PCC Courier, March 25, 1999

SINCE 1915 THURSDAY 1VIARCH 25, 1999 - VOL. 84#24 Sports втлтшш THE COURIER PHOTOGRAPHERS CAPTURE THE FEEL OF THE PCC FLEA MARKET Paged Sports THE IAHCER MEH’S TERRIS TEAM HAS WOR THREE STRAIGHT Page 7 iwww.pcc-< .com i E-Mail Policy: a Growing Concern Controversy may be starting regard¬ ing E-mail privacy over the campus network. New pol¬ icy soon to be released. BY AUDREY ALLEN Staff Writer Most people naturally assume that because they work on a college campus, they have com¬ plete e-mail privacy. They don’t know that campus e-mail goes through a main server, and all their electronic correspondence is saved for a certain length of time. The college owns the computers, but does the college own what the employees write or discuss through a communication server? “The administration no more owns the com¬ munication systems than we as public servants own the communication system that the administrators use,” a report stated in the Faculty Senate Board Minutes in May 1997. For almost two years, the “Electronic Privacy Committee” has been writing and revising a policy that spells out exactly when the college can look into campus e-mail and when they cannot. This committee, according to faculty senate minutes, was formed when a classified employee was fired after sending e- mail to another employee. The human resources department was able to obtain their personal messages, without noti¬ fying the employees. They were fired because the school is not to be used for private mes¬ sages, but only for work-related conduct. There was no policy at the time. The incident hap¬ pened in 1997, and there is still no policy. Robert Cody, dean of computing instruction and a member of the committee, has different information than what the faculty senate reported in its meetings. “I believe that the committee was formed in the Spring of 1998. A preliminary draft was completed right before the beginning of the summer of 1998,” Cody said. Fie also said that “several issues pointed to the need for a policy. One of these issues was an incident involving a request for access to an employee’s e-mail account.” Susan Talbot, Instructional Support Services Unit (ISSU) president, said that Cody had been asked to look at an employee’s e-mail. Cody did allow those files to be read because a superior asked him, but then he had second thoughts. He said that he would not look into someone’s e-mail again, until there was a legal policy, according to Talbot. Fleeman said that there was no particular incident that prompted the forming of the meet¬ ing. It is just mandatory for a college to have a policy on electronic privacy. Beth Wells- Miller, board of trustees member, helped in MAIL, page 4 ADMINISTRATION BEAT College to Join SGVCE PCC joins Citrus College in statewide coaltion for education BY TIM ALVES Staff Writer In a unanimous vote, the board of trustees last week approved a proposal to join the San Gabriel Valley Coalition for Education (SGVCE). Now joined into affiliation with Citrus College and 33 other K-12 school districts, PCC became part of a coalition that has the ability to attract state legislators to the San Gabriel Valley area to hear concerns regarding educational needs from school administra¬ tors, teachers, and employee organizations. According to Dr. Bruce Carter, dean of physical sciences and chair of the coalition, “a group of schools has a better chance of bringing members of the state senate and assembly, people who hold key positions in regards to education, to talk to us, to hear our concerns.” As control of the schools centralized to Sacramento, the SGVCE was established in the 1980s as a means for local school districts to bring state law¬ makers to the San Gabriel area to increase their visi¬ bility and obtain a stronger standing in the state through a unified front. “They felt there was strength in numbers,” said Carter. In the past, as educational legislation was being considered, representatives from individual schools found it difficult to schedule the time needed to make the trip to Sacramento. Even if the time was arranged, there were no guarantees a legislator would have been able to effectively evaluate the needs of separate schools. State legislators had numerous “special” interests competing for a chance to express individualized con- GROUP, page 4 Is the Pool too Public a Place? having some sort handicap, then being paraded around in front of college stu¬ dents with minimal clothing on, could be problematic for one’s confidence. “In some ways it is good because it makes me competitive,” said Shaina Litvak, another swimmer. She doesn’t necessarily like it, but she does not let it affect her. The distraction is always there though, especially when friends of the swimmers come up to chat while they are in class. Looking up while she was talking, Litvak could see no fewer than 10 heads peeping over the W Building’s second floor wall watching the pool area. Richard van Pelt, director of facili¬ ties services, said that there would be some shrubbery planted directly in front of the fence in question. He said that “once the portable buildings are out, that whole area will be a park and the pool will blend into it.” The plants can’t be too tall or too leafy or all of the debris will end up in the pool. Originally, a 20-foot wall was planned, but “it would make the pool look like a prison,” van Pelt said. The pool being open is supposed to add to the cohe¬ siveness of the landscape. In terms of some sort of screen being put up, he said, “There are no plans for it.” Van Pelt said, “It is a public pool.” He also philosophized, “Some feel the same way when they walk into our gym and have to work out next to a 4001b gorilla, but they do it anyway. Would you avoid taking a math class because you are not a brain?” BY QUENTIN WILSON Staff Writer Students who don’t want to be gawked at in their bathing suits are complaining because the new swim¬ ming pool offers passersby a clear view of them. The pool has been a godsend for students and instructors, but its visibil¬ ity is the cause of concern. The pool, located directly south of the R Building and east of the W building, is in the line of sight of people walking on its north side. The pool’s central location and high visibility are perturbing both students and faculty. John Ignatczyk, a student in the swimming curriculum, said, “I am used to it, but some students are shy.” Linda Herrera, another swim¬ ming student, said, “I am OK with it, but it was hard to get used to in the beginning when you first take off your towel.” Most of the students are in an age group who as a whole are not yet com¬ fortable with their bodies, and “some are taking the course to do something about their shape,” swimming instruc¬ tor Lori Jepsen pointed out. Jepsen brought up the fact that some of the lower common denomina¬ tors of the student body actually throw things into the pool, because it can be seen clearly. Also voicing concern about the open view are some of Jepsen’s adap¬ tive students. As one could imagine, RAY SHUI / THE COURIER Some swimmers would like the fence next to the pool to be covered. CONSTRUCTION BEAT writer' who took part in the conference. Meredith Babeaux Brucker, writ¬ ers’ forum coordinator, told the audi¬ ence, “If you are a writer, you are a reader. And if you are a good writer, you are a thinker.” She said she expects her students to read book reviews each week so that they are aware of the market. “You are going to be inspired today,” Brucker said as she intro¬ duced Steve Wasserman, the keynote speaker. Wasserman, book editor of the Los Angeles Times, spoke about “writers and the crisis in American publishing.” Wasserman said that publishing was once something the black sheep of wealthy families did because they did not want to do any¬ thing else. Publishing was not really consid¬ ered a business. However, publish¬ ing is beginning to see a problem because big conglomerates are start¬ ing to gobble up small publishing houses such as Simon and Schuster. This creates a problem because they are now beholding to investors and are expected to turn a profit. This puts a huge amount of pres¬ sure on the publishers to sell large numbers of the books they buy. FORUM, page 3 BY SUSAN DIMOS Staff Writer It was dark and drizzly as many writers and journalists braved the weather to take part in the 45th Annual Writers’ Forum at the college on Saturday. Many participants were wet and soggy from the rain, but that did not seem to dampen their enthusiasm or their eagerness to learn new informa¬ tion and techniques about writing. “Every writer wants to write one book that says something important to people,” said Giuseppe Bertani, Forum coordinator Meredith Brucker (right) talks things over with Diane Noble during the activities on Saturday. The Writer’s forum went on all day despite the bad weather. PHOTOS BY MATT ROBINSON / THE COURIER ft A LITERAL У1 ill l it SUCCESS mats on the Web? www.pcc-courieronlme.com NEW DESIGN: ОПСЕ RGRIPi, OUR TIRELESS UEB STRFF HRS OL'ERHRULED THE SITE. CHECK OUT THE HEU EIGHTS CRLEHDRR. RS UELL RS THE HEU LOOK ; FORENSICS: i THE PCC DE8RTE TERF1 TOOK PRRT 111 THE CCFR STRTE CHROPIOIISHIPS Ol^ER I LRST UEEKEHD COHERE MONEY: RERD RBOUT THE $P ШШОП GRRNT ЬШ TO THE COLLEGE 1П ORDER TO IdPROU’E STUDENT PERFOR- riRUCE LEVELS f I t