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Pasadena flocks
to Art Night
Page
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Volume 99, Issue 5
“The Independent Student Voice of PCC. Serving Pasadena Since 1915.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Lawler Still
on Paid
Leave After
Six Months
Jeremy Balan
Editor-in-Chief
Action has yet to be taken on the
status of PCC Head Football Coach
Kenny Lawler, six months after he
was put on paid administrative leave
on Sept. 19.
According to school officials, the
third-party investigation into his
"policies and procedures" concluded
in January, but further action regard¬
ing Lawler's status at the college is still
unknown.
In Lawler’s absence, the school
promoted Assistant Coach James
Kuk, to take over as acting head
coach. At a Board of Trustees meet¬
ing on March 4, the college hired Kuk
as ‘TOO percent Temporary” instruc¬
tor through June 19.
According to Pasadena Area
Community College District’s official
academic salary schedule and the
PCC Teacher’s Association contract,
Lawler’s teaching salary during the
fall and spring semesters, including
his coaching salary, amounts to
$7,994 a month. Lawler also had
scheduled winter classes, which could
Continued on page 3
AS Recommends
Smoke-Free PCC
Rajiv Mirchandani
Staff Writer
The Associated Students
approved a resolution Monday to
make PCC a “smoke-free campus
with designated smoking areas.”
AS Vice President of Student
Affairs Mazen Ali was the only
member to vote against the resolu¬
tion, saying he was concerned about
a number of issues.
Timeliness was one of his con¬
cerns.
“We had no time to debate about
the resolution, and all members
weren’t even present at the meeting,”
said Ali.
His biggest problem with the reso¬
lution, however, was the potential
inability to enforce restricting smok¬
ing to designated areas.
“We couldn’t even enforce the law
against smoking within 20 feet of
Continued on page 2
Lancers Prevail in Fresno
Courtesy of Richard Quinton
The PCC women's basketball team with the state championship trophy after their victory over San Joaquin
Delta College on Sunday. It is the Lancers' first state title in program history. They beat three of the top
teams in the state on their way to the title game and PCC point guard Kinyada Johnson was named the
tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Women's Basketball
Clinches State Title
Richard Garcia
Assistant Sports Editor
The PCC women’s basketball
team won its first California
Community College Athletic
Association Women’s Basketball
State Title with a 74-64 victory over
the north’s second-seeded San
Joaquin Delta College at Selland
Arena in Fresno on Sunday.
The win is Head Coach Joe
Peron’s first state title in his 13 years
at the helm of the program.
The Lancers end their season with
a 33-4 record and a 7-2 South Coast
Conference North Division record.
Peron’s all-time record is 324-84
with six straight appearances in the
CCCAA Final Eight Tournament,
six conference championships, and
three state final appearances.
As a fourth seed of the tourna¬
ment, all the teams the Lancers
faced were higher ranked. They
chopped down mighty, top-seeded
City College of San Francisco in the
first game; they delivered previously
undefeated Ventura College its first
loss of the season in the semifinal
match; and successfully knocked out
second-seeded Delta
in the final.
“I call all the teams
Mustangs never led in the final and
were down by 10 at four different
times.
“I was told by other coaches that
Kinyada was the best point guard in
the state. I don’t know
why she wasn’t on the
All-State First Team.
"Our defense showed
we faced ‘the giants’ UP when it needed to she proved it this week-
because each had the throughout the whole en(j playing awesome
six-feet height that we tournament. and being the MVP,”
didn’t. It didn’t affect said Peron. “She just did
us at all though, we PCC H a phenomenal job lead-
knew we had to come _
out like warriors and
that’s what we did. My team made
me a believer in them,” said Peron.
The Lancers win over Delta was
led by Final Eight Tournament
MVP Kinyada Johnson, who had a
game-high 26 points, eight assists,
and six rebounds.
The Second Team All-State guard
dished her first assist of the game to
open up the Lancer’s 9-0 run in the
early moments of the game. The
_ ing our team.”
Two-time All-State
forward Easter Faafiti earned her
third double-double of the postsea¬
son, putting up 17 points and grab¬
bing a game-high 14 rebounds.
Sophomore Allegra Kohley com¬
plimented Faafiti’s double-double
with her own. She scored 1 1 points
and nabbed 12 rebounds. Both
Kohley and Faafiti had five offensive
rebounds in the contest.
Continued on page 12
PCC
Receives
Grant for
Stem Cell
Research
Bodhi Baker
Staff Writer
PCC President Paulette Perfumo
highlighted the campus’ acquisition
of a grant — the only one of its kind
— to conduct stem cell research in
Wednesday’s Flex Day opening cere¬
mony.
The grant comes shortly after
President Barack Obama's recent
executive order to allow greater feder¬
al funding of research on embryonic
stem cells.
The majority of PCC biology
instructors contacted by the Courier
support the president’s action.
"Last week PCC was awarded a
grant for $1.7 million to do stem cell
training for people, including PCC
students, who will be gainfully
employed in this area in the coming
decade," said Russell E. Di Fiori, biol¬
ogy instructor. He also said PCC is
the only community college in the
state to receive such a grant.
PCC has been a pioneer in stem
cell training and technology for the
last four years, according to officials.
The issue of federal funding is par¬
ticularly relevant while private funds
are drying up in the current economy.
Di Fiori believes that increased
research and development in the area
of embryonic stem cells will stimulate
California's economy.
Teresa Trendler, biology instructor,
is also in support. "I am glad our new
president has decided to let scientists
work! I feel the prior administration
was at fault for interfering with
research just to placate a right-wing
constituency," Trendler said.
Not everyone agreed, however.
"The media plays on people's emo¬
tions by emphasizing the use of
embryonic stem cells," said Joe
Conner, biology instructor. He claims
that embryonic stem cells have never
produced any therapeutic results and
that any successes so far have come
from adult stem cells.
"It makes more sense to use adult
stem cells for a number of reasons,"
said Conner. "For example, they
come out of the patient’s own body
Continued on page 3
Opinion:
Marijuana:
Medicinal drug should
be legal.
Page
5»
Lancer Life:
Transfer Issues:
Budget causes many
to rethink plans.
Page
8»
Sports:
Swim:
Trip up
north is a
success
Page
11»