PCC Courier, March 29, 1990

CAMPUS COMMENT FEATURES NEWS FEATURES Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 70 No. 7 COURIER Thursday March 29, 1990 NEWSLINE INFORMATION FAIR People can get help with their am¬ nesty applications and temporary resi¬ dent permits at the Information Fair on March31 from 10a.m. to4p.m.atthe Community Skills Ccnterm. Other serv¬ ices offered areeligibility testing , pho¬ tography and the purchase of money orders. The Community Skills Center is located at 325 S. Oak Knoll Ave. in Pasadena. For more information, call (818)792-2124. LITERARY COMPETITION The English department recently launched its Spring Literary Competi¬ tion, ending April 30. The competi¬ tion, to be judged by members of the English department, will award $20 gift certificates, redeemable at the PCC Bookstore, to the best selections. All winning entries will also be held for possible publication in the up¬ coming INSCAPE magazine, PCC’s annual literary magazine. There are no limits to the number of works submit¬ ted, be it poem, short story or essay. Information and instructions for the entries can be obtained at C217 or from any English teacher. PARALEGAL ASSOCIATION The Paralegal Assistance Associa¬ tion recently received its approval for active status on campus. With its main goal as providing awareness and un¬ derstanding of the paralegal field, organizers of the organization are asking PCC students enrolled in the legal or legal assisting courses to join the asso¬ ciation. A social has been planned for April 1 at the Holiday Inn at 303 Cordova in Pasadena from 1 to 4 p.m. The cost is SI 1 per person. S tudents who arc interested in join¬ ing the association may send their name, address and phone number to Marga¬ rita, P.O. Box 322, Sierra Madre, CA. MAGIC MOUNTAIN PCC, along with several Southern California colleges, will have a pri¬ vate party at Magic Mountain on Fri¬ day, April 20, from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. For this special event, the amuse¬ ment park will be closed to the public. Students will save nearly 50 percent on tickets. Tickets are S 1 1 .95. Parking will be free. More information is available at the Student Bank or Student Activi¬ ties. Mr. Senator Student Trustee Paul Stuart is the students' voice on the college's Board of Trustees. Page 3 INDEX Opinion 2 Editorial 2 My View 2 Features 3 News Features 4 AS, ICC negotiate on club space By MICHAEL ROCHA and BECKY ROUSE The controversy over the intended use of the Multi-Cultural Center (CC215 and CC216) remains unresolved after a general forum attended by members of the Inter-Club Council (ICC) on Monday was cut short due to time restraints. The negotiations will resume at noon on Monday, April 2, in the Campus Center Lounge. The AS and members of the ICC on Monday began opening lines of communi¬ cation that were temporarily cut off when an ICC meeting on March 14 escalated into a heated verbal confrontation between ICC President Denisse Mercado and several members of the ICC. As a result of the AS-ICC conflict, Mercado resigned her position as vice-presi¬ dent of the African-American Student Asso¬ ciation (A AS A) on March 21, citing “con¬ flict of interest” as her primary reason. Mercado became ICC President on March 2 after she took over the AS office previ¬ ously occupied by Henry Hernandez, former executive vice president, who resigned. The position of ICC President automatically goes to the student currently holding the office of the executive vice president. Although the talks between the AS and ICC members are geared to reach an agree¬ ment on the purpose of the Multi-Cultural Center, the conflict began when Mercado announced on March 14 that the AS would be taking overCC21 1 currently occupied by several cultural groups. The AS wants all cultural clubs to move into CC215 and CC216 by March 23. Mercado instructed them to transfer all their belongings from CC21 1 to the Multi-Cultural Center. Members of the ICC, however, immediately balked at the idea because of limited space in the Multi¬ cultural Center. Until an agreement has been reached, the AS has postponed the March 23 deadline. Mercado added that filing cabinets have been ordered for every club and cultural group. Therefore, no filing space has been lost Immediately after the announcement, AAS A President Rhene Lee charged the AS with reverse discrimination against culture groups. Lee said: “The AAS A, the General Union of Palestinian Students, MEChA, International Club, Chinese Club, Korean Club, all these clubs are interested first in student issues rather than outside issue. In doing so, they should get priority.” He added that cultural groups not only deal with indi¬ vidual student’s problems, but they also deal with many local, stale and federal agencies in an effort to promote cultural awareness. ‘ ‘Right now we’re in a time where Con¬ gress had to repass a civil rights bill which was passed in 1969 because of racism and the undermining of affirmitive action. Right here, as students, we’re undermining civil Please see CULTURE, page 4 Saving a life Tom Hernandez / The COURIER Rick Ondenburg donates blood in the American Red Cross' Spring Blood Drive. Inset shows blood flowing into a one-pint container. The Red Cross collected 52 units of blood each day in their two-day drive. TOTAL MISSES GOAL OF 125 UNITS Red Cross collects 104 units of blood By MICHAEL ROCHA Editor-in-Chief The Pasadena Chapter of the American Red Cross collected 104 units of blood in two days last week, missing their goal of 125 units by 21 units, said Red Cross representative Scott Chambers. The Red Cross signed up 65 people for March 21 and 60 people for March 22. Out of those who signed up, 52 people donated blood on both days. “Although many people who signed up didn’t show up, it went pretty smoothly,” said Chambers. After donors donated their blood, the Red Cross takes the units to the Red Cross Blood Services where they are tested for AIDS, hepatitis, syphillis. Chambers added that the blood is also labeled with the corresponding blood type. According to Chambers, after the units arc tested, they are distributed to the 220 hospitals in the Los Angeles and Orange counties. "After the blood is donated, it is divided into four different parts: plasma, platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells," said Chambers. Red blood cells have a shelf life of 42 days and are primarily used in surgery situations. Platelets have a 5-day shelf life and arc used to clot blood. White cells have to be used within eight hours after the blood was donated; they are used in infection cases. Plasma is used to treat bum vicitms, and they can be frozen and stored for up to a year. Earthquake preparedness to be focus of many activities By MICHAEL ROCHA Editor-in-Chief As Southern Californians wait patiently for the Big One, the strong and devastating earthquake predicted to hit the area in the next 30 years, seismologists all over the nation are saying that it will surely strike when people least expect it. Although the 7.1 Loma Pricta earth¬ quake that shook Northern California in October left many areas in ruins, the pro¬ jected great quake will cause a much more dramatic devastation because of the concen¬ tration of population in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. It was only last month when a moderate earthquake rolled through Southern Califor¬ nia. Seismologists say that hundreds of quakes hit the area daily, some of them too small to be felt. Although hundreds of earthquakes shake the southern part of the state every day, the possibility of a strong and devastating earth¬ quake on the San Andreas Fault is practi¬ cally inevitable. According to the American Red Cross, ‘ ‘Our community lives with the unpredicta¬ bility of earthquakes every day; and educa¬ tion is essential to preparing for and coping with earthquakes.” In hopes of educating the PCC commu¬ nity, the college will be presenting a series of events during the first week of April, Earthquake Preparedness Month, urging local citizens to protect themselves against the dangers of earthquakes. Dr. Bruce Carter, chair of the physical Please see QUAKE, page 4 Forensics squad named one of California's top teams By DAVID SANDS Special Correspondent PCC forensians battled opponents from across the state in last weekend's state cham¬ pionship tournament hosted by Santa Rosa College and the California Community Col¬ leges Forensic Association. More than 36 colleges in the state were represented at the comptetition. PCC forensians achieved several awards in different events and placed high in the Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) team debate events including the Lincoln/Douglas debate events. The squad placed 10th in the overall sweepstakes. The CEDA topic was “The trend toward in¬ creasing foreign investment in the U.S. is detrimental to this nation.” Paul Stuart and Stephanie Rudin, senior debaters for PCC, placed in the silver stand¬ ing, capturing second place in CEDA team debate. Stuart and Rudin also received a bronze (third place) standing in CEDA L/D debate. ‘ T hated the topic, it is a difficult topic to debate from the affirmative side. The topic is weighted more towards the negative side,” said Rudin. Despite the topic being an instant disadvantage for the affirmative's case because it is not easy to retrieve evi¬ dence illustrating foreign investment as harmful to the nation, Rudin won every affirmative case she debated. “Stephanie adapts to the negatives theo¬ ries well and uses her evidence on economic theory to a great extent. Debaters do get topics they are not happy with. There is not enough harm in foreign investment, so the affirmative will have to work very hard at finding evidence. Although affirmative cases may win it’s because the negatives analysis is not good enough,’ ’ said Chrystal Watson, debate team coach. Stuart picked up an additional standing, placing in second with the impromptu speak¬ ing event, and Kelly Beasley, senior de¬ bater, just missed from breaking into the oral-interpretation event finals. “The Cali¬ fornia community colleges' north and south regions win more medals and awards in every area of competition than any other region in the U.S.,” said Watson. Vincent Bohanec, senior debater, came in second place in CEDA L/D debate. “I have noticed some definite improvement with my ability since the last state champi¬ onship and quite pleased with my place¬ ment. Good team support and excellent coaching, along with the tough competition on the whole debate curcuit made it possible for everyone competing to learn from each other,” said Bohanec. Two PCC senior debate teams flew to Springfield, Missouri today to compete in the CEDA nationals. “We don’t expect to do as well at this tournament; it is the equivalent of putting our novice against USC’s varsity. They sim¬ ply have more experience coming out of four-year schools including two years more of academic exposure," said Watson.