Feature:
Women’s safety
an issue on
campus
Chinese Test
to be Given
on Campus
PCC joins the ranks of a limited group by
becoming one of the few testing centers
around the nation for Chinese proficiency
Ina Siem
Staff Writer
PCC will be the first communi¬
ty college to host China's Hanyu
Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) or the
Chinese proficiency test next
April.
HSK is a standardized test
designed and developed by the HSK
Center of Beijing Language and
Culture University to assess the
Chinese language proficiency of
non-native speakers including for¬
eigners, overseas Chinese and stu¬
dents from China's national minori¬
ties.
On Monday, two members of the
delegation from Beijing came to
PCC to arrange details for setting up
a center for administering the test.
PCC is the seventh testing cen¬
ter in the United States, and is
the first community college test¬
ing center that the National
Center for Teaching Chinese as a
Foreign Language has approved.
"No other community college
has been selected to sponsor this
test," said Dr. Cathy Wei, instruc¬
tor of Chinese. "We have
achieved another prestigious sta¬
tus for the Chinese language pro¬
gram at PCC."
HSK is divided into three lev¬
els: basic, elementary-intermedi¬
ate and advanced. Depending on
the level, candidates will be test¬
ed in listening comprehension,
grammar, reading comprehen¬
sion, filling in blanks and compo¬
sition. Oral examination is also
part of the proficiency test.
"We are able to provide the
test because of the volunteer
service of our Chinese instructors
and students who will assist the
official proctors with the adminis¬
tration of the test," said Dr.
James Kossler, president of the
college, who is proud that PCC
has been selected as an appropri¬
ate site for this program.
The test is open to anyone
who wants to take it. Wei expects
not only PCC students to be the
candidates for the test. "I would
like to have people from the local
community, students from high
school, or anybody who needs
verification of their Chinese pro¬
ficiency. Even business people
who wants a certificate in order
to work in China should take the
test," she said.
Kossler is optimist that the test
is going to be successful, "We
have a very large Chinese commu¬
nity in the San Gabriel valley, as
well as many people who
would like to develop
business or professional
relation- 5ee page
ships with
Valedictorian
Wants His Money
Priscilla Moreno
Managing Editor
Questions have been raised
regarding scholarships and a stu¬
dent's eligibility to receive checks
for scholarships. The scholarship
committee has had to turn down
students and refer them back to the
specified guidelines on each appli¬
cation.
There have been instances
where students were given certain
awards, and they continued attend¬
ing PCC, or they waited too long to
claim their awards.
Stanley Wong, valedictorian and
Edna Plummer scholarship recipient
for the 2000-2001 academic year, is
an example of one of these situa¬
tions. The committee told Wong
that he could no longer receive the
award due to several conflicts with
the procedure for the scholarship.
Wong said he spoke with faculty
senate president, Alan Lamson and
his secretary Judith Benson regard¬
ing his scholarship. After emails and
phone calls back and forth, Wong
was then referred to Xiaodan Leng,
chairperson for the scholarship com¬
mittee. Leng told Wong that he
could no longer receive his award
because the eligibility guidelines on
the application states that recipi¬
ents, "will transfer from PCC to a 4-
See page
4
Sports:
Men’s soccer
ends the season
with a bang
Entertainment:
Grupo de Teatro
Malayerba
conies to PCC
Photo Courtesy of Daniel Frost
Alex Abdalla, and other South Pasadena firefighters, helped battle the blaze that
ravaged Simi Valley a few weeks ago.
Alumnus Helps to Fight Hres
Alex Abdalla helped to battle the Simi Valley fire last month
Daniel Frost
Contributing Writer
Fires blazing out of control,
jumping freeways and torching
houses. Apocalyptic sized clouds
of choking smoke. Kiln-like tem¬
peratures.
These circumstances are usu¬
ally reserved for Dante-esque
scenes of eternal punishment
and suffering, but for one group
of local heroes it's just another
day at the office.
Local resident and PCC alum¬
nus, Alex Abdalla, along with
other area firefighters from the
South Pasadena Fire
Department, was called on to
help battle the Simi Valley that
burned in Ventura and Los
Angeles counties late last
month.
Arriving on the scene on Oct.
26, the firefighters found the
day-old fire already burning
out-of-control.
Within mere hours after
reporting, Abdalla and others
from his department were put
to work on the fire line, the
start of a 26-hour shift.
"In our area it was mostly just
brushfire, thankfully" said
Abdalla. "The houses in our area
that had cleared the brush (from
around their homes) were just
fine."
All told, the Simi Valley fire
claimed 37 homes and 27 out¬
buildings and charred 108,204
acres inside Ventura and Los
Angeles counties, according to
disaster officials.
With several fires already
burning in San Bernardino and
San Diego counties, authorities
began asking for help from local
fire departments.
"They basically had to call
around to local cities to just
scrounge up another strike
team," said Abdalla " In a sense
we got kind of lucky because we
are not typically the team that
goes out."
The long hours and harsh
conditions are what these pro¬
fessionals train for, but they
don't underestimate the poten¬
tial for danger.
"It's definitely nothing to
Scoff at. It takes a toll on us,"
said Abdalla, who stresses that
safety is always on his mind
while working.
"It's always going to get hot
and it's always going to get
smoky," he said. "But before
you do anything, you always
prepare a safety zone away
from the fire and then make
sure that you can get back to
that zone if anything gets out of
control."
"Our area (of the fire) was
not as bad as I've seen in other
locations. It's a credit to the
Ventura County fire policy that
urges residents to keep brush
cleared away from structures,"
said Abdalla.
According to the California
Department of Forestry and Fire
Protection, major California
wildfires have burned to date
more than 743,000 acres, caused
22 deaths including one
firefighter and
destroyed more than
3,5 7 0 5ee page
Board to
Discuss
Judge's
Decision
The board of
trustees wants
judge to explain
recommendations
Mitchell Wright
Editor-in-Chief
With only two scheduled meet¬
ings before the end of the year,
the board of trustees is hoping to
have judge Gabriel A. Gutierrez
speak to the board about the nine
recommendations listed in his
final report about student charges
of brutality by campus police.
The board hired Gutierrez as an
"independent administrator" who
would look over the final investi¬
gation of alleged police miscon¬
duct on March 20 and make a deci¬
sion.
However, since the investiga¬
tor's report is classified because it
deals with personnel matters the
judge did not make a determina¬
tion about who, if anyone, was a
fault when police and students
clashed during and anti-war
protest.
Geoffrey Baum, trustee, tried
to get Gutierrez to be at the next
board meeting. He wanted the
board to discuss the judge's rec¬
ommendations as soon as possible.
"I don't know when he is
scheduled to come to a meeting,"
said Baum. "I believe the sooner
the better. We have only one
scheduled meeting in December
and January, so I hope this doesn't
go beyond then. However, we will
need to accommodate the judge's
schedule, so we may have to be a
little patient."
If the Gutierrez were to attend
a board meeting, he would have
to be paid for his time. It
is possible the judge
could be on campus for
around two
to three
See page
year institution during the academ¬
ic year following the award."
The institution that Wong is
attending is the Dongguk Royal
University in Los Angeles. He is
majoring in acupuncture and tradi¬
tional Chinese herbology. The
school is accredited. However Wong
said the curriculum calls for com¬
pleting the necessary modules in
two and a half to three years. This
does not comply with the regula¬
tions on his scholarship application.
Leng said that although Wong
was told in February that he might
still be able to get his award, he was
misinformed. After a barrage of
phone calls and emails, Leng and
the scholarship committee called for
a meeting on the issue. The group
unanimously agreed that since
Wong waited two years to pick up
his scholarship and the school he
was attending was not a four-year
university, he no longer qualified
for the $1,000 award. Because of
this, Wong feels the committee and
Lamson have wronged him. He said
that he needs to pay for his school¬
ing, but was unable to because he
had been laid-off from the Los
Angeles Unified School
District. He has to apply for
financial aid. He currently
owes
Dongguk
Students Affected by Continuing Strike
Rita Vega-Acevedo
Staff Writer
Noel Belknap is getting less
sleep these days thanks to the
MTA strike. During the week, she
sets her alarm at least an hour
and a half earlier. Before the
strike, she took the 485 line and
then transferred to another bus
to get to campus. These days, she
no longer has that option.
Since Oct. 14, she has had two
choices. On good days, she can
catch a ride with her parents to
PCC.
The rest of the time, the 18-
year-old art student commutes by
bike. It takes her at least one
hour and it’s uphill all the way.
Belknap has expressed the
sentiments of various MTA riders
on campus. "I want it to be over,"
she said. "I feel that nobody is
doing anything to solve it."
MTA mechanics recently voted
overwhelming to reject manage¬
ment's best and final offer to
reach a contract settlement last
Friday, thereby dashing the
hopes of 400,000 bus and train
riders who depend on MTA serv¬
ice.
The mechanics, members of the
Amalgamated Transit Union, are
protesting changes to their health
care benefits and cost of living
increases.
The ATU and other unions
have
been on
strike
since
Oct. 14.
Of
the
2,100 mechan-
ics,
1,260
voted
no and
87 su
pported
the proposed
contract. Four
votes
were
ruled
invalid.
The remaining
749
eligible
union
mem-
bers
did not
vote.
"We're certainly disappointed
with the vote," said Ed Scannell,
MTA Spokesman. "Our
goal is to get a 3-year con¬
tract."
Meanwhile, Scannell said that
negotiations are at an impasse,
but that members of the board
get daily briefings. The board
members will meet this week.
The MTA negotiating team
consists of employees of labor
relations who then consult with
Chief Executive Roger Snoble and
the1 3-mem-
ber board of
directors. The
board has the
final authori¬
ty to accept
recommenda¬
tions of its
negotiators
and unions.
In a fur¬
ther twist,
board mem¬
bers Martin
Ludlow,
Antonio
Villaraigosa, Gloria Molina and
Mayor James Hahn were recently
prevented from participating in
contract discussions due to a per¬
ceived conflict of interest.
MTA spokesperson Scannell
said that Senate Bill 89 prohibits
people from voting on contracts
when they have received more
than $10 from affected labor
organizations.
Ludlow and Villaraigosa filed
a lawsuit challenging the county
counsel interpretation. They
won.
On Nov. 7, Los Angeles
Superior Court Judge Dzintra
Janavs ordered the MTA to re¬
instate the four board members
to participate in the contract dis¬
cussions.
While MTA and the union
continue to outmaneuver each
other, PCC students have missed
or even dropped classes because
they lacked transportation.
A few contracted lines serve
the campus, but most students
are left to fend for themselves.
Policy analysts are sure of one
thing. The economic and social
costs to the region have been
devastating, especially to the
people who need transportation
the most.
For more information, please
check out: www.mta.net