PCC Courier, November 05, 2015

Serving PCC Since 1915 Pasadena City College О U R I ER ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM NOVEMBER 5, 2015 VOLUME 112 ISSUE 09 Photos courtesy of Facebook campaign pages Newly elected district four Board of Trustee member Hoyt Hilsman and Tom Selinske, who was ahead of James Osterling by three votes for the district two seat as of Wednesday night. New board member(s) elected John Orona News Editor Both district board candidates that the PCC Faculty Association have endorsed for the two open Board of Trustees seats are leading in the polls, with one district confirmed and the other too close to call in Tuesday’s election. Author Hoyt Hilsman has usurped the two- term incumbent trustee Bill Thomson for the district four seat, nearly doubling his total votes, 1,414 to 778, marking the first time an incumbent has lost in this district since 1983. “I think the community began to realize what PCC students and staff knew for quite a while — there is a vacuum of leadership at the board level,” Hilsman said. “I think the voters got the message and they delivered.” In a forum attended by all candidates early last month, the discussion focused on the need to change the campus climate and establish a more collegial relationship between faculty' and administration. “I’m hoping some problems from the past can be addressed and there will be a more open conversation. That’s my goal,” Hilsman said. “I’m optimistic it can be done but I know it won’t happen overnight. The seat change comes during some major challenges and changes for the college, including placement on academic probation and a new president-superintendent and Academic Senate leadership. “I’m extremely disappointed and surprised by the results,” Thomson said, who plans to contin¬ ue his serving the PCC community through other venues such as the Pasadena Education Founda¬ tion. “A negative campaign was run and I think it caught the attention of voters.” In the district two race to replace the retir¬ ing trustee of 32 years, Jeanette Mann, PCCFA choice Tom Selinske holds a slight edge over educator James Osterling of just three votes, 1,721 to 1,718. “Selinske brings eight years of experience on the Pasadena Unified School District board,” Thomson said of the district two results. “He knows how to work with people and that will be the major challenge — how effectively the board can work with the college as a whole and with administration.” Selinske, a small business owner and former PCC student, stressed the need for patience in a race so close. “It’s hard to know [what the final vote will be]. It sounds like there’s 500 votes that still need to be counted,” Selinske said. “It looks like more people voted by mail this year than in person.” Although all 16 precincts in the district have reported results, there is a three-day grace period for mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 3, accord¬ ing to the LA County Registrar-Recorder office, meaning the results may change. “We need to restore collegial relationships innthe school and help students get a two-year degree in two years,” Osterling said. Selinske, Osterling, and Hilsman all said they hope to focus their tenures on bolstering the counseling office so that students know what classes they need and increasing access to classes without raising class sizes. “We need to look at the core mission of the college,” Osterling said. “We should be focusing on getting student degrees, vocational training, and life-long learning.” The elected candidates will be sworn on Dec. 9 during the board’s annual organizational meeting. Homecoming court chosen by lottery Monique A. LeBleu/Courier Homecoming King Keno Deary Jr. and Queen Maria Rodarte at the halftime parade for the Homecoming game at Robinson Field on Saturday. Christian Rivas Staff Writer In deciding who would become Homecoming King and Queen this year, gender was no longer a consideration and voting was done away with too. AS decided that this year students could enroll in the homecoming court with the gender they iden¬ tify as, meaning a man could be crowned homecoming queen and a woman could be crowned home¬ coming king. While this idea was popular among smdents, it wasn’t the stu¬ dents who got to vote. This is the first year that PCC students didn’t get to vote for the homecoming king and queen. Student Affairs Adviser Carrie Afuso thought the idea was fresh and wanted to challenge the status quo of homecoming being nothing more than a popularity contest. “It’s always been a popularity contest,” said Afuso. “This year we wanted it be more about who rep¬ resents the spirit of PCC, whether it’s in the community or on campus. We wanted someone who shows what it means to be a Lancer.” The homecoming court process was treated like a scholarship this year. Students submitted a three- page application and a resume explaining why they felt they should be homecoming king or queen. The homecoming committee, composed of about “three or four” students, would then have to choose 15 out of the 30 applicants to go through an interview process to be considered for the homecoming court. Once the interviews were com¬ plete, the homecoming committee decided the court would be nar¬ rowed down to just four kings and four queens. Those chosen to be on the court received a scholarship of '$150 and also got the chance to be the home¬ coming king and queen. On homecoming night, the names of the students chosen were put into a bag and picked at ran¬ dom. Afuso felt this was the most fair and inclusive way of picking a king and queen. “It was a way of acknowledging everyone and the hard work they put in,” said Afuso. “Any one of the students could have represented our school very well, so we thought that everyone deserved a fair chance.” The first name picked out of the hat was Keno Deary Jr. “Being the homecoming king was HOMECOMING PAGE 2 PCC offers classes at Muir H.S. Kristen Luna Editor-in-Chief Starting this spring semester, PCC will offer dual enrollment courses at John Muir High School to allow students to complete college courses while still attending high school. This comes as a result of Gov. Jerry Brown signing Assembly Bill 288 (AB288), establishing the College and Career Access Pathways Act. The dual enrollment program allows high school students and the public to take the college courses offered. This will give people in the area who have no means of traveling to PCC’s main campus the opportunity to still take classes. PCC currently offers dual enrollment programs at other high schools in the surrounding districts but, according to Kathy Scott, associate vice president of academic affairs, John Muir High School will be the first school to offer concur¬ rent enrollment courses and after school college courses. When it came to deciding which courses would be offered, Scott worked with a number of groups on campus in putting together a list of high demand general education courses. “It’s a collaborative effort be¬ tween PCC and PUSD,” Scott said. MUIR PAGE 2 Transgender lawyer talks about the continuing struggles for civil and human rights South Pasadena gallery celebrates one of John Carpenter's cult classics, "Halloween."