PCC Courier, March 18, 1993

Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 75 No. 5 COURIER Thursday March 18. 1993 UC fees increase; CSU’s to follow UC Board votes on 33% fee hike New round of UC and CSU fee hikes frustrates students’ transfer plans By RODNEY MITCHELL Staff Writer Ever increasing fees continue to plague students in the state commu¬ nity colleges as well as the Univer¬ sity of California and Cal State sys¬ tems after the governing boards of the two public university systems announced yet another fee hike. Last Friday, the UC system offi¬ cials laid plans to raise its fees again. The UC system’s total fee increase will be close to $1,000 next fall. The Cal State Board of Trustees passed a 36 percent tuition increase yesterday. Undergraduate tuition will jump from $1,300 to $1,788 this fall. That is for students enrolled in six or more units. Graduate stu¬ dent fees will jump from $1,300 to $2,148 a year. Cal State Fullerton students plan to demonstrate against the fee hike, the campus newspaper reported. Think tank and legislative critics said there was no method or logic to the increases. They described the increases as last minute attempts to inflate severely deflated budgets. Dr. Stuart Wilcox, dean of rec¬ ords and admissions, said that the once idealistic American dream of obtaining a higher education through a system of low-cost public univer¬ sities has become a thing of the past. Economic change, a higher num¬ ber of high school graduates and a decrease in the number of taxpayers paying into the system has forced university officials to revaluate ther student fee policy, Wilcox said. He also said that university offi¬ cials are motivated to keep fees as low and affordable as possible, but they also have an obligation to the university to keep the system run¬ ning smoothly. “College is not a profit-oriented organization. The UC and the Cal State governing boards are caught between a rock and a hard place,” Wilcox said. “We have to bite the bullet and say what is the appropriate share stu¬ dents should pay for their education and then build in adequate financial aid,” Bruce Hamlett, an official of the California Postsecondary Edu¬ cation Commission told the “Los Angeles Times.” Student Chester Harris holds down a full-time job to support his wife and child and to pay college fees. Harris said at one time he had con¬ sidered transferring to one of the Cal State universities to further his education, but he said that in the face of more fee increases, that idea is becoming more unrealistic. Harris said state policy makers should not only consider the eco¬ nomic situation of the state and the universities but should also consider the economic situation of individual Californians, most of whom face staggering financial hardships due to the recession. “The poor and the working class Please see “FEES,” page 3. By ALFREDO SANTANA News Editor Minyoung Youn believes in the basics. She knows that a college education will give her skills to face a tough job market where competi¬ tion is keen. After three years at PCC, she looks forward to transfer- ing to Cal Poly Pomona this fall, but a likely fee increase in the CSU sys¬ tem would put a hold on her plans. Carl Johnson, 23, is a law student who juggles two jobs to support himself, one as a part-time waiter and the other as a part-time driver for a local magazine company. He pays $400 a month rent for his Pasad¬ ena apartment. This semester, he paid $ 1 50 for his tuition at PCC , plus books and parking expenses. Johnson hopes to further his education at UCLA after he gradu¬ ates this semester. But a new tuition increase at the University of Califor¬ nia system starting this fall may hamper his transfer plans. Youn and Johnson would be the latest victims of what has become an Please see “STUDENTS,” page 6 ‘We’ll be looking for things that the Old West myth forgot or ignored, about how the West changed what the Founding Fathers thought America should be.’ Martin Ridge, visiting scholar Rediscovering the Old West □ Professor Martin Ridge discusses the stories and realities behind the Western frontier. By ANISSA VICENTE Editor in Chief What could be more Ameri¬ can than the Old West — cow¬ boys and Indians, covered wag¬ ons, shootouts and six-shooters? The realities and myths that make up the Old West will be the central focus of three lectures to be given by Dr. Martin Ridge, senior research associate at the Huntington Library and profes¬ sor of history at the California Institute of Technology. His lectures will begin on Tuesday, March 23 at 10:30 a.m. inC301 when Ridge speaks about “The Frontier: Sources of Ameri¬ canism,” and continues at 8 p.m. in the Forum with “The Old West: Myth and Reality.” The series concludes on Wednesday, March 24atl0a.m.inC301 with “Race, Class and Gender The New West.” All the lectures are free and open to the public. “We’ll be looking at things that the Old West myth forgot or ignored and that earlier explana¬ tions didn’t touch on,” Ridge said. “We’ll be putting people into the story who weren't there before- the Chinese, African Americans, Latinos and women. The West changed what the Founding Fa¬ thers thought America should be,” Ridge said. Exploring the oftentimes romanticized stereotypes of the Old West of the Pony Express and the Gold Rush will also shed some light into the fortunes of the New West. Ridge said he will not be debunking myths so much as enlarging the portraits that they paint of the Western frontier, trends that are apparent even today. “For example, Western women are just average women, they’re j ust human . They ’re not the pros¬ titute with the heart of gold in the saloon or the Quaker school¬ teacher lady,” he said. Ridge’s own interest in the West began in academia. Ridge, who was born in Illinois but who has lived in California for more than 30 years, became intrigued with the Americans of the West. “I studied the idea of who we are as a people and what arc the things that we live by,” he said. “He is one of the most impor¬ tant figures in the field,” said David Leary, professor of social sciences. Ridge received his doctorate from Northwestern University and is a specialist in American intellectual and frontier history and biography. He has written numerous articles and books, including “Atlas of American Frontiers.” Ridge edited “The Journal of American History” for more than 10 years. Ridge will be interviewed on the “PCC Reports," today on KPCC (89.3 FM) at 2 :30 p.m. AS lobbies against fee hike □ More than 100 students join Associated Students (AS) members in fully-funded lobbying effort to Sacramento. By JONATHAN BLAKESLEE Staff Writer The student body lobby account funded a trip for 141 students to go to Sacramento Tuesday and Wed¬ nesday to lobby the legislature against the $20 per unit fee increase pro¬ posal. The trip, organized almost entirely by students, is a combined attempt by all 14 community col¬ leges in region seven of CalSACC, the California community college lobby organization. CalSACC wants to put pressure on the state government not to raise fees 200 percent. “The hope is to get them to enact the lowest possible fee increase we can get,” said Dylan Littlefield, trip organizer and president of the cam¬ pus chapter of the College Republi¬ cans. “We’re looking out for everyone here and we hope to get the same results as last year.” Due to lobbying efforts a year ago, a proposed $15 per unit fee in¬ crease was limited to the $10 per unit fee in place now. The trip is being financed out of a student lobby fee account built from a dollar collected from every student’s tui¬ tion every semester and contributed | to this account. s The original proposal called for an allocation of $12,000 to send 100 people to Sacramento, but due to overwhelming support, that amount was raised to $20,000 to cover 141 people. Associated Students (AS) president Karen Koch called an Cffter- gency meeting on March 10 to raise the allocation of funds. 1 j U “It’s been a huge success, quite more than we anticipated, ’’she said. “Thanks to everyone ’ s effort we can really make a difference.” 9 Sign up sheets were available to all interested students m the Cam¬ pus Center up until the deadline on Thursday, March 1 1 . A final cap of 141 people was established to limit the trip to a maxim urn of three buses . PCC lobbyists had an eight hour trip before joining 14 other buses of stu¬ dents at the capitol. More than 700 people representing region seven of CalSACC joined the lobbying effort, making it the larg¬ est region. It is made up of such as schools Pierce, Citrus, Santa Monica and East Los Angeles Community colleges. Lobbying took place on the steps of the capitol building on ' Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Students were scheduled to return last night. s,,, “Most of the lobbying involved students marching and hopefully dfaWjng an audience.” says Little¬ field. “CSU was there two weeks ago even though they are only ex¬ pecting a 3 percent fee increase. PCC is facing a 200 percent increase.” , Six of the student lobbyists left PCC at 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning to fly to Sacramento. They had ap- * ^ointments with individual legisla- j tors to discuss alternatives and the concerns of students at PCC. Ap- pointments were made to talk with nine different legislators, although this was subject to change. The alternative proposals being advocated by the six students in¬ clude Senate Bills 48 and 46. Senate Bill 48 would reallocate a 1/2 cent sales tax from other areas to the school system. The funds would be split four ways and would free up S420 million for the community col¬ lege system. This is enough money to finance four community colleges the size of PCC for a full-year with¬ out requiring new taxes. To back up the students’ voices, petitions were cumulated around campus advocating opposition to the fee increase. The signed petitions were handed to the legislators in Sacramento. The trip, while being moderated by two advisers, was organized and run almost entirely by the students. According to Denisha Louth, vice representative to CalSACC, the point of the trip was to get the people being hit by the hike to become involved and make a difference. “Educated people solve the prob¬ lems of the world and that is who the fee hike is going to hurt. If it goes through, I will not be able to afford to stay in school,” remarked partici¬ pant J.J. Neward on the importance of the trip. A report of the trip will be pub¬ lished in next week! s COURIER. Forum looks at ‘Women of the 90s’ Calendar Highlights Saturday, March 20 8:30 a.m. Registration, welcome and kick-off with guest speakers. 9-10:15 a.m. Session I workshops, including “Women & HIV/ AIDS," “Older Women: Liv¬ ing Alone and Loving It," "Healthy Politics," and "RX:Prescription for Healthy Investment." 10:30 a.m. Session II workshops. "Stages of a Woman's Life," "Resolv¬ ing Grief," "The Seven Phases of a Job Interview," and "Women in the Workplace." 1:45 p.m. Session III workshops, includ¬ ing "Coping with Depression," "Politics of Health on Film," "Women: Part of the Disabil¬ ity Revolution" and "Street Survival for Women." By MERISSA GOODRICH Staff Writer Workshops geared towards help¬ ing women learn more about their health and how to succeed in today’s world is the focus of an all-day conference Saturday on campus. PCC is hosting the 16th annual Women’s Conference, “Women of the 90s: Healthy All Ways” from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Louis Creveling campus lounge. Rick Cole, City of Pasadena mayor, Katie Nack, vice mayor and Dr. Jack Scott, superintendent-presi¬ dent, will speak at the conference. The keynote address will be deliv¬ ered by Patty Ecker, KCBS-TV Channel 2 newscaster. PCC students are invited to at¬ tend the conference. Many of the workshops will be helpful in learn¬ ing about how to compete for a job and how to cope with stress. Other workshops include forums on sexual harassment, what it is and how to deal with it. Surviving in the 90s will also be the focus of a session. Issues concerning women’s health will also be addressed. Workshops concerning AIDS, depression, and living with a disability will all be part of the program. “PCC students are usually inter¬ ested in the workshops “Health As A Spiritual Journey,” and “Student, Mother, Worker: How Not To Go Crazy In The 90s,” said Beth Kaiama, special populations counselor on campus. “Younger students will find job- oriented workshops of interest. But the conference is mostly geared toward health issues important to women. A conference organizer said the event also seeks to widen student perspective beyond the PCC cam¬ pus. “The conference is sponsored by the city of Pasadena and should help to connect the students with the com¬ munity. Fifty non-profit organiza¬ tions will be there to help students reach out and learn about service opportunities within the community,” said Kaiama. The “Women of the 90s— Healthy All Ways,” conference costs $25 for all workshops and includes lunch. Students with a valid ID can attend for only S 1 0. If for financial reasons a student are unable to attend, schol¬ arship applications are available in C236. “Students are almost always given the scholarship,” Kaiama said. “A deposit of $5 is needed with each application and will be returned at the conference. This is to ensure that all those who apply for scholarships attend the conference.”