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EDITORIAL: Educators shouldn't
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Are Term Papers For Sale?
A Courier investigation revealed that typing
services offer more than just information for
term papers
Too Much Help
Opinions on the subject of purchased term papers
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By LUIS E. REYES
Courier Staff Writer
Throughout the campus, signs
advertise a multitude of so-called
“typing services” designed to help
students with their written research.
Although most call themselves typ¬
ing services, they are actually term
paper mills which provide students
with completed research papers.
An investigation conducted by
The Courier showed that many of
these services provide students with
a lot more than typing for the right
price.
In order to see what the “discreet
and confidential” typing services
offer, I called for information and
said that I was a student in need of a
paper. Then, I bought four papers
from three different typing services
that advertise on campus.
Within four minutes of calling
Pina’s Express’ pager number, an
Otis Art School student answered
my call. He revealed what Pina’s
Express really is.
It turns out that Pina’s Express, a
typing service that bombards the
campus with new flyers every week,
is a term paper factory that charges
$12 to $15 per double space page,
depending on the research involved
and how soon the paper is needed.
With a staff that, according to the
Otis Art School student, consists of
psychology, art theory, Spanish and
Englishmajors, Pina’sExpress guar¬
antees students a C grade or better on
their purchased papers. If a paper
they write doesn’t get a C, then they
give the student a discount for the
“next time.”
I then placed an order with Pina
Express. The paper I got back was
labeled as substandard quality by an
Englishprofessor. Ithadatotalof40
grammatical errors. It also lacked
focus, and had several awkward sen¬
tences. It was written by a PCC
stundent who claims to have a 3.0
grade point average.
Michelle, the Express represen¬
tative, told me to say that I got
“tutored,” if by any chance my
“teacher” began to get suspicious
about the paper.
I also called Research and
Rescue’s 888 telephone number, a
rival typing service. I left a message
saying that I was very interested in a
six-page term paper on segregation.
A representative of Research and
Rescue returned my call within 10
minutes and gave me information
for the crafting of this article.
Research and Rescue, whose
motto is “We solve your emergency
fast,” has an eminent writing group
that, according to the representa¬
tive, includes one professor from
UCLA, two high school teachers,
one author and a PCC student.
They charge $10 per double
spaced page of research for regular
customers and $12 for new clients,
regardless of the amount of research
needed or the time frame given for
the writing.
Like Pina’s Express, they said
that their “grade A quality “ work
was genuine. However, Research
and Rescue does not guarantee a
grade. They do, however, ask you
what type of student you are in order
to write a paper at the proper level.
Although I did not place an order,
the same Research and Rescue rep¬
resentative left a message on my
voice mail saying that my research
paper was done. That was less than
two days after I called for informa¬
tion. It made me question the quality
and originality of the term papers,
considering that the representative
told me that they were overwhelmed
by work because it was mid-term
It’s up to their morals
if they turn in what
we give them, exactly
the way we gave it to
them.
99
A Research and Rescue
broker said about
students who are clients
week. Once again,. I called their 888
telephone number, only this time I
identified myself as a newspaper re¬
porter.
I learned that their research is
mainly done through the Internet.
Suddenly, it semed very possible that
these so-called typing services may
Students can get
kicked out of school
and be seriously
disciplined for this
type of fraudulent
behavior.
99
Rebecca Cobb,
Student Services Adviser
snag their written work off
Cheater.com, the Cheat Factoiy, the
Evil House of Cheat, School Sucks,
Writing.com or one of the many
other online term paper sites.
“Personally, we just provide the
students with resources. Wearewill-
Please see SCAM, page 4
People may
be suprised to
hear that
messages
sent using
college
equipment
isn’t
considered
private by the
administration.
JOSE
MANCILLA
THE COURIER
Message
Privacy
Referred
to CCC
By DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writer
One of the hottest topics in world of technology is the
privacy of electronic and voicemail messages, or lack
of it.
Some believe that if something is sent interperson-
ally it should be a private communication and not be
subject to intrusion by anyone or any thing. Others feel
that if the transmission is sent via publicly funded
equipment and done through a public sector system, it
is the option of those in administrative positions to view
those messages and retain the right to review all material
contained in them. The situation on this campus is no
different.
Faculty organizations are atjamant that if it is sent
specifically to just the person on the receiving side,
others should not have the right or authority to view it.
Dr. James Kossler, college president, along with the
support of the Pasadena Community College District,
are set on keeping such messages under the domain of
its supervision. Personal, private transmissions should
not be done using the college’s telephones and comput¬
ers.
“The system is not private, people should use some
other method,” Kossler said on the usage of college
property for personal concerns. He said that he doesn’t
send private information over the campus e-mail network
simply because he knows that all information contained
in such message is automatically saved by the college.
The current computer and telephone systems utilized
by the college are designed to capture all transmissions
made using campus utilities. It is used as a fail-safe
measure to eliminate the problems caused by mistakenly
erased items. Wether the message is deleted or not, it
remains on the mainframe for quite some time.
The situation has created the pressing need to create
a college-wide protection policy that all parties on cam-
Please see POLICY, page 8
Professor Battles
Trustees Over
Open Meetings
■ The board and Richard McKee disagree on the
campus committee that handles leaves is subject
to the Brown Act.
By RON NAVERETTE
Courier Staff Writer
A debate is brewing between the
board of trustees and Richard McKee,
associate professor of chemistry,
about whether the meetings of the
Sabbatical Leave Advisory Commit¬
tee should be open under the Brown
Act.
At the Nov. 5 board meeting, the
trustees decided that the committee
did not need to comply with the
Brown Act because it was not a “leg¬
islative body.”
McKee, a longtime Brown Act
activist, wrote a memo on Jan. 29 to
Dr. James Kossler, president of the
college, and members of the board of
trustees which said: “The Sabbatical
Leave Advisory Committee was in
fact created by the board long before
any employee collective bargaining
agreement ever existed here at PCC.”
Also, the memo stated that he was
able to read the legal opinion of Peter
Brown, counsel to the college. He
said that the board of trustees did not
take “formal action” in creating the
committee. It further stated, “Unlike
the committee discussed in Frazer v.
Dixon Unified School District, the
Sabbatical Leave Advisory Commit¬
tee was not created by its establish¬
ment in a board policy.”
McKee said he believes the
district’s legal opinion is wrong. He
warned he would take legal action
against the district if the board did
not reverse its position.
“By its formal action as illus¬
trated in its own Policies and Proce¬
dures Manual, the board’s ratifica¬
tion of the collective bargaining
agreement is a formal action to cre¬
ate the committee,” McKee said. He
also said that since it is a college
committee, it should comply with
the Brown Act.
In a letter obtained by The Cou¬
rier, McKee said that he has been
asking the board to recognize the
committee as a “legislative body”
for more than a year. It also said that
as a member of the group, he has
refused to attend further committee
meetings which he believes do not
follow the guidelines of the Brown
Act. He wants the board, “to direct
the committee to move away from its
historical secrecy and hold open no¬
ticed meetings.” McKee said he
does not want teachers to take sab¬
baticals for recreational purposes.
He firmly believes that taking a sab¬
batical should be for research.
Booming Economy Hurts Construction
■ A fiscally strong
California is the reason
behind the delays in
the physical education
facilities and sculpture
garden.
By SID SARAF and
DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writers
One would think that having a
good economy in the State of Cali¬
fornia would be a good thing.
However for everyone involved
with the college’s Master Plan, it has
presented a significant number of
problems. The state is in a period of
fiscal resurgence, but that was not
the case when the Master Plan was
being developed inthe late 80s. With
more work available, contractors
have taken the upper hand when it
comes to negotiating contracts.
Although the library and parking
structure projects came in under
budget, construction on the new PE
facility and sculpture garden has
forced the planners to rethink their
ideas.
Despite the problems that have
accompanied the Master Plan, col¬
lege president Dr. James Kossler
still remains optimistic. When he
first arrived at this campus one of the
first things he noticed was the condi¬
tion of the buildings and the serious
need for improvement to stay com¬
petitive with other local colleges.
“I walked around on a Saturday
evening, and I wondered if I made a
mistake coming here. But then I
thought it was a great challenge. I
realized that we had great potential
here,” said Kossler.
A few years later, however, with
his goal at least partly realized, Ko¬
ssler as well as Rod Fleeman, vice
president of administrative services,
now have moneyproblems that might
not have popped up if the college had
gone ahead with the plan a decade
earlier. Although the
college would have
liked to complete
construction years
ago, no money was
available for the
project at that time.
“We had to do
some value engineer¬
ing to bring the costs
down,” said Kossler.
Roughly trans¬
lated, lowering the
price of the project
entailed hiring a third
party to manage and
oversee the construc¬
tion projects.
JOSE MANCILLA
/
THE COURIER
Improvments to campus continue. Here David Alexander puts the finishing
touches on the landscaping being worked on beside the L Building.
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