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Pasadena City College
Cinema:
The ArcLight comes to Paseo Page
5»
Volume 101, Issue 9
"The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915."
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Pushing for immigration reform
Louis Cheung/Courier
PCC students Mayra Jaimes, left, Humerto Ortiz, and Sarah Shutmon protest during International Worker's Day in downtown
Los Angeles on Saturday.
PCC represented at May Day March
Barbara Beaser
Editor-in-Chief
A group of about 20 PCC students car¬
rying signs, a drum, and a megaphone
joined the crowd on Saturday in down¬
town Los Angeles for the May Day
March supporting immigration reform.
"Us being there [at this rally] brings
this issue that was outside of PCC back
to Pasadena/' said Associated Students
secretary Jamie Hammond.
The mass of people seemed to go on
forever, with signs saying "Jose didn't
take your job, Goldman Sachs did,"
"Immigration reform now," "No Reform
No Reelection" and "Stop SB 1070."
The controversial new Arizona immi¬
gration law, which critics say allows
racial profiling and is inherently racist,
sparked anger from supporters and
opponents. Several people were carrying
signs that read "Stop Ripping Families
Apart."
CSU Northridge student Rafael Gil
said that he was a Mexican-American
and wanted his family to have the right
to be in this country.
As throngs of people marched down
Broadway, waving flags, chanting, and
carrying signs, PCC's group joined in
holding a Students For Social Justice ban¬
ner and a M.E.Ch.A. banner.
"I'm here in solidarity with our peo¬
ple," said former student Natash Kanna.
Continued on page 4
Increase in
student
activity fee
proposed
Catherine Sum
Staff Writer
A proposed student activity fee increase would
raise the current $1 fee per semester to $10, which is
collected from students during registration. A $5 fee
during the winter and summer intersession would
also be levied.
Presently, every student pays a $1 fee wlnich is the
minimum amount as mandated by the state. The
money funds the Associated Students Lobby
Committee, which traditionally travels to Sacramento
and Washington, D.C. every year on behalf of student
interests.
With this proposal, the leftover $9 will go into the
Student Service Fund (SSF). According to policy doc¬
uments, the funds support student and co-curricular
activities such as "fees, lectures, concerts, recreational
and intramural activities, and grants to the Associated
Students for special projects and other purposes."
The Board of Trustees will review the proposal on
Thursday evening, brought to the table by members
of the Associated Students Executive Board.
The proposal received unanimous approval from
the College Coordinating Council on April 28.
Chaired by President Lisa Sugimoto, this is the high¬
est shared governance board that reviews all PCC
policy before it reaches the Board of Trustees.
If the fee is increased, students will also have the
opportunity to opt out of paying by filing for a
refund.
"Students have the right to refuse to pay the fee for
religious, political, moral or financial reasons," the
proposal reads. "A form to apply for a refund of the
student activity fee is available in the Student Affairs
Office."
AS President Allen Tsay said former AS boards
have also attempted to get the same type of fee passed
before, albeit in different incarnations.
"The current Board of Trustees has been more
friendly and open to students, though in the past they
Continued on page 2
Transfer students face demanding environment
Allan Santiago
Contributing Writer
Students looking to transfer to a universi¬
ty can expect a more demanding experience
than before officials say.
Measures UCs and CSUs have undertak¬
en to make up for the state's budget cuts
have boosted competitiveness in admissions
drastically.
So much so that not everyone who is eli¬
gible to transfer will be admitted, said
Marina Romans, PCC counselor.
"[Students] have to be even more serious
about their education than ever before," she
said.
CSUs continue to adopt fall-only admis¬
sions, UCs are admitting more out-of-state
students and are wait-listing applicants, and
there are decreased numbers in student
admissions overall in both systems.
Students are forced to have multiple back¬
up plans to their education. Reports show
that students who are turned down by one
college are typically offered admission to
another.
According to the Los Angeles Times, of
the 82,056 California applicants to UCs, 71.6
percent were admitted to at least one of the
nine undergraduate campuses. Last year,
72.5 percent were admitted, and 75.4 percent
the year before that. Also, UCs saw an influx
of out-of-state and foreign students com¬
pared to last year, especially at UC Berkeley.
"[Students] need to have a plan for
patience," said Edward Martinez, PCC artic¬
ulation officer, who works with faculty and
various universities, overseeing what
coursework fits toward transferring.
"I always encourage students to think
about how they are preparing in terms of
the development of their skills, their grades
and their overall preparation," said
Martinez.
Martinez's pet peeve as a counselor is stu¬
dents placing the duration of time at PCC as
top priority.
"[Time] is not a factor when they apply to
the UC system or the CSU system, or private
schools," he said. "What [universities] look
at is grades, transcripts and your overall
preparation."
Jasmine Lim, 21, transferred in fall 2009
and is now attending UCLA as a linguistics
major with a civic engagement minor.
Continued on page 2
Dropping
classes:
What
withdrawing
really means.
Page
3»
Baseball:
Lancers
handed a
loss by Long
Beach
Page
8»
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