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Nov. 10, 2005
pcc-courieronline.com
Vol. 92, Issue 12
Football Program in Turmoil
Fingers point to Tom Maher,
former head football coach,
as the scapegoat for football
team’s losing season
Mario Aguirre
Sports Editor
The football program is in sham¬
bles, and the powers that be in the
athletic department have been look¬
ing for a scapegoat to blame for the
losing season. Apparently they
found one in the person of former
football coach Tom Maher, who was
forced out of the program complete¬
ly this week but will remain at PCC
as an instructor.
Maher, who was the head of the
football program for nine seasons,
was told that he had to move out of
his office in the GM budding, and
now must share a smaller office in the
W building with four other instruc¬
tors.
Right before the start of the sea¬
son, Maher was forced to step down
from his head coaching post and
Dennis Gossard assumed the posi¬
tion. Since then Maher has been
moved from job to job, working three
positions during the season, each one
moving him further from the field.
Sophomore Lance Stubbs, who
played last season for Maher and two
games for Gossard this season, gave
his take on the situation.
“I really don't understand why
they brought Gossard back as head
coach,” Stubbs said. “From what I
have seen, he really dislikes Coach
Maher.”
A source close to the situation
said that Gossard became increasing¬
ly stressed by Maher's presence.
Because of that, after the second
game of the season, Gossard reas¬
signed Maher to become a scout,
which meant that he could not attend
practices or PCC games.
“In the third game at Orange
Coast College, Gossard told Maher
not to come back to the field,” Stubbs
said. “He yelled at Maher when they
came back to Pasadena and told him
that he's not allowed at the stadium.”
Finally, last week Maher was told
1
Tom Maher
he would no longer be part of the
football program. Players believe
that PCC athletic director Skip
Robinson is trying to find a scapegoat
for the losing season, and he is blam¬
ing Maher. Some football players
believe that Gossard and Robinson
are pushing to get Maher out.
Those within the football pro¬
gram know that Maher and Gossard
never saw eye-to-eye on a lot of foot¬
ball-related topics.
Rumors spread that Maher was
leading a revolt against Gossard by
gathering players and allegedly
encouraging them to quit the team.
However, players and instructors in
the department believe that charge
was made up as an excuse to push
Maher out.
Maher denies ever having spread
the rumor, saying it was “bullshit.”
Sources within the athletic depart¬
ment confirmed that Maher never did
any such thing.
“I’ve always been a professional
and have done my job to the best of
my ability,” Maher said.
The moving of Gossard back into
the head coaching position was sup¬
posed to revitalize the team and
improve its losing record. However,
Gossard's presence did nothing to
improve the team's performance. As
a matter of fact, more than half of
the players who started the season
have left the team. Last Saturday in
the game against Long Beach City
College, only 31 players showed up.
This is down from 85 players who
started the season. Gossard said that
this was because the players were aca¬
demically ineligible.
Herbert Martin, a sophomore
wide receiver, said that only about
eight players were academically ineli¬
gible. The rest of the players either
quit because of poor coaching or they
were offended by remarks Robinson
made two weeks ago. Others say
they were frustrated about the losing
season.
In a game two weeks ago against
Palomar at PCC, Robinson was
heard railing about the out-of-state
players, blaming them for the losing
season.
Several parents of players heard
the remarks and were upset. A few
said they convinced their sons to
leave the team.
According to witnesses,
Robinson said “F— those Louisiana
kids.”
Players and faculty members
wonder why the finger of blame is
pointed at the players and not the
coach for the 1-8 record.
[see Maher,
РАС
E 3 ]
Brian Dreisbach
/
Courier
Army of One: Siafa Lavala was one of only 31 players who lost to Long Beach last
Friday; only 25 players are slated to play Riverside in Friday’s game, making the out¬
come of the season’s last game unsure. The team started the season with 85 players.
New Trustee Elected,
Board Veteran Ousted
Dean Lee
Staff Writer
For the first time in 28 years
someone new will be representing
the residents of San Marino, South
Pasadena and Temple City on the
board of trustees. Warren Weber, a
retired businessman in Pasadena,
lost to Hilary Bradbury-Huang by
232 votes in Tuesday’s special elec¬
tion.
“This will be a big change for
PCC,” said Joseph Probst, a profes¬
sor of speech communication. “At
3 a.m. the polls showed him ahead
so I was surprised this morning
when I saw he lost.”
Weber was one of the more con¬
servative members on the board.
Weber said that he was most proud
of helping create the PCC
Foundation. Among other things,
the Foundation gave millions of
dollars to students for scholarships.
PCC president James Kossler
■ f
lllfe i
у
N 1
/
Downcast: Weber, the longest
defeated in Tuesday’s election
said Weber had a strong interest in
the Engineering and Technology
Division, where he has donated
many hours to repairing and refur¬
bishing equipment used by students
in the division
Brian Dreisbach
/
Courier
-serving trustee, was
by Hilary Bradbury-Huang.
“Mr. Weber has been an extraor¬
dinary member of the board of
trustees,” Kossler said. “Along with
interest in engineering and technol-
[see Board, PAGE 3]
Errors in
СТА
Fair
Share Fee
Jennifer MacDonald
News Editor
The fee charged by the PCC
chapter of the California Teacher’s
Association to nonmembers could
be lowered to a third of its current 1
percent.
At least that’s how Richard
McKee, a PCC chemistry instructor,
interprets the outcome of a petition
he won against the union on Nov. 5.
The Los Angeles Superior Court
ruled that the PCC chapter of the
СТА
must supply non-members of
the union with new documentation
of how its fair share service fee,
implemented in May, has been cal¬
culated.
The petition against PCC/CTA
was filed last May by McKee. In
addition to being a full-time faculty
member at PCC, McKee is the pres¬
ident of Californians Aware, an
open-government advocacy group.
The court ruled in favor of
McKee, who claimed the union did
not supply a sufficient Hudson
Notice, a document sent to non¬
members informing them of how
PCC/CTA determined the fair
share service fee.
When the fee was implemented,
many faculty members felt the por¬
tion of the fee they were required to
pay was not fair at all.
The original Hudson Notice, sent
in May, lacked some technical
requirements including outlines of
how much money goes to both the
national chapter of the
СТА,
National Education Association
(NEA), and the state chapter of
СТА.
The notice also lacked a com¬
plete definition of how the fee was
calculated.
This is important because non¬
members of the union who pay the
fair share fee are entitled to a rebate
for non-chargeable expenses, like
state and federal lobbying.
However, another issued raised
by McKee, regarding the 1 percent
fee that is charged to both members
and nonmembers of the
СТА,
was
found to be constitutional by the
court. McKee tried to prove the 1
percent fee was unconstitutional
and everyone should pay an equal
[see Fair Share, PAGE 3]
Tuition Hikes May Curb Enrollment
Ani Argalian
Staff Writer
Average nationwide tuition costs
at two-year public colleges, which
educate nearly half of American
college students, rose 5.4 percent to
$2,191 per year for the 2005-2006
school year, according to an article
by ABC News. These numbers
could play a key role in PCC’s own
student enrollment.
At the Nov. 2 board of trustees
meeting, Peter Hardash, PCC vice
president for administrative servic¬
es, said there was a 2 percent drop in
enrollment this year. According to
Hardash, drop rates and the fact
that students are taking fewer class¬
es may be a reflection of rising
tuition costs and more job openings.
If the decrease in overall student
enrollment continues, PCC could
lose $2 million to $3 million in state
funds from its 2006-2007 budget.
On the other hand, if the college
continues to serve an equal or
greater number of students overall,
the district will not lose funding.
The Federal Bureau of Labor
Statistics states that for every year
since 1982, college tuition fees have
risen faster than the overall rate of
inflation.
According to PCC Observations
Fall 2003, there were 25, 810 stu¬
dents enrolled in PCC. There was a
1 percent decrease in both full and
part-time students during the Fall
2004 semester, with 25,162 students
enrolled. Currently PCC has
approximately 22,000 to 23,000 stu¬
dents enrolled for the 2005 school
[see Tuition, PAGE 3]
Slow Registration Concerns PCC
Paul Aranda, Jr.
Staff Writer
The beginning of every semester
is a chaotic scene as students pile
into classes, hoping to receive that
coveted add slip used to enroll in
classes. Students who use this last-
minute technique are part of a
growing trend that has raised seri¬
ous concerns by school officials.
According to Dr. Margaret
Ramey, associate dean of admis¬
sions and records, students are not
making use of PCC’s priority regis¬
tration process. Often the case is
that students do not utilize the pri¬
ority registration date assigned to
them. The situation is being investi¬
gated by college administrators,
who are working hard to reverse the
trend before major consequences,
such as cuts in general funding,
occur at PCC.
In an effort fo retain continuing
students, in the spring of 1982 PCC
began providing priority .egistration
for students to secure spots in class¬
es needed to complete their educa¬
tional plan. Today the same system
is used to determine when students
are assigned their registration date.
This system is known as the
Pasadena Area Community College
District Procedure 4020.10. This
procedure sets the guidelines school
officials must follow when assigning
registration dates.
Many students have voiced con¬
cern when it comes to their dates
because they are not aware of exact¬
ly how the process works. Student
Tomas Bonilla, 18, found priority
and online registration difficult to
understand at first.
“I kind of had to play around
with [online registration],” Bonilla
said. He added that more promotion
for priority registration would be
helpful for students to understand
the process.
In a worst-case scenario for PCC,
these frustrated students would then
look to other colleges to secure the
classes they needed.
With the rising cost of tuition at
the university level, community col¬
leges have taken on larger enroll¬
ments, increasing the number of stu¬
dents looking for classes. As a result
many of the core classes fill up
quickly, leaving students who did
not enroll early begging for add slips
at the beginning of the semester.
Students are then either forced to
look at other schools or prolong
their stay at PCC to finish all the
required subjects.
The faculty understand that stu¬
dents who prolong their stay at PCC
are more likely to quit school alto-
[see Registration, PAG E 3]
Get Whipped at the
AS Annual Quiz Bowl
Natasha Khanna
Staff Writer
On Nov. 15, Associated Students
will host its annual Quiz Bowl in
the Quad at noon. Students will get
to test their brains and compete for
a $375 PCC bookstore voucher.
In the second round, the losing
team will “get whip creamed,” said
Chiarizio. The Thai Restaurant
Palms located in the CC building
will prepare the whipped cream.
According to Jessica Chiarizio,
AS vice president of academic
affairs, there will be three rounds of
questions in which teams of three
students each will answer college-
level questions using a buzzer sys¬
tem. The 10 teams will answer ques¬
tions from a mixture of categories
prepared by PCC professors, includ¬
ing social sciences, health, English,
mathematics and natural sciences
divisions.
The winning team will split a
$375 voucher from the PCC book¬
store. Second and third place teams
will also be rewarded with book¬
store vouchers of $225 and $150,
respectively.
For more information about this
event, contact Jessica Chiarizio at
(626) 585-7905.