PCC Courier, May 05, 1988

Honor Your Mother Page 2 Happy Cinco de Mayo ‘Beetle juice’ Bombs Page 4 The COURIER VOL. 66, NO. 11 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE. PASADENA, CALIFORNIA MAY 5, 1988 Administration Changes By Coleen Meyers Editor-in-Chief A recent restructure of the college’s administration has defused adminis¬ trative tasks more evenly and created the position of dean of educational services due to be filled by July 1, according to Dr. Jack Scott, super¬ intendent/president. The past administrative structure “was a little more hierarchical in the sense that fewer people answered to me and now more people answer directly to me,” said Scott. “It (the restructuring) was a way of improving administrative structure at the college. It did not stem from some kind of high level discontent on my part. In fact I am very pleased with the management of the college it was just a way that I thought the college could be managed more directly.” The advantages to the changes in¬ clude more attention given to student services, learning resources and non- credit education. The biggest change in the adminis¬ trative format concerned Ernestine Moore, dean of student services. Her duties have broadened, said Moore. I now have responsibilty for counseling. This means I am responsi¬ ble for all the student service areas now.” Moore continued to say that all the changes meant one thing: “more meetings.” But she added that she does not plan to let her added tasks interfere with her contact with students. Moore now answers directly to Scott. She previously answered to Dr. David Ledbetter, assistant superintendent of educational services. This gives the whole student services area direct input to the president, said Scott. Moore and the soon to be appointed dean of educational services will also become part of the weekly executive counsel meetings which consist of Scott, the two assistant superinten¬ dents and four deans. “This will create more contacts and I will be better informed about ac¬ tivities in the college. Also, I will have the opportunity to both listen and make suggestions.” The new dean of educational services position’s will be responsible for over¬ seeing the non-credit education, com¬ munity services and learning resources areas. People within the college will have an opportunity to apply for the position and in the spirit of affirmative action it will be open to all interested educators in obtain the very best candidate possi¬ ble, said Scott. Santana, Adesina Are Dismissed; Found Ineligible To Continue Job By Sean DuPont Associate News Editor Five minutes into Monday’s A.S. Board meeting, David Santana, former co-ordinator of external affairs, walked into the board room and sat down at the table, as he has done for the last three months. “Isn’t this table for A.S. members only?” asked Tami Abe, co-ordinator of special affairs. Faculty adviser Connie Hurston confirmed the fact that San¬ tana had been found ineligible due his GPA that is less than the manditory 2.0, and thus was not allowed to sit at the table. With that, Santana got up from the board table and sat on the couch for non-members. Both Santana and Cathy Adesina, vice president of academic affairs, were found ineligible last week to serve on the A.S. board. While Santana failed to meet the GPA requirement, Adesina was found to lack the nessasary unit requirements. Eligibility checks are done at the time that board members’ monthly stipends are issued, according to Hurston. During the last check both members were found ineligible under the current constitution. During Monday’s meeting Santana, as a member of the student body, presented his objections to the pro¬ posed constitution. Calling the docu¬ ment an “$800 white elephant,” he objected to printing cost, the planned role of the Supreme Council, and the requirement that candidates have 18 units at the time of the elections. These changes are slated for spring if the constitution is ratified next Tuesday and Wednesday. “I think this discriminates against freshmen students who don’t have that many units,” Santana claimed at the meeting. “This constitution forces potential candidates to be here three years.” Santana said that he was not speak¬ ing for personal reasons, but out of concern for all students. But some members of the board questioned his motives after the constitution had been approved by the board. As a result of the vacancies, the A.S. is calling for interested students to apply for the offices of co-ordinator of external affairs and vice president of academic affairs. Applications, lists of duties and eligibility requirements are available at the Campus Center. i Courier/Jon Alcorn Jack Zajac presented the college with a piece of his work last Wednesday. Dr. Jack Scott, superintendent/president, accepted it for the college. Constitution Ready for Students The Supreme Council, the judicial body of the A.S. board, also faces major changes involving their power and procedure. By Sean DuPont Associate News Editor After more than three months of work and serveral rewrites, the A.S. Constitution finally is ready to face student ratification next Tuesday. Coupled with the Student Trustee election, the ratification needs a two- thirds yes vote to become the new guideline for student government. The change for the constitution sprang from problems with last semester’s election, according to Chris Cofer, special co-ordinator for the Constitution rewrite committee. “Jose (Rodriguez, the A.S. presi¬ dent) told me we needed more speci¬ fics, clarity and strength in the con¬ stitution.” If passed, the constitution would call for the elections of the president and of the four vice president posts to be held at the end of the spring semester. Winners of the elections would take office on June 1. The three co-ordinator positions would keep the fall election dates and would assume office in the fall. “This would assure that there would be no totally new boards. New board members could share informa¬ tion with members who have already been there. This would make a more capable and informed A.S. board,” Cofer said. The scheduling of the elections in spring coupled with a subclause that requires candidates to have 18 units completed by the time of the election has caused some debate by the board. David Santana, former co-ordinator of external affairs, fought for and won an amendment that would have de¬ layed this measure until next year. Without the amendment, Santana would have been knocked out of the election because he had not com¬ pleted enough units. However, last week Santana was dismissed from the board after failing to keep the re¬ quired 2.0 GPA. The Supreme Council, the judicial body of the A.S. board, also faces major changes involving their power and procedures. The council will be enlarged to seven members from the current five and will be called into session three specific ways: by the written request of three board mem¬ bers, by a vote of the board, or by a student petition signed by 50 students. With a petition, the Supreme Council will be limited to addressing the issues that have been stated on the petition. Also included in the article is the provision that the chief justice and other justices may be impeached by a two-thirds vote of the A.S. board. “I don’t like non-elective people working independently of the A.S. Board,” said Cofer. “I like to see us all work together. “The Supreme Council shouldn’t have the ultimate power. It isn’t reasonable. They are people nobody knows.” In addition to the spring elections, there are added eligibilty checks, the granting of power to the Dean of Student Services to penalize and dis¬ qualify a candidate for election code violations, and the ability of the Elec¬ tion Committee to postpone results for up to a week in the event of extraordinary circumstances. How¬ ever, once election results are posted, though, they will be considered final. “This constitution is a big improve¬ ment over the current one,” said Cofer. “We’ve gotten lots of imput from students and advisers. I think this will clear up any potential con¬ flicts that may come up.” Candidates for Student Trustee Come Forth By Sally Blake News Editor Past PCC student elections have been quite controversial. This year’s student trustee election, slated for next Tuesday and Wendesday, has the ca¬ pacity to be equally intense. According to Connie Hurston, stu¬ dent activities adviser, Student Trustee Gilbert Morgan and A.S. President Jose Rodriques are the only two stu¬ dents running for the position. Morgan turned his application in when the election was announced, but Rodriques turned his in on the deadline day. “I had known for a while that I was going to run,” said Rodriques. “Wait¬ ing was a tactical maneuver on my part.” Rodriques feels that he can better represent the students than Morgan has. He feels that Morgan has let personal feelings come before his re¬ sponsibilities as student trustee. “For example, in the scandal of last year’s A.S. presidential election, at the Board of Trustee meeting, Morgan spoke for Lance Olberholtzer, and not for the students,” explained Rodriques. “The majority of students (that Rodri¬ ques spoke with) did not agree with the decision that the administration made. Instead of representing the students, Gilbert represented Lance.” “He is intimidated by the Board of Trustees. He is their puppet,” said Rodriques. “The students need true representation, and I will give them that. I am not afraid to let the Board know what the students really want. I will not be a puppet.” Morgan does not see his relationship with the board members in this man¬ ner. “I feel I have a very good rela¬ tionship with them. They respect and accept me and my views,” said Morgan. “They do not see me as a student, but as a full member. “Jose does not understand how pro¬ fessional and serious it is to be a member of that board. These people are well educated individuals. These are the big boys. Jose thinks that he can step right in and change what he thinks needs changing. That is not the way it is. Change comes slowly. He has a lot to learn.” High School Black Students Enjoy Workshops at Recruitment Day By Sally Blake News Editor t iff * t < Courier/Megan Feeney Students registered on campus for a conference which recruits local black high school graduates last Saturday. In an effort to increase black enroll¬ ment, the Recruitment and Retention Committee sponsored PCC Black Stu¬ dent High School Conference Day last Saturday. The conferences are part of PCC President Dr. Jack Scott’s attempt to increase enrollment as a whole, ac¬ cording to Vicki Washington, extended opportunity program and services counselor. The committee mailed letters to 10th, 11th and 12th grade students at Pasadena, Muir, Blair and Marshall High Schools inviting them to the col¬ lege. The committee members also passed out flyers to English and social science classes and distributed more flyers during the high school lunch periods to encourage students to attend the conference. According to Washington, the turn out was not as big as we hoped, but we were happy with the results. “We had approximately 65 students and 15 parents attend. Although we were hoping for 150 students, we were not real disappointed,” she said. “The students and parents who did attend were very excited about the workshops and they had a lot of positive remarks about the school in general.” Students were able to talk with rep¬ resentatives from Cal State University Northridge, the University of Califor¬ nia at Santa Barbara, and University of California at Los Angeles. The students attended workshops on The Student Athlete, Teenage Pregnancy, Financial Aid and Substance Abuse. “We wanted to include topics that would interest all students even those who do not have an immediate concern with attending college,” explained Washington. “We also wanted to show students who are concerned with attending col¬ lege in the near future what PCC has to offer.” There are plans to hold another conference like this one for next year, and Washington hopes it will be even more successful.