Pasadena City College
Pasadena, California
Vol. 75 No. 11
COURIER
Thursday
Serving the PCC Community for 75 years
May 6, 1993
Gang activity escalates at CSC
By RODNEY MITCHELL
Staff Writer
A sudden burst of gun fire disrupted classes
and sent students and staff ducking for cover
at the Comm unity Skills Center (CSC) when
two rival street gangs clashed in the west
parking lot on the corner of El Molino and
Del Mar Avenue last Wednesday afternoon.
No injuries were reported, according to
campus police reports.
This incident marks the second gang-
related shooting at CSC/Pasadena Continu¬
ation School campus in the last six weeks.
A Pasadena Unified School District
(PUSD) security officer who did not want to
be identified said an argument between the
two gangs escalated when a member from
one gang opened fire on two members of a
rival gang. Approximately eight rounds
were fired before the shooter and his two
accomplices fled.
The assailants eluded arrest by running
into the CSC building where they dumped a
.22 caliber hand gun in the men’s room, and
then exited through the front of the building.
The gang members involved in the inci¬
dent w'erc all juveniles and students of the
Pasadena Continuation School. The shooter
was not identified, according to the officer.
All of those suspected to be involved in the
incident have been suspended pending
further investigation.
The PUSD officer also said that the stu¬
dents arc not allowed to wear gang attire
such as bandannas in school. However, the
gang members know each other from the
street.
Officer Estcla Morrow, a PCC campus
police officer, said that even though the
Continuation School is out of her jurisdic¬
tion, she responds to their calls because of
the continuation school’s close proximity to
the CSC.
In addition, just yards away from the
scene of that potentially deadly shooting,
toddlers played at the PCC Child Develop¬
ment Center playground a short time be¬
fore. The only thing that separates the
Center from stray bullets fired from oustidc
campus is a wire mesh fence.
Barbara Arnold, coordinator to the PCC
Child Development Center, located next to
the CSC, said that they are seeing increasing
patterns of gang activity on the campus and
that PUSD needs to become more active in
setting an effective policy to curb the gang
activity on the CSC/Pasadcna Continuation
School campus. “ We just don’t feel this is
a safe place any more,” said Arnold.
As of now, the Center uses a panic button
to alert PCC campus police. Arnold said
staff and parents signed a petition to lobby
PUSD to install a security system which
would control vehicle entry into the back
parking lot.
Sgt. Vince Palermo, supervisor of all
security forces on campus, said that PCC
campus police will deploy additional offi¬
cers to the CSC campus during peak hours
as a possible deterrent against gang activity.
The shooting at the CSC parking lot is
the second such incident in six weeks.
To El Molino
< -
Del Mar
Community Skills
Center
о
7Г
т;
о
Social science
professor wins
Risser award
By ANISSA VICENTE
Editor in Chief
Dr. Jean Volckmann, professor
of social sciences, was “thrilled, ap¬
preciative and delighted” to win the
Outstanding Teacher of the Year
award at the Forum Tuesday.
Volckmann, who has taught at
PCC for 23 years, received a $1 ,000
check from the family of former
PCC instructor and trustee Ray Ris¬
ser. Risser established the award 19
years ago to honor outstanding work
in the classroom, an enterprise Dr.
Jack Scott, superintendent-president,
described as the handing down of
skills from one generation to an¬
other.
“This is a great tradition at PCC,”
he said. Scott read
excerpts from recom¬
mendation letters
students wrote nomi¬
nating Volckmann.
One spoke of her as
an “inspiration, one
who truly creates a
learning environment
with her passion for
psychology, growth
and education.”
Dr. Kennon Mie-
dema, chairman and
professor of social sci¬
ences, agrees. “I think
PCC made a wise:
and outstanding de¬
cision,” he said. “She
cares and she’s com¬
mitted to teaching.
Commitment is the
driving force in her
professional life.”
Miedema de¬
scribed Volckmann
as a professor who
works long hours and -
never turns students away. He re¬
members on the first time they met
more than 20 years ago, Volckmann
already had a loyal student follow¬
ing. “We shared an office on the
fourth floor of the C building and I
remember her standing by the door
surrounded by students, having a
lively discussion,” he said. And they
still are.
“We have a big report due on
Friday and this is the first time I’ve
put effort on a report,” said Nancy
Bishop, a psychology major enrolled
in Volckmann ’s research methods
in psychology class.
“She encourages you and explains
everything,” Rajcshnari Gadasally
said. Gadasally is a chemistry major
but is taking another of Volckmann’s
classes because she said she enjoys
it.
Volckmann, who has been nomi¬
nated for the Risser award four times
previously, reserved special thanks
for her students. “It flabbergasts me
that they had time to go through [the
nominating process] after all the work
I put them through,” she joked.
Volckmann was chosen among
the largest pool of nominees in the
history of the award, numbering 24
in all. The other nominees were:
Philip Cornelius, Alex Kritselis and
Verna Wells, from the art depart¬
ment; Ahni Foley, Tom Joyce, Carol
Kellogg-Toogood, Ellen Reynolds,
Patricia Lynn
and Eugene
Pinchuk, busi¬
ness; Gerald
Finn, commu¬
nications;
Vince Hughes
and Gary
Studebaker, en¬
gineering and
technology;
Faye Chandler,
Mike Riherd
and Alan Lam-
son, English
and foreign
languages;
W e n d i e
Johnston, Jeff
Mattes and
David Rentch-
lcr, life sci¬
ences; Donald
Brinegar, mu¬
sic; Alan Ex-
ton, physical
education;
Debra Wood,
physical sciences; Michelle Ireland-
Galman, Justus Richards and David
Uranga, social sciences.
Volckmann received her bache¬
lor’s of arts degree from Grinell
College in Iowa and her doctorate
from Indiana University.
“Personal responsiveness to what
people are doing, mastery of the
language, high standards of achieve¬
ment and enthusiasm,” are some
elements Volckmann said makes up
her teaching philosophy.
“You have to value the experi¬
ence. I’m still learning about it and I
really love it.”
Photo by RAFAEL VEGA/ The
COURIER
Dr. Jean Volckmann
A moving scene
Photo by LUPE MONTALVO/ The COURIER
The Gilman House, once home to feminist Charlotte cottage, passing PCC on its three hour journey
Perkins Gilman, was moved Monday night from its to a new lot, will be remodeled and used for
original site on Catalina Avenue. The wooden housing.
Parking proposal stalls
in City Council meeting
By JONATHAN BLAKESLEE
Staff Writer
The Pasadena City Council post¬
poned commenting on a proposal to
ban all parking on parts of lour streets
adjacent to PCC.
The city council held a public
hearing on last week to listen to ar¬
guments over whether to allow cer¬
tain blocks of Hill, Rose Villa,
Oakdale and Sierra Bonita to im¬
pose parking restrictions between 8
a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays.
However, because speakers at the
meeting argued both residents and
PCC representatives were not given
adequate time or discussion, and
because not enough council mem¬
bers were present to carry the vote,
the issue was tabled until the Tues¬
day, May 1 1 meeting.
By Pasadena statute, if 75 per¬
cent of the residents on any block
agree to impose no parking restric¬
tions on their street, they may do so.
Residents of some blocks of these
four streets have gained the neces¬
sary 75 percent consent and have
brought their case to the council for
approval.
PCC and members of the resi¬
dential community around the cam-
John Robinson,
Student trustee
pus have been trying to work out a
compromise over the parking situ¬
ation for more than a year. Propos¬
als have been discussed that would
have granted shared student and resi¬
dent permits for streets surrounding
the college.
Students and residents would ini¬
tially share equal numbers of per¬
mits, with a gradual phase-out of
student permits. The council hopes
to vote on the permit proposal in
August, before the fall semester.
However, the proposal that now
faces the council would ban parking
on the designated streets until the
permit system goes into place.
PCC officials expressed their
concern to the council because of
the hasty manner in which the no
parking plan was attached to the
permit proposal and brought to a
vote.
Dr. James Kossler, vice president
and assistant superintendent of ad¬
ministrative services, told the coun¬
cil, “ I’ve been involved in all of the
discussions involving PCC and the
parking permit proposal for the past
year now. The proposals we dis¬
cussed said nothing about having a
no student parking part, and we urge
you to vote no on this matter because
it was never discussed.”
Student Elizabeth Contreras re¬
minded the council that there are at
least 4,000 Pasadena voters atPCC.
Contreras, who is also Inter-Club
Council representative said student
concerns need to be addressed.
“This petition was blatantly dis¬
criminatory towards the students be¬
cause it was passed out at our April
16 meeting during the spring break
That was unfair.”
The timing ensured the students
couldn’t fight, she said.
Student trustee John Robinson said,
“We are working on building a park¬
ing structure, and we have been
See “PLAN,” page 6
LECTURE SERIES
Speakers
discuss
medical
dilemmas
By ANISSA VICENTE
Editor in Chief
The technology and ethics series
ends Wednesday, May 12, with a
lecture dealing with reality that re¬
sounds in perhaps the greatest final¬
ity of all: death.
“A
В
lessing and not a Curse: Life
and Death — Death,” will be held at
7:30 p.m. in Sexson Auditorium. It
features two speakers who will give
two perspectives on the technology
available for treatment of the termi¬
nally ill, the legal rights of patients
and families as well as the emotional
toll death exacts from people.
Janet Kaye is a lawyer, journal¬
ist and writer. Kaye, whose father is
in an irreversible coma, has written
on medical ethics and “right to die”
issues for the “Los Angeles Times”
and “USC Law.”
Kaye’s co¬
presenter is Dr.
“USC Law.”
Kaye’s co¬
presenter is Dr.
Patricia Gifford,
director of geri¬
atrics at the
Huntington Hos¬
pital and former
clinical instruc¬
tor of medicine at USC.
Gifford will expound on current
policies hospitals follow regarding
health care for the terminally ill. Al¬
though she said more terminally ill
Americans have greater autonomy
about their health care today , it is the
burgeoning medical technology that
poses a more complex threat.
“We’re victims of technology in
many ways,” Gifford said. “Our di¬
lemma is its development because it
extends life but it does not give us
back the quality of life.”
Dr. Thomas
Belzer, profes¬
sor of life sci¬
ences, and
Daniel Meier,
professor of
English and for¬
eign languages,
will host the
lecture. It is
free and open to
the public.
