PCC Courier, November 03, 2005

Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915 Courier ^ PASADENA CITY COLLEGE Halloween У Horror I | Page 8 t Nov. 3, 2005 pcc-courieronline.com Vol. 92, Issue 11 Debate Heats Up Board Election Dean Lee Staff Writer More than 200 students and fac¬ ulty packed a classroom in the C building Wednesday afternoon for an open forum with candidates run¬ ning for the PCC board of trustees. Among the topics debated were the lack of alternative forms of energy on campus and student access to board members. Of the seven people running for the four open seats on the board, three people are currently sitting on the board. They all showed up in C333 for the town hall-style debate. Two former PCC students, board candidates Brandon Powers and Jennifer Bekkedal, stood up the crowd that was waiting to hear their ideas on current issues. Both candi¬ dates told forum organizers they would attend. The start of the iorum was delayed while organizers waited for the candidates to arrive. Each of the four candidates opened the debate with an introduc¬ tion about themselves and what they planned to bring with them to the board if elected, “I want to bring a fresh perspec¬ tive to the board,” said Hilary Bradbury-Huang, challenger in Area 5, which consists of South Pasadena, San Marino and Temple City. “My dad is a community col- I HglPsMfia Brian Dreisbach / Courier Rafael Delgado / Courier Rafael Delgado / Courier Rafael Delgado / Courier Tense Battle: Board candidates met to debate key issues raised by students, ranging from televised meetings to liability issues with the AS student trustee. lege teacher, and after questioning how the board operates I decided to run. I think essentially the board will work if it has the right mem¬ bers.” Warren Weber, who currently holds the seat for Area 5, has been reelected seven times and has held a seat on the board the longest. He has served as a trustee for the past 28 years. “Of all the years I have been on the board, I am most proud of the creation of the PCC foundation,” Weber said. “The foundation gives millions of dollars to students for scholarships.” One student asked why solar panels were not installed in Lot 5, the new parking structure. Weber responded that it was “cost-prohibi¬ tive.” “It's simply a matter of money,” Weber said. “We have to prioritize the actual cost, to put forth whether gas turbines to light the new parking structure will be cheaper than solar power. We can also use gas turbines to heat the pool.” Bradbury-Huang fired back with one of her main campaign points. “I get real irritated with this common allusion to money,” Bradbury-Huang said. “When a building is going to last 60 years we should take into account the whole life of the building. I'd like to see more solar panels and internships for 'green' technology positions that might be opening up.” Several people asked how they could possibly have a voice on the board if the student trustee, Nicholas Szamet, does not get to vote on issues brought before the board. “To say that students don't have a voice is simply not true," said Connie Rey Castro, the current board member for Area 3, north¬ west Pasadena. “Even though he can't directly vote, he can make a motion and second them, which is very symbolic to the board.” “Do you think that this should change?” a student asked, even before Castro had finished answer¬ ing the first part of the question. Szamet stood up. “I just want to add to this that the students do vote me in office and therefore I am an elected offi¬ cial,” Szamet said, defending him¬ self. The board addressed the contro¬ versy surrounding televising the board meetings. The trustee meet¬ ings are webcast and can be accessed from the college website. However, several people attending the forum wanted to know why there was no television coverage. Weber explained why he voted against televising the board meeting on public access TV. Other board members were in favor of it, saying it would give the public more access to the meeting. “It’s not that I'm opposed to opening up the meeting,” Weber said. “I opposed the television broadcasting. Sixty percent of our students are outside our cable areas and we can't find a uniform way to televise. The webcast is working.” Castro and Beth Wells Miller, who currently holds the seat for Area 7, Arcadia, indicated they were in favor of finding ways to get the meeting televised. In addition, students wanted to know the last time candidates were on campus other than for board meetings. Although she did not respond to the questions directly, Wells Miller stated that she thought one way would be to have designated hours [see Debate, PAGE 3 ] C Building Bathroom May Be Popular Site for Homosexual Rendevous Paul Aranda, Jr. Staff Writer To the surprise of several school officials, the Pasadena Star-News reported on Oct. 23 that a PCC restroom had been listed on web¬ sites as a hot spot for men seeking to engage in sexual acts. Readers of the Star-News learned that the men’s restroom on the third floor of C building was listed on certain websites, such as www.crusinfor- sex.com, as a place where homo- j sexual activity is reported to have taken place. Lt. Brad Young of the PCC police department was quoted in the article as saying, “That bath¬ room is right next to the school’s administration. I think anybody who wanted to do that type of thing would go as far from there as i possible.” Young has denied talking with any Star-News reporters concern¬ ing this incident, saying that he only answered questions from a “concerned citizen” who called him several weeks ago concerning the posting on the website. According to Young, the caller was not too familiar with the campus and Young only mentioned the third floor restroom when it became clear that the caller was asking specifically about that rest¬ room. In the five years that Young has been on campus, he has learned of only a couple incidents concerning the male restrooms, and neither of them involved the restroom on the third floor of the C building. He said the most recent incident involving a men’s restroom occurred last month when police detained a man in the men’s rest¬ room of W building. It was report¬ ed that the man was looking around and acting suspicious. The man was identified as a CEC stu¬ dent and was released because no crime was committed. Last year the Courier reported that among several acts of vandal¬ ism that plagued the campus were peepholes drilled into restroom stalls. The holes were conducive to the insertion of the male genitalia, according to the story. To prevent this behavior, stainless steel walls were installed in the problem stalls. Richard P. van Pelt, director of facilities services said that since the new stalls have been installed no incidents regarding this type of vandalism has been reported from his staff. Van Pelt added that no one on his staff has reported any sexual activities occurring in any restrooms on campus. While officials may dispute any charges that sexual activities are occurring on campus, several stu¬ dents have stepped forward with detailed accounts of acts forced on them while using the men’s rest- i ДЛ \ ‘ Santos Cortes / Courier The men's restroom on the third floor of the C build¬ ing has become one of the most controversial meet¬ ing places for casual sex between men. According to the Star-News, it is now one of the hottest spots, next Whittier Narrows and Griffith Park. A recent sur¬ vey revealed that 75 per¬ cent of the men that meet in such a places are actu¬ ally married and have families. rooms on campus. One student, who asked not to be identified, recalls an incident in the third floor [see Bathroom, PAGE 3] PCC Theft Victim Catches Neighbor Red-Handed Paul Aranda, Jr. Staff Writer A PCC student was arrested Oct. 21 on suspicion of stealing $753 in personal property at Robinson Stadium. Omar Martinez was taken into custody after police determined that eyewitness accounts and police interviews were enough to charge him with th6 thefts. Among the items taken were backpacks, schoolbooks, purses, wallets and cellular phones belong¬ ing to five students participating in a physical education class. The five students returned from their 20-minute off campus run to find that their personal belongings were missing. The victims were all students in coach Jesse Gomez’s physical education class. Gomez had told the students to leave their personal possessions on the ground as the class prepared to go on a run. Gomez told police that he saw three males not enrolled in his class standing near the student’s unat¬ tended backpacks on the athletic field. At the time, he thought the three men were part of a different class meeting on the field. [see Theft, PAG E 3 Big Brother on PCC Campus? Budget Cuts May Affect Student Loans Caroline Ikeji, Keith Lubow Courier Staff The House Committee on Education and Workforce approved a plan on Oct. 27 to cut $14.5 billion in spending from the 2006 federal education budget over the next five years. The budget reductions will raise the price of student loan repayment for PCC students who will receive loans upon transfer to universities, and for those who receive loans while still at PCC. The budget reductions will affect both new bor¬ rowers and graduates who are still repaying their loans. The cuts will largely come in the form of reduced federal subsidies granted to lenders. This will place more financial burden on compa¬ nies, which will, in effect, raise the interest rate of student loans. Loans will also become more expensive because federally imposed interest rate caps will increase from 6.25 percent to 8 percent. Lisa Sugimoto, PCC vice presi¬ dent for student services, said the increase in interest-rate caps coin¬ cides with Federal Reserve chair¬ man Alan Greenspan’s recent raises in interest rates. Sugimoto said PCC discourages students from taking out loans because of the burden it puts on stu¬ dents in the future. “Loans should be a last resort,” she said. “I hope we don’t straddle people with them, but it is an option.” Currently, only 135 PCC stu¬ dents are on loans. However, some students said that the cuts will con¬ cern them when they transfer to four-year universities. “I will be highly affected by it probably within the next year,” said PCC student Melissa Nery. As part of $50 billion in reduced spending that is being sought by House Republicans for the budget, the committee was charged with cutting $18.1 billion more than any other committee. In addition to the cuts from the education budget, the committee also reduced spending on pensions. The committee’s 27 Republicans and 22 Democrats split the vote along straight party lines. Republicans stated that the cuts are necessary to cover the cost of the federal relief efforts for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In a committee press release, Republican members said the plan would reduce waste and inefficiency and would place “higher education programs on a more stable financial foundation to ensure they remain viable for students today and well into the future.” Some Democrats claim other¬ wise, however. In the Boston Globe, Rep. John F. Tierney said, “Most of this stuff is because they’ve got a tremendous deficit and they want to add to it with tax cuts.” This refers to the $70 billion tax cut that is cur¬ rently sought by Republicans. The Associated Press reported that education groups call the cuts the largest to date, and are lobbying [see Cuts, PAG E 3 ] Natasha Khanna Staff writer In August, a federal law was passed in the name of national security that ordered colleges and universities to overhaul their Internet networks to provide easy access for law enforcement agen¬ cies. This order could potentially affect PCC. The Federal Communications Commission ordered the extension of the 1994 wiretap law, formerly known as the Communication Assistance of Law Enforcement Act (CALCEA) to institutions pro¬ viding widespread access. This includes universities, libraries and commercial Internet providers. The act requires that colleges install more sophisticated technol¬ ogy, such as Internet switches and routers that wifi allow law enforce¬ ment officials to monitor on-cam¬ pus internet communications from off-campus locations. According to Dale Pittman, PCC’s director of management information services, “every device” will have to have a tracking mechanism. Whether this act is applicable to PCC is still a question to needs be answered. “We would have to look at the law and get a legal opinion,” said Pittman, who has not gotten word of the order yet. “As of now I haven’t received any information as to what is required by us. [Currently] law enforcement has access to our systems.” According to Pittman, law enforcement officials can obtain a subpoena, or court order to gain access to information. Obtaining the information can be a lengthy process. CALCEA will make the acquisition of need¬ ed information easier. With the implementation of CALCEA, law enforcement officials would still have to obtain a court order, but the needed information would be [see Bic Brother, PAGE 3