OPINION
Proposition 1C is good for PCC
Page 2
FEATURES
Students’ career dreams bloom in the
Community Skills Center’s garden
Page 5
Ray Cruz goes the distance to
beat El Camino
Page 6
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
Pasadena, California
Vol. 78 No. 15
COURIER
Serving the PCC Community for 76 years
THURSDAY
May 5, 1994
The sound of silence
William Maurice Pryor
The COURIER staff wishes to con¬
vey its deepest regret for the error that
was made on the front page of the April
28 edition. A photo of Martin Cota
was accidentally run with a story about
the death of William Pryor. The staff
sincerely apologizes to Martin Cota
and anyone affected by the error.
Terry Lee, an actress disguised as a bunny, teaches kids who visited the campus about the deaf culture during last
Thursday’s Deaf Awareness Day.
Cinco de Mayo event
calls for Chicano unity
Business professor
wins Risser award
□ Ellen Reynolds
Ligons named the
outstanding teacher
of the year
By GILBERT RIVERA
Staff Writer
The 1994 Risser Award for out¬
standing teacher was given to Ellen
Reynolds Ligons, assistant profes¬
sor of business, during a faculty
meeting held in the Forum last T ues-
day.
Ligons, a formerPCC student and
six-time consecutive nominee for
the Risser, won the award after a
month-long review of applications
submitted by PCC students. Of the
29 nominated, nine of the teachers
were nominated more than once. In
addition to the award, Ligons will
receive a check for S 1 ,000.
“I am so overwhelmed. This is
one of the greatest honors of my
life,” said Ligons, who leaches intro¬
duction to business, business man¬
agement, and professional develop¬
ment. “I will go to my grave feeling
grateful to my students who made
this all possible.
“There is nothing greater than
making a difference in the lives of
students who will be our future,” she
added. According to Dr. Jack Scott,
PCC president, the award was given
to Ligons because of her ability in
the classroom and her leadership in
the community.
“She is an outstanding teacher
and is someone who has made a great
contribution to PCC,” said Scott. He
said the award is not just for the
teacher who won, but is symbolic of
the appreciation of all teachers.
□ Speaker opens
students’ eyes to
spirituality, civil rights,
immigration, and the
Chicano movement
By CHRISTINE RAMIREZ
Staff writer
Brightly colored costumes and loud drums
were the sights and sounds that filled
Harberson Hall on Tuesday during MEChA’s
Cinco de Mayo celebration.
The evening featured an Aztec dance
group called “Xipe Totec,” which means,
“the new life,” and a speaker from the Na¬
tional Chicano Human Rights Council
(NCHRC).
The speaker, Roxanne “Rocky”
Rodgriguez, addressed the crowd on every¬
thing from spirituality and unity, to the
Chicano movement.
program is about the color of our blood, our
indigenous blood. In order for us to unite and
further the Chicano movement, we must go
back to our roots. We are earth people.”
Rodriguez then spoke about the differ¬
ences between human rights and civil rights.
“Civil rights are our rights to a fair trial, trial
by jury, etc. Human rights are the rights we
are bom with. The right to eat, shelter, to
land,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez also expressed her anger when
it comes to the issue of immigration and the
Chicano people. “We are not aliens, legal or
illegal. We did not come from a different
planet. We are not displaced, we are living
in our own land.”
Rodriguez also added that in order for the
Chicano movement to progress, “people have
to put aside the borders in their mind. Erase
those borders, put them aside and realize our
humanity, and only then can we truly be a
free people.”
Among the roughly 80 students who at¬
tended, the reaction to Rodriguez’s speech
was mostly positive.
Mark Gutierrez, a PCC student, said,
“Her speech was very powerful. She really
broke it down and opened my eyes to how we
became who we are today. Her message is
something I’ve felt for a long time, that we
are one people of this earth, not on it.”
Today, vendors will set up their booths in
the Quad. The mariachi group “Estrella,”
speaker will also be featured in the CC
lounge from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
On Friday, there will be vendors in the
quad from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Saturday
there willbeaChicano/LaRaza film festival
from 1 1 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Forum.
□ A 4.5 percent
shortfall in property
tax revenue causes
state to trim its
budget by $100
million
By PATRIA G. ABELGAS
Editor in Chief
PCC will lose an estimated $2.2
million from its 1993-1994 budget
because a shortfall in property tax
revenues will force the state to trim
SI 00 million from its budget.
College officials had been warned
by Sacramento to expect a three
percent cut, but the shortfall turned
out to be 4.5 percent, according to
Dr. Jack Scott at a meeting with the
faculty on Tuesday in the Forum.
The state originally estimated that
the budget would have to be trimmed
by S16 million, according to Joseph
Newmyer, vice chancellor for fiscal
policy and administration. That
amount was not even close.
“It’s not good news and we hope
that they straighten this out next
year,” Scott said at a meeting with
the faculty on T uesday in the Forum .
The first time PCC absorbed a
property tax shortfall was last year,
when the college had to cover a 2.38
percent loss or $1.1 million.
“The only thing that’ s fair to us in
this catastrophe is the fact that we
began the year with a fairly healthy
beginning balance, so we can absorb
this loss of revenue,” Scott said.
The college will be able to absorb
the shortfall because of its $6 million
reserve.
He also said that hope for com¬
munity colleges lies in the passage of
AB3474.
AB 3474 is a proposed bill that
would require the state to backfill
any shortfall in tax revenues. The
bill was authored by Assemblyman
Jack O’Connell of Santa Barbara.
Unlike the K-12 system, commu¬
nity colleges are not backed up by
the state's general fund in the event
of a shortfall.
“The bill establishes an on-going
mechanism to ensure that the state
will cover community colleges in
case of a property tax shortfall in the
future,” said Kelly Smith, legislative
assistant of O’Connell.
The bill was already passed by the
Assembly on Higher Education Com¬
mittee two weeks ago. It will be
reviewed by the Assembly Ways and
Means Committee on May 11.
“The chances of the bill passing
the legislature are fairly good, but
the chances of Wilson signing the
bill are still unknown,” Smith said.
Scott said at the meeting that the
California budget
department most affected by this
loss will be personnel.
“I would like to assure you that
we are not going to make any drastic
moves. We are going to slow down
in hiring because we simply recog¬
nize that it’s probably unwise for us
to hire everyone that we intended to
hire when times are not sure,” Scott
said.
College to lose $2.2 million
Is all the studying worth it?
□ Experts say that the
more education a
student has, the higher
the chances of success
By JAY NAQUIN
Staff Writer
All-night studying, rushing to class,
parking hassles, and taking final exams.
Is all this worth it?
Fair question.
Indeed it has not been easy, juggling
work, (full-time work for some) family
and a myriad of other responsibilities.
Graduation is just around the comer. And
it seems a good time to ask: what does the
future hold for graduates?
Many have been pessimistic, and with
good reason. Jobs seem to be leaving Cali¬
fornia faster than the speed of light. Califor¬
nia has been hit hard by the defense industry
cutbacks, which have resulted in the loss of
thousands of aerospace jobs. Additionally,
many employers have been scared off by
natural disasters such as fires, floods,
mudslides, earthquakes and drought. And
for those who have not heard, California is
again in an official drought after experienc¬
ing one of the century’s driest winters.
The answer to the opening question is
“yes.” Someone with an associate degree
can expect to earn 29 percent more than a
high school graduate, according to the New
York Times.
PCC President Dr. Jack Scott said, “The
more education you have, the higher your
income and the less your chances of being
unemployed. It’s just that simple.”
Scott’s words were backed up by Presi¬
dent Clinton’s remarks to the American
Council on Education in March when he
gave these statistics: “If you look at the
unemployment rate in America in March of
1993, these numbers would be all slightly
lower now, but still more or less the same.
“People with no high school diploma had
a 12.6 percent unemployment rale. People
with four years of high school had a 7.2
percent unemployment rate. People with
some college had a 5.7 percent unemploy¬
ment rate that is below the national average.
People with four years of college had a 3.5
percent unemployment rate, way below the
national average.”
National Public Radio’s Bob Edwards
said that “What makes this country great is
that mobility across lines of class and race is
still possible and it’s possible only through
education. A good college education is
the great equalizer. It’s apassport toa life
denied to some of our ancestors who, for
whatever reasons, were unable to go to
college.”
So although there arc abundant rea¬
sons to be down on the future, there is
ample cause for hope. History does re¬
peat itself and this is not the first time this
century that prospects have been gloomy.
Robert B. Reich wrote in the Wall Street
Journal in February that “Nearly 50 years
ago, the specter of long-term mass job¬
lessness unnerved America. World War
II had ended in triumph, but the outbreak
of peace held its own perils.
Reich goes on to say, “This period of
apparently well-founded pessimism gave
Please see “GRADUATES,” Page 4
