PCC Courier, October 13, 2005

Serving PCC and the Pasadena community since 1915 Oct. 13, 2005 pcc-courieronline.com Art Night Rocks PCC Page 8 Vol. 92, Issue 8 Ballot Measure To Drop Unit Fees Dean Lee Staff Writer The board of trustees voted unanimously Oct. 5 to support the effort by Californians for Community Colleges to place a con¬ stitutional amendment on the November 2006 statewide ballot. The Community College Ballot Measure would lower enrollment fees at community colleges to $20 per unit and limit future fee increas¬ es. The measure would also create a new independent postsecondary education system made up of local community college districts. Local college boards would function out¬ side of state government, giving them more local control. “After Hurricane Katrina we wanted to waive the out-of-state tuition fee right away for displaced students that might want to come to PCC,” said college president James Kossler. “But Sacramento had to approve it. Today it’s still sitting on the governor’s desk, so we can’t do anything about the fees. This meas¬ ure would allow us to make deci¬ sions like that much more quickly.” The ballot measure would also establish a separate state fund from that of K-12, for community col¬ leges. This would require a change in Proposition 98, which established a minimum funding level for K-12 schools and community colleges to ensure that school funding keeps pace with future inflation and enrollment growth in the state. The only way to change the funding is through a constitutional amendment. To avoid opposition from lob¬ bing groups, such as the California Teacher’s Association, the measure ensures that funds for K-12 schools would not be touched. The ballot measure states that K-12 schools will be entitled to the same resources as before, according to Californians for Community Colleges. The board members disagreed about committing to raise the $50,000 needed for funding of the proposal. Most of the money would go to signature gatherers to obtain the required number of signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot. This issue was set for discussion at a later time. The disagreement focused on restrictions on how money can be raised. By state law, no public funds can be used for the effort and no dis¬ trict employees can campaign or raise funds during work hours. One solution proposed was to ask the Associated Students for sup¬ port. The restrictions don’t apply to them, and the AS can use the $1 lobby fee everyone pays during reg¬ istration to help. “We might be able to tap into the lobby fee fund reserves and give $20, 000 or $30,000 toward it,” said Stephen Juarez, AS president. “Before proposing the idea to the AS board we need to discuss it with Peter Hardash, the vice president of administrative services, and see how much we can afford.” The Academic Senate is also in the planning stages of how or if it will back the ballot measure. “The measure is of concern to us and will be put on the agenda so that people can speak out about it,” said Kay Dabelow, president of the Academic Senate. Bookstore Policy May Be Illegal Meagan Clements Staff Writer As students are forced to take a step back and leave their back¬ packs in cubby holes outside of the PCC bookstore, the question arises: what rule applies when forced to leave a backpack or handbag at the bookstore entrance? In the case of a student sus¬ pected of stealing from the book¬ store, the fourth amendment to the US Constitution protects against unlawful search and seizure. The fourth amendment states that "the rights to be secured in their persons, their houses, their papers, and their other property, from all unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violat¬ ed by warrants issued without probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, or not par¬ ticularly describing the places to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized.” Whenever students try to enter the PCC bookstore they are suddenly stopped and told they must stash their belongings in a cubicle outside or in one of the inside lockers. “The issue of which law pre¬ vails, a federal law or a state law, is a complicated question in most cases,” said Maridee Edwards, attorney-at-law. “One area where it is pretty clear is that a state law cannot restrict important rights that individuals have under fed¬ eral law. The question is often one of ‘is it an important enough right?’ and sometimes ‘is there a good reason for the restriction?”’ PCC’s bookstore has a policy of not allowing students’ back¬ packs. Bookstore manager Doug Ferris said, “It has been a policy for 30 years or more because a lot of students would use their backpacks and purses to try and steal books and not pay for them.” Ferris said he is unaware of the change that has been occur¬ ring within other bookstores, where all students are now allowed to walk about freely with their backpacks on. “As of now, our policy stands as stated on the sign outside of the bookstore,” Ferris said. “We do allow medium-sized purses and bags.” A customer service represen¬ tative from a Target store in Pasadena said it is their policy to allow all customers to walk into the store with a backpack on. The same goes for stores like Wal-Mart and К as well as [see Bookstore, PAGE 3] PCC Freshman Crowned Rose Princess applicants to a select few, who Jones says have become fast friends. Now in the days before the announcement of the new Rose Queen, Jones and the other princesses are being trained in prop¬ er behavior, and rushed around from event to event. “Usually our morning starts out with speech training,” Jones said. “Then we go into manners and eti¬ quette, then modeling training. It goes by quick, but at the end of the day you go home and do school- work. All of the training will be so beneficial for the future.” Jones entered the 2004-2005 Royal Court competition when she was a student at Arcadia High School, where she says, “It was a big deal.” While in high school, Jones par¬ ticipated in the Arcadia Assisteens, which ran many different fundrais¬ ing activities throughout the com¬ munity, such as the Bargain Box thrift store. Now Jones, who is majoring in child development, is getting involved in a volunteer group that teaches horseback riding to disabled children. “I've always done lots of com¬ munity service,” Jones said. “I want to stay active [in it].” Volunteer activity is one of the main factors determining which finalists will become the seven Rose Princesses and, ultimately, the Rose Queen. According to the Tournament of Roses website, the selected Rose Queen must possess the right combination of poise, per¬ sonality, public speaking skills and academic achievement. Every year, approximately 1,000 young women compete for the place of honor atop the Royal Court float in the Rose Parade. This year was no exception, with 1,064 young women trying out. The 2006 Rose Queen will be chosen by the Queen and Court Committee next Monday. From then on, the Royal Court, as the queen and her princesses are called, will participate in various activities leading up to the Rose Bowl finale. There they will ride on the float of honor, and later “reign over” the Rose Bowl Game. “This experience has been really exciting and educational,” Jones said. “It's unbelievable that I won.” Lancer selected as member of Royal Court out of 1 ,067 applicants Courtesy of the Tournament of Roses Coming up Roses: Alyssa Jones was named as one of seven Rose Princesses of the Royal Court. Kate Murray Editor-in-Chief For the first time in 12 years, a PCC student has been named as one of the seven Rose Princesses in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses. Freshman Alyssa Jones, 18, is ecstatic about her new prestigious title, but feels it is about more than just her. “It's especially great to be able to represent PCC,” Jones said. Jones endured four tryouts, which narrowed down the throng of All Together Now: Students wear rainbow wristbands to symbolize their support for the gay community on National Coming Out Day in the Quad. It’s Time to Come Out Elizabeth Thompson Staff Writer Around the US, Oct. 11 marked National Coming Out Day, an event that provides information and encouragement for gay, les¬ bian, bisexual and transgender peo¬ ple around the nation. A resource fair held Tuesday in the Quad con¬ centrated on providing a safe envi¬ ronment in which people could dis¬ cuss their lives and families. It also provided them with an opportunity to be honest about who they are. Jessie Funes, vice president of cultural diversity for the AS, coor¬ dinated the event along with many other volunteers. Among the differ¬ ent festivities, Nadine Zahr, a pop¬ ular folk singer, performed with her band. “Nadine and her band were very willing to support our event,” said Funes. Many different organi¬ zations and clubs showed their sup¬ port as well, including the United Rainbow Alliance. “I was very pleased with the positive atmosphere of the event,” said Jose Sosa, president of the URA. “There was no animosity, no protestors, and people were dis¬ playing their paraphernalia proud¬ ly.” National Coming Out Day has raised awareness and dramatically reduced the number of suicides in the homosexual community. “In the past, most gays have kept their sexuality a secret,” said Adam Kratt, a PCC student and member of the URA. “The stress and pres¬ sure of not being able to share who they really are results in depression. The result of depression, for many of these people, ended in suicide.” Many students recognize the positive effects of National Coming Day. “This day is not only impor¬ tant to [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender] people,” said one PCC student. “It is good for heterosexu¬ als to witness this as well. I believe the reason people are so opposed to a gay lifestyle is because they don’t know about it. Having the celebra¬ tion in the Quad creates more [information] for those who may not know about it.” Social sciences instructor Derek Milne agrees that the success of National Coming Out Day is a valuable tool for the gay communi¬ ty “Times have changed since I’ve come out, and it has become much more accepted,” Milne said. “But even today we are still told it’s wrong. So many people still feel isolated, and this event reaches out to people on different levels.” For more information regarding issues and events surrounding the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgen¬ der community, Funes recommend www.hrc.org. Funes can be con¬ tacted by calling (626)585-7905 or going to her office in CC204. Architect Quits: Demolition Delayed Construction plans put on hold until summer 2007. Jennifer Perez Staff Writer- PCC’s industrial technology building that was slated to be built during 2005-2006 has been delayed due to issues with the architectural firm. The building is part of Measure P, which was approved by Pasadena Area Community College District voters in 2002. The measure authorized the district to issue up to $150 million in general obligation bonds to finance con¬ struction, repair and upgrades to PCC’s facilities. The total projected cost for the technology building was $25.9 mil¬ lion, according to PCC’s website in September. The project is now scheduled for 2007-2009 at a total cost of $24.3 million. During an April 2005 meeting with the citizens’ oversight com¬ mittee, which oversees and keeps the public informed about the progress of Measure P expendi¬ tures, it was reported that the build¬ ing was over budget and still had to be reviewed. The architectural firm, Pendersen Beckhart Wesley and Stice, was hired recently as the new architectural firm to continue work on the building. The original firm “decided it was in their best interest not to complete the project,” said Peter J. Hardash, vice president of administrative services. Because of these delays, it’s esti¬ mated that demolition in prepara¬ tion for contstruction of the new building will begin in about a year. The building will be constructed where the PCC tennis courts now stand. “We are trying to expedite the architectural planning and approval process,” Hardash said. “If that is successful, we may start demolition sometime next sum¬ mer.” Because the technology build¬ ing slipped behind schedule, plans for the campus center have been moved up to start sooner than orig¬ inally planned. A contract has been signed with L.P.A. architects for the new campus center. According to the current schedules, Hardash expects the campus center demoli¬ tion to start at the same time or soon after the industrial technology building. During demolition of the tennis courts, classes in the industrial technology building will remain where they are until completion of the new facilities. The new campus center, on the other hand, which will include the bookstore, journal¬ ism department, AS offices, cam¬ pus safety and food vendors is being built over its existing loca¬ tion. Because of this, campus cen¬ ter occupants will have to be relo¬ cated to a temporary site. The new industrial technology building will house automotive technology, printing technology, machine shop, welding, building construction and screen printing classes, as well as extra classrooms, offices and rooftop tennis courts. The master plan for the school lays out plans for construction over a period of 8-10 years. Items in the master plan include meeting cur¬ rent health and safety standards; upgrading existing electrical sys¬ tems to support new technology; replacing worn-out heating, venti¬ lating and air conditioning sys¬ tems; renovating outdated class¬ rooms and other vocational train¬ ing facilities; and constructing new [see Construction, PAGE 3]