www.pcc-courieronline.com
Pasadena City College
October 7, 1999
Volume 85, Number 6
Today:
Sunny.
High: 87°
Low: 54°
Tomorrow:
Partly Cloudy.
High: 96°
Low: 53°
Saturday:
Partly Cloudy.
High: 92°
Low: 57°
Sunday
Partly Cloudy.
High: 87°
Low: 58°
"Guest in the House"
Premieres this Weekend
The theater department's fall
production of "Guest in the
House" debuts this weekend.
Directed by Whitney Rydbeck,
the play will open this Friday
at 8 p.m. in Sexson
Auditorium, with follow-up
performances on Oct. 9, 14,
1 5, 1 6 and 1 7. There will be
an admission charge at the
door.
Courier Wins Big at
JACC
The Courier brought home 1 4
awards from this year's
Journalism Association of
Community Colleges' south¬
ern regional conference, held
last Friday and Saturday at
CSU Fullerton. Among the
honors garnered were the
General Excellence Award for
online publication and several
on-the-spot writing awards.
Parlate Italiano?
Come get a taste of "la bella
vita" at today's "An Italian
Affair." Sponsored by the Club
Italia, the event features a
luncheon as well as a scholar¬
ship fund-raiser. Festivities
begin in the quad from 8 a.m.
and continue until 2 p.m.
CSA Seeks Donations
For Taiwan Quake Relief
Earthquakes continue to
plague the beleaguered island
of Taiwan, with daily after¬
shocks collapsing already tee¬
tering buildings. Want to help
the victims of this terrifying dis¬
aster? Send donations to
Chinese Student Association
Adviser Cathy Wei at R223D,
extension 7464. Checks
should be made payable to the
Taipei Economic and Cultural
Office.
Inside This Issue \
Faculty examines grading options
Amid scant student involvement, the faculty senate discusses the merits of providing teachers with a plus/minus grading option
By Gali Raval
Staff Writer
The faculty is currently reviewing a
policy that would change the way
grades are assigned. The new system
would add a plus and minus to some
final grades. Though it is not effective
yet, students fear that the new policy
may hinder their GPA more than bene¬
fit it.
Currently at PCC, if a student’s
points in a class equal an “A-”,the
grade is recorded as an “A” and it is
valued as 4.0 grade points. However,
under the revised plan, that same “A-”
would be valued as 3.7 points. This
would cause a student’s overall GPA to
drop. The way the grades are comput¬
ed now, GPAs ranging from 3.0-3.9
are all considered “B”s.
According to a recent report from
the community colleges Chancellor’s
office, “The grade-point value of a
plus shall be computed by adding 0.3
to the value of the whole letter grade,
and the value of a minus shall be com¬
puted by subtracting 0.3 from the
value of the whole letter grade.”
The grade scale of 0.3 was used as
an attempt to approximate the value of
letter grades. The only exceptions
would be counting the value of an
“A+” as 4.0 and a “C-” would be
counted as 2.0 points. Grades cannot
go above 4.0 points because it would
lead to grade inflation. Also, the value
of a “C-” cannot be scaled down to 1.7
points because the student would not
pass the class with that value, so “C-”s
are kept as 2.0 points.
The board of governors of
California community colleges is cur-
Vapor Trail Dazzles Southland
Exhaust trails from a Vandenburg AFB missile as it streaks across the
evening sky above Pasadena. Launched last Saturday as part of the gov¬
ernment's new Ballistic Missile Defense program, the rocket was later
Daniel Archuleta
/
Courier
intercepted in space above the Pacific Ocean by another missile launched
from the Marshall Islands, nearly 5,000 miles away. The spectacular dis¬
play was visible to millions of spectators throughout California.
Football off to fastest start since 1992
With a 3-1 record and a single loss to number one-ranked Palomar, Mahr’s team is on the right track
By Daniel Archuleta
Staff Writer
COSTA MESA- It may be the
new stadium. It may be the fact that
head coach Tom Maher has a few
years of recruiting under his belt.
Whatever it is, it has propelled the
football team to a 3-1 start this sea¬
son and has Maher’s Lancers on
CAMPUS BEAT
pace to finish with a winning record
for the first time since 1992.
The 35-20 road win over Golden
West College (GWC) not only gave
the team its best record at this point
of the season since 1992, a year that
saw the squad go an impressive 10-
1, but it may prove to be signs of
what’s to come.
Running back Blair Lewis led
Pasadena in both rushing and receiv¬
ing yards and fellow backfield mate
John Weems scored on a 88-yard
punt return and scampered in 4
yards for a touchdown (TD) to give
the run-happy Lancers a relatively
easy win. But that’s not to say that
Golden West didn’t put up a fight.
Kicker Peter Dodosh nailed a
pair of first-half field goals and run¬
ning back Louie Ala scored on a 30-
yard run that had the Lancers on
their heels. Fullback Mike Detwiler
and Lewis both scored fourth quar¬
ter TDs to ice the game.
“The key to this win was our
offensive misdirection,” said Maher
following the game at Orange Coast
college, GWC’s home stadium.
“We ran our sweeps back and forth
and that really hurt them in the
Football, Pg. 8
rently pushing the two-year schools to
approve the use of plus and minus
grading. If approved, it would be a
revision of Title 5 of the California
Code of Regulation. Proponents say
by altering PCC’s grading scale to
more closely match those of four-year
colleges and universities, it would pro¬
vide the students with a fairer grade
Grading, Pg. 3
POLICE BEAT
Cameras
keep an
eye on
campus
By Audrey Allen
Staff Writer
Som£ people on campus would be
surprised to leant that every time they
happen to walk through a designated,
high security area like the Sculpture
Garden, they are being watched by
campus police.
Over 35 closed circuit television,
CCTV surveillance cameras are con¬
stantly zooming in and out watching
for suspicious activity. This practical¬
ly unnoticed security “eye” is so
high-tech, a camera mounted on top
of the parking structure can actually
read the license plates on cars.
None of these cameras scattered
throughout the campus are hidden,
but some are far enough out of the
line of sight to be almost concealed.
If there was a need to implement con¬
cealed monitors somewhere on cam¬
pus, Phil Mullendore, director of
campus police, said, that “We would
have to give people notice of hidden
cameras.”
A couple of these CCTVs are on
top of the C and R Buildings and are
aimed at the newly completed
Sculpture Garden as well as the
amphitheater.
“The campus is never closed, so
we don’t get a chance to lock the
doors. We needed a way to monitor
activity during normal business
hours. Our cameras are for the likeli¬
hood of theft and are used to protect
people and property,” said
Mullendore.
These “eyes and ears of the
police” were first wired and set in
place over 16 years ago. The college
could only afford two cameras at the
time. One was placed on top of the
Campus Center Building, and the
Cameras, Pg. 3
The only thing they don’t
have at this market is fleas
By Erika Kennelley
Staff Writer
Sunday mornings are usually
meant for sleeping in, eating a big
breakfast and perhaps going to church.
But for a flea-market junkie, it means
going to the flea market that is held the
first Sunday of the month and finding
unusual, hard to find items at an inex¬
pensive price.
The best advice is to arrive early.
By 8 a.m., all of the student and facul¬
ty parking lots on the main campus,
except for the parking structure, are
full of vendors eager to sell and early¬
bird buyers who are just as anxious to
spend.
Anything and everything can be
found at the market, from antique fur¬
niture and vintage clothing to musical
instruments and used vinyl and CDs.
The main purpose for shopping at
the flea market is to find the best qual¬
ity product, whether it’s used or not, at
the lowest price.
Another reason to explore the flea
market is to find unique collectors’
items.
“I bought this cool Beatle pin for a
buck,” announced Andre Lozoya, 20,
as he proudly flashed his newly pur-
Market, Pg. 5
Ray Shui
/
Courier
Crowds search out the perfect purchase at the college's monthly flea market.
WWW.PCC-COURIERONUNE.COM
Volleyball coach
Lori Jepsen nets
victory number
300.
Sports, Pg. 8
It's not just
obout the
Lessons learned by kids at the CDC
aren't limited to getting along at
playtime. News, Pg. 4
Happy Birthday,
PCC- A collage
of images from
the anniversary.
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