OPINION
FEATURES
SPORTS
STAFF AND STUDENTS RESPOND TO
THE O.J. SIMPSON VERDICT
Letters sthow that there are many different
viewpoints regarding the outcome of the -
trial and its effect on society as a whole A
WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE
Teshami Coleman, AS coordi¬
nator of cultural activities, dis¬
cusses her goals for
cultural awareness at PCC ^
MT. SAC ROUTS LANCERS
49-27 AT HORRELL FIELD
PCC football drops to 2-2 as
Mounties mount up 342
yards against defense
6
• STUDENT GOVERNMENT LEADERS SET ASIDE DIFFERENCES
AS board votes to support Affirmative Action
By JOSE INOSTROZ
Courier Staff Writer
The Associated Student Board
unanimously passed a resolution
Tuesday to support Affirmative
Action in principle and practice.
Hammered out from three differ¬
ent drafts, including one from the
Inter-Club Council on campus, the
resolution was adopted at a special
AS Board meeting. The action now
becomes the official student govern¬
ment stance on the issue.
“I think that we have done some¬
thing really positive as a board,”
said Stephanie Thraen, coordinator
of external affairs. “I’m really happy
about (passage of the resolution),
because after so much turmoil, we
actually got together and did some¬
thing constructive. I hope we can
continue that, in the future.”
The resolution acknowledges that
there has been a movement to eradi¬
cate Affirmative Action programs.
Further, that in California, Gov. Pete
Wilson and the UC Board of Re¬
gents have begun to end Affirmative
Action in institutions of higher edu¬
cation.
“It is recognized that Affirmative
Action policies are necessary and
required as a way of achieving and
ensuring equality in the social, eco¬
nomic and educational systems,” the
resolution states. “We stand stead¬
fast against any attempt to dismantle
Affirmative Action programs and
policies. We all benefit from a fair
and equitable society and multi-cul¬
tural views; we cannot begin to en¬
tertain the idea of eliminating pro¬
grams of fairness,” it added.
“We the AS support Affirmative
Action in principle and practice, on
its face, with the intent of and as
interpreted by its original drafters,
demand that priority be given to
legislation and policy supporting and
defending the ideals of Affirmative
Action and to oppose any attempt to
dismantle Affirmative Action pro¬
grams and policies,” the document
concludes.
“I am very proud that we as a
board can work as one unit,” said
Roldan Herrera, AS president, “ft
shows that we can do it, and I am
optimistic about this AS board work¬
ing together for the upcoming year.
We can get a lot done if we put our
egos and everything else aside.”
Tesh Coleman, coordinator of
cultural activities said, “I am happy
first that we took the stand. I am
happy that the resolution is indica¬
tive of something that we would
want to represent for all the students.
I’m looking forward to putting it into
action.”
“I am very proud of the ASB in
the stand that we have taken on
Affirmative Action and in support of
the students,” said Kim Smoot, ex¬
ecutive vice president.
Laura Duran, vice president of
student services, said, “I was really
glad that we all got together to do
this as a board. It was an idea that we
had been working towards for a long
time and hopefully this will help to
defuse some of the hostilities that
have been going on.”
“I think this is a positive step,”
said Lavonne Ramirez, coordinator
of campus activities.
The board is in the process of
formulating a plan of action in sup¬
port of Affirmative Action.
PLAY FIGHTING IN THE QUAD
P.J. DATRl /THE COURIER
Artists from “hereandnow" presenting inner-ethnic conflict in the based on political and gender issues affecting Asian Americans. The
Quad. The Asian American theater group will perform short dramas group will perform Friday in the Forum from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• GEORGILAS ACCUSES STUDENT WORKERS
OF VIOLATING PRIVACY ACTS
Faculty Senate head
demands changes
in Veteran’s Office
By GILBERT RIVERA, Courier Staff Writer
Professor Anthony Georgilas
wants changes and he wants them
now.
The Faculty Senate president is
claiming that the student workers in
the college’s Veteran’s Services Of¬
fice, which has long been under the
scrutiny of Georgilas, are violating
privacy acts by looking up the per¬
sonal files of veteran students at PCC.
He also said that the student workers are not trained enough to handle such
material and that they should be replaced by “more qualified personnel.”
“My veterans are being short-changed,” said Georgilas, who is a veteran
himself. “Nobody should have access to their records except for full-time,
trained and approved staff members. I want to protect the privacy of the
veterans.”
The Veteran’s Office is currently staffed by a full-time employee,
Behnoosh Armani, the admissions and records clerk for the office, and two
part-time workstudy students, who are veteran beneficiary recipients.
The duties of the workstudy students are similar to secretarial work. One
of them is to provide veteran students’ information for verification purposes
upon request. The information they give, however, is limited only to dates
Please see VETERANS, Page 4
• EVENTS WILL PROVIDE SUPPORT TO ALL CULTURAL CLUBS ON CAMPUS
Cross cultural planning board sets events for year
• SOMEONE ACCESSES
COMPUTER AND REMOVES
STUDENTS FROM COLLEGE
Two AS officers’
classes dropped
mysteriously
By DREW McDIARMID and JOSE INOSTROZ
Courier Staff Writers
The continuing controversy plaguing the AS board
took a criminal turn this past week, when someone began
dropping AS officers and their friends from classes.
When Roldan Herrera, AS president, Stephanie Thraen,
AS Coordinator of External Affairs and their associate,
J.P. Henderson tried to attend classes, they were in¬
formed by their instructors that they had been dropped.
None of them dropped classes themselves.
“ft is considered a criminal act under Section 502.(1)
of the Penal Code, which addresses altering and/or
changing the records of students through the use of a
computer,” said Sgt. Palermo of PCC Police.
In this case, however, a computer wasn’t the actual
culprit. The untraceable assailant dialed up the auto¬
matic registration system, entered the social security
numbers and birth dates of the three students and dropped
them out of all of their classes, essentially withdrawing
them from school.
Stuart Wilcox, dean of admission and records, re¬
leased a statement revealing that new security proce¬
dures are now in place, to prevent such actions from
happening again.
Please see PHONE, Page 4
By FELICIA BRICHOUX
Courier Staff Writer
An innovative cultural unity luncheon, to be held on
Oct. 27, will give presidents and advisers of cultural
clubs the opportunity to help set the agenda for cross-
cultural issues to be addressed on campus this year.
Teshami Coleman, the AS Coordinator of Cultural
Affairs, will host the luncheon, to be held in the Cross-
Cultural Center.
Central to her planning is the fostering of greater
understanding among the varied groups at PCC. “We
have a diverse range of cultures on this campus,” Coleman
said, “and a lot of them choose to separate from each
other. We’ve become a distant society. What I want to
do is bring the cultures together, so that we can all stand
on common ground.”
Coleman has asked representatives of each club to
suggest three issues to be discussed in future inter-
cultural activities, as well as events club members would
like to see take place on campus.
“We work for them,” Coleman said, “so it’s their
voice that’s important in what’s presented and how the
money is spent.” Coleman’s office administers a $ 12,300
annual budget for cross-cultural activities.
Along with cross-cultural understanding, Coleman
said she hopes to facilitate cultural identity, which she
said has often been portrayed as a bad thing. “It’s meant
to be inclusive, not exclusive. If one club or culture is
putting on a show, we can all see how that group
celebrates, and we can understand each other a little
better. I fully believe cultural awareness is a very neces¬
sary cause.”
Coleman said she is not “looking for a group hug at the
end of this thing.” However, that would be he ideal, she
said.
Coleman chairs the Cross-Cultural Planning Board,
which plans events to facilitate cross-cultural under¬
standing and provides support to all chartered cultural
clubs at PCC. These clubs include the Vietnamese
Student Association, Inter-Tribal Student Council, Ko¬
rean Student Association, Black Student Alliance,
MEChA and many others. Board meetings, held at noon
each Friday in CC215, are open to all students.
Pleas see COLEMAN, Page 4
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FACTS IN
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
♦ Each year, the City Attorney’s Office
prosecutes approximately 23,000 domestic
violence related misdemeanors including
harassment, vandalism, theft, and stalking.
♦ There are only 17 shelters providing 494
beds for battered women and children.
Approximately 50 percent of battered
women return to abusive relationships
because of the lack of shelter availability.
♦ County shelters receive less than
$76,000 a year from the state plus a small
amount from a new law that transfers funds
from marriage license fees. No direct funds
are provided by the city or the county.
• THE REALITIES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNCOVERED
Workshop confronts female battering
By FAVI VALDEZ
Courier Staff Writer
Domestic violence is the single
major cause of injury to American
women, exceeding rapes, muggings,
and auto accidents, said Judi Samuel,
program manager of the Hestia
House for victims of domestic vio¬
lence.
Samuel held a workshop in the
Campus Center where she spoke on
the vicious realities of female bat¬
tering.
According to the Los Angeles
City Commission on the Status of
Women, in this nation, every 15
seconds a woman is being beaten.
This problem affects everyone.
“It’s someone you know and it’s
around you all the time,” said
Samuel. Domestic violence is
throughly completed by the abuser
in three stages. Stage 1 is tension
building. The abuser is moody and
unpredictable. A woman may feel
like she is “walking on eggshells”
and not knowing whether her
partner’s temper will explode out of
control. Stage 2 is acute or abusive.
Physical and verbal abuse is inflicted
upon the woman with uncontrollable
strength by the aggresor. The final
one, Stage 3 is the “honeymoon:”
The abuser says he is sorry and will
never do it again. He may blame the
woman but wants to make it up to her
with flowers, candy, or sex. Too
many times the woman believes the
“honeymoon stage” is real and al¬
lows the cycle to continue. The
Please see WORKSHOP, Page 6
t