The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915 Volume 95, Issue 11
PCC APATHY
Ricky Lim/Courier
AS candidates are all smiles as elections loom near. A lack of student involvement, however, has school officials worried that the body will not
fully represent the interests of all students at PCC. For candidates’ names and positions, see page 3.
While AS Candidates
Prepare For Next Week’s
Elections, Others At PCC
Don’t Seem To Care
Christina Demirchyan
Flipside Editor
The Associated Students’ elections will be
held next week, and most students don’t even
know there will be an election or how impor¬
tant the outcome will be for the upcoming
year.
Students will be asked to vote for 1 1 posi¬
tions on the AS Board.
Student Activity Adviser Rebecca Cobb said
the positions for cultural diversity as well as
external and student services are going
unchallenged. She also mentioned that there
are no candidates for internal, academic and
business affairs.
“I have definitely noticed a decrease in
interest in running for student government
and the number of students who vote. I am
not sure what the reason is for this. Possibly
the lack of visible candidates and an external
polling place,” she said.
The purpose of the AS is to “represent the
interests of students at Pasadena City Col¬
lege;” however, with fewer students voting, the
interests of all PCC students may not be get¬
ting the attention that they deserve.
According to a survey done by the Courier,
only 20 out of 95 students were even aware of
what the AS was all about. An additional sur¬
vey, asking whether or not students were
aware of the elections next week, indicated
that only one out of three was aware.
“No. I thought I saw it on a flyer but I
couldn’t tell you when it was,” said Juliette
McGough, 19, a communications major.
“No, who’s running?” asked Candace
Kovacic, 19, liberal arts educations major.
“Yes, because I saw a whole bunch of flyers,
and I put two and two together and thought,
‘hey, there’s AS elections,”’ said Tanya
Gomez, 23, creative writing major.
Students on campus not being aware of the
Associated Students perhaps indicates the rea¬
sons why there is a shortage of candidates.
“The positions that are left vacant will be filled
by appointments over the summer.” said
Cobb.
“For positions that are unopposed, the vot¬
ers must indicate yes or no, whether or not
they approve of the candidate for that posi¬
tion. Therefore it is conceivable that an unop¬
posed candidate can lose an election,” she
said.
Although the AS may not be well known
around campus, they have a great deal of
influence over student activities.
According to Patricia Hong, vice president
See ‘AS Elections’ - Page 3
Religious Ignorance
Prevails At PCC
Christina Demirchyan
Teresa Mayer
Courier Staff
Spread throughout PCC’s diverse campus
are students with various interpretations of
religion. These interpretations not only form
the basis of students’ beliefs, but they also
reveal a new trend that seems to be emerging
in today’s generation of college students.
Throughout April, various PCC students
were asked to define the nature of their reli¬
gious beliefs. With religion being a complex,
often controversial issue, polls were taken ran¬
domly around the campus as well as in several
religious studies classes to understand why
students identify with their chosen religions.
On camera interviews were shot before and
during spring break, and after numerous inter¬
views, it became clear that religious and non¬
religious campus students alike were not able to
answer questions relating to the content in the
Bible, even though some of those interviewed
declared their devotion to reading the Bible,
some as much as three to four days a week.
Obvious trick questions were asked to fur¬
ther prove whether or not people pay attention
to the Bible. Out of 42 Catholic and Christian
students interviewed, only seven students were
aware that Sodom and Gomorrah had been
married (Sodom and Gomorrah are actually
cities) and that there were only four gospels.
A majority of the students interviewed from
Latin America, including Mexico and South
America, were Catholic because their parents
had raised them that way. According to the
Inter Press News Service, Latin America is
home to almost half of the 1.07 billion
Catholics in the world.
According to Derek Milne, PCC professor
of social sciences, as well as the interviews
conducted, many students identified with their
chosen religions not because of the beliefs, but
to uphold their family’s religious traditions.
“In every culture we find that parents are
conservative in relation to their own cultural
values. When it comes to children, you want
your kids to act as close to your religious
ideals as possible,” said Milne.
Out of 100 students polled, 28 declared
they were either atheists or agnostics.
Along with the growing trend of stu¬
dents merely blending into a religion
without real knowledge is the
increased number of atheists.
Sofiana Hoffman, 18, said, “I am really sci¬
entific. I believe that there has to be proof and
evidence for everything. I have read the Bible,
and I think it is really interesting, but I think
people take it literally and it is just meant to be
moral lessons. Religions have caused lots of
wars and tensions. Have your beliefs
%L based on your experiences and not
what a book says.”
While these trends are
^^94 true, they are also general.
These statistics do not
ШЛъ,
^include all
people.
“There is a dedicated
Pcore group within any
ч
church, but around them
are people who don’t put
ithat much time
Pinto religion and
rlet others give them
"a program,” said
Milne.
Sex. Murder I Track and Fie
and TimeTrave
Page 4
Last Hu