Vote for Student Body Officers Today
PCC Cou/U&v
VOL. 32, NO. 14 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA MAY 27, 1970
place Wednesday and Thursday of this week
Polling places are located around the campus
STUDENTS TURN OUT to elect their choices for
next year's ASB offices. The school election takes
New Constitution: Where
Does It Leave the Students?
By MARY JO YOUNG
Once again the members of the
students body government have
decided to rally themselves in one
great burst of energy for the pur¬
pose of revamping the constitu¬
tion of the Associated Student
Body of PCC.
The alleged motivator of this
movement is Oscar Rodriguez. It
has been stated that the constitu¬
tion must be placed before the
members of the student body at
least 10 days before it is voted
upon, but this stipulation is being
overridden by Oscar’s statement
that the proposed document was
voted upon by the ASB Board
two weeks ago, and as this was an
open meeting, it is being consid¬
ered that the new constitution
was available to students as of
that date.
This viewpoint, however, seems
to be a slight stretch of the imag¬
ination, for the document was not
reproduced to allow students to
read it at this time. As a matter
of fact, it seems that this account
will be the singular announce¬
ment of the major changes that
are being proposed.
And also, since the voting be¬
gan today and will continue
through tomorrow, this announce¬
ment may be a little bit delayed
and therefore deprived of its abil¬
ity to aid the students in making
up their minds whether or not to
vote the document into use.
According to Oscar, however,
“It is so important that we get
this constitution voted in and in¬
to use, these methods are a nec¬
essary action.”
The major change which will
be made if this new constitution
goes into effect is that once the
officers are voted into office there
will be virtually no way to get
them out — legally, that is.
Impeachment Unlikely
In order to impeach any ASB
officer for misconduct in office or
neglect of his sworn duty, the
Supreme Council will require that
a petition signed by 40 per cent
of the student body members be
turned in. The previous require¬
ment was that only 20 per cent of
the students had to initiate the
movement. If this increase of 100
per cent more agreeing constitu¬
ents is ever accomplished, the Su¬
preme Council will then try the
errant officer.
In order to recall an elective of¬
ficer, the members of their re¬
spective organizations will have
to submit a written request for
such a recall by way of a petition
signed by 40 per cent of the or¬
ganization members. This action
requires only 20 per cent signa¬
tures according to the present
constitution.
If the Supreme Council ap¬
proves the petition, it will be pre¬
sented to the ASB Board within
five days of its presentation. If
the board votes and the officer in¬
volved fails to receive a majority
of votes, he will be removed from
office.
The wording of this clause pro¬
vides more than one loophole for
officers fighting the action. What
will happen if there is no recall
election staged within 15 days?
The document provides no an¬
swer for this possibility. It is
wondered whether this would sim¬
ply become a matter of pidgeon-
holing.
Delayed Initiative
According to the constitution,
the constituents of the ASB shall
have the right to “initiate legis¬
lation by means of a petition sign¬
ed by 40 per cent of the mem¬
bers.” This petition will be pre¬
sented to the ASB Board, which
shall place it on the ballot at the
next school election. There will
be no special election, which
means that the students will have
to wait at least a semester be¬
fore their proposal will be placed
on the ballot.
The referendum right will also
require a 40 per cent vote — double
that of the present constitutional
provision. The new document
also states that financial mea¬
sures passed by the board will not
be subject to referendum action.
This could result in the freezing
of the budget.
If the board agrees to freeze the
budget there will be nothing the
student body can do, according to
the constitution. This action was
attempted last year by ASB Vice-
President Larry Cluff, but it fail¬
ed because the members of the
board did not concur with him.
As opposed to the strict require¬
ments for getting student- initiat¬
ed actions through, the board pe¬
tition for an amendment to the
constitution will require only 15
per cent of the members concur¬
ring. This is the section on the
constitution which also states
that all proposed amendments be
made public at least 10 class days
prior to the election.
The other major changes in the
constitution would be to make the
terms of office for elected officers
last an entire school year. This
would allow the officer to become
familiar with the routine and be
able to get some things accom¬
plished during his second semes¬
ter in office. It also would allow
an officer to stay in a year — even
if the students did not want him
there because of the difficulty of
getting an impeachment or recall
election accomplished.
There can be no doubt that
there is a need for a new consti¬
tution, for many of the problems
listed in this story are in a pres¬
ent constitution also. But it is up
to the students to decide whether
or not this proposed constitution
is the right one.
Summer Library
Slimmer library hours are an¬
nounced as follows: First ses¬
sion — 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and 6
to 9 p.m. Second session — 7:30
a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and 6 to 9 p.m.
SB Campaigns Eye
Important Issues
By CONI MOSER
The campaign for student body officers is here and it faces many
different issues, some of which can no longer be ignored.
Thirteen people must deal with these issues in the coming elec¬
tions and you, the voter, will choose which of them you want to
represent you. In an effort to keep you better informed, most of
their viewpoints and qualifications for student government will be
discussed herein.
Presidential
The two presidential candidates are Bob Serrano and Ian Mc¬
Intyre. Serrano heads partnership campaigning under the slogan, “Re¬
construction.” This partnership — formed because a group of people
have similar ideas and wish to work together to attain them — consists
of Dave Marks for vice-president, Fred Mycroft for AMS president,
Nancy Tobin for AWS, and Mike Karpiel vying for Senate.
According to Karpiel, these candidates do not wish to make any
big promises — instead they want to get something done. The biggest
issue is the new constitution which proposed to give the Senate veto
power over the ASB Board.
The partnership is supposedly all for it because it will take power
from the legislative body and give it to the Senate — or, in effect, the
students. They also wish to strengthen the Supreme Council (which
is never used now) and set up student government in a manner
similar to the U.S. system. Thus, there would be three main branches
of government.
Coalition
McIntyre is heading another group of candidates Who have formed
as a coalition. Running under it are Oscar Rodriguez as vice-president,
Paul Schwartz for Senate, Maurice Gregory for AMS, and Terry
Calopedis for AWS.
The points they are advocating are: (1) student control of stu¬
dent government and student body funds; (2) open faculty meetings
to students; (3) the institution of an equitable student body financial
policy; (4) organization of a student information center; and (5)
student government involvement in national and international issues
pertinent to students.
This coalition does not have internal agreement among the
members on all the issues, so it is not running as a slate but advertis¬
ing together to share costs. They make it clear that they are still
running individually.
McIntyre, speaking for himself, said that he wants to get students
more involved, and wants to bring more activities onto campus so
that the ASB card is worthwhile to buy. He feels he is qualified for
office because he’s been involved in government and has been on
campus long enough to learn from others’ progress and failures in
student government.
Reconstruction
Serrano has the good intentions of betterment of all students.
He is very open to suggestions and is behind the “Reconstruction”
campaign. He’s been elected as Senate president, has served on the
men’s council, is the VP of the frosh class, and has been a delegate
to different student conventions. Later he was on the committee to
improve the SB card.
One of the vice-presidential candidates, Marks is especially con¬
cerned about student government. In his words, it is a farce, and he
wants to get in and do something. He has had experience on the ASB
Board as finance commissioner this semester. He feels this has given
him enough experience to know what he’s doing as VP.
Rodriguez, the other vice-presidential candidate, has been presi¬
dent of the Senate, the Inter-Club Council, and the Associated Men
Student’s Board.
He thinks that the Courier should be student controlled and that
the student body should pay for the student teacher evaluation pro¬
gram. The last issue that Rodriguez is concerned about is getting
draft counselors on campus next year.
Senate
Schwartz is running for Senate president against Karpiel.
Schwartz wants the student body to feel that this is its school and
Senate, therefore, he is also in favor of the new constitutional pro¬
posal.
He want to set up a permanent communications committee of
three people to act as go-betweens for the administration and stu¬
dents. They could meet regularly with the deans and set up a table
on campus to inform students and to listen to problems posed.
Schwartz has been Senate treasurer and finance commissioner.
Karpiel, running under the partnership’s slogan and campaigns,
has been in student government for three semesters and is fully aware
of what is happening on campus. He feels that he has the push to
get things done.
AMS
Gregory, Mycroft, and Michael Tanchek are the three candidates
for the AMS presidential office. Maurice is standing behind the stu¬
dent information center idea on the coalition campaign.
He is running because he wants to see changes in the college.
Gregory has been a member of the Senate for two terms, VP and
president of the Sophomore Class, and on the ASB Board.
Mycroft stands behind the “Reconstruction” policies and feels
that his main qualifications for government are that he’s concerned
and wants to bring about a lot of changes. He has served on the
frosh council.
Tanchek is not on any sort of slate for the simple reason that he
did not want to be. He was approached by both of them, but does
not feel slates are right, since they are illegal. Tanchek agrees with
both slates’ points and also wants to be a stabilizing force on the
ASB Board.
AWS
Miss Calopedis is one of the girls vying for AWS prseident. She
would like to give women on campus more activities and involve¬
ment. She has been a member of AWS, is a Spartan, editor of the
WAA newspaper, on Dr. Armen Sarafian’s Advisory Council, is the
second VP of the Senate, a Freshman Class Council member, and a
• Continued on Page Three
