Soccer
Men's
team loses
Page
8»
Pasadena City College
Online edition
pccCourier.com
Facebook
PCC Courier
Twitter
@pccCourier
Volume 106, Issue 4
The independent student voice of PCC. Serving Pasadena Since 1915.
September 20, 2012
Getting ready to transfer
Above, students gather
around the USC booth
to gather information
on transfering at
University day in the
Quad on Sept. 1 7.
Right, eager students
crowd the booths ready
to get information on
the colleges they hope
to trasnsfer to.
Photos by
Alexis Villanueva
/
Courier
Survey shows most colleges in distress
Raymond Bernal
Staff Writer
Community colleges respond¬
ing to a survey conducted by the
California Community Colleges
Chancellor's Office paint a picture
of drastic financial distress
throughout the Golden State.
Of the 78 colleges responding to
the survey, 85 percent indicate that
over 472,000 students were on
waiting lists, with an average of
over 7,000 students per college on
a waiting list.
Sixty-four of the responding col¬
leges say they will not offer winter
session in the 2012-13 academic
year and 13 colleges will cancel
summer session in 2013.
There are 112 community col¬
leges in California making it the
nation's largest community college
system.
Community Colleges
Chancellor Jack Scott, former PCC
president, was pessimistic in an
interview on Sept. 11.
"If PCC doesn't cut classes the
Speak out!
If the election was
held today, who
would you vote for?
vote at
pccCourier.com
college will go bankrupt," he said.
"The state won't give the college
significant [additional] money, but
if we don't train our students now
California won't have the work
force it needs in the future?"
Reduction of staff has occurred
at 87 percent of the colleges in the
survey, with 21 percent being the
average staff reduction per college.
Part-time faculty cuts were made
at 75 percent of responding col¬
leges.
PCC student Sneferu Hines,
communications, said he's wor¬
ried. "With all these cuts students
will not be able to finish their edu¬
cation and life will become a strug¬
gle," he said. "Students dreams
and aspirations won't happen."
In the midst of drastic budget
cuts, President Mark Rocha was
more optimistic.
"One of the concerns is that the
students are scared, but shouldn't
drop-out. Don't give up hope," he
said.
"All students currently enrolled
will be able to get their classes.
All aboard!
Students 'tap it' with
discount transit passes
Page
2»
Two sessions
planned for
summer term
Twelve week semester set to begin May 1 3
Nicholas Saul
Editor-in-Chief
Two sessions will now be
offered for the upcoming 2013
summer semester. Senior Vice
President and Assistant
Superintendent of Academic and
Student Affairs Robert Bell con¬
firmed that the summer term
will be twelve weeks long in
which it will be split into two six-
week sessions — the first one
starting on May 13, and the sec¬
ond on June 24.
"This will allow for classes to
be scheduled that will be either
eight weeks or twelve weeks in
duration," Bell said in an e-mail.
The two-session summer
semester was ” initially
announced in a press release in
faculty/ staff mailboxes, and in
an advertisement published in
last week's issue of the Courier.
This is a stark contrast to what
was previously said by President
Mark Rocha who initially said
that despite the cancellation of
winter, there would be no guar¬
antee that there would be a two-
session summer semester, or that
there would even be classes at
all.
Continued on page 7
Students from afar
forced to adapt
Maybe not right away but they
will get the classes they need for
their programs," Rocha said.
Both Scott and Rocha said they
hope that Proposition 30 - a ballot
measure on the November ballot
authorizing temporary tax increas¬
es - passes.
"We will get some of this fund¬
ing back if Proposition 30 passes"
Rocha said.
Jason Carman, geology, is look¬
ing at alternatives "Some of my
friends are thinking of transferring
to a private college," he said. "It
might be more expensive but at-
least they'll have their classes.
Many are just so frustrated and are
giving up on PCC."
The budget cuts affect almost
everyone on campus. Facility
maintenance worker Jose Barreto
expressed concern for his job and
said in Spanish
"The students education comes
first, as it should, and I'll leave my
job in God's hands."
Teresa Mendoza
Staff Writer
A late spring session will be
scheduled to accommodate inter¬
national students who had made
arrangements to travel or work
during the eliminated winter ses¬
sion, officials said.
Vice President of Instruction
Robert Bell explained that 12-week
classes will be offered during the
Spring semester allowing
International students to enroll in
12 units or more.
These classes will begin in mid-
February and conclude along with
other classes at the end of the
semester in May
Faye Luo, fashion, had planned
to travel home during the winter
session and decided to work
around the new calendar.
"I want to travel to Taiwan so I
have to start school late [in] spring
session," said Lou.
The Office of Instruction has
received numerous emails from
international students with con¬
cerns about enrolling in classes for
the coming spring semester since
they had made arrangements to
travel out of the country during
what would have been the winter
session, according to Bell.
"The [12-week] class sessions
Black arts
Film class looks
back on classic
noir-style movies
Page
6»
will be offered in the same manner
as Spring Forward classes in the
2012 Spring semester," he said.
International students have
their classes guaranteed so they
never have problems with their
travel, according to the Assistant
Director of International Students
Amy Yan.
In addition, priority registration
will be available to international
students for these classes accord¬
ing to Bell.
Art major Eduardo Remis, from
Mexico, said that the new calendar
is more convenient because he can
now graduate after the summer
session.
"I may have needed the winter
[session], but it is basically the
same because now we have two
summer sessions," Remis said.
A majority of international stu¬
dents like Rachel Xiao Tong Wang
psychology, found out last week
about the change in the academic
calendar and realized she would
not be traveling home to China.
"There is not enough time to trav¬
el," said Wang.