PASADENA CITY COLLEGE
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA
VOL. 80 No.6
THE
COURIER
Serving the Pasadena Community since 1915
THURSDAY
October 6, 1994
Come to the Cabaret. . .
CARLO BACOR/ THE COURIER
The Broadway musical “Cabaret,” a production of the PCC Theater Arts department, opens tomorrow at 8 p.m.
AS sponsors ‘in-class’ voter registration
By ENRICO PIAZZA
SUSAN LYNN SWANN
COURIER STAFF WRITERS
To get more people to the polls, the
Associated Students (AS) is sponsoring a
campaign to register students directly in the
classroom. The registration drive is part of a
“Rock the Vote” statewide campaign to
empower students, an increasingly weak
voice in recent elections. All 107 commu¬
nity colleges in California are said to be
participating.
ч
“We had the worst turnout at the last
primary,” said Robert Bowman, AS presi¬
dent. “Unfortunately, too many students
don’trealizc thata lot of bills and decisions
are affecting us directly.”
He added that politicians in Sacramento
freely cut higher education funding knowing
that students are not likely to complain.
“By cutting funds and increasing tuition,
state politicians are cheating millions out of
an affordable education because they have
no fear of backlash from students. They
know most of us do not even vote, and they
take advantage of it,” Bowman said.
The AS members distributed 2,000 regis¬
tration forms since Sept. 21, according to
Bowman, and they are also responsible for
mailing back the completed forms. To com¬
ply with the law, these forms must be mailed
within three days. At least 300 of the school’s
360 full time instructors received 12 regis¬
tration forms each. More should be available
soon. Students can also registered with ei¬
ther party at a table in the Quad.
“We don’t want to tell people who to vote
for. We just want to make sure they all get the
opportunity to take part in one of America’s
most sacred rights: the right to vote,” said
Bowman. “What could be easier than regis¬
tering in your own class?”
Bowman said the AS invited all instruc¬
tors to discuss election matters to help stu¬
dents make an informed choice. “Only an
informed voter is a good voter,” he said.
Bowman said that although many instruc¬
tors supported the registration drive, the
number of completed registration cards re¬
turned to him are lower than he expected. As
of yesterday at 2 p.m., 266 registration cards
were returned to the AS, of which 212 were
collected in the Quad, and 54 from in class
Robert Bowman, AS president
registration.
All instructors interviewed expressed sup¬
port for the registration drive.
“Bringing registration on campus will
increase student voting, and that is very
important because young people are turned
Please see REGISTRATION, Page 6
Governor vetoes 14
college related bills
By ANDREW MCDIARMID
COURIER STAFF WRITER
In what is being called “Black Friday” by
education leaders in California, Gov. Pete
Wilson vetoed 14 important bills affecting
community colleges. These included AB
3474 which would have supplied much
needed funding in case of property tax short¬
falls.
Reductions in property tax revenue have
been affecting the PCC budget for years.
During the 1993-94 school year, PCC lost
more than $1 million because of a property
tax shortfall. The new legislation would
have prevented that from happening in the
future.
Jack Scott, presidentofPCC, stated, “I’m
deeply disappointed by Gov. Wilson’s veto
of Assembly Bill 3474. Unfortunately, com¬
munity colleges are not given the same
assurance given to K-12; K-12 is promised
that if property taxes fall short, they will be
given backfill from the Stale general fund.”
Scott said it already appears that property
taxes will fall short 5700,000 in 1994-95,
which will adversely impact the quality of
education of PCC.
“It is unfortunate, at a time when state
officials are quick to build more prisons, that
they fail to provide adequate higher educa¬
tion for the students of this state,” Scott
added.
Wilson also vetoed 13 other bills includ¬
ing measures that would have established
vocational educational boards, reorganized
the school work programs, reformed faculty
hiring ratios between full and part time,
increased retirement benefits and promoted
distance learning programs.
The disappointment over the vetoes was
voiced by Anthony Georgilas, faculty senate
Please see WILSON, Page 5
Students discuss health care
reform issues on KPCC
By JACKIE LEE
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Students had the chance to give their
opinions about the health care crisis during
the live taping of a three-part-series, “Criti¬
cal Decision,” in the Louis Creveling Lounge.
The program was hosted by Greg King,
the news anchor reporter of “PCC Report,”
a regular show that airs on KPCC-FM (89.3)
every Thursday at 2:30 p.m.
Today and next week during the regular
show time, the remaining “Critical Deci¬
sion” segments will be broadcast.
The three panel discussions were each
taped separately at half-hour intervals. It
included PCC students both in the audience
and on the panel, and experts representing a
medical institution or school. The experts’
goals were to discuss health issues the panel
presented, answer any questions asked by
the audience, and give a professional per¬
spective on the topics. Each segment fo¬
cused on an issue: Proposition 186, the
statewide health insurance bill, Proposition
187, the "Save our State” bill, and “Genera¬
tion X.” The last segment focused on what
today’s youths have to say about the prob¬
lems they face as opposed to those faced by
the previous generation, and students’ per¬
sonal opinions and thoughts were shared.
But overall the three-part discussion revolved
around health care reform and how the two
propositions would affect it.
“KPCC wants to reach out and involve
students,” said lisa Setzoil, the producer of
“Critical Decision.” “Here is something that
we’re going to be voting on the first week of
November, and most students aren ’ t aware of
it,” she explained. “Every single one of the
students on our panel said they did not know
about Proposition 1 86 when they started out.
So that was a clue to us that this might be a
good thing to discuss.”
According to Setzoil, the students on the
panel were selected by their teachers. The
audience included members of campus clubs
and students who were against Proposition
1 87. They felt strongly about the proposition
and wanted to have a chance to explain why
they were against it.
In addition, students also got the chance
to learn more about the issue of health care
reform.
Yan Lee, a student in the audience, felt it
was good she showed up because it the issues
concerned her. “Before I came to the meet¬
ing I didn’t know a lot about our health care,”
she said. “Now I realize it’s important be¬
cause I know of how it can affect us.”
King felt the discussion was a success. “I
thought it went even better than we had
envisioned,” he said.
COUNCIL. COMMISSIONER POSTS STILL OPEN
Student board finally filled
By GILBERT RIVERA
COURIER STAFF WRITER
Alternearly two months of search¬
ing, the Associated Students (AS)
board voted unanimously to fill the
vacant position of coordinator of
external affairs during last Monday’s
board meeting.
AS PresidenLRobeit Bowman rec-
ommended Adrienne Kimberly
Georgine to ihe board, one of only
four remaining candidates, for ap¬
proval. And after going six weeks
into the semester without a coordi¬
nator of external affairs officer, the
board will now haveacomplete staff.
“I felt she was the most qualified
for the position,” said Bowman. “I
admired her persistence for hanging
in tihere.”
Georgine, a sophomore from
Belton High School in Missouri,
originally did not qualify for the
position because she lacked the mini¬
mum number of units required. The
board could not agree on any of the
remaining candidates so a new ap¬
pointment date had to be resched¬
uled. Since then, Georgine added
enough units to qualify.
“I feel like we’re going to get a lot
of things done,” said Georgine.
“There are a lot of issues on campus
such as health care for students and
tuition hikes that should be more
visible but are not. We need to work
on that.”
Some of the responsibilities that
Georgine will have as the
coordinator of external affairs offi¬
cer is to preside over the PCC student
lobby. She will also serve as the AS
representative to all outside organi¬
zations in which the AS has member¬
ship. “I really think she is going to do
a good job. She is energetic, helpful
and she knows her stuff,” said Bow¬
man. He also commended Georgine
for assisting in several AS activities
including the voter registration drive.
In addition to Georgine’ s post,
the board also started the semester
without a vice-president of academic
affairs, commissioners and a supreme
council. Those positions have been
filled except the commissioner and
supreme council positions. Kim
Smoot was appointed to one of the
two remaining supreme council po¬
sitions last Monday . On Sept. 26, the
board appointed Rebekah Doughty
as commissioner. She was the only
student that applied for the 13 avail¬
able spots.
Roldan Herrera, executive vice-
president, said that the lack of candi¬
dates for those positions “sums up
the studentapathy thatexistshereon
campus.
“There’sjustalack of interest by
students. They don ’ t feel that student
govemmentwillimpactthem. Maybe
they have better things to do,” said
Herrera.
He also said that even though
there was a lack of student response
for the positions, the AS will not stop
in its efforts to get them involved.
Beatlemania hits the Quad
ENRICQUE ARMENDARIZ/ THE COURIER
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of the British Lopez (George), Mike Melair(Ringo), and Peter
invasion, Backbeat, a Beatles look alike band, George (John). By populardemand, Backbeat is
performed well known songs from the Liverpool scheduled to return to the campus on
quartet. From left: Frank Mendonca (Paul), Danny Wednesday, Nov. 2.
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