PCC Courier, September 04, 1997

OPINION FEATURES ■ . SPORTS — — ■ An in-depth look at this year's PCC's neighbor, Catalyst Caffe, The college's cheerleading squad and football Associated Student Board members offers patrons more than just coffee team prepare for the upcoming season IT JUST TAKES A LITTLE SPIRIT Cheerleader, Jason Gavia, performs along with the rest c DANIEL ARCHULETA/ THE COURIER squad during a pep rally. See related story on page 6. Construction again dominates the budget ■Funding for the college's ongoing Master Plan, highlights this year's budget. By DANIEL ARCHULETA Courier Staff Writer The state legislature has again rewarded commiftiity colleges with a generous budget with PCC slated to receive $137 million. “It’s a good year for all commu¬ nity colleges,” proclaimed current PCC president, Dr. James Kossler. “We have enough money for growth, which may help students with pos¬ sible additional classes.” Funding for overall growth has, in part, been attributed to the passage of Proposition 98. Kossler said that it has proven to be the, “most crucial proposition that has ever been ap¬ proved in the history of the state. The college has been doing well since then.” The voter approved Proposition 98 granted additional money to the state’s struggling com¬ munity colleges. Dr. Rod Fleeman, vice president ofadministrative services, said, “We have been very successful in com¬ peting against the other 70 commu¬ nity college districts. The plans we made were before their time.” Fleeman eluded to the on-going master plan, which was conceived by former president Jack Scott and then vice president of administrative services, Kossler. Although the col¬ lege has enjoyed consistent budget increases for construction over the past few years, Fleeman said that the year to year increases are over. In essence, “we have peaked.” Joyce Black, vice president for instruction, wasn’t as satisfied with the new budget as Fleeman and Kossler. She said that over the years, instructional programs have not en¬ joyed the same rewards that capital 1997-98 Budget Highlights Capital Outlay Special Projects Insurance Fund Financial Aid Child Development $33,566,790 $9,324,389 $8,196,756 $8,965,259 $471,014 outlay has. But she does admit that there is more money this year than last. “There hasn’t been any true money for instruc¬ tion over the past few years. A few years ago, we didn’t have anything,” she said. “It’s nice to have some money for a change, but there could never be enough.” Of the $137 million budget, $33 million is designated for capital out¬ lay projects. Among the major projects planned for the coming year are the new physical education fa¬ cilities and the renovation of the D building that is currently underway . Fleeman hinted that a “second mas¬ ter plan” may be taking shape to further improve various campus buildings. Aside from the $33 million for campus improvements, special projects will receive $9.5 million and financial aid is slated to get $9 million. The biggest amount of cash will go into the unrestricted general fund. Everything from instructors salaries to the college’s utilities will be paid for by the $74 million. The budget has yet to be officially approved by the board of trustees, but Fleeman is positive that it will be. A presentation was made to the board at a meeting last night, but the results of that meeting were not avail¬ able at press time. Shatford to step down from board ■The long time trustee has decided not to run for re-election this fall. By JULIET LEYBA Courier Staff Writer This year, the Pasadena City Col¬ lege Board of Trustees will undergo a major changing of the guard as Walter Shatford II steps down from his position as the district three rep¬ resentative. Shatford has been involved with the school system in Pasadena for more than 40 years and has been on the college's Board of Trustees since its inception 3 1 years ago. With his retirement this year, the board will lose its last active founding member. Shatford originally got involved with education in Pasadena after World War II when he ran for a position on the Common Governing Board. At that time the college was governed by the same board as the Pasadena Unified School District. He ran with two other friends under the campaign slogan, “It Takes Three.” Their message informed voters that the board consisted of five members and a 3-2 vote was passing. All three wonpositions and thus Shatford began his life-long dedication to providing good public schools for not only his four children but all children in Pasadena. As the city grew, it became in¬ creasing clear that a Common Gov¬ erning Board could not satisfy the unique needs of Pasadena City Col¬ lege. A separate Board of Trustees was formed in 1966. Shatford ran and won and has been serving on the board every since. During his tenure, Shatford be¬ lieves his greatest achievement was “establishing a policy that has al¬ lowed The Courier to remain free of censorship by the Board of Trust¬ ees.” At the time the newspaper was being established, there was much debate on the board regarding cen¬ sorship. Shatford took the position that the student operated newspaper should be free of interference. Shat- Tord said he “was sure that the board came to the right, conclusion and feels fortunate that The Courier has not been involved in too many riot¬ ous situations.” Shatford has always been consid¬ ered the “voice of fairness” on the Board and has championed the civil rights movement by trying to protect the rights of all people. PCC Presi¬ dent James Kossler , said “Shatford is well liked and respected by the administration, staff and commu¬ nity.” The board and college hold Shatford in great esteem and have expressed its thanks by naming the new library after him. This was a decision that was unanimously ap¬ proved by the Board, administration and the community. Shatford has lived with his wife in the Pasadena house where she was raised for more than 40 years. With a suc¬ cessful pro¬ bate and es¬ crow plan¬ ning law practice in Temple City, Shat¬ ford could have easily _ moved from his lower middle class neigh¬ borhood into a more upscale area in Pasadena. However he said good relations with his constituents and overall contentment with his home and neighbors are his reasons for not moving. With Shatford stepping down, his long time friend and supporter, Luther Renfroe, will be running for his seat. Renfroe is running unop¬ posed and Shatford as well as the majority of constituents in District 3 support him wholeheartedly said Kossler. “Renfroe will make a good addi¬ tion to the board,” said Shatford. Renfroe may be the first minority to ever serve on the Board of Trustees. “Having the first minority on the board is something that needed to Please see Shatford, page "Shatford is well liked and re¬ spected by the administration, staff and commu¬ nity." Dr. James Kossler, PCC President AS board approves new funding policy ■The policy was created to eliminate the confusion when going to the Associated Students for financial support. By DANIEL ARCHULETA Courier Staff Writer To ease confusion and give stu¬ dents guidelines to refer to when approaching student government for financial support, a funding policy proposal was approved by the Asso¬ ciated Students. “It’s somethingthat hasbeen done for a few years; we just never made it official,” said AS president, Aaron Schaefer. He added that the newly approved policy 200 will assist the board with keeping “tabs” on what isbeing allo¬ cated to various entities around cam¬ pus. “It’s just a safeguard," Schaefer said The policy states that all parties interested in acquiring funding over $299.99 must submit their requests at least 72 hours prior to a regular meeting, or 24 hours before a special meeting. This procedure can be followed at any time during the year. All students are allowed to solicit help from the board for special projects. All such requests must state how the money will be used in addition to an outlined budget. Passage is con¬ tingent on a majority vote of the executive board. Procedures for funding campus clubs will remain unaffected by this decision. Vanessa Schulz, Inter Club Coun¬ cil president, made clear that, “ICC funding is handled a totally different way.” She said that clubs must first pro¬ duce a funding proposal. Proposals are then reviewed by the AS finance committee. Approval hinges on their decision. Shaefer is chair of the committee that includes Michael Gorzynski, coordinator of external affairs and Yusef Robb, student trustee. ICC members will have funds made available to them by Septem¬ ber 19. Schaefer said that the committee will take similar action with other often used, but never documented procedures. Parking, the source of hassles ■Although Campus Police reported multiple parking lot accidents, no injuries occurred. By FELICIENNE BROWN Courier Staff Writer Parking for PCC students on the first and second day of the fall semester caused several fender benders according to Ricardo De La Torrepolice cadet. No injuries were reported. “ Students coming in and out of the structure not utilizing the stop sign caused minor accidents,” said De La Torre. Police blocked all the parking lots to avoid further accidents, leaving students driving around 45 minutes searching in vain for a space, said Safety Police Officer Leilani Frost. Police reported other colli¬ sions in lot four and also one in lot two. Jennifer Finnie complained SCOTT BODE / THE COURIER Congestion made campus parking lots appear as if there was no beginning and end to the cars. "We have reached parking equilibrium at our second week. Normally we don't reach that until mid-semester. " Philip Mullendore, Chief of Campus Police that the parking lots had been blocked; she drove around for ap¬ proximately 50 minutes attempting to find a spot. Finnie finally found a parking space. After driving around the parking lots for at least 30 minutes, Janell Alexander decided to park in the lot of a local business. Returning to the lot where her car was parked two hours later she found it had been towed away. These were just a few of the situations that were identified as troublesome. Campus Police Chief Philip Mullendore stated this year's parking has been smoother than previous years. Mullendore said, "We have reached parking equilibrium at our second week. Normally we don’t reach that until mid semester." Mullendore maintains there are approximately 100 more park¬ ing spaces than last year. He said there havn't been any requests for refunds thus far.