‘Imagine’
John Lennon
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Si
Tomorrow Is the
Last Day To
Apply for Refunds
Lancers
Run Over
Grossmont
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COURIER
VOL. 67, NO. 6
PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
OCTOBER 6, 1988
Chancellor Speaks on AB 1725, Colleges’ Futures
By Sean DuPont
Editor-in-Chief
Calling it the biggest change in the
last 20 years for the system, Dr. David
Mertes, chancellor of California’s
Community Colleges system hailed the
passage of AB 1725 as, “a document
that will serve as the blueprint until the
turn of the century.”
Speaking to the Pasadena Rotary
club at the Pasadena Hilton last week,
Mertes, who took the chancellor’s post
in July, made the comments while he
addressed the subject “California Com¬
munity Colleges in the year 2000.”
Mertes told the audience that the
system, armed with tremendous re¬
sources, was charged with two
purposes — provide students with the
skills to transfer to a four year school
and to ensure career education to new
and returning students.
Attending the luncheon were Dr.
Jack Scott, superintendent-president,
PCC Foundation member Wes Weston
as well as Board of Trustees members
Richard Green, Jeanette Mann and
Joseph Sargis.
In his introduction of Mertes, Scott
called the chancellor, “A man who
could give us the leadership for this
wonderful time.”
Mertes reported that while the Uni¬
versity of California schools see the top
15 percent of the state student popula¬
tion and the California State University
system catches the top 35 percent, the
community college system is open to
anyone who wants to enroll. “This is
unprecedented.” the chancellor said of
the admissions policy of the 106-col-
lege, 1.3 million student network. “This
is the largest higher education system
known to the world.”
Because of the passage of AB 1725,
the role these community colleges play
in the education of four-year, or trans¬
fer students will grow, Mertes said.
“Because the law guarantees a place
in the UC and Cal State systems for
transfering students, we will see more
enrollment in the system.”
The chancellor also included com¬
ments on the system’s role of career
education. He classified this as involv¬
ing entry-level preparation and return¬
ing students. The latter classification is
the largest of all groups of students,
according to the chancellor.
“This segment of the student popula¬
tion is growing due to the changing
economy and the workplace,” Mertes
said. He went on to say that he feels the
passage of AB 1725 will make it easier
for returning and transfering students
as well as the community colleges they
attend by making those two areas of
study the primary mission.
AB 1725 will also implement tougher
requirements for hiring new instruc¬
tors, calls for more review of teachers’
performances, creates a new tenure
system, sets up a program for staff
development with an initial appropria¬
tion of $5 million and directs districts in
locating and recruiting qualified mem¬
bers of unrepresented groups.
Scott explained that PCC’s faculty
demographics are currently in review.
The school presently has a 19 percent
Hispanic, 19 percent Asian and 8.5
percent black student population.
“Our goal is, five years down the
road, to have 30 percent of our teachers
to be ethnic minorities. We’re moving
to have a staff that mirrors the ethnic
origins of our students,” Scott said.
“As we add new staff to the college, we
will be actively recruiting qualified
minority applicants.”
Scott said that the college will be
receiving funding due to the passage of
AB 1725 on January 1. With the funding,
“There are lots of implimentations
down the road. It’s our intention to
adequatly notify our staff as we put in
motions these new programs.” After
the luncheon, Scott said that the col¬
lege’s master plan is under review.
Calling the next 20 years an era of
reform for the system, Mertes forsees
an expansion of the role businesses will
play in the education field. He feels
that more companies will build al¬
liances with community colleges to
train, inform and educate students
while bringing benefits to both private
and public sectors.
Mertes ended his speech by applaud¬
ing PCC by calling the college, “One of
the outstanding community colleges in
the state of California.”
Play’s Auditions Set
By Ray Buckley
Staff Writer
The PCC communication and music
departments will hold auditions next
week for a joint production of Gian
Corlo Menotti’s Ahmal and the Night
Visitors. The auditions will be held at
PCC’s Sexson auditorium from 7 to 9
p.m. on Oct. 11 through Oct. 13. It is
open to faculity, staff, students and
members of the Pasadena community.
This will be the third annual Christ-
mas/holiday production. Jim Hatch
will act as the overall stage director.
The musical director is Don Brinegar.
Singers, dancers, musicians and actors
are needed. Also anyone interested in
working behind the scenes is en¬
couraged to attend the auditions as
well.
Some of the behind the scene help
needed include stage hands, lighting
technicians, set constructors, ticket
clerks, public relations, urshers and
production secretary.
More than 125 people will be involved
in the production. That number in¬
cludes 25 actors and actresses, a 75-
member choir, an 18 piece orchestra,
and another 30 people working behind
the scene.
Ahmal and the Night Visitors is a
musical drama about a very poor boy
who lives in the desert. He is visited by
three kings and makes an effort to
assist these visitors and send a gift to
the new born child he has heard about,
Jesus Christ the Messiah.
“It is a warm story about giving and
sacrifice,” said Brinegar. In some
parts of the production the audience is
encouraged to participate by singing
along with the cast.
For those selected to participate in
the play, there will be a series of
evening rehearsals totaling about 40
hours over a two month period. “There
is a strong emphasis on education in
this production,” said Brinegar. “It
will also offer the comaraderie of
working with other talented individ¬
uals.”
Center Teaches Skills
During the evening, the Quad isn’t quite the meeting place it is in the
day. Here, the normally busy entrance to the D building is quiet.
many as 1,000 jobs are received in a
month for career employment from
companies either in California or
throughout the United States.
Many companies actually come right
onto the campus to interview students
for possible employment. Charles
Bowman, counselor, schedules appoint¬
ments for the company’s representa¬
tive and the interviewees. Students
should keep in touch with the center so
they can be scheduled for interviews
with companies in their prospective
career areas, Montanez said.
In addition, the center offers stu¬
dents seminars in job search skills and
employability skills which cover a
broad area from how to seek out
companies that would be most in¬
terested in a student’s training to how
to handle oneself in an interview. Many
of these seminars have been recorded
on video so that a student can attend a
presentation at his or her convenience.
Another valuable service offered by
the center in conjuction with the PCC
Library is to provide research material
to students at the library. These not
only deal in prospective employment
fields, but also in the area of profes¬
sional associations. “It is often a good
idea to become a member of a profes¬
sional association while still a stu¬
dent,” Montanez said. “The fee for
student membership is usually greatly
reduced and membership affords a
s .'.dent the opportunity to gain a
greater insight into his career field.”
The Career Planning and Placement
Center is open Monday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for interviews with
councelors, but the office receptionist
is available to answer any questions
until 4:30 p.m.
By Jim Dyce
Special Correspondent
The PCC Career Planning and Place¬
ment Center, located in C235, has re¬
opened for the 1988-89 school session.
The center helps students to obtain
part-time jobs during their academic
career and assists them in seeking
career positions upon completion of
studies here. It also offers many other
services.
The center receives approximately
20 to 30 job placement requests a day
just by phone alone, said Maryann
Montanez, counselor at the center. As
Telecourses Beam Over the Air
By Dorian Cohen
Special Correspondent
Many people associate viewing tele¬
vision as a classic way of shirking
school work. However, now watching
the tube can also by synonymous with
studying and receiving transferable
college credits as well.
The three unit courses are made
possible by the Southern California
Consortium of Comminity College Tel¬
evision and cover a wide variety of
subjects. They air during day and
evening hours, Monday through Friday,
and are scheduled on channels 18, 50,
and 28.
Courses in science, anthropology,
economics and computers are among
the 14 offered this fall. In addition to
viewing the 30 minute programs, stu¬
dents must complete study assign¬
ments. They are also required to attend
approximately 20 hours on on-campus
sessions and to complete midterm and
final examinations.
Students will also be able to view the
programs in the Campus Learning Cen¬
ter and borrow VHS cassettes of the
courses from the PCC library for added
convenience.
Rod Foster, associate dean of learn¬
ing resources, calls the telecourses “a
bridge” for those wishing to return to
college. He said they also help “handle
the overflow” of enrollment with some
of the more popular courses.
Foster also cites the “convenience
factor” for working students and sigle
parents with children.
He says the courses are technically
considered to by independent study.
“People who are going to be successful
(in them) have to be disiplined.”
The courses are also available for
“on site education” in the work place.
Foster says he is currently negotiating
with a local company to provide
courses that can be offered to workers
during their lunch breaks.
Some of the telecourses which have
been offered at PCC since the 1970’s are
moving away from the traditional lec¬
ture format, Foster says. The courses
feature higher-quality production val¬
ues and action sequences. The Com-
puterworks course utilizes video, print
and software to survey and analyze
business applications of computers.
Last year more than 2,000 students
were enrolled in the “College by Tele¬
vision” program. Enrollment fees are
the same for regular classes held on
campus.
California Community College Chancellor David Mertes makes a point
last week while addressing the Pasadena chapter of the Rotary Club.
ICC Imposes New Rules,
Rewards for Club Service
By Sean DuPont
Editor-in-Chief
The InterClub Council, the governing
body for all clubs on campus, will begin
cracking down on clubs that fail to
meet the ICC’s rules while rewarding
organizations that perform civic
duties, according to ICC’s president.
Margarita Cornejo, president of the
council, said that rules eased or forgot¬
ten in the past will now be enforced.
One of Cornejo’s duties as Vice Presi¬
dent of the Associated Student Body
board is the presidency of the ICC.
The plan calls for the loss of a club’s
charter and priviliges for the semester
if a club commissioner or representa¬
tive misses two ICC meetings without
giving prior notice. The ICC meets
Wednesdays at noon.
Clubs losing their charter would not
be recognized by the council, would
lose thier rights to ask the ICC for
funds, would not be able to reserve
work space in the campus center and
would lose their office space. Clubs
losing their charter could request funds
through others sources and can meet
without the ICC’s involvement, though.
Cornejo said that she discovered
these rules while studing the charter of
the ICC at the beginning of her term.
“At first, I saw all of these rules and
thought that they were too much, but
after a while I saw how good they
really are. Somehow, these rules got
lost along the way.”
Part of her decision to enforce the
rules came from her disappointment in
ICC attendance.
“We saw only half of the total club
representation while we still got all the
requests for funding and workspace,”
Cornejo explained.
The ICC has more than 20 clubs, but
only 10 are actively involved with the
campus community, Cornejo feels.
The ICC president said that club
representatives she has talked to sup¬
port her position.
But not all the news was about
punitive actions. Also announced by
Cornejo was the “Club of the Month”
award, designed to involve clubs in
area fundraising and service work.
The program, part of the College/
Community Action Project, will set up
contests between clubs throughout the
year to benefit local organizations. The
current program, the voter registration
drive, ends tomorrow. The next pro¬
gram will be a blood drive, to be held
Oct. 26 and 27.
Cornejo said that clubs participating
will recieve points for their efforts and
the club with the most points will be
named “Club of the Month.”
Winners of the title will receive a
certificate along with special prizes.
This month’s club will receive a pizza
party.
In addition, Cornejo said that ICC
elections will be held later this month.
The posts of Vice President, Treasurer
and Secratary are open to ICC mem¬
bers in good standing. Actual voting
will take place on Oct. 19.
Margarita Cornejo