PCC Courier, October 16, 1981

VOL 52. NO. 8 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA. CALIFORNIA OCTOBER 16. 1981 ■ ! Щ \ * t * i ■! f * i* > Voter Participation Aids ASB Election By Stacey Miyamoto Contributing Writer Over 1,500 students participated in the ASB elections, Oct. 7 and 8, the largest election turnout in PCC history, according to Jennifer McKinney, stu¬ dent activities advisor. New ASB President Barry McGowan said his main concern is finding a viable solution to the parking problem. He intends to follow two possible solu¬ tions while in office. The first solution includes a petition that will be pres¬ ented to home-owners around the PCC area. If two-thirds of the residents sign the petition eliminating all restricted parking signs, students will be able to park without worrying about parking tickets. The other solution, initiated by new Senate President Bob Carroll, concerns land on Walnut Street, between the cross streets of Hill and Allen. The land, owned by Santa Fe Railroad, will be deeded to CalTrans and will be up for bid in January 1981. According to Carroll, PCC has priority because of its vital need for parking. McGowan would also like to see revised election procedures, more ac¬ tivities for students, such as bands every Tuesday and Thursday, and later cafeteria hours for night students. Researching Solutions New Senate President Bob Carroll was elected by the largest margin in PCC history. For the past year, Carroll has been researching possible solutions to the parking problem at PCC. His other primary concerns include secur¬ ity, child care, course evaluation booklets, constitutional revisions, mail-in registration and financial aid. Carroll feels that “hard work and determination” played a key role in his election. He feels that the election system could be improved with more candidate publicity, earlier campaign¬ ing and more publicized televised de¬ bates. Speaking about the increased voter turnout McKinney said, “the trend seems to be toward more student par¬ ticipation.” The increase in voter turn¬ out is largely due to extensive cam¬ paigning, as well as the taped debates between both ASB and Senate presiden¬ tial candidates, televised on election day. Candidates also handed out flyers and encouraged students to vote while polls were still open. Furthering Goals Larry Conover, new ASB vice presi¬ dent said his “main objective this semester is to further what I have already done.” He also plans to follow through with his past involvement in the teacher evaluation committee. With the large voter turnout behind the new cabinet, Conover hopes to be able to “speak for the students” with a greater voice on the Board of Trustees Other newly elected officers include: John McTeague, sophomore class pres¬ ident; Gary Mendes, freshman class president; Gordon Robinson, As¬ sociated Men’s president; Barbara Zurick, Associated Women’s presi¬ dent; Randy Burrell, athletic presi¬ dent; Karla Khoury, Senate first vice president; and Tony Joseph, Senate second vice president. Most students who lost the election (Continued on Page 6) Tally of Election Results ASB President Freshman President Barry McGowan . 769 Gary Mendes . . 828 Richard Kim . 661 Associated Men ASB Vice President Students President Larry Conover . 690 Gordon Robinson . . 406 Mike Smith . 621 Mike Williams . . 384 Senate President Bill Crane . . 264 Bob Carroll . 863 Associated Women Barte Masciarelli . 369 Students President Senate First Vice President Barbara Zurick . . 712 Karla Khoury . . 607 Bunnie Ben-Kori . . 415 Katty Hashemi . . 445 Athletics President Senate Second Vice President Randy Burrell . . 556 Tony Joseph . . 934 Hunter Leninan . . 380 Sophomore President John McTeague . 1003 Total voter turnout . . 1502 Cal Lobby Students Gaining Power To Be Forceful Voice in Government By Eddie Williams Contributing Writer The first census report compiled by the Data Processing office for the fall semester reveals that enrollment for both new and returning students is up once again. Report figures, released through the THE WINNERS — From left: Barry McGowan, Bob Carroll. Larry Conover, Karla Khoury, Gordon Robinson, — Courier photos by Brian Thompson and Stave Hegle Gary Mendes, John McTeague. Barbara Zurick, Tony Joseph and Randy Burrell. RECORD TURNOUT? — Student Trustee Joe Krozova opened his special forum to a relatively empty hall this week He had hoped to receive some feedback on — Courier photo by Barbara Nack student needs to present to PCC's Board of Trustees. Krovoza said it’s hard to believe students have as few problems as the crowd indicates. Fall Enrollment Is Up Again dents seeking housing. “We plan on being there to make sure they’re aware of Cal Lobby,” said Tiberi. He is also keeping a careful eye on Bill SB-256, which would allow the military access to student rosters. Tuition Threat On a state level, Cal Lobby works to prevent the imposition of tuition on students attending state and communi¬ ty colleges. “We’re looking at a 2 percent across-the-board cut in state funding which Governor Brown just put into effect by executive order Oct. 9,” said Tiberi. “What this will mean is that colleges will have to limit the number of stu¬ dents even further, or that there will be an increase in fees— -tuition by any other nam^e— or that student services will be cut. Really, the whole educa¬ tional system must be looked at and overhauled,” he concluded. On a federal level, Tiberi noted a bill in progress which would provide a 100 percent tax credit for students attend¬ ing private institutions. Tiberi wonders “if the federal government would be losing a lot of money, would it decrease the block grants slated for the states? Would that accelerate the possibility of tuition? But if tuition was charged, and students could write it off, perhaps in the long run they would be saving money. We just don’t know at this point.” Tiberi sees the main thrust of Cal Lobby as setting up chapters in cam¬ puses throughout California and gener¬ ating student involvement. “We have a long way to go, but I’m very hopeful,” he said. RECORD TURNOUT — Students turned out In record numbers last last week to vote for the new ASB cabinet. Over 1 500 votes were cast which is a 36 percent increase over last semester. —Courier photo by Tina Andris PCC Public Information Office, place total credit enrollment at 21,693. Ac¬ cording to Ernest Neumann, dean of admissions and records, first-day en¬ rollment figures for the fall reflect a 12.5 percent growth rate over last year. That rate significantly exceeds growth rates for most neighboring community colleges, indicated Neumann, pointing to figures for Glendale, Citrus and Mt. San Antonio College, among others, which had growth rates of 10.1, 6.5, and 5.1 percent respectively. Once again female students out¬ number males, 11,913 to 9780. Of the total enrollment, only 6,404, or 29.5 percent are full time (12 or more units). Additionally, the majority of students taking credit courses are those between the ages of 18 and 20. They total 6,763, while the 21-24 age group falls last, at 4,053. This still amounts to an increase over last year, in which 21-24-year-olds totaled 3,484. The second largest age group this year were those over 25, tallying 5,272. First-time student enrollment is also up by 37 percent from last year, at 4,931. Straining Budget Ever-rising enrollment presents an uncomfortable predicament for college administrators. “There is currently a 2.5 percent growth cap on college fund¬ ing by the state,” said Neumann. This means that, in PCC’s case, a full 10 percent of its growth is not met by state funding, and since the school does not charge tuition to in-district resi¬ dents, there is no method to relieve the strain such growth puts on the budget. The dilemma is compounded by the possibility of a change next year in the manner of distributing state funds. Prior to the current growth-cap, col¬ leges were alloted funds on the basis of their total number of average-daily- attendance (ADA) units. This figure was arrived at by a complicated for¬ mula based on the total number of credit hours attended by all students, full and part time. If the total number of ADA units was up by 6 percent, then the state would allot a 6 percent increase to that school for the fiscal year. With the current flat cap on funding however, schools must take measures to offset that lack of compensation. With no tuition, the only other methods involve either cut¬ ting services or limiting sizes of classes. This discourages growth, and also inhibits improvement of the quali¬ ty of PCC’s curriculum. Neumann is reluctant to take such measures though. “There are indica¬ tions from the state finance people that next year the ADA may be reinstated,” he explains, and hence the school could (Continued on Page 6) By Barbara Lamprecht Associate News Editor A number of bills directly affecting students are currently being debated at every level of government. From fed¬ eral proposals concerning student tax credits and educational funding do city council actions on bus fare hikes and housing discrimination against stu¬ dents, there is much at stake for the individual seeking higher education. In the spring of 1980, a group of students formed Cal Lobby, an or¬ ganization “to be the students’ voice in Sacramento, as well as in metropolitan and national levels,” according to Mike Tiberi, past student trustee at PCC and current director of Cal Lobby. Tiberi, who attends California State University at Los Angeles (CSULA), said that “students were starting to fear tuition going through. All these bills were being decided on— all of a sudden students would wake up to all these changes without knowing what happened.” Student Power Disclaiming doubts concerning any real power a student lobbying group could have, Tiberi said, “Look, 81 percent of CSULA students are regis¬ tered voters. We have a student body of 22,000; a student’s average age is 29. Just think if we had people represent¬ ing the 20,000 at Glendale, the 22,000 at PCC. If we become strong, we can really have the power. If we pull together when the time comes, we can be very persuasive.” Operating out of CSULA, Cal Lobby has a metropolitan, state and national representative, as well as an informa¬ tion analyst to study various bills in progress. “We also have 80-90 ‘ad¬ vocate coordinators,’ ” Tiberi stated. “Any time there’s an issue we need bodies for, we can call on them to be there when there is a bill being pres¬ ented or discussed.” “The main priority for the fall is networking,” continued Tiberi. He seeks to get support and involvement from state and community colleges in the southland and to serve as a source of information for various bills in progress. “In five years, we’re going to be so powerful, so strong,” he said. Bills in Progress Tiberi listed a number of bills direct¬ ly involving students. In the metropoli¬ tan area, Cal Lobby is addressing the recent bus fare hike orchestrated by the current Rapid Transit board. Twen¬ ty percent of CSULA students are bus commuters, said Tiberi, and were directly hit by the $6 per month hike. “The problem,” he said, “is that the board is made up of political appoin¬ tees. For example, George Takei, the actor who played Lieutenant Sulu on “Star Trek,” was appointed.” He and Joe Krozova, current PCC student trustee, recently met with state Sena¬ tor Garzia to discuss a bill which would elect RTD board members rather than have them appointed. “This way, they'd be much more responsive to our needs.” Another bill of concern to Cal Lobby was presented Tuesday to the Los Angeles City Council by state As¬ semblyman Joel Wachs. This bill would prevent discrimination against stu¬ PCC Growth Strains Budget