OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
EDITORIAL: L.A. Councilman Mike DAY Of THE DEAD: A MEChA cel- SOCCER: The two keys to the team's success,
Hernandez should resign Page 2 ebration marked the occasion Page 4 are on opposite sides of the ball Page 6
Green and Wells-Miller Win
■ Both incumbents were victorious in their
quests to be reelected to their seats.
By SID SARAF
Courier Staff Writer
The race for the two contested
seats of the board of trustees ended
withno surprises. Dr. Richard Green
and Beth Wells-Miller were both re¬
elected as the trustees from Area 1
and Area 7 respectively.
Wells-Miller earned 1,620 votes
(50.68 percent), defeating challenger
David Ma who brought home 1 , 1 80,
(36.92 percent). Virginia Conijn
finished a distant third with 396 votes
and only 12.39 percent.
Although the numbers might seem
close, Green garnered 60.81 percent
of the vote, while Gomperz, a former
public relations director for the col¬
lege from 1974-1984, came in with
39.18 percent.
The two unopposed also ended in
no surprises obviously. Warren
Weber will return as the trustee from
Area 6, and Luther Renfroe will
replace Walter Shatford, who will
retire at the end of the term as the
trustee from Area 3.
“I have a lot of work to do ahead.
I’m looking forward to it,” Wells-
Miller said.
Among the goals that Wells-
Miller has set for her next term, is the
creation of an e-mail privacy policy.
“We have all assumed the right to
privacy on this campus, but that is
not necessarily the case,” she said.
In addition, she said that she would
like to see the trustees’ meetings
televised. She said, this would fol¬
low the pattern set by the Pasadena
Board of Education, who regularly
carry their meeting on the local pub¬
lic access cable channel.
What looked to be a serious battle
for the Area 1 spot, ended in a con¬
vincing victory for Green, a 24-year
veteran of the board and former
board president.
Only 6900 out of 34,728 regis¬
tered voters in the areas took part in
the election.
However, he was able to lock
down 4,196 votes while Gomperz
was only able to sway 2,704 in his
favor.
All trustees serve on the board for
a four year term.
1997 Trustee Election Results
Area 1 Area 7
Dr. Richard Beth
Green
Wells-Miller
61%
Bob
Gomperz
39%
e*! &
'ШЩШ
/йр
Ir
Ш
51%
David
Ma
37%
Virginia
Conijn
SMB ' ' *** -
12%
Note: The results include all votes cast in the election.
Area 1 reported 6,900 voters, Area 7 totaled 3,196
V*t/ of the Dca&
JOSE MANCILLA
/
THE COURIER
Easy does it! Part of MEChA’s Dia De Los Muertos events was sand art. (See story, page 5)
CCC May Create Bylaws
“I’m sure there is going to be a lot
of changes made to the code, ”
Aaron Schaefer ;
AS President
Я
The shared
governance committee
is considering enacting
a code of ethics along
with guidelines.
By DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writer
In order to give the college coor¬
dinating council a standard operat¬
ing procedure, the faculty senate
drafted a set of bylaws and ethics, to
govern the shared governance body.
The classified and student fac¬
tions represented on the council ex¬
pressed gratitude that one of its
groups has taken the initiative to
create the rules, but admit that
changes will have to be made.
Although there is support for the
proposal, there are some who be¬
lieve that there is one stipulation that
isn ’ t consistent with the committee ’ s
purpose. “I don’t agree with the part
about not talking to the press; it’s
against freedom of the press.” Aaron
Schaefer, AS president, said.
The item he referred to is part of
the code of ethics. It states, “Mem¬
bers shall show re¬
straint by not dis¬
cussing agenda
items with the me¬
dia.” He doesn’t
agree with it be¬
cause the board of
trustees is allowed
to discuss agenda
items as is the associated students.
“I’m sure there is going to be a lot
of changes made to the code,”
Schaefer said.
EllenLigons, faculty senate presi¬
dent, refused comment on the topic.
She chose to say that it wasn’t appro¬
priate to discuss the issue, and that it
should take place exclusively during
meetings. But she does expect
changes.
“If we were involved in a contro¬
versial issue, it wouldn’t be wise to
speak about it,” Talbot said as a
reason she feels the press stipulation
it may be a needed. “Rather than
have individuals give their opinions,
we should refrain from speaking to
the press.”
“A code is a way to make sure that
we treat everybody involved with
respect,” said Sue Talbot, president
of the instructional support services
unit.
“The draft was simply a way to
get us off the ground, it’s easier to
have a proposal as a starting point,”
she said of the initial thrust to install
rules. And she feels that it was
presented “pretty straight forward.”
Ligons said after a recent senate
meeting that her unit decided to
author a draft because of the absence
of standing laws. “All legislative
bodies perform better if they have a
code,” she said.
Because the committee is cov¬
ered by the Brown Act, it may be in
violation of it by enactingthe senate’ s
proposed rules.
The act states in its declaration of
intent, “In enacting this chapter, the
Legislature finds and declares that
the public commissions, boards and
councils and the other public agen-
Please see CCC, page 6
Pratt Blasts Establishment
■ The controversial 60s figure
focused his speech on the state of the
nation as he sees it.
By DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writer
The 27 years spent in prison for a crime he says that he
didn’t commit and the rage that came along with it were
evident in the speech Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt gave to a
packed Sexson Auditorium last week.
He said that while in prison he was subject to repeated
beatings and various other forms of abuse, but he remained
diligent in his belief that he was innocent of the murder
charge.
“My mother didn’t raise a murderer.”
Over the years of his incarceration, he came to believe
that the current system wasn’t reforming its inmates, it is
just increasing their sense of disen¬
franchisement through wrongful
treatment.
“It’s a shame to see what they are
doing to those young black and brown
prisoners.”
Instead of questioning the prac¬
tices used to handle inmates, he chose
to question the philosophy behind
the way society views them.
“At what point does a person
become a criminal?” he said.
“You are creating a monster that
you’re not going to be able to deal
with,” Pratt said of theprison system.
He urged people to look at the situation and access what
can be done to alter its outcome. But he warned, “They
came for me in the morning; they’ll be coming for you
tonight. Y on have to pay attention. The prison-industrial
monster is out of control.”
The FBI and other government agencies were among
those whom Pratt blamed for the failure of the revolution¬
ary movement which began in the 60s. “Study to see what
length they went to neutralize our movements.”
A lack of organization wasn’t a contributing factor
behind the eventual end to the radical atmosphere, but it
was the intervention by the government. Extensive sur¬
veillance and infiltration by informants were the reasons
that Pratt cited as most detrimental to the cause.
In response to the popular belief that the Black Panthers
and other similar organizations were anti-American, Pratt
said, “We didn’t want to overthrow the government, we
wanted our own. ” He added that because the United States
has the second highest black population in the world they
Please see PRATT, page 6
“My
mother
didn't
raise a
murderer, ”
Geronimo
Pratt
SCOTT BODE
/
THE COURIER
Pratt
became
animated
when he
touched on
his prison
experiences.
ПХ»А
w,th
Geronimo ji Jaga Pratt
After the speech, Pratt engaged in a
question and answer period designed to
give students the chance to directly interact
with him.
Q. Who do you feel gave you the most
beneficial support during your time in jail?
A. The people.
Q. What is the state of the case against
you ?
A. Gill Garcetti is trying to save face
with right-wing voters and has decided to
appeal it. I would like a fair trial on this
issue.
Q. What can we do to keep drugs off our
communities?
A. Once we get control, it will stop. In
the 60s, we patrolled all of our communi¬
ties.
Q. What do you think of the new world
order?
A. I'm not too well versed on that. (He
answered with a kind of a chuckle.)
Flea Market to the Rescue
■ The German club
will receive $300 in
funding from the club
and program grant.
By CHRISTINE GOMEZ
Courier Staff Writer
The Inter Club Council announced
at the meeting last Friday that the flea
market will be donating $300 to the
club after it was denied ICC funds for
missing a paper work deadline.
The flea market has an account
called the club and program grant
which is an emergency back up for
student activities exclusively said
Stephen Johnson, assistant dean for
student affairs.
“ We saw that the ICC had made
their final decision and the club was
in need,” said Johnson.
The funding was independently
granted by the flea market board.
ICC consented to the funding by a
vote 15 to 6 with 5 absentions. There
were some who voiced their opinion
at the meeting who disagree with the
decision.
"The ICC should not bring in
outside sources like the flea market
to bail them out of problems like
this,” said Aaron Schaefer, AS presi¬
dent and flea market board member.
He added that the German club
should have asked the flea market
fort the money instead of involving
the ICC because it sets a bad prece¬
dent. The German club never sought
any funding outside of the ICC and
the student services committee.
“In the past, the flea market has
supplied funds for student organiza¬
tions to support their activities, “said
Rebecca Cobb.
“The ICC had already allocated
fall funds to all clubs and they were
not going to deal with re-allocating
for the club,” said ICC president
Vanessa Schulz.
“Johnson approached the ICC and
said the flea market would donate
$300 to the club.
“I don’t want this to become a part
of policy and procedures.
“And I don’t want clubs to look at
this as a bail out if a club happens to
make the same mistake as the Ger¬
man club,” said Schulz.
Г
