courier
Stadium Grant
ШИШШШШШШШШШШШШШШШШШ
$50,000 gift lifts
Lancer spirits
By Tim Alves
Courier Staff Writer
A non-profit Southland athletic
booster organization has given the
college a $50,000 gift earmarked
for activities associated with the all-
weather track in the new Robinson
Stadium.
The Athletic Amateur
Foundation of Los Angeles
(AAFLA) approved giving the
money to the physical education
division with the stipulation that
PCC allow access to the state-of-
the-art facility to not only students,
but to residents in the greater San
Gabriel Valley area.
“When we award the grants, we
look at a number of things in the
institution’s proposal. And one of
the important factors is that there
has to be some availability of the
facility to the community,” said
Patrick Escobar, vice president of
grants and programs.
The college had submitted a
written proposal asking for the
grant and guaranteed access to the
new stadium in what Escobar called
See STADIUM on page 7
Elections coming up
Learn more about presiden¬
tial hopefuls. Also, check
out what PCC students say
about politics!
SEE OPINION PG. 2
Women in spotlight:
Read about how the
women’s basketball team
wop, but men lost.
SEE SPORTS PG. 9,10
\