PCC Courier, November 19, 1992

Pasadena City College Pasadena, California Vol. 74 No. 9 COURIER Thursday November 19, 1992 Police catch robbers on campus By AL SANTANA News Editor Two Hispanic males who alleg¬ edly robbed an appliance store in Pasadena were captured by Temple City sheriff deputies on campusTues- day after a wild car chase that ended up in a deadend alley on campus. According to Deputy DwightDe- velyn, (Temple City sheriff deputies responded to a robbery call from a Circuit City store, which is located at 39 N. Rosemead Blvd. in Pasad¬ ena. As the deputies were driving up to the scene, a Pasadena police offi¬ cer, who happened to be in the inter- section of Rosemead Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard, saw an old- model blue Honda Accord break¬ ing away from the Circuit City’s parking lot. A store salesman, who tried to stop the robbers, came out of the store and told the police officer that the car’s occupants had just robbed them. “As the robbers noticed that a po¬ liceman was chasing them, they drove onto the [westbound] 210 freeway,” said Develyn. Following radio police broadcasts, the deputies drove onto the west¬ bound Foothill freeway to start the pursuit, which began at 1:40 p.m. A few minutes later, the suspects went off the freeway on Hill Avenue and turned left, headed toward PCC with two police patrol units closely fol¬ lowing. The pursuit continued southbound on Hill Avenue until the suspects turned eastbound on Colorado Boule¬ vard and pulled into a college drive¬ way adjacent to the campus library. But as the two suspects jumped out of their car and tried to escape across campus, police officers tack¬ led them in the Quad area. ““I heard all these sirens and then this loud pop.” said NyaSojoumer, a fashion design major, “When I looked to see what it was, I saw all these cops swarming around a blue Honda.” Another witness said he saw the passenger gel out of the car with his hands stretched upward. The driver bolted and ran into an officer on a UC president asks for $550 fee increase □ Administrator sees ‘little impact’ on PCC student transfers. By AL SANTANA News Editor In a move that would further undercut low-cost public higher education, the president of the Uni¬ versity of California has proposed to increase student fees by $550 next year, the fourth increase in as many years. The proposal generated mixed reactions among college officials and students over how the increase would affect stu¬ dents’ plans of transfer¬ ring into the UC system. Jack Pctalson, UC presi¬ dent, has also asked to lack on an addi- t i о n a 1 $1,000 for those studying Photo by OSCAR law, den- CHAVEZ/ IRC t i s t г у , Dr. Stuart Wilcox business, _ veterinary medicine and other medical special¬ ties. If approved, the general fee in¬ crease would affect nearly 200,000 students enrolled in the University of California system. The fees do not include board room, books and transportation expenses. Mike Lassiter, a spokeman for the University of California said that although raising tuition fees on the nine campuses that make up the UC system is not “popular,” the univer¬ sity has not other option but to in¬ crease them. “We are trying to come up with the best way to ensure education for UC students,” Lassiter said. “The government is not generating reve¬ nue to support public higher educa¬ tion.” He said that the 18 percent fee hike undergraduate students face for the 1993-94 school might end up to be a “smaller” increase, compared to what the state government might propose for the next schoolyear. This weekend, Kathleen Brown, state treasurer, said that California will face at least a $5 billion shortfall in revenues for the upcoming year. “If the university approves this increase, the whole meaning of ac¬ cessible higher education for Cali¬ fornia residents will go down the drain,” said Mark Pulibo, UCLA stu¬ dent government president. “We are about to see students deserting the university because they can no longer afford the new tuition.” However, college officials have said that although increases in the UC students’ tuition would have some effect on community college students’ plans to transfer to any of its nine campuses, it would have “little impact” on those who have already decided to enroll there. “Community college students who are transferring to UC know that this is the most expensive public higher education institution in California,” said Stuart Wilcox, dean of admis¬ sions and records. “They are willing to pay, not because they want to pay it, but because they have money to afford it.” Wilcox downplayed some stu¬ dents’ complaints about accessibil¬ ity to the university, since most en¬ rolled students at UC live on the campuses. “Very few people commute to the UC campuses. They are paying up to $11,000 a year. I don’t think that a $550 fee increase would dis¬ courage them from attending the university.” But he conceded that some low- income students wanting to go to Please see “UC,” page 4 motorcycle, who lightly hit the sus¬ pect. The officer then j umped off his motorcycle and pursued the suspect. Patti Attar, a theater major, saw what happened next. “The guy ran across the grass and jumped over the wall, the cop jumped and tackled the guy. This is where the cop hit his helmet on the ground,” she said pointing out a scuff mark on the ground. Buck Dorma, Circuit City sales manager, said the robbers took a $1,200 Sony Camcorder from one of the exhibit rooms. “One of them unplugged the [Camcorder] and ran away with it,” he said. “The other guy was waiting for him in the car.” Dorma tried to stop the suspect, who by this time had hidden behind some hedges outside the store. “When I approached him, he pulled out a gun. He pointed it at me and said ‘You don’t want to mess around with me,’ and got in the car,” Dorma added.He said that “chasing the guy outside the store was a very stupid thing to do, because he had a firearm and he could have killed me there.” Photo by CHRISTY VANCE/ The COURIER Photo by NATHAN WOOD/ The COURIER DEAD END: One of two men who robbed a Temple City Circuit City store is handcuffed and taken away. Temple City sheriff’s deputies began the pursuit which ended when the robbers turned right into a driveway on campus and found a deadend. Campus crime rate decreases By EDWIN FOLVEN Special Correspondent A place where more than 20,000 people come and go eve¬ ryday can attract a considerable criminal element, but campus police records show criminals generally stay away from PCC. Thefts relating to vehicles are the most common violations and the biggest concern of campus police officers. “Every Monday through Thurs¬ day, more than 10,000 cars are on campus each day. Most of the crime occurs around the vehicles,” said Philip Mullendore, director of campus police and safety. The number of auto thefts has risen during the last three years, with 37 cars stolen in 1991. The num¬ ber is considerably higher than the 20 stolen in 1990, and 12 stolen in 1989. Mullendore said the thefts at PCC are normal for a college this size. “We compare to several large schools in the area such as El Camino, Los Angeles Valley, Santa Monica and Cerritos Community colleges.” Many colleges only recently began reporting crime statistics after a federal law was enacted in 1990 requiring all schools to submit yearly reports. Since then, a general com¬ parison of all law enforcement de¬ partments is published by the fed¬ eral government each August. However, PCC has been publishing the information since 1988. Violent crimes are very infrequent on campus. “There have been no incidents of murder or rape occurring on campus in the 10 years I’ve been here,” said Mullendore. “In terms of relative safety, a student is 76 times more likely to be murdered beyond the boundaries of the campus, five times more likely to be raped, and 10 times more likely to be assaulted.” Statistics show there were six assaults on campus in 1991, higher than in 1990 when only one assault occurred, but fewer than in 1989 when there were 17 reported. Burglary and serious thefts are also fairly low. “With so many people visiting such a small area, it’s hard for a thief to do something and not be noticed, except in the parking lots. Thieves target cars with expensive stereo equipment or other valuables left out in plain sight. Other items often pilfered are bookbags, purses and other personal items. Although the thefts are consid¬ ered normal, 239 occurred in 1991, 48 more than in 1 990. The number is up sharply from 1989, when 157 thefts were reported. Mullendore said security in park¬ ing lots has been increased to help combat the rising number of thefts on campus. Most lots are watched by closed circuit television and campus police officers patrol the area and sometimes plant decoy cars to identify thieves. “We plant expensive stereo equipment in a car and watch for potential thieves. We caught one thief that way in 1990,” Mullen¬ dore said. He said reports are taken on every theft and if possible, an in¬ vestigation is made. $erial num¬ bers from stolen property are entered into a statewide computer network that helps officers in other areas identify the merchandise. Drug-related offenses have not been a problem. “The offenses are not at the point of being a problem. I’m sure it goes on but there have only been a few arrests over the last few years,” Mullendore said. A few incidents of gambling were reported but they were very minimal. No other vice related crimes were reported. r PCC crime rates Safer than the Streets An FBI report finds that PCC’s crime rate went down 14.2 percent in 1991. 27% Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Theft Car theft Arson 1 12.8% 1990 0 0 5 5 81 333 102 0 I | 1991 0 0 3 6 2 200 37 2 1990 1991 SOURCE: 1990 and 1992 Uniform Crime Reports, US Department of Justice, FBI Infographic by Anissa C. Vicente Faculty votes on semester By RODNEY MITCHELL Staff Writer PCC’s faculty voted in favor of adopting an early semester calendar to begin in the fall of 1993. Results of a faculty-wide vote released on Nov. 13 showed faculty agreeing with students that the semester should end before Christmas. A poll conducted last semester showed students overwhelmingly in support of an early calendar. How¬ ever, the Board of Trustees will have the final vote, faculty senate offi¬ cials said. The 1 8-week early semes¬ ter calendar, described as conserva¬ tive, is expected to be improved in December. Crystal Watson, Faculty $enate president, said the faculty voted in record numbers. Out of 366 eligible voters, 262 faculty personnel participated in the vote, representing 7 1 .6 percent of all faculty. Faculty who voted in favor of the 18-week early semester cal¬ endar totaled 151, while 111 voted to keep the current calendar. If approved, the early semester calendar will be implemented in the fall of 1993. Under the early calen¬ dar, the fall semester will begin on Aug. 15andendDec.22. The spring semester will begin on Jan. 10 and end on May 21.$tudents who said they wanted to end the semester before Christmas break prompted the Fac¬ ulty Senate to begin considering adopting an early semester calendar. According to faculty senate offi¬ cials, 86 out of 107 community col¬ leges already have early semester calendars. PCC would be in sync with the rest of the college system and be in line with both the CalState and UC calendars, officials said. calendar Ballot Results Out of 366 eligible faculty, 262 voted on the early semester calendar: 151 Yes 111 No iiii'.iin