^^^"OPINION— —
Associated Student president's use of
profanity and racial slur are embarrassing
and disrespectful
His remarks and attitude during a speech and
debate tournament are inexcusable. -
news/features
SPORTS
joe Orton's
'Loot' in
Little Theater
Play will run until
Sunday.
Women's basketball team rout Palomar Comets
to win 89-22 in best season opener in 20 years
All-South Coast Conference guard Donna Gordon had 20 points
on Nov. 15 and led her Lancer teammates in double figure scoring
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 82, NO. 13
THURSDAY
November 21, 1996
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1560/
New facility will contain all student
services after remodel of old library
MICHAEL ARNOLD
/
THE COURIER
The old library, located north of the R Building, will undergo dramatic changes.
Welfare slashed,
financially strapped
students to suffer
BY DANIEL ARCHULETA
Courier Staff Writer
The frustrating hassle of
searching from building to build¬
ing for different student services
will soon be over.
The old library will soon begin
its transformation into a self-con-
ained student service center.
Services which havebeen scat¬
tered throughout the campus will
all be housed in the newly remod¬
eled building.
Counseling, financial aid, ad¬
missions, and records, are among
the offices that will move into the
building when construction is
completed sometime during the
Fall 1997 semester.
The vacated areas of the C and
D buildings will also get new
looks. The refurbished offices
will be used for various adminis¬
trative services. The wooden bun¬
galows that have been in place
since the late 1 940 ’ s will be bull¬
dozed to give the college space to
complete the college’s master
plan.
Dubbed the secondary effects
proj ect, the endeavor can attribute
its existence to the passage of
Proposition 203 last March. It
provided $3 billion to public edu¬
cation, $1 billion of which was
divided among the state’s two
and four year colleges and uni¬
versities.
PCC received $28.7 million
from the community college por¬
tion of the funds allowing campus
officials to proceed with the final
phase of the $ 100 million master
plan.
Overall costs of the project are
projected to be $5.4 million.
Renovations to the L building
will total $2.9 million with the
rest going toward improvements to
be made to the C and D buildings and
the demolition of the A, B, F, and X
buildings.
Included in the price is the re¬
moval of asbestos from all of the
structures. The removal from the L
building was completed last month.
Constructed 47 years ago, the L
building is set to be seismically
strengthened to ensure its longevity.
New lobbies will be created at the
north end of the building and sky
lights will also be installed to in¬
crease the amount of natural light to
the interior of the building. Ernie
Church, director of facilities ser¬
vices, said, “It (the building) will
look like the D building presently
does.”
Providing handicap access to the
structure was also a principal con¬
cern in the redesign.
Inclined walkways will be added
to the main entrance to enhance ac¬
cessibility.
Aside from the superficial resto¬
ration, the building will have its roof
replaced to improve the drainage
pattern. Also some of the interior
walls show signs of water damage
and will have to be fixed.
Since the completion of the Shat-
ford Library, the old library building
has been used primarily as a storage
area and for a time last year became
the location for the temporary book¬
store while the permanent one was
being remodeled.
Dr. James Kossler, PCC presi¬
dent, said that both he and Dr.
Jack Scott former PCC president,
first proposed the master plan to
the Chancellor of Community
Colleges office in 1988. He said,
“I’m glad to see it come to frui¬
tion.”
The construction will present
a logistics problem for the col¬
lege staff which Kossler said will
be handled “as best we can.” Stu¬
dents will simply be detoured
around the areas to prevent acci¬
dents.
Other offices moving into the
old library will be the career cen¬
ter, psychological services, reg¬
istration, business services, and
the transfer center. Renovation
will begin next January.
BY RACHEL URANGA
Courier Staff Writer
Community colleges will bear
the brunt of the welfare reform leg¬
islation, having to provide training
and education for an anticipated in¬
flux of welfare recipients whose ben¬
efits will be cut.
Approximately nine percent of
PCC students receive Aid to Fami¬
lies with Dependent Children, ac¬
cording to a survey of student finan¬
cial aid banks by the Faculty Asso¬
ciation of Community Colleges. “We
believe this is an underestimation.
This is the minimum number of stu¬
dents receiving aid,” said Leslie
Smith, president of the Faculty Sen¬
ate Association of Community Col¬
leges.
Statewide, 125,000 community
college students receive AFDC. Due
to holes in student data available,
Smith believes 150,000 have not
been included in this legislation.
Many anticipate unintended con¬
sequences from this legislation.
Kathleen Rodarte, assistant dean of
equal opportunityplacement services
at PCC. expressed dismay at the
provisions of the law. She is not
alone in her sentiments. It has cre¬
ated waves from here to Washington
D.C. Withthe resignation of Wendell
E. Primus, deputy assistant secre¬
tary at the department of Health and
Human Services, who left in protest.
As head of EOPS, Rodarte is
bound to encounter problems be¬
cause 30 percent of EOPS students
here receive AFDC. “There will be
a definite impact, because a lot of
our students receive AFDC or gen¬
eral relief,” said Rodarte. Placing
lifetime restrictions on adult stu-
lifetime restrictions on adult students
sends a very negative message to
those trying to get an education, said
Rodarte.
The legislation, which will go into
effect on Jan. 1, limits welfare ben¬
efits for all able-bodied persons to
two years, after which recipients
would be forced to find employment.
Under Welfare Reform there
would be a lifetime restriction of five
years placed on beneficiaries. States
ited from providing cash to families
who have received funds for more
than 60 months. Students receiving
welfare would be required to work 20
to 30 hours a week.
It is still uncertain what adjust¬
ments will have to be made, but the
consensus seems to be that new pro¬
grams must be implemented to ac¬
commodate their needs.
“A lot of people would be forced
to work, yet many don’t have the
skills,” said Patrick McCallum, ex¬
ecutive director of the Faculty Asso¬
ciation of California Community
Colleges. This will effectively leave
community colleges with the job of
training these people, he said. Dur¬
ing the Spring semester, PCC will
offer 200 more courses, partly allevi¬
ating some of the expected pressure.
“Currently there is a push in the
budget so that community colleges
will be able to provide this help,”
said McCallum. But the exact role of
the colleges, whether it be providing
in short term classes for job training
or offering remedial classes, re¬
mains undetermined.
Current estimates state one in five
on AFDC are enrolled in community
colleges. Taking away welfare from
already financially unstable students
Please see WELFARE, page 3.
H
Ш
&WseS&
• THAT COLD SINKING FEELING
JOSE CORTEZ
/
THE COURIER
Daniel Tiberi, associate professor of social sciences, gets more
than his feet wet at ‘Blast The Scholar’ to raise funds for AGS.
Dedication of Child Development Center
officially opens doors to PCCs future
BY SUSAN BELL SAMPLES
Courier Staff Writer
Just 18 months after the ground
breaking ceremony, PCC’s new
Child Development Center was for¬
mally dedicated. At a ceremony
held at the new site last Thursday,
PCC hosted a program thanking the
administration, various administra¬
tive departments, and the generosity
of the Berger Foundation for making
the CD C possible. “It takes a whole
village to build athing like this,” said
Dr. Gretchen Anderson, division dean
of social sciences.
Kossler said this was a very spe¬
cial occasion for PCC. He reminded
the audience that the old facility was
located atthe site of the old McKinley
Junior High School in a double
trailer. Although PCC has a re¬
spected child development curricu¬
lum, the facility didn’t match the
quality of the program. Building a
new Child Development Center was
added to PCC’s $ 100 million Master
Plan. “This gleam in someone’s eye
has become a reality,” he added. He
also said that the Center brought
together a college, community lead¬
ers, early childhood education pro¬
fessionals and families of those who
utilize the facility to achieve this
common goal.
Linda Stroud, assistant professor
of early childhood education at the
CDC, said that “dreams really do
come true.” She expressed the dif¬
JENNIFER CARRILLO
/
THE COURIER
Dr. James Kossler does the honors in ribbon cutting ceremony at the CDC dedication last Thursday.
ference between a child care center
and a child development center. “The
CDC is a center to develop the poten¬
tial in young people. It supports the
children. They are respected for the
people that they are, and are allowed
to be the children that they are.” She
added that the facility develops the
potential of the parent who uses the
Center. “Parents are able to pursue
their education without the concern
of child care,” she said. Lastly, the
center helps the PCC student to de¬
velop. “Above all, this is a teaching
lab for the early childhood education
program.” Forty-five college stu¬
dents are doing in-field practice at
the Center.
It wasn’t the speakers who stole
the show, but the little people whom
the Center was made for — the chil¬
dren. The preschool and kindergar¬
ten children put on their own pro¬
gram, where they picked songs to
show their gratitude to the big people
for building them a new center. One
See CDC DEDICATION, page 4.