PCC Courier, September 21, 1979

SEPTEMBER 21 , 1979 PASADENA CITY COLLEGE, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA VOL. 48, NO. 5 - Coleman a 'No-Show' at Resignation Fails to Attend AS В Executive Board ‘A WASTE OF TIME’ So said Sophomore Class President Bobbi Villalobos as the ASB Executive Board convened twice in one day only to approve the minutes of its previous meeting. Courier photo by Dave Clarke Executive Board members were left wondering yesterday when ASB Presi¬ dent Derek Coleman failed to make an appearance at the semester’s second meeting. Coleman had told the Courier (see related article) earlier this week that he planned to tender his resignation at- the meeting, but he showed up just long enough to tell the board he would “be back in a minute.” Coleman never retur¬ ned. The 11 a.m. meeting ended at noon, was reconvened at 1 p.m. and ended at 1:30 without Coleman making his promised reappearance. Courier reporters finally located the ASB president in the office of Dr. Bonnie JameSi director of financial services. Coleman’s only comment about the day’s events was that “I had things to do.” Waiting for Coleman’s return, the Ex¬ ecutive Board was unable to finish any of the scheduled items on the agenda, in¬ cluding a discussion about the new ASB Rise in EnrollmentWill Not Result in increased Funding for This Year By Laura Carlos Staff Writer The rise in enrollment figures for this semester will not necessarily re¬ sult in increased college funding from local taxes and the state of California. “You gain enrollment but lose ADA (Average Daily Attendance),” said Dr. Bonnie James, vice president of busi¬ ness services. This year’s funding will be based on ADA, an appropriations formula based on productivity. Funding under this formula is determined on the amount of units a student carries and the number of hours he attends classes. A census is taken in October and Novem¬ ber for ADA determination purposes. During this period the amount of week-, ly contact hours spent between student and teacher is “translated” into ADA. “A student who carries 15 units for each semester is equaled to one ADA,” Dr. James said, “liiat ADA is worth a certain amount of money to each com¬ munity college.” The formula is also computed with the theory of an expected nine percent absence factor. “The assumption is that a student is not going to attend every hour of every day,” said Dr. James. Non-credit courses and courses less than a semester are equaled to one ADA per 525 hours that the student attends. “We don’t use census weeks on non-credit classes and courses less than a semester. They go by one ADA per 525 hours,” said Dr. Irvine Lewis, vice president of student personnel services. The state guarantees a four percent floor which the college has to gain or “break” before obtaining additional revenue. “We have to pass the level of 2,200 ADA before this college can re¬ alize additional revenue,” said Dr. James. Previous ADA years are used to determine the present year’s expected revenues. The payments are spread out during the course of the year. At the end of the year the sum financed by the state for spending purposes is recon¬ ciled against the present ADA. “They withhold the last payment to the dis¬ trict until reconciliation between what they paid you in the beginning of the year and what you really have coming is made,” said Dr. James. Prior to this year, in 1978-79, PCC was on a block funding formula which granted the college only 85 percent, less than possibly expected, of its previous ADA year income. “The rea¬ son the legislature changed the ap¬ propriation formula was financial un¬ certainty resulting from Proposition 13,” Dr. James said. “They were trying to protect drainage on the state fund. They couldn’t guarantee more than they could give.” Consequently many of the non-credit courses were either dropped or con¬ verted to community service fee which caused a major drop in ADA. “We cut certain courses because the state said it would not give ADA credit for them. “The district provided no revenue for the classes and, we didn’t have any revenue here,” said Dr. James. Avoids $2.5 Million Cut FAO Breathes Sigh of Relief By Derek Andrade Associate Sports Editor Financial Aid Director Gene Miller can breathe a sigh of relief now that her department’s budget remains in¬ tact following an attempt by some Board of Trustees’ members to delete the student cost center’s account for student grants. Their proposal was voted down, 4-3, at the August 27 Board meeting. Had the vote been to delete the funds, it would have resulted in a direct loss of $2.5 million in total funds and an estimated 2,100 PCC students, roughly T&R Queen Tryouts To A ttract 800 Coeds By Dan Hutson Editor-in-Chief More than 800 Pasadena-area coeds are expected to attend first round tryouts for the Tournament of Roses’ 1979-80 Royal Court tomorrow at Wrigley Gardens.in Pasadena. The tryouts, 9 a.m. -noon and 1-5 p.m., will be held at Tournament House, 391 South Orange Grove Blvd. Judges will look for poise, person¬ ality, appearance and other at¬ tributes, scoring contestants on a basis of one to four points. Those with the highest scores will be invited by mail to return to the quarterfinal judging to be held September 29. After a series of four judgings, the seven princesses of the Court will be announced from the front steps of Tournament House October 15 at 9 a.m. The 61st Rose Queen is then named at 9:30 a.m. on October 23. A Coronation Luncheon follows the an¬ nouncement at noon. To be eligible for competition, a contestant must be at least a senior in high school, enrolled in any ac¬ credited school or college in the Pasadena Area Community College District and a resident of the district. She must have at least a 2.0 GPA in the current and previous year’s work and be enrolled full time (12 units) in a qualifying school. Contestants must be single and at least 17 years old by December 1, 1979, and not more than 21 until after January 1, 1980. For those unable to attend tomor¬ row, a second session is scheduled September 24, 3-5 p.m. Last year, 832 coeds tried out for the Royal Court, a number then re¬ duced to 25. 80 percent of the financial aid reci¬ pients. Such a move would have cut off student grants completely. According to Mrs. Miller, a loss of so many students would have resulted in major clerical, teacher, counselor and administrative cutbacks. “It was a close call,” said Mrs. Miller. “If the government grants had been cut, the financial aid program would have been killed. “Our program is about $2.5 million in combined federal, state, private and institutional funds. And of that, more than $2 million is federal money.” The motion would have deleted the student grant programs which include Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant and some nursing grants, ac¬ cording to Mrs. Miller. Under federal regulations, the BEOG is the foundation of the program and every financial aid applicant must apply for it and receive it before they can be eligible for any other financial award. “So if we were to drop from the (federally funded) BEOG program, in essence, we would have to drop from all financial aid programs,” said Mrs. Miller. Because the Board questioned the management of the financial aid pro¬ grams, Mrs. Miller feels that this is a “red flag” to her and her staff. “It says, ‘Hey, you’re not doing your job,’ and I think that we are not only doing it, but I think that we are doing it extra well,” she said. “And the only way that we can make that known to the Board is to have Board members bring their questions to us. “I think this problem stems from a lack of understanding of the financial aid program operations. I feel a lack of confidence in our management and I don’t like it. “My personal philosophy is an old Indian saying— Do not judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins. And I would hope that the Board members would come and walk in my moccasins, too, before they make a judgement that maybe we are not managing the programs right,” Mrs. Miller continued. “The majority of the Board apparently feels we are doing OK or their vote wouldn’t have been 4-3. At one of the recent Board meetings, Mr. Shatford made a very, very articulate defense of the purposes (Continued on Page 6) KPCS May Soon Change Name to KPCC By Gary Klein and Elizabeth Shunk Staff Writers In a move to continue the ongoing facelift of Pasadena City College, KPCS (89.3 FM) may soon become known as KPCC. The award-winning radio station, lo¬ cated on campus, has filed for a change in its call letters and is awaiting word from the Federal Communications Commission. The filing procedure is basically a two-step process, according to KPCS program director Larry Shirk. “Letters of our intentions must be sent to all radio and television stations within a 35 mile radius of the campus. If all the responses are positive we can then petition the FCC.” The FCC must then okay the change. “We’re very hopeful and we’re projecting the changeover to KPCC in either November or December,” said Shirk. In addition to the call letters change, the station is considering a move of its transmitter. Presently located on the bottom floor of the C Building, the transmitter may soon sit atop either Flint Peak or Mt. Wilson. According to Shirk, putting the transmitter up in the mountains will, “help eliminate some of the shadowed areas where our signal is difficult to pick up.” The move would also enable the station’s signal to be heard in the San Fernando Valley and increase the potential audience to an estimated six million listeners. - KPCS will broadcast the National Public Radio program "Ask the Presi¬ dent” Saturday, Oct. 13, 9 a.m.-ll a.m. President Jimmy Carter has agreed to participate in the national telephone program which will give listeners across the country an opportunity to question the president on any subject. NPR’s Susan Stamberg will host the budget and financial applications. Dur¬ ing the two hours of the board meeting, the only thing accomplished was the ap¬ proval of the previous meeting’s minutes. Phyllis Jackson, dean of student ac¬ tivities, announced another meeting will probably be held today. Coleman’s absence prevented the board from any action on the budget. Until the budget is approved, no money may be spent by ASB. “This meeting was nothing but a waste of time,” said Sophomore Class Presi¬ dent Bobbi Villalobos. “It looks like they’re playing the same games they played last semester. “Derek may have had things to do and important decisions to make, but he could have had m'ore consideration for those who did attend. There were about 15 people at the first meeting and only seven after lunch. No wonder students aren’t getting involved in student govern¬ ment.” Last semester, fighting between the ASB and Student Senate held up the budget until it was finally approved March 29. The ASB funds had been frozen since March 9 by the senate due to questions concerning ASB handling of their accounts. Last Tuesday, Coleman told the Courier he was planning to resign because he was “sick and tired” of the constant bickering between the Executive Board and the Student Senate. At the Board of Trustees meeting Aug. 2, Coleman was forced to resign his posi¬ tion as student trustee because his grades had dropped below the required 2.5 GPA. He announced, however, that he would continue as ASB president. Coleman’s resignation set off board discussion on the provisions for a successor. According to the current policy, the ASB president is supposed to fill the spot. Derek Coleman Coleman: Q&A By Dan Hutson Editor-in-Chief ASB President Derek Coleman planned to resign from office yesterday at a meeting of the executive board. We interviewed Coleman in the Courier news¬ room this week. Why did you plan to resign as ASB president? Well, a lot of reasons, really. I could see where student government was heading, and it wasn’t a job I could be satisfied with. So I decided that the best thing I could do was to get out. In terms of conflict, we really couldn’t get anything done. I wanted to build up student government here, and I wanted build PCC a name for breeding officers for state offices. I think we made a good step in that area— at the state convention— but it’s too late for me to get involved at that level. What do you think has been the cause of conflict within student government? Well, I think the root of the problem is that I have held the highest leadership positions for three semesters, including student trustee. Frus¬ tration in other students builds and we have problems, so I either kick everyone else out or I get out. What plans do you have in regard to extra-curricular activity? Pending approval, I’d like to chair the Homecoming committee and work on special projects. I also want to work with the ASB Scholarship Fund. We raised about $600 last semester, but then it was put into the generai fund, which can’t be used for scholarships, so that money’s gone. Do you plan to run for any office in the future? I don’t think so. At least not as president. I’d like to be publicity or elections commissioner, but not student trustee. What changes would you like to see in student government this year? ASB’s credibility needs to be improved. I don’t think the administration, faculty or the Board of Trustees know what student government is all about. The students need real support from the administration. The faculty has always been supportive, I think; they’ve always felt that we should be heard. I think that as long as we’re students, we won’t be taken seriously. The ASB Constitution has been amended so many times that it’s time to write a new one. Right now it’s a mess, and they’ve got more amendments to be voted on this semester. I’d like to see more representation of PCC at the state level, but first they’re going to have to straighten things out at this level. We came out at the end of last spring about $2,000-$2,500 short due to the Concert we sponsored, and the fact that our revenue from the bookstore was down. It’s not my problem any more. I’m sick and tired of all the fighting. program broadcast from the Oval Of¬ fice, moderating the discussion. This is the second time the president has appeared on a national telephone pro¬ gram. NPR listeners who wish to partici¬ pate are asked to send a postcard with name, address and telephone number to: Ask the President, P.O. Box 19369, Washington, DC. During the program NPR personnel will select cards at random and place a call to the listener. NPR will not “screen” questions in any way. According to program director Larry Shirk, active participation by students and the community might let the president know the viewpoint of groups he doesn’t ordinarily hear from. KPCS will also provide a special half-hour analysis program following the show. NPR’s Linda Wertheimer will host a discussion focusing on the major issues raised. PINE CREST FIRE — Ablaze since last week, the stubborn Pine Crest Fire above Altadena has burned nearly 5,000 acres of brush land. Much of Southern California was covered by its ashes that spread as far south as Huntington Beach. Besides dirtying automobiles and getting in the eyes of motorcyclists, a thick covering of ash on the tennis courts forced the cancellation of tennis classes on campus earlier this week. — Courier photo by Judith Gordon