VOLUME 108 ISSUE 6
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM
October 3, 201 3
WHAT'S INSIDE:
Zombie
Headshots
Walk through zombie
shooting grounds at
Haunted Hollywood
Council calls for
mediation to quell
campus turmoil
Christine Michaels
Editor-in-Chief
The college plans to hire
an outside mediator to try to
repair the fractured relationship
between administration, student
and faculty groups to avoid po¬
tential problems when accredita¬
tion begins in 2015.
Matt Jordan, interim associate
dean of general education and
a member of the Institutional
Planning and Research team,
spoke with the College Council
at its Sept. 26 meeting regarding
the fate of the college if collegi-
ality amongst shared government
groups was not improved.
“I try to be authentic and
honest. I just have to say that
communications have really
broken down between shared
governance constituencies where
there is no communication,”
Jordan said. “Colleges are receiv¬
ing sanctions because they have
received repeated recommen¬
dations and not fully addressed
them,” Jordan said.
In the college’s last accredita¬
tion report in 2009, accreditors
recommended it fix issues with
collegiality, shared governance
and campus climate.
Over the last two years, shared
governance groups such as the
Calendar Committee, the Aca¬
demic Senate and the Associated
Students worked together to
make recommendations regard¬
ing a major calendar change and
a restructuring of the college
schools and administration.
When the recommendations to
keep a winter intersession and
to keep the college structure
virtually unchanged went up to
the College Council (the shared
governance group which makes
recommendations that go direct¬
ly to the Board of Trustees), the
recommendations were changed
and then given to the Board.
Many campus constituents
were outraged by the recom¬
mendation alterations, leading
to a hostile campus climate and
much blame directed at Presi¬
dent Mark Rocha.
COUNCIL page 7 ^
Avid protestor now a V.P.
File Photo Courtesy of Neil Protacio
Campus Police deny student protestor Sarah Belknap from attending the Board of Trustees in
the Creveling Lounge of the CC Building on July 17, 2013.
Luis Rodriguez
Staff Writer
The Associated Students filled
its last vacant vice president
position after starting off the
school year with three unexpect¬
ed vacancies, selecting a fire¬
brand known for clashing with
the administration.
Sarah Belknap, who has been
an active voice on campus in the
past, was appointed as the AS
Vice President for Sustainability
at an AS meeting on Sept. 25.
Belknap has frequently made
appearances at protests and
board meetings, voicing frus¬
tration at the administration’s
actions. She was escorted outside
of the Creveling Lounge as
recendy as a July 17 Board of
Trustees meeting after quietly
unfurling a “Bring Back Winter”
banner.
“I sat with information in
my hands with my hand raised
for over an hour that transfers
would not be able to go in [for
fall 2013 transfer]. This was a
completely foreseeable prob¬
lem,” Belknap said at the time.
Belknap is now eager to use
her time on the AS Executive
Board to benefit PCC students.
“[Associate Students] has
been operating with not enough
students for the first half of
the semester,” Belknap said. “I
was excited to take some of that
load off and do my fair share. I
wanted to come out of the gate
running.”
Belknap was quick to sign up
BELKNAP page 6 ^
COURIER
The independent student voice
rfPCt,toc"li»i1”d,na PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
Campus prepares for 'ShakeOut'
Samantha Molina
Staff Writer
“Drop, cover and hold on.”
This is the drill that will be practiced
on campus and worldwide on Oct. 1 7 at
10:17 a.m. as a part of the Great Shake-
Out Earthquake Drills.
Two different drill scenarios will be
practiced in the C building, D budding
and the Shatford Library, according to
Sergeant
ВШ
Abernathie.
“There will be a complete evacuation
drill in the C building and a non-evacu¬
ation drill in the D building and library
which includes the basic ‘drop, cover and
hold on’ response,” Sgt. Abernathie said.
At 10:17 a.m. fire alarms in the C
building will signal the beginning of
the 1 5-minute earthquake drill. At that
time students and staff in the C building
will evacuate and gather near the mirror
pools. Those in the D budding and library
wdl be instructed to drop to the ground,
take cover under a table or desk and hold
SPEAK OUT!
Do you think the federal
government shutdown
is justified?
Vote at
PccCourier.com
on for 60 seconds as if an earthquake
were happening.
“The whole purpose of getting in¬
volved in the Great ShakeOut is to get
people to think about what they would
do if an earthquake were to happen
right now,” Abernathie said. “Instead of
panicking and running out of the budding
they will be properly prepared for an
earthquake.”
The Great California ShakeOut began
in 2008 primardy in Southern California
but has now been expanded to ad of
California as wed as more than 20 regions.
Those regions include states in the South¬
east, Northeast, Rocky Mountains and v
Central United States. The Great Shake-
Out Earthquake Drdls not only take place
in the United States but in other countries
including Canada, Southern Italy, Japan
and New Zealand.
As of Sept. 30, over 20 million partic¬
ipants have registered for the 2013 Great
ShakeOut with over 8.7 coming from
California, according to shakeout.org.
AS expresses accreditation concerns
Justin Clay/Courier
Dean Matt Jordan and instructor Stephanie Flem¬
ing update the Associated Students on PCC's
efforts to stave off the loss of the school's accredi¬
tation during its meeting on Wednesday.
Raymond Bernal and
Justin Clay
Staff Writers
Members of the Asso¬
ciated Students expressed
concerns and optimism
this week about PCC’s
upcoming accreditation
process scheduled for
2015.
To help inform mem¬
bers of the Associated
Students, Stephanie Flem¬
ing and Matt Jordon, plan¬
ning and priority commit¬
tee, made an accreditation
presentation during an AS
meeting Wednesday.
Miranda Alvarado, AS
vice-president for student
services, praised the com¬
mittee for reaching out to
the AS and for trying to
be transparent ahead of a
visit from the Accrediting
Commission for Commu¬
nity and Junior College in
the spring of 2015. But
she did have some accredi¬
tation concerns.
“I would say my main
concern is the major
changes at PCC which
may affect our accredi¬
tation negatively, such as
switching to the Canvas
system, cutting staff and
students feeling they aren’t
being reached out to,”
Alvarado said. “Transpar¬
ency and communicating
better with our students
is key.”
The presentation
focused on trying to
learn from past mistakes.
“We are focusing on past
recommendations from
the ACCJC previous three
cycles such as integrated
planning and governance
collegiality campus climate
among other recommen¬
dations,” Fleming said.
AS President Jordyn
Orozco expressed a
solution that he says may
help with reaching out to
students.
“Appointing a panel
that may help address and
investigate student com¬
munication issues will be a
good start,” said Orozco.
“We [AS] are also trying to
help with the communica¬
tion problems by making
ourselves accessible to
students.”
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