PCC Courier, September 12, 2006

The Only Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915 Volume 94, Issue 5 omen’s So may face ea season end i pcc-courieronline.com . 1 I Ш m I Я 1» ill Ш И ШШШш III i f I 1 74 " „A «a i Planet Pluto? Michael Brown explains why it isn’t any more. *See page 3 Pasadena City # Colleqe The Getty Displays the Work of Early 1900s Futurist Poets Five Women’s Sports Teams With No Female Head Coach in Sight Jessica Chou / Courier Happier times for Grace Apiafi was when she was the head coach of the women's cross country team at PCC, but that was then. Don Martirez Editor-In-Chief The abrupt exit of Grace Api¬ afi as head coach of the women’s cross-country team has raised concern over the balance of gen¬ der leadership, representation and seniority within the athletic department and throughout PCC. Despite the recent successes by PCC athletic teams, the consoli¬ dation of the cross country head coaching job has created one sin¬ gle controversy- there are no women holding head coaching positions for any fall sports, and only one female is scheduled to hold a head coaching position during the spring semester. Out of the nine fall athletic programs; five of those teams are for women, none have female leadership. The athletic program lost two experienced and winning female head coaches after they both decided to retire within the last year. Sandi Iverson, retired from coaching after 27 years of consis¬ tently winning games as head coach of the softball team and Bonnie Lee retired from coach¬ ing the women’s badminton team after seven seasons; and produc¬ ing five South Coast Conference titles. Up until her removal, Apiafi led the coaches with the most seniority (15 years) after Iverson and Lee retired. “My removal was handed to me by the president; I came to ask him why I was let go, but he could give me no real answer,” Apiafi said. Dr. James Kossler, PCC presi¬ dent stated, “We didn’t let her go, she had the opportunity to stay in the cross country program as assistant head coach, but she refused it.” Rob Foster is the СТА griev¬ ance officer representing Apiafi and he said, “She was removed from her coaching position with¬ out receiving a negative evalua¬ tion, and she did not receive ade¬ quate notice in advance that she was going to be removed.” “My client is looking to be reinstated and to be compensated for the loss in pay during the time she was not coaching,” said Fos¬ ter. Apiafi chose not to demote herself but had to quickly adjust her schedule and teach more classes so that she could maintain her income. Apiafi was coach of the women’s cross country team for 15 years. She was a member of the 1988 Olympic team and she brought a lot of experience to her coaching position. Apiafi continues to intruct stu¬ dents in her indoor cycling class and body building course. “She was more qualified and had greater seniority than the man who took her job, it was an unfair process,” Foster said. Jesse Gomez, who was recent¬ ly inducted into the PCC Sports Hall of Fame and has been a head coach at PCC for over 13 years, will take charge over both the men’s and women’s cross¬ country teams. “Coaching is coaching, whether it’s by a man or a woman it’s not anything new. No one asked me to coach; I was assigned, I’m a coach and that’s what I do- I work for the better¬ ment of the program,” said Gomez. Athletic Director Skip Robin¬ son could make no comment regarding Apiafi’s case; the issue is pending litigation and the par¬ ties involved plan to withhold further comments until after the outcome of the investigation. Although PCC may not be vio¬ lating any laws that prevent a state funded institution from maintaining an all male coaching staff, Foster believes the college is out of line by not having any female head coaches. “We’re supposed to be spend¬ ing the same amount of money for male and female athletic pro¬ grams, even though we have more female sports programs than males; the majority of the focus is taken away from non rev¬ enue sports and placed on sports like football. This should take us out of compliance with title IX,” says Foster. Title IX is a 1972 education law that makes it illegal for any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assis¬ tance to discriminate, deny, or exclude students on the basis of sex. Apiafi plans to persue her grievance and return to coaching for PCC. I I I | I S j I j j ) | I I Enrollment Fees To Fall in Spring Stacey Wang Staff Writer Enrollment fees at PCC will be reduced from $26 a unit to $20 a unit starting in the spring semester. However, there is a chance the lower fees may drop in time for the winter intersession at PCC. All other Cali¬ fornia community colleges will also reduce their fees starting on or after Jan 1, 2007. The early provisions of Assembly Bill 1802 were originally addressed to lower fees for the official spring term of 2007. The recently amended section 76300 of the California Education Code granted the Cali¬ fornia community college districts authority to apply the altered cost for intercessions starting on or after Jan. 1, 2007. Illustration Kris Calnon /Courier The administration has not deter¬ mined if PCC will apply the modi¬ fied amount for the winter interses¬ sion. The administration is leaning toward starting the new fee rate sooner than spring so as not to dis¬ rupt enrollment and class schedul¬ ing for winter. If the new enrollment fees are not effective until spring, most students may opt to wait until then to take classes at the decreased Continued on page 2 Public Safety Means More Than Just Cops Stacey Wang Staff Writer The recent shootings at Dawson College in Montreal and Duquesne University in Pennsylvania raise a question of safety at PCC. Some stu¬ dents and staff can’t help but won¬ der how safe they really are on cam¬ pus. “With regards to the day-to-day business, we are extremely safe,” said Chief of Police Peter Michael. However, the department is short handed right now and is looking to hire more officers and cadets. Currently, there are three patrol officers, a detective, a lieutenant and the chief covering the main campus, the CDC and the CEC. There are also 66 cadets employed to patrol the campus and parking lots. Since the budget only allows for eight offi¬ cers, the department heavily relies on cadets to deter crime, Michael said. According to the crime statistics on the PCC website, within the last three years (excluding 2006) there were 1,022 crimes that occurred on campus. Of that number there were 1 14 burglaries, 46 assaults, three arsons, two rapes, and two rob¬ beries. The majority of the crimes on campus have been petty thefts because most students left their per¬ sonal belongings unattended. Even though minor crimes like petty theft happen more frequently than more serious crimes, several Continued on Page 3 POUCE BLOTTER Sept. 14 There were four reported thefts on Thursday. A student reported his wallet stolen from the CC Building and two backpacks were reported stolen from the V Build¬ ing. Another victim’s purse was stolen from a sewing station cubi¬ cle in R Building after she left it unattended. One victim witnessed another student vandalizing his car in Lot 4. Sept. 17 A student’s stereo equipment was stolen from his Honda Accord after parking it in Lot 4 overnight. The student was participating in a basketball tournament off campus when the theft occurred. A car was reported missing from Lot 5 after the owner’s backpack and car keys were stolen. Sept. 18 A student's white Honda Accord was stolen from Lot 5, level 4. The car reappeared on Lot 5. level 5 with the stereo equipment and ignition missing. An attempted carjacking was also reported when the victim found a screwdriver in the ignition of his white Honda Accord. Sept. 19 A victim’s wallet and Ipod were stolen from a storage room under the stadium in the GM Building. The wallet was eventually recov¬ ered, but the Ipod was not. A back¬ pack and car keys were stolen from the men’s weight room in the GM Building as well. A male driving a black Honda Accord threatened to shoot tele¬ phone company worker and anoth¬ er driver in Lot 2 on Green Street and Hill Avenue. The suspect was in his early 20s with short black hair. He is around 5’7” to 5'9” and has a tattoo on his left arm.