Inside
Contraception mandate
is justified Page 3
Instructors integrate
social media Page 5
Volume 105, Issue 4
Pasadena City College
The independent student voice of PCC. Serving Pasadena Since 1915.
Online edition
pccCourier.com
Facebook
PCC Courier
Twitter
@pccCourier
March 15, 2012
Blair Wells
/
Courier
Laura Stylaster, web designer, Juan Gutierrez, director of Public Relations and Brock Klein, director of the
Teaching and Learning Center, discuss possible changes to the PCC Web site.
PCC website undergoing a redesign
Faculty
ratio may
lead to
penalty
Retirements leave
too few full-time
instructors on staff
Paul Ochoa
Asst. News Editor
Following the last year's
retirement of 42 faculty members
PCC is in potential danger of fac¬
ing a hefty fine for not meeting
the state's requirement for the
percentage of full-time faculty a
community college must have.
Richard Van Pelt, vice presi¬
dent of administrative services,
explained the situation via email.
"The essence of the issue deals
with an extremely complex for¬
mula that determines how many
full-time faculty the college is
obligated to have on staff. It is
called the FON, or full-time obli¬
gation number/' said Van Pelt.
According to Robert Bell, vice
president of student and learn¬
ing services, under state law if a
college's full-time faculty falls
below 75 percent and the college
does not take direct action to
raise it, it runs the risk of a fine.
"We fell below 75 percent with
the recent retiring of professors
last year," said Bell.
According to Robert Miller,
vice president of educational
services, PCC still needs to hire
10 more full-time faculty because
of the retirements.
"We hired twenty-two full¬
time faculty this year in order to
get to the obligation [number]
but as a result of retired faculty
from last year, we still need to
hire 10 additional full-time facul¬
ty before fall 2012," said Miller.
"As of right now we only have
Continued on page 6
Brandon Drexel
Staff Writer
The college web site is being
updated to provide a higher
level of transparency about the
shared governance process and
provide up to date information
on the budget crisis in
Sacramento, officials said.
"We are attempting to make
critical information on the web
site more easily accessible while
creating better, more intuitive
navigation for all users," said
Juan Gutierrez, director of public
relations.
"The recent changes were to
provide a higher level of trans¬
parency about the shared gover¬
nance process at PCC. We also
wanted to make sure that accu¬
rate and timely information
about the budget cuts from
Sacramento is readily available."
In addition, the web redesign
Speak outl
Does the PCG web
site work for you?
vote at
pccCourier.com
is a larger project to improve
navigation and information dis¬
tribution to everyone, Gutierrez
said. The new design will help
communicate governance as
well as issues regarding the
budget by giving standing com¬
mittees their own page.
"Shared governance groups
and standing committees now
have their own pages complete
with agenda and video of the lat¬
est meetings," said Gutierrez.
These changes aim to provide
timely and accurate information
to the students and faculty.
"[The web site] will be more
robust" said Laura Stasytyte a
web designer. "We wanted to
make it more user friendly."
Currently, the first phase is
underway as the information
technology area works on updat¬
ing the current content on the
website. "From there a new
design will be researched with
the help of our campus and com¬
munity steering group," said
Gutierrez. "The goal is to get
input from students, faculty,
staff, and the community on how
we define groups of interests
and how we present the infor¬
mation they need into the new
design of the web page."
The current web site has been
modified over the years, but a
complete re-design has not been
done in years said Gutierrez.
"We plan to have a new design
up by this year."
Board
chief
defends
actions
Baum responds to
critic's concerns about
freedom of speech
Neil Protacio
Editor in Chief
In a response to a letter from a
student, Board of Trustees
President Geoffrey Baum said
that there was no desire to
restrict freedom of speech.
A letter sent to board members
and various media outlets by
student Andrew Bott alleged the
Board's desire was to restrict free
speech with a new Time, Place,
and Manner policy.
"While it may be true that the
board felt
'threatened'
by protests,
To read the
that does not
full text of
give them
the
the right to
letters, visit
limit our
Courier
freedom of
online
speech,"
Bott wrote.
pccCourier.
Baum rep-
com
lied a day
later, saying
that there was "no desire to
attempt to restrict freedom of
expression at PCC."
"The board is responsible to
protect the safety of students,
faculty, and staff," Baum wrote.
"The board directed the district
to take reasonable measures to
maintain a safe campus environ¬
ment in compliance with our
policy."
PCC is no stranger to the Time,
Place, and Manner policy. The
Continued on page 6
Procedure limited number of add codes
Michael McGrath
Staff Writer
For the first time this semester,
limits were placed on the num¬
ber of add codes provided to
instructors to keep a cap on
enrollment, officials said.
"The prior process that we had
that included add slips, resulted
in us losing control of FTEs that
the college generated," said
Robert Miller, vice president of
educational services, at the aca¬
demic senate meeting February
27.
The Full Time Equivalent
Student (FTEs) is a calculated
number of students enrolled in
PCC, in which the state pays
PCC approximately $4,600 per
FTEs, said Miller. FTEs are the
number the state gives PCC, to
limit how many enrolled stu¬
dents the state will pay for.
"Whereas the old system
allowed for plenty of add codes
for instructors to give out, the
new system allows only five,"
said Robert Bell, vice president
of student and learning services.
The add code system was
changed because the old system
allowed too many sections to
exceed their cap, and the college
had to pay for every FTEs over
that cap said Bell.
"[It was] to balance our enroll¬
ment, aligning it with the new
realities of the budget," said Bell.
The state does not fund any
enrolled students that exceed
this number, so the college must
reach into its reserves to pay for
them, said Miller.
Some students and faculty are
finding the new system to be
problematic.
One section that is currently
being held in a lecture hall which
used to accommodate almost 200
students is now capped off at 45.
"I'm qualified to teach 200 stu¬
dents and I feel the same way
students do when they see all
those empty chairs," said Lauren
Arenson, Anthropology instruc¬
tor.
"The administration hoped
this change would maintain
enrollment," said Bell.
"Earlier in the year, PCC's
budget was cut by $2 million,"
said Bell. "And then what we are
calling the 'February Surprise',
an additional $2 million was cut
from our budget about two
weeks before spring semester
started."
Some students were still able
to get into their classes despite
Continued on page 6
A night of art
Anar Nyantaisuren
/
Courier
Artist Erin Cosgrove's scroll is displayed at PCC's Art Gallery
during ArtNight Pasadena on Friday.
Story
/
page 5