PCC Courier, May 11, 2006

Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915 Courier PASADENA CITY COLLEGE -A BBL Лрь, А уд в? К 1 bAnUjmM '■ Baseball Team Makes а Comeback Ф Page 6 May 11, 2006 pcc-courieronline.com Vol. 93, Issue 10 Students Push to Repeal Aid Cuts 'his Grass is Greener Congress under pressure as millions struggle to pay for college this year due to increased interest rates. Christina Bustamante Staff Writer Within the last few weeks organizations and activists repre¬ senting millions of students, par¬ ents and recent college graduates are pushing to repeal recent cuts to student aid programs by campaign¬ ing against the recent increase of interest rates in student aid pro¬ grams and increase supports to pay for college. Millions of people nationwide will begin to significantly pay more in interest on their student loans because of a new measure recently approved hy Congress effective July 1 of this year. The House approved a measure earlier this year that failed to invest in a college education for America’s students and families while giving breaks to the big stu¬ dent lenders and for-profit colleges. Congress passed a measure two months ago that slashed almost $12 billion in federal student aid, putting college further out of reach for millions of families. And earli¬ er this year, the president proposed $1.2 billion in additional cuts to higher education programs in his 2007 budget. Bush supporters claim that stu¬ dents won’t be hurt because the plan raises loan limits for freshmen and sophomores. Yet borrowing more money at higher interest rates will only send students deeper into debt by stick¬ ing them with higher payments. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., responded to the public’s concern by introducing legislation that cuts student loan interest rates in half. Many of the groups that called on Congress to reverse the measure for higher interest rates for student aid today endorsed the in a letter to Congress. Miller, the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, has intro¬ duced a bill called “Reverse the Raid on Student Aid Act of 2006” that would cut the student loan interest rate to 3.4 percent — half of the amount authorized by Congress. Sen. Richard Durbin, D- [see Student Aid, PACE 3] Turf’s Up:Artificial turf is in the process of being laid down on the Hutto-Patterson field (above). Jack Ford shows campus president Dr. James Kossler the numbers to be placed on the field (right). Although the new turf is not real, it is less expensive to maintain than real grass (below). Employers Spy On MySpace Photo Illustration by Steve Carrillo / Courier SpySpace: Activity on websites like MySpace may be as important as a resume when applying for jobs. Caroline Ikeji Managing Editor Students who are thinking of transferring, looking for jobs or applying for scholarships may have one more thing they may want to tidy up besides their applications and resumes - their MySpace pro¬ files. Social networking sites such as MySpace.com may not only be a place for friends - they may also be used to screen potential applicants for jobs, scholarships and college admissions. “There seems to be an increase in the number of employers who are using the Internet by Googling applicants and tracking back to their websites,” said Katherine Swain, a PCC career counselor. Swain added that while scanning the profiles of networking sites is not as common as other methods of screening applicants, there are some employers who have begun doing this. She also said that the hiring committees of more prominent posi¬ tions will dedicate more time to searching through such websites. Social networking sites have gained tremendous popularity among college students. According to Nielsen, who measures Internet ratings, MySpace was the second fastest growing web brand in November 2005, with a 752 percent growth from the year before. As these sites have gained popularity among students, however, they have also created more interest among employers, admissions counselors [see MySpace, PAGE 3] CDC To Hold Fundraiser For Upgrades Jorge Correa Staff Writer The instructors and students from the Childhood Development Center will be hosting a family night themed fundraiser to raise money for improvements to the CDC’s classrooms. The fundraiser will be held Friday, May 19 from 5:30 to 7:30 in the CDC building. Entertainment will be provided for those who attend and a raffle for an assortment of prizes will be con¬ ducted. Children from the CDC will sing for guests and there will also be a puppet show. Along with the children, there will be perform¬ ances by PCC guitarist David Smith and Latin group Juan Estanga Trio. Raffle tickets will be available for sale on May 15 at the front desk of the CDC. For three dollars gam¬ blers can purchase one raffle ticket. Five dollars will buy two chances to win, and those who lay down ten buy themselves eight tickets. With the donations from parents and community members, teachers from the CDC put together six dif¬ ferent treasures to be raffled off, each with its own theme. Each prize will be put on display and a container will be placed in front of each prize. Those who buy raffle tickets will be able to view what interests them and place however many tickets they desire into the container in front of the prize they hope to win. The prizes include beach sup¬ plies, a stay at the Park Hyatt hotel, free massages, and tickets to Six Flags Magic Mountain, Dodger games, movies. The money earned from the raf¬ fle will go towards improving the childrens’ classroom environments by using a “Reggio Emilia” approach. Instead of sticking with the traditional plastic utensils, instructors will be able to switch to more real items made of wood. “The approach is to bring home culture into the classroom setting,” said instructor Eileen Pierce. This home feeling gives a more practical advance to help children experience an ongoing learning process. The CDC, located on the corner of Green Street and Holliston Avenue, is a lab site for students who desire degrees in such fields as nursing and child development. CEC Hosts Asian Media Carlos Ramirez Staff Writer Media members from the Epoch Times, ED Media, the Chinese Daily News and Sky Link TV came together May 5 to celebrate Asian Media Day at PCC’s Community Education Center. Asian Media Day, which was organized by CEC division dean Rick L. Hodge, aims to make notice¬ able the benefits and services the col¬ lege makes available to the Asian community. Hodge admits this is the first Asian Media Day the CEC has hosted, but he has plans to host Latino and African-American Media Days in the future. Throughout the presentation it was evident that the members attending placed a great emphasis on certain aspects of the Asian culture. After Hodge stated that the CEC fac¬ ulty were graded and evaluated by their students, Dong Li of the Epoch Times expressed his criticism. “Chinese people do not speak out,” Li said. “All of our time [in China] is spent working. We are told to not speak up and ask questions. “My daughter is at Cal Poly and she does not speak up in class; she gets good grades but is quiet.” The CEC student body is mostly comprised of non-English speaking students; almost 53 percent of the students attending the CEC are enrolled in ESL classes. Asian stu¬ dents make up 18 percent of the stu¬ dent body. “We want to outreach to different communities,” CEC supervisor Ibrahim Naeem said. “We [will] invite members of their media to help spread the word [about] who we are and what we have available. We think we have a very good deal here called free education.” Jack Huang, a member of the Dreams Come True Performing Arts Foundation who helped organize Asian Media Day, helped shed some light on Chinese culture. “The Chinese culture is very dif¬ ferent from others,” he said. “Sometimes we are overly humble. We are used to being silenced by the government. We are not used to the American culture, which is very open.” Despite this criticism, the mem¬ bers of the different media houses were very pleased and impressed with the quality of the facilities and were reassured that the gap between teacher and student could be bridged. According to Hodge, these breaks in communication occur when teachers don’t understand other cul¬ tures. “Our faculty receives training regarding diversity in the class¬ room,” he said. Naeem and Hodge, along with [see Asian Media Day, PAGE 3]