Pasadena
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City
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Since 1915
VOL. 86 NO. 8
www.pcc-courieronIme.com
October 12, 2000
Briefly
“Week Without
Violence” focuses
on ending abuse
Raising awareness and pre¬
vention are the focus of the
“Week Without Violence.”
The Office of Student
Affairs is staging the five-
day event Oct. 16-20.
Students and faculty are
invited to attend and partic¬
ipate in an array of topics
dealing with domestic
abuse. There will be a
series of speakers, videos
and round table discussions
looking at ways to end the
violence.
Music concerts
A full choral concert fea¬
turing selections from
Musical Diletti will be given
by the Chamber Singers and
the Concert Choir on Oct.
13, beginning at 8 p.m. in
Harbeson Hall. Tickets are
$3 for adults and $2 for
seniors and students. On
Sat. Oct. 14, the Faculty
Artist Series will present “A
Grand Piano Concert” fea¬
turing the college’s newly
acquired Hamburg Steinway
piano. Instructors and
guest musicians will give
solo performances and play
selections from Saint-Saens’
Carnival of the Animals also
at Harbeson Hall at 8 p.m.
WebExtra
“The Cake Show” highlights
the art work of faculty
members, who turn normal
pastry into masterpieces. Or
do you want CD reviews?
Go to www.pcc-courieron-
line.com to see what out
writers have to say about
the “Dr.T. and the Women”
soundtrack and The6th ’s
new record.
Inside
■ Jon Heller takes on
the AS (as usual).
page 2
* Lancer’s football
team suffers its first
loss.
page 6
■ Women’s soccer for¬
ward Melissa Payne
scores seven goals
in a single game.
page 4
HOW
BOUT
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Wanda Fabregas
/
The Courier
For the third straight board of trustees meeting, staff and faculty take to the streets demanding higher wages.
Students to
organize for
teacher pay
~T
By Robert Glassey
Staff Writer
Members of the Progressive
Student Alliance plan to recruit
students into a movement to
press the board of trustees for a
pay raise for all PCC employees
and a better deal for part-time
faculty.
The alliance, originally set
up for students to discuss
socialist and green politics,
shifted its focus to the contract
dispute between employee
unions and the college district
at the instigation of Philip
Gibson, a political science
major.
The unions are unhappy
with the district’s offer of a 6
percent raise.
Gibson said the alliance
intends to get students
involved in these struggles even
though to many students they
seem irrelevant.
“Students have been very
lax,” he said. “Students don’t
care what’s going on. They
don’t see it; they don’t have
time to see it. 1 want to make
them see it.”
Gibson wants students to
share his concern that PCC will
lose its reputation and its
capacity to provide top quality
education if it short changes
instructors.
He advocates tapping into
the budget’s 5 percent reserve
and the partnership
for excellence money,
if needed, to pay for
higher salaries.
“It is the adminis¬
tration’s responsibility
to make sure they are
keeping the best peo¬
ple around. You have
to offer the best pack¬
age to get the best people,” he
said.
Faculty and classified staff
have reminded the board at
recent meetings that they tight¬
ened their belts during lean
years and now want the board
to redeem its promises of more
generous pay in better times.
But the money for salaries
and benefits as well as for
things like lecturers and per¬
forming artists, software, and
student travel all come from the
college’s operating budget.
About 80 percent of this
fund goes to salaries and bene¬
fits for employees, and any pay
increase can come only at the
expense of other needs.
For Gibson such concerns
are outweighed by his convic¬
tion that student-teacher rela¬
tionships, not computers or
field trips, are the essential fea¬
ture of a college education.
Gibson said instructors have
a right to expect their pay to be
commensurate with PCC’s sta¬
tus as a highly rated college.
When their pay falls behind
Wanda Fabregas
/
The Courier
Erika Richardson pleads with the board to
recognize faculty with substantial pay raise.
what instructors earn at nearby
colleges it lowers morale.
The way he sees it, a demor¬
alized faculty cannot serve stu¬
dents well.
Alliance members support
pay for part timers that is clos¬
er to what full-time teachers
make.
They think providing part
timers with office space and
office hours, paid time to pre¬
pare for class, benefits, and job
security is not only fairer to the
teachers but beneficial to stu¬
dents.
Currently part-time teachers
are not paid for preparation
time or for grading papers.
Many are not available for stu¬
dent conferences.
Although the alliance is off
to a modest start with 12 stu¬
dents attending the most recent
meeting, each member will try
to recruit five students to the
cause by next week.
Gibson said he will be meet¬
ing with as many clubs as pos¬
sible this week to encourage
students to come out and show
their support for the staff.
AS president
seeks $I2K
for festival
Clubs dim prospects for
Asian lantern celebration
By Kristen Glover
Entertainment Editor
In an attempt to leave his mark
on campus activities, Associated
Student (AS) president Daniel
Loh is seeking the approval of AS
board members for an Asian
lantern' festival that had an initial
budget of $25,000. The plan, now
slated to cost around $12,000,
would involve participation from
13 Asian campus clubs and funds
taken from their yearly budgets.
As the semester enters its
ninth week, the college’s 30 char¬
tered clubs have yet to receive
final approval of their budgets.
Therefore, they have yet to
receive any money to fund events
themselves. But Loh is trying to
get money from them to help
fund his Nov. 17 event.
Some clubs on campus have
not been sympathetic to Loh’s
proposal.
“This is ridiculous, we’re being
asked to get involved, to get the
students involved, but we can’t
because we don’t have the
money,” said Arlene Feliciano,
president of Alpha Gamma Sigma
(AGS).
“If they (AS) can buy stress
balls and go on retreats, if they
can find the money for those
things, 1 would think they could
find the money for the clubs.
They keep saying that they want
us to get students involved, but
we can’t get anyone involved if we
don’t have the money to,” said
Feliciano.
Clubs were unable to receive
funds because there was a delay
in approving the final budget.
George Magdaleno, vice president
for internal affairs, was not com¬
fortable in giving money to clubs
based on a preliminary budget.
However, Loh said the AS has
been spending their money based
on their preliminary budget up to
this point in the semester.
Loh said he was hoping to
receive funding from 13 Asian
AS, page 3
AA degree now
easier to get
By Derek Blackway
Staff Writer
PCC just made the associate
in arts degree certification
process more time friendly for
students.
Students can now earn an
A. A. degree in transfer studies by
just completing the general edu¬
cation requirements for the
University of California or
California State Systems.
In the past, PCC required stu¬
dents to take classes in addition
to G.E. transfer requirements to
obtain a degree. Now, the col¬
lege administration feels that
these extra classes are no longer
necessary for transferring stu¬
dents.
Students who have completed
60 units of transferable credits
for the UC, called the
Intersegmental General
Education Transfer Curriculum
(IGETC), or CSU requirements
are now eligible for the new A. A.
As a result of feedback from
students, teachers and compari¬
son studies with other two-year
colleges, Dr. James Kossler, presi¬
dent of PCC, announced the
development of the new A. A. at
the Sept. 20 board of trustees
meeting.
After winning support from
the Curriculum and Instruction
Committee, board of trustees,
college administration, and the
academic senate, the A. A. is now
official.
A. A., page 3
Stormy Weather
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ill
Ills! IlIllT
I sill
ittt
Matt Robinson
/
The Courier
Gathering thunderstorms obscure Mt. Wilson and herald the first significant rains of the fall. Students walk¬
ing near the Lancer Commons area seem unconcerned with the sudden and eerie shift in this week’s weather.
Mammograms, exams offered for
breast cancer awareness month
BY GlA SCAFIDl
Staff Writer
Perhaps you’ve seen the pink rib¬
bons around. Maybe you even wear
one in support of someone you know,
who is a victim of breast cancer.
Perhaps you will even be the next one
in eight women (over a lifetime) who
get the disease.
As we enter into Breast Cancer
Awareness Month, it is imperative that
we all heed warning signs and practice
preventative measures against a disease
that strikes everyone, including men.
PCC’s health center, in conjunction
with the colleges radiologic technology
program and Queen of Angels Hospital,
will be offering free and low-cost mam¬
mograms, as well as breast examina¬
tions, on Oct. 16 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.
in U138.
The screenings are open to all by
appointment, whether they attend the
college or not.
“All women should be concerned
with breast cancer,” said Jo Buckzo,
PCC’s college nurse. “Every woman is
at risk and that is why we encourage
self breast exams beginning in the
teens.”
According to the American Cancer
Society, this year alone, about 175,000
women will be diagnosed with breast
cancer, while approximately 43,000 of
them will die from the disease.
Granted the biggest risk factor for
the disease is being a woman; but, in
fact, men report one percent of all
breast cancers.
“While breast cancer is not as preva¬
lent in men, they should he aware of the
disease,” said Buckzo. “It’s all about
raising general awareness of their own
bodies and paying attention to any
abnormal lumps or masses they find.”
“The major obstacle to mammogra¬
phy is the lack of women who partici¬
pate in annual breast screening exami¬
nations,” said Dr. Linda Hovanessian
Larsen, assistant professor of radiology
at the University of Southern California
School of Medicine.
Early detection provides the best
chance of being treated successfully.
The earlier breast cancer is detected the
easier it is to treat and the less likely it
is to spread to other parts of the body.
While breast cancer can occur at
any age, the American Cancer Society
recommends that women over 40
receive mammograms and clinical
breast examinations every year.
It suggests that women between 20
and 40 get clinical breast exams every
three years. But all women 20 and over
should perform breast self examina¬
tions every month.
It’s best to examine ones breasts
seven days after the start of the men¬
strual cycle, when they are least tender.
Women who are in menopause,
pregnant or breastfeeding should also
continue to perform monthly self breast
exams. Breastfeeding women should
do so when all of their milk has been
expressed.
Although nine out of 10 lumps
found in breast tissue will prove non-
cancerous, women should seek prompt
medical attention if they find any.
While early detection is key to stay¬
ing on top of ones health, healthy living
habits also greatly reduce the chances
of developing breast cancer.
Along with exercise, the American
Cancer Society recommends losing
weight, stopping smoking and using
more sunscreen as preventative meas¬
ures against many cancers.