“■■■“ OPINION
Fear of costly lawsuits handicap news
organizations
The recent $222. 7 million judgment against the
Wall Street Journal has struck fear in journalists
the world over. _
2
FEATURES
"Artist in
residence"
Christopher Brown
teaches students
that art can be a
meaningful career.'
SPORTS
Men's tennis improves to an incredible 13-1
Coach Myron Tarkanian is proud of his second place team after a
victory over Long Beach. With four conference games remaining,
PCC has a good chance of capturing its first SCC title since 1992.
6
SCOTT BODE
/
THE COURIER
“Cool Cat”
Faculty board approves
Ligons' re-election bid
By DOUGLAS WILKIE
Courier Staff Writer
As a result of a vote by the Faculty Senate Board, Ellen
Ligons will be allowed to run for re-election as Senate president
as a write-in candidate.
The vote came at an emergency board meeting on Monday
that was called after Ligons failed to meet the required deadline
for submission of her candidate statement.
Ligons ostensibly called the meeting at the request of Joanne
Kim, chairperson of the elections committee.
Kim, reportedly out of town, was represented by Gloria
Horton, an English instructor. Horton reported to the board that
Ligons’ statement was not collected from the box and therefore
had not met the required deadline. She did confirm that Gordon
Brown’s statement had been received on time.
Under existing procedural rules, Brown, a professor of social
sciences, would be the only legitimate presidential candidate
appearing on the ballot.
Ligons, who chaired the last-minute meeting, invoked the
Brown Act while repeatedly calling for a motion from the floor
to entertain nominations for the various board offices. Such a
motion would have allowed faculty members like Ligons to be
nominated for president, notwithstanding her failure to submit
the required statement on time.
John Gregory, professor of communication, expressed strong
objection to Ligons’ attempts to bring a nominating motion to
aboardvote.“Sucha motion is out of order because the deadline
is past,” he insisted. “It is a moot point and has no relevance to
what is occurring now.”
Horton said that the statement deadline should be waived to
allow for write-in candidates. She also took exception to an“all-
male ballot.”
An identical controversy ensued last year when Joseph
Probst, professor of speech communications, was not allowed
to run for vice president after having submitted his statement 1 5
minutes after the deadline. Ligons, a member of the board at that
time, voted to abstain from a motion which would have allowed
Probst to run.
Ligons said the statement requirement is “totalitarian” in its
effect of precluding otherwise eligible faculty from running for
board office.
Jeanne Porush, instructor of dental hygiene addressed the board
regarding the candidate statement requirement. Citing Roberts
Rules of Order, she insisted that a statement deadline rule rendering
a candidate ineligible violates a candidate ’ s rights under parliamen¬
tary procedure.
Gregory did acknowledge that he would prefer that the platform
statement requirement be removed from the nominating process.
Probst, himself a parliamentarian, said the board had a “long¬
term system in place” before his announced candidacy last year. The
board at that time voted to uphold the election committee’s recom¬
mendation that he be precluded from running.
“The purpose of parliamentary procedure is not to overturn that
system,” he said. “I would hope the same equity would be done
here as was done to me in the past.”
Probst was apparently referring to Ligons’ repeated calls for a
motion to entertain nominations from the floor.
“I am going to train young minds,” he announced. Probst then
abruptly left the meeting.
A motion to entertain nominations from the floor was defeated 1 1
to 6, with 3 abstentions. In its place, a motion to allow for write-in
candidates was approved unanimously.
In order to pave the way for candidates like Ligons to run, a
motion to strike language making candidates ineligible in the
absence of platform statements was approved.
Ligons, in a telephone interview said that her failure to adhere to
the statement deadline was “a simple oversight.”
Tony Georgilas, professor of communication and a former board
president, injected a final controversial note into the proceedings.
“Why is the board going to all this trouble to deny Gordon Brown
the presidency?” he asked. Ligons ruled Georgilas out of order.
In related news, it was announced at press time that John Jacobs
has entered the race for vice president as a write-in candidate.
College reshuffles positions
By RACHEL URANGA
Courier Staff Writer
When Dr. William Goldmann an¬
nounced his plans to retire from the
position of dean of educational ser¬
vices, Dr. James Kossler, president
of PCC embraced the changes as an
opportunity.
With a new vacancy to fill and
recognizing that the college must
meet the increasing needs of the
student population, Kossler decided
that it was the perfect time to create
some new administrative offices and
reassign positions.
The restructuring, put into place
on March 15, included the addition
of one new vice president to handle
student andleaming services. Kossler
also created a new dean position for
research and planning.
Under Kossler’ s plan there are
now three vice presidents and three
deans. Previously the college had
two vice-presidents, one for instruc¬
tion and one for administrative ser¬
vices and administrative deans in
four areas: institutional advance¬
ment, human resources, educational
services and student services.
The goal of the restructuring,
said Kossler, was to coordinate
all the administrative offices.
Beginning with Goldmann’s va¬
cated position, Kossler eliminated
the dean of educational services
and replaced it with dean of re¬
search and planning. The newly
created post will serve the pri¬
mary function of pulling together
the areas of facilities, technolo¬
gies, fiscal services and staff de¬
velopment. They will all be
under a single coordinating unit.
Please see SHUFFLE, page 3
Mollica announces retirement
in face of faculty opposition
By DOUGLAS WILKIE
Courier Staff Writer
Patricia Mollica, dean of human
resources, has announced her inten¬
tion to retire from PCC, effective
Dec. 31.
Mollica was unavailable for com¬
ment at press time.
Warren Weber, president of the
Board of Trustees, said that although
he had received a letter regarding
Mollica ’s future plans, an official
letter of resignation had not yet been
received.
“In order to protect her retirement
benefits, any letter of resignation
would have to be submitted in the
budget year during which an em¬
ployee intends to leave,” he said.
In Mollica’ s case, according to
Weber, such a letter would have to
be received by the Board of Trustees
after July 1.
In her letter, Mollica expressed a
willingness to assist in the recruit¬
ment of a successor, at which time
the college would place her in an¬
other administrative position at her
current salary level until the end of
the year.
In an article which appeared in
the March 22 issue of the Pasadena
Star-News, Mollica said she and her
husband had decided to retire early
in order to travel.
According to the article, she did
not cite a pending faculty no-confi-
dence vote against her as having
played a part in her decision.
Weber’s reaction to the Star-News
story was decidedly negative.
“I believe the impetus for this
thinly-veiled attack on the college
administration and a campus em¬
ployee came from Trustee Beth
Wells-Miller and Professor Robert
McLean, both of whom are quoted in
the article,” Weber wrote in a memo¬
randum to PCC faculty and staff.
The Star-News headline, “Be¬
sieged PCC dean to retire: faculty
senate casts no-confidence vote”
suggested that Mollica had possibly
decided to leave under some duress.
Weber acknowledged that fac¬
ulty pressure most likely played a
role in Mollica’ s retirement deci¬
sion.
“I’m sure it had some influ¬
ence,” Weber was quoted in the
Star-News story.
“When the Faculty Senate de¬
cides it’s going to attack you, of
course it changes your attitude
about your future.”
Weber expressed disappoint¬
ment at the administrator’s plans
to step down.
“It’s appropriate to say that I
regret her decision,” he said.
“From my standpoint, she is a
loyal PCC employee. It would be
difficult for me to have a negative
opinion regarding her.”
While acknowledging that the
Star-News story was factually cor¬
rect, he impugned the motives of
Mollica’s detractors.
“The actual result was to tar¬
nish the reputation of Pasadena
City College in the eyes of the
public,” he said.
Kossler names Moore as vice
president of student services
By SCOTT BODE
Courier Staff Writer
A reception was held last week
to celebrate the installation of
Ernestine Moore as the new vice
president of student affairs.
She had held the position of
dean of student services since
1984.
Her promotion was an action,
according to many faculty and
staff, that was long overdue.
The move was made to recog¬
nize the importance of student
services at the college and to place
it at the same level as the other
functions of the college. Dr.
James Kossler, PCC president,
stated, “ Student services is now
equal to business and instruction.
Moore, who has been at PCC
since 1971, has worn many hats.
She began her employment as a
counselor and was promoted to
dean of counseling. She served in
that post until 1984. Before com¬
ing to PCC, she was a counselor at
San Jose City College as well as
the school psychologist for Nor¬
folk, Virginia City Schools.
As vice president of student
services, her duties, among oth¬
ers, include the overseeing of ad¬
missions, records, job placement,
and media services. Students see
her for all sorts of reasons, rang¬
ing from complaints to referrals.
“We get some students com¬
ing in because they see ‘student’
on the door,” Moore added.
Coordinating the diverse needs
of the students and the facilities
that are available here at PCC is
and ever changing task. Students
come to school with such issues
as homelessness, low socioeco¬
nomic levels, and readjustment to
society after incarceration. The is¬
sues of single parents, dealing with
the juggling act of balancing school,
work, and home are also addressed
in her office.
“I think that students are much
more goal directed. They realize that
they don’t have a lot of time; they are
trying to get through schools as fast
as possible. Students are concerned
about the escalating cost of educa¬
tion and so they are looking to make
sure that they do what they need to do
to accomplish their goals.”
In addition to counseling students
on many matters, Moore has learned
quite a bit while at PCC. After
growing up in a small town in Vir¬
ginia where there was little ethnic
diversity, she has learned to deal
with many different cultures.
“PCC, as it has changed over the
years, has enriched my life. I know
things I didn’t know before I came
here. I’ve met people I would never
have met and I have a greater appre¬
ciation for the diversity that is here,”
Moore reflected.
Moore has also learned from
the students.
“One of the things about being
in a college setting is that students
don’t let you hold on to what was.
You are constantly being chal¬
lenged,” she said.
Sherry Hassan, director of busi¬
ness, pointed out that her promo¬
tion “should have happened a long
time ago.”
Mark Wallace, public relations
director, pointed out the visibility
Moore gives the college. “She has
a reputation in the state as one of
the leaders in student affairs.”
In addition to her work at the
college, she currently serves as
vice president of the California
Community Colleges Chief Stu¬
dent Service Officers Associa¬
tion.
She also has served on numer¬
ous statewide committees and task
forces sponsored by the Califor¬
nia Community Colleges
Chancellor’s Office.
SCOTT BODE
/
THE COURIER
Dr. James Kossler, PCC president, congratulates Moore