Pas ad e n a
C i r Y
Col l e g e
th
e
i
/• Ш
' Since 1915
VOL. 86 NO. 23
www.p cc-courieronline. com
March 22, 2001
Philip Mullendore,
*T the stairs in the CC
Rosario Cuevas
/
The Courier
director of campus safety, and student Ray Lee, carry Olympia Santana’s wheelchair down
Building. All of the college’s elevators were shut down yesterday by a Cal OSHA inspector.
By Robert Glassey
Staff Writer
Some of PCC’s handicapped students
suffered the inconvenience and indignity
of being carried down stairs by police
cadets after a Cal/OSHA inspector shut
down all campus elevators Wednesday
morning. Others like wheelchair-bound
students Kim Staley and David Fregoe
missed their classes after being informed
by the disabled student office that out-of¬
commission elevators made it unsafe to try
to reach upper-floor classrooms.
“1 have a class in C building, on the
third floor, beginning algebra,” said Staley.
“It’s the last class meeting before our exam
on Monday. Today is the review session.
Because the elevators are out, I won’t be
able to get to class, all because of stupid
bureaucrats, and you can quote me on
that.”
Staley’s predicament is mitigated some¬
what by her on-campus aide’s willingness
get her assignments from the instructor.
Although he also missed his class,
Fregoe could at least be thankful he did
not need help getting down stairs. He has
what Chuck Havard, teacher specialist in
the disabled student program, called “the
biggest and heaviest wheelchair I have ever
seen.”
“We do not risk the health or the safety
of anybody to take them up or bring them
down,” Havard said. “We will work with
them and their instructor, to explain the
situation.”
Nevertheless, cadets were stationed at
all campus elevators and helped several
handicapped students safely reach the first
floor.
Olympia Santana missed her sociology
class on the third floor of C building as she
waited in her wheelchair more than 15
minutes for an elevator that had not yet
been posted as out of order.
“When I found out, they were nice
about it,” she said.
She was told: We’re sorry, but we can’t
do anything about it now.
“1 understand it wasn’t planned or any¬
thing like that, but they knew this might
happen because all the permits are expired.
1 know that,” she said.
Workers in the disabled students office
spent much of Wednesday afternoon
phoning and e-mailing 80 to 100 disabled
students, telling them to plan to attend
classes Thursday, but to be prepared for
elevator problems.
Dr. Richard van Pelt, director of facili¬
ties services, explained the problem as a
failure to communicate. “We have con¬
tracted with an elevator maintenance com¬
pany who deals directly with the state.
Somewhere down the line, there was some
miscommunication between the two.”
Van Pelt said it had been his under¬
standing that the college’s elevator repair
company, Millar Elevator, had contacted
Cal/OSHA, arranging more time to correct
see Elevators, page 4
Jury hears officer’s charges of racial bias
Two year old lawsuit alleges campus police engaged in systematic discrimination against black co-worker
him and/or non-black employees.
Although Henderson has retained
his job as a campus police officer,
he said he has been “repeatedly
subjected to humiliation and
harassment” by the college.
“You have to measure very
carefully how people are treated.
When you take all of these inci¬
dents, they add up to less than
favorable treatment,” said C.
Brent Scott, Henderson’s attorney
who built the case around a
chronological timeline.
Henderson, a 25-year veteran
of the campus police force,
alleged that when he was hired he
was asked to “sign a letter remov¬
ing his name from the hiring
process.” He claimed that
Mullendore tried to fire him and
became resentful when that
failed.
From there, Henderson
Student leaders jump
AS ship in protest
By Jon Heller
Contributing Editor
Fallout continued in the aftermath of last
week’s decision by the Associated Students to
impeach vice president for internal affairs George
Magdaleno. In a letter addressed to the AS board,
as well as the supreme council and the AS advis¬
ers, Magdaleno resigned his position before any
* proceedings against him could begin.
In a resignation letter dated March 15,
Magdaleno cited his ineligibility to serve on the
board because he dropped a class, therefore bring¬
ing his unit requirement below the required num¬
ber. A minimum of nine units must be maintained
to serve on the AS; Magdaleno now has six.
“An extended trial in the supreme council will
only create an unnecessary distraction for myself,
the members of the AS board and the general
school population,” said Magdaleno.
At last Wednesday’s regular AS meeting, Daniel
Loh, president, and George Davidson, vice presi-
see Resign, page 3
PCC elevators
shut down
by Cal OSHA
claimed Mullendore embarked
on a crusade to embarrass him.
In June 1995, Henderson said at a
campus activity he was ordered
to bring Mullendore an electric
bullhorn “so I can yell at you.”
Henderson charged he felt
“degraded and humiliated in
front of teachers and students.”
Henderson alleged that in May
1998 he was “again embarrassed”
when Mullendore “ordered him
to remove a bicycle attached to a
nearby railing. A task usually
given to cadets and parking lot
officers.”
Henderson also claimed that
in June 1998, he was passed up
as the next department investi¬
gator, since he was the senior
officer and it was the “general
consensus” that he would get the
job. Allen Chan, a newly-hired
officer was considered for the
Fake parking permits
pose probable problems
By Tim Alves
Editor in Chief
The racial discrimination case
that has pitted officer against offi¬
cer and divided the campus
police department for two years
is finally being heard by a jury.
Officer Leroy Henderson’s
lawsuit against the Pasadena Area
Community College District
began on March 12. He is suing
for as yet unspecified damages
against the district, Philip
Mullendore, director of campus
safety, John Corrigan, investiga¬
tor, and Vince Palermo, retired
sergeant.
According to papers filed in
Los Angeles County Superior
Court, Henderson alleged the
college has “instituted an inten¬
tional, oppressive and malicious
process of disparate treatment” of
I
A Different View
With his official corona¬
tion just hours away,
multi-award winning
columnist Jon Heller is
the man who would be
king.
SEE PAGE 2
If You Don’t Know
Sports columnist Kevin
Hawkins waxes philosophi¬
cal about the Venus,
Serena and Tiger, oh my.
SEE PAGE 6
job, but Corrigan was reappoint- ing year,
ed to the position and Chan was
promised the job for the follow- 4^... SEE Lawsuit, PAGE 3
their flash lights on suspicious permits to
reveal that the permits were forged.”
The seven students cited for displaying
forged permits claimed that they saw an
ad in front of the campus bookstore
advertising permits at half the cost.
“They said they had no idea that the
permits were forged,” said Mullendore.
Campus police are still looking for the
person who sold the permits. When the
suspect is arrested, he will be brought up
on criminal forgery charges. If he is a stu¬
dent, he may also face administrative
action, which may result in suspension or
expulsion
“The campus police are currently
working on leads. It appears to be the
same person who forged the permits
because of the similarities,” Mullendore
said.
>• see Permits, page 4
Matt Robinson
/
The Courier
Officer Leroy Henderson accuses the college of misdeeds.
By John Kaufeldt
Staff Writer
Matt Robinson
/
The Courier
Both of these parking permits are forgeries being sold on campus.
If someone came up to you and offered
to sell you a PCC parking permit at half
the cost, what would you do? For a hand¬
ful of students, they may have gotten
more then they bargained for. The campus
police have cited seven students for using
altered parking permits.
Cadets patrolling the parking lots
noticed several fake permits on student
cars, because the holograms on the per¬
mits were missing.
The $64 semester permits have a holo¬
gram imbedded in them, which has a
code that allows cadets to identify the
permit. The cadets noticed that the per¬
mits were just Xerox copies of an official
permit that were colored in.
According to Philip Mullendore, direc¬
tor of campus safety, “The cadets shined