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Volume 100, Issue 9
"The Independent Student Voice of
РСС,
Serving Pasadena Since 1915." Thursday, November 5, 2009
Football coach sues PCC
Lawler claims bias,
slander, rights violation
in federal case.
Genaro Bonilla
And Justin Clay
Staff Writers
Football coach Kenneth Lawler,
who is still on paid leave, has filed
suit in federal court against
Pasadena Area Community
College District and three individ¬
uals. The suit alleges defamation,
emotional distress, and violation
of public policy and violation of
Lawler's due process rights.
The suit alleges that Lawler was
the victim of administrative cor¬
ruption, defamation and character
assassination at the hands of col¬
lege officials.
The suit also alleges that Dean of
Athletics Beverly Tate hated
Lawler, and wanted to "do him
in."
Also named were former PCC
President Paulette Perfumo and
Vice President of Instruction
Jacqueline Jacobs.
Lawler appeared Wednesday
night at the regular board meeting
to serve the legal papers on the
defendants.
Numerous attempts on Tuesday
to contact both Jacobs and Tate
were unsuccesful.
Trustee Jeanette Mann could not
comment on the situation.
"I'm not even aware of a lawsuit
against the college," said Mann on
Tuesday.
"Secondly, it's a personnel mat¬
ter, so I'm not allowed to comment
anyway," she said.
The suit is seeking unspecified
damages in excess of $75,0000.
According to the complaint,
Lawler claims he was singled out
because of his race and Tate's
hatred toward him. Jacobs put
Lawler on paid administrative
leave on Sept., 19, 2008.
The leave came after an incident
in which one of
the reported
football players,
Darryl Stephens,
was arrested on
charges of
assault. It was
subsequently
reported that
Stephens was a
registered sex offender. He had
previously been arrested for
"assault to commit a specific sex
Continued on page 6
PCC
Two incumbents ousted in hotly
contested Board of Trustees ballot
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1299 E. Green St., #100
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Yogurt or Coffe with valid PCC ID card.
(Cannot be combined with any other
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12/1/09.)
Colorado Blvd
Г,
Green St
E. Dei Mar. Si
International display
Election
upset
Melissa Edis/Courier
A Malaysian tourism dance group performs for a large crowd in Creveling Lounge at a
cultural event "A Taste Of The World" on Oct. 27.
Event celebrates cultural diversity
Stephanie Guzman
Staff Writer
Cultures from all over the world were dis¬
played in Creveling Lounge as the
Associated Students sponsored "A Taste of
the World."
The Oct. 27 event showcased different cul¬
tures as they served foods and desserts from
different countries. Various campus clubs
including Spanish Club, CLAVE, Alpha
Gamma Sigma, and Model UN had their
own booths. The event also had perform¬
ances from different cultures, including
Malaysian dancers, as they were one of the
Continued on page 2
Roy Lenn
Staff Writer
Two incumbent members of PCC's Board
of Trustees narrowly lost their bids for
reelection Tuesday, according to semi-final
election results with 100 percent of precincts
reporting. One incumbent was reelected,
another unopposed.
In a close race determined by a margin of
165 votes, Trustee Beth Wells-Miller of Area
7 was unseated by Anthony Fellow, profes¬
sor of Communications at California State
University, Fullerton. Candidate Donna
Wilson finished third in her bid for the seat.
"I drink I am the only one who ran any
campaign in Area 7," said Fellow. "I think
people know my track record of service in
the San Gabriel Valley." Fellow also is a
director of the Upper San Gabriel Valley
Municipal Water District.
In another close race decided by just 39
votes, healthcare manager Berlinda Brown
won her challenge for the Area 3 seat against
incumbent Trustee Consuelo Rey Castro.
"I think I made my message clear to the
community," Brown said about her win. She
pledged to have greater community out¬
reach as a trustee: "I’m going to have com¬
munity meetings and let people know what
I’m doing."
Trustee Geoffrey Baum retained his seat
for Area 1, earning almost 70 percent of the
vote over challenger Steven Gibson, a PCC
student and former community organizer.
Hilary BTadbury-Huang of Area 5 went
unchallenged in the election, and retained
her seat on the board.
Many challengers ran on platforms that
were critical of decisions by the current
board, including its handling of the school
budget and the process that resulted in the
hiring of Paulette Perfumo, PCC's previous
president. Perfumo abruptly resigned in
August after two years in office.
"I want to work on getting a qualified
president and I'm interested in restoring our
winter intersession," said Brown. "I want to
look into the reasons why it was not fully
restored."
Brown said she also hopes to increase
PCC's retention rate by collaborating with
Pasadena Unified School District to better
prepare students for community college.
Unsuccessful challenger Gibson noted the
implied message in the defeat of Wells-
Miller and Castro. "The fact that the other
two incumbents lost indicates that the vot¬
ers were interested in change and not in
keeping the status quo," he said.
Despite His loss, Gibson was proud of his
effort in the race.
"We ran a very clean and honest cam¬
paign," Gibson said. "Win or lose, we got
our message out that we wanted to make
some change."
Baum recognized the challenge made by
Gibson and his supporters.
"They ran a very aggressive campaign,"
said Baum. "They appealed to the voters
directly and invested a lot of money in mak¬
ing their point." Baum said that he hoped to
continue his work to keep PCC a top institu¬
tion for educational access and transfer to
four-year universities.
Fellow said that he's ready to "hit the
ground running,” and wants to work on
building a bridge between Area 7's Arcadia
High School and PCC.
"There hasn't been a strong relationship
between Arcadia and PCC," said Fellow.
"Before, most students from Arcadia High
went to PCC — now it's very few."
According to defeated incumbent Wells-
Miller, Fellow claimed during the campaign
Continued on page 6
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