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- PCC Courier, October 02, 1981
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- 02 October 1981
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- Student newspaper published and edited for the Associated Student Body of Pasadena City College weekly during the college year by the journalism students.
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PCC Courier, October 02, 1981
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VOL. 52, NO. 6
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
OCTOBER 2, 1981
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Parking, Child Care, Crime Top issues
ASB Candidates to Debate Tuesday
By Stacey Miyamoto
Contributing Writer
Taped speech debates between ASB
presidential candidates and Senate
presidential candidates will be aired
Tuesday, Oct. 6 and 7 via PCC’s in¬
structional television. All candidates
will introduce themselves in the free
speech area, Oct. 6 at noon.
Positions to be filled include: ASB
president and vice president, senate
president, senate first and second vice
presidents, freshman and sophomore
presidents, associated men and women
presidents, and athletics president.
The student government is composed
of three separate branches: the ASB
board, the Student Senate and the
Supreme Council. The ASB board has
13 voting members, seven of which are
elected positions. The other positions
are nominated or appointed.
The student senate is composed of
students selected from any 9 a.m.
class, but they have to attend two
consecutive senate meetings.
The Supreme Council has five mem¬
bers who are nominated by the ex¬
ecutive board and ratified by the stu¬
dent senate.
The ASB officers are elected to serve
student needs, which means represent¬
ing the students and seeing that their
needs are presented before the Board
of Trustees.
Presidential Powers
Vying for the position of ASB presi¬
dent are Richard Kim and Barry
McGowan. The ASB president chairs
all ASB meetings and has the power to
make all governmental appointments,
with the exception of the supreme
council. He has the power to initiate
legislation in the student senate and is
also a standing member of both the
bookstore committee and the food
services committee.
Kim is past student senate second
vice president. “I firmly belief e that
student government should first con¬
centrate their efforts on improving the
quality of education. Secondly, im¬
prove the security conditions and re¬
vitalize the dwindling communication
between the students and their elected
officers.”
He hopes to initiate teacher eval¬
uation pamphlets, develop a voluntary
escort service for evening students and
“increase vital communication be¬
tween students and their elected of¬
ficers so that we, as the elected of¬
ficers, can initiate and carry out pro¬
grams that students want and need.”
Barry McGowan is a former senate
president. McGowan hopes to concen¬
trate on solving parking problems and
to continue to investigate bookstore
profits and “buy-back” policies.
Concerning the parking problem at
PCC, McGowan discovered last
semester that by getting home owners
in the area surrounding PCC to sign a
petition, restrictive parking signs
could be removed.
While serving as senate president,
McGowan also initiated a committee to
design a pamphlet giving students a
realistic idea of what to expect when
choosing classes.
Tackles Problems
Barte Masciarelli and Bob Carroll
are running for senate president. The
senate president chairs all senate
meetings and is a standing member of
the student services and curriculum
committees.
Bob Carroll is a past student senator,
student trustee, and has been active on
many PCC committees. His platform
will deal with parking problems, child
(Continued on Page 6)
Study Assesses
D is trie t Problems
By Julien Orow
Editor-in-Chief
Plans for a Community Im¬
pact/Needs Study were announced at
the' Sept. 17 Board of Trustees’ meet¬
ing. There are four major reasons for
this study. They are to understand the
patterns of participation, to assess
knowledge and perceptions about PCC,
to look at perceived needs for pro¬
grams/services here, and to assess
how people get their information about
the college.
The Community Impact/Needs
Study is an external evaluation of PCC.
It is designed to tie-in with a Program
Review, which will assess internal
needs. The specific purpose of the
Program Review is to evaluate the
“strengths, weaknesses, and overall
viability of the educational programs
or courses of instruction at PCC.”
One area that the Community Im¬
pact/Needs Study focuses on is the
participation rate by school districts.
Data based on preliminary enrollment
information from the fall 1980
semester draws conclusions about
which areas are already involved and
which need to be further assessed.
“There are a lot of areas that are
simply not served, yet there is a need,”
said John S. Madden, vice president of
Administrative Services.
Two of the lowest participation
areas are Temple City and El Monte.
“El Monte could be explained because
the El Monte district is split,.” said
Madden. But the needs of the Temple
City area will have to be looked at
more closely.
Madden does, however, see a prob¬
lem in this data. It is based on the
participation rate, which is the propor¬
tion of the population enrolled in credit
programs. Madden feels that using
these participation rates against raw
population is “not a good way to dolt.”
A task force composed of faculty,
administration, students and outside
consultants will be used in this study.
The task force was set up the week of
Sept. 21, and is the first step in the
schedule of the project.
Various research techniques will be
employed, including questionnaires,
telephone interviews, coding and key
punch data, and data evaluation. The
final report is expected to be presented
to the Board of Trustees on Nov. 23.
“It’s a very tight schedule, but it can
be done,” said Madden.
The areas which will be covered in
the questionnaire are varied. The first
is needs for educational programs and
services, which includes reasons for
participation, current and past educa¬
tional activities, etc.
The second is information sources
about education in general and PCC in
particular, including general informa¬
tion or even specific programs. The
other areas are perception of PCC,
perceived barriers to education, and
demographic information.
.•'•г.
SERIOUS DISCUSSION — The Board of Trustees studies ways to better
meet the needs of the Pasadena community. From left: Student Trustee Joe
Krovoza, Roger Gertmenian, Warren L Weber and Dr Richard H Green
—Courier photo by Kent Zachary
Loan Cuts to Affect Students in '82
No Dramatic Changes for This Year
By Mary E. Jones
News Editor
Federal cuts in student loans and
scholarships took effect yesterday as
part of President Ronald Reagan’s
efforts to trim the 1982 federal budget.
These cuts will not dramatically hurt
students this year, but according to
Gene S. Miller, PCC scholarships and
financial aid coordinator, cuts in Na¬
tional Direct Student Loans and Pell
Grant programs are going to adversely
affect PCC students by ’82-’83.
Pell Grants is the largest grant
program and awards scholarships
directly to students under a formula
that considers the size of the student’s
family and its income, assets and
expenses. Under the old system a
student most likely to qualify was one
of two children whose parents earned
less than $25,000 per year.
New Security Measures Implemented
College Safety Problems Discussed
By Dave Cronemiller
Staff Writer
Budget cuts have had an effect on
law enforcement agencies across the
country and PCC is no different. PCC
doesn’t have nearly the high rate of
crimes against the person other major
cities have, but colleges in general
have a special set of concerns.
One major problem seems to be
theft; theft of school property, such, as
typewriters or audio-visual equipment,
and theft of student property such as
sound systems, books and bicycles.
According to Ralph Riddle, director
of College Safety, stricter measures
designed to insure protection of school
property are being put into effect. All
equipment must be signed for and the
Ralph Riddle
user has a responsibility to take proper
care of it. If a room is found open
during non-use hours a report is sent to
the Security office and a copy is sent to
the department chairman involved.
Side Street Permits
Another area where changes are
occurring is in the dispersement of
security officers. Budget cuts have
forced the department to cut back in
the number of officers on the payroll.
Part-time personnel have been hired on
an hourly basis to check permits during
peak hours of traffic.
The city of Pasadena, according to
Riddle, continues to balk at a proposal
by the college designed to alleviate the
parking problem. The proposal would
have the city sell parking permits
allowing students to park on side-
streets near the campus without having
to dodge the meter maids every one or
two hours.
Complaints by Pasadena residents
are the primary reason for declining
the proposal, but according to Riddle,
they are afraid they will open “a can of
worms” by being one of the first
communities to adopt such an idea.
One thing is certain, though; legally or
illegally, students are still going to
park on the residential streets near the
campus.
The idea behind changing the depart¬
ment title from Security and Parking
to simply College Safety, according to
Riddle, is to reflect the need for per¬
sonnel trained in all aspects of safety
on campus such as crowd control and
handling emergency situations, rather
than just college police.
Since there are fewer officers on
campus to patrol, the burden of protec¬
tion is falling increasingly on the indi¬
vidual. The Safety department is put¬
ting out a pamphlet entitled, simply
enough, “College Safety.”
Lock It Up
The pamphlet contains some useful
guidelines that might keep someone’s
stereo, bicycle, moped or even books
from getting ripped off. Books are a
hot item since the college has a
buyback policy, according to Riddle.
The pamphlet recommends never let¬
ting your textbooks or other personal
possessions out of sight.
Another area of interest to students
and faculty covered in the pamphlet
concerns being on campus at night.
Night students and faculty are wise to
park near lights and know the locations
of phones in their immediate area.
One of the major factors concerning
theft is ease of access. If a burglar can
just get on a bicycle or moped and ride
away without drawing unnecessary at¬
tention, or simply open a car door and
get inside, the chances of the theft
being stopped are very low.
The bottom line of a secure campus,
according to Riddle, is student, faculty
and administrative awareness. Unless
everyone gets involved, the number of
security personnel on the campus has
little or no meaning. The old saying
that “it can’t happen here” no longer
applies.
The new formulas and spending lim¬
its will force thousands of families in
the $17,000 to $25,000 income range off
the Pell Grant program. Those stu¬
dents still able to receive these funds
will see less money since it will be
spread thinner.
Funds Spread Thinner
In the next school year PCC students
will see a 15 percent reduction in the
amount of the Pell Grant they receive,
said Mrs. Miller. Non-resident students
will be hit the hardest since the Pell
Grants will no longer entirely cover
their tuition costs.
Pell Grant dollars per student will
also be reduced because of a new law
which assesses students’ budgets by
what Mrs. Miller called a totally un¬
realistic figure. “Rather than letting
us use what it really costs to go to
school as a base we have to use a
federal figure which is a phony figure,”
Mrs. Miller said.
The old formula estimated that for
living expenses, books and fees, a PCC
student needs $4,000 to survive during
the school year, but the federal figure
which Pell Grants are now based on
allows students only $1,500 to live on.
In most instances it’s the community
college student who suffers the most
under this federal system, according to
Beverly Johnson, student placement
financial aid officer at Cypress Col¬
lege. This is because four-year college
students who live in dormitories can
GSL is a program whereby the gov¬
ernment agrees to subsidize low-in¬
terest loans for students. Before the
revisions, any student regardless of
income could receive this loan. Usually
the student borrows from a bank and
the government guarantees to repay
the loan if the student defaults and
pays the interest while the student
continues in college. Once the student
leaves school, he has 10 years to repay
the loan.
With the Reagan changes, families
making over $30,000 per year will have
to show an exceptional need to receive
this loan. They also have to pay a 5
percent loan assessment fee which is
taken off the top of the loan and paid to
the bank to help defray costs, but
students would still be required to pay
interest on the entire amount of the
loan.
Interest Rates Jump
The minimum annual repayment on
GSL was increased from $360 to $600
per year. Congress also cut the amount
of money available for GSL. During the
past year GSL payments have become
an uncontrollable part of the federal
education budget mainly because of the
jump in interest rates by banks.
The default rate on GSL grew to a 12
percent rate last year leaving the
federal government stuck with the bill.
During the fiscal year the government
will spend $1.9 million on GSL and
some available estimates show that
thin because of rising tuition in four-
year colleges and rising enrollment in
community colleges, said Mrs. John¬
son.
With the availability of funds
tightening, Mrs. Miller said many stu¬
dents who planned on going to high-cost
private schools may have to opt for
state schools and those who planned on
attending four-year state schools may
have to be satisfied with community
colleges. Unfortunately, many students
whose families are in dire need or
those who support themselves may not
be able to go to college at all, she said.
“I suspect there is going to be a
reduction in the number of returning
students. The ones who are on their
own and have to give up a job or
dramatically reduce their hours to go
back to school are not going to have the
resources to go to college,” she added.
Mrs. Miller pointed out that there
were several cuts that nedeed to be
made in some student programs such
as GSL but she expressed concern that
the Reagan administration has gone
too far, too fast.
Changes to Make
“There needs to be tightening up on
the administration of programs to
eliminate some of the fraud and abuses
that take place— for example, more
careful monitoring of the income of
students who apply to make certain
that they truly qualify.
“Secondly, schools need to be
(Continued on Page 6)
'Many students whose families are in
dire need or those who support
themselves may not be able to go to
college at all. '
include dormitory fees and food fees as
part of their college costs and have it
paid for but community college stu¬
dents don’t have this opportunity.
Help for the Needy
“This program was designed to help
poor and minority students. When Mr.
Reagan was elected, they talked about
the ‘safety net for the poor.’ They were
not going to do anything that would
hurt the ‘truly needy.’ Unfortunately,
what is happening is the ‘truly needy’
are the ones who are about to get
beheaded,” said Mrs. Miller.
Another area where major controls
are being implemented is the Guaran¬
teed Student Loan (GSL) programs.
GSL is the most expensive program
and these loans go to less needy stu¬
dents, said Mrs, Johnson.
next year students will want to borrow
$17 billion in GSLs.
Some federal officials would like to
see students pay their own interest on
GSLs while they are in school. Many
college officials say that this would
undermine the whole system as many
banks would pull out, not trusting
students to pay the interest.
Other programs being reduced by
the federal government include a 30
percent drop in the National Direct
Student Loan program. The interest on
these loans also increased from 4
percent to 5 percent. The Parent Loan
program interest was increased from 9
percent to 14 percent.
Funds Stretched Thin
Even where programs have not been
cut the dollar amount will be stretched
nside
World Food
Day
See story page 2
□
'Mommie Dearest'
Review
See story page 3
□
PCC Wins,
69-6
See story page 4
□
Cross Country
Rivalry
See story page 5
□
Animation
Festival
See story page 6