PCC Featured in Pasadena Marathon
Jenny Bartlett
/
Courier
Thousands of runners come thundering down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena as they race against each other during the
inaugural Pasadena Marathon on Sunday.
Page
10»
PCC Plans to Cut Summer Courses
Hannah Leyva
Staff Writer
PCC will be cutting class sections for the
summer intersession as a result of the
statewide budget crisis.
Dubbed a “resizing” by Interim Vice
President of Administrative Services Mark
Zacovic, about 60 sections will be eliminat¬
ed, he said during a budget meeting during
last Wednesday’s Flex Day.
Sections will be cut based on low enroll¬
ment and low performance, according to
Zacovic.
On that same day, memos were passed
out to some division deans from Allen
Dooley, interim dean of enrollment man¬
agement.
English Division Dean Amy Ulmer con¬
firmed the existence of the memo, which
stated that 12 percent of class sections
would be ehminated from each division for
the summer.
“We need to offer fewer sections for
summer because of the economy,” she
said. “No one is happy about it, but we
have no choice.”
Several attempts to obtain a copy of the
memo, including an inquiry at every divi¬
sion office in the C Building, came up fruit¬
less.
Dooley was out of town at a conference
and was not available for comment.
Theodore Young, dean of the Languages
Division, said he did not receive a hard
copy of the memo but is aware of the
scheduling changes.
“We did not get a directive, but we did
receive a fist of recommendations for resiz¬
ing our divisions,” he said.
Other local community colleges have
already begun eliminating class sections, and
PCC is one of the last in the area to do so.
Mount San Antonio College and Citrus
College both cancelled their intersessions
this past winter, forcing their students to
look elsewhere for classes — namely PCC.
Continued on page 4
AS Supports
Increase in
Activity Fees
Rajiv Mirchandani
Staff Writer
The Associated Students unanimously approved a reso¬
lution Wednesday to add a refundable $6 student activities
fee to the list of current enrollment fees paid by PCC stu¬
dents.
The resolution was sent to the College Coordinating Council
and will be presented to the Board of Trustees on May 7.
If the activities fee were to be approved by the
ВОТ,
the
funds would add flexibility to the AS’s already tight budg¬
et, officials said.
“The money will primarily be used toward activities. It’s
hard to get free stuff, so the fee would make it easier for us
to have movie nights, dances, homecoming and weekly
events,” said Joan Tibay, AS vice president of student
activities.
AS President Christina Javier added, “It would also be
used for things like bringing in real speakers and funding
to keep the library open longer.”
The fee would potentially add $36,000 to the current AS
budget of $ 120,000, as estimated by Devin Leung, AS vice
president of business affairs
The incorporation of a student activities fee has been
deliberated by AS for the past five years, before any of the
current members attended PCC.
The current AS conducted a random poll asking stu¬
dents whether they would support a $6 fee per semester to
provide longer library hours, discounts at restaurants and
on bus passes, concerts, services for evening students and
more.
Out of the 762 students polled, 490 students supported
the fee, 133 were against the fee and 139 remained unde¬
cided. It converts to a ratio of 4: 1 : 1 .
Javier also pointed out that the fee is fairly inexpensive.
“[Glendale Community College] charges a student activi¬
ties fee of $12 and Santa Monica’s is $19,” she said,
adding, “Our fee is even less expensive than 20 years ago
when it was $8 at PCC.”
Should the fee be added, PCC would join 30 other com¬
munity colleges who charge fees anywhere between $5-
$20.
The AS is also considering passing a resolution to add a
reduced activities fee for the winter and spring interses¬
sions.
Campus-Wide Wireless Internet Now Available at PCC
Alfredo Aleman
Entertainment Editor
Wireless Internet access ports have
now been turned on throughout the PCC
campus.
After its initial launch during the win¬
ter intersession, PCC’s wireless service is
now in its final stages and is on schedule
to be completed within the next couple of
weeks.
“We think we pretty much have the
campus covered,” said Robert Cody,
assistant dean of Computing Services.
Cody has noticed an increase in users
over the last couple of months, seeing as
many as 400 users logged on at the same
time.
Currently, the entire campus has access
to a wireless Internet port, except for
parking Lot 4 and the Community
Education Center.
“The connection between CEC and the
campus has to be reconfigured by
AT&T,” said Cody, who believes that
should be completed by month’s end.
The service is different from what the
Shatford Library previously offered. The
library and the D Building are currently
two locations on campus with the
strongest wireless connections.
“It takes a while to optimize [the sig¬
nal] to know where to put more anten¬
nas,” said Cody.
Ben Wilkes, computer services special¬
ist for the Visual Arts and Media Studies
Division, believes that the service is long
overdue and is content with it.
Continued on page 2
Daniel Lottes
/
Courier
Julie Mercer surfs the Internet on her laptop in the
library on Wednesday.
Checkout pcccoiirier.com for web exclusive news