their
it
Eva Rubm/Couner
Debra Butterfield designed this wooden horse that stands in the southern end of the
sculpture garden. It was donated through the PCC Foundation by Alexander and Adelaide
Hixon. The Hixons also donated money for two more sculptures.
Entertainment:
Electroclash invades
the Troubadour
Jaime Castaneda/Courier
Two students defying the new 20-foot smoking policy in front of the CC
building yesterday afternoon. Currently there is no penalty if you get caught.
Foreign Students Need to
Carry Documentation
Ina Siem
Staff Writer
International students who have
not picked up their new 1-20 form
must do so as soon as possible. The I-
20 is an immigration document that
all international students receive
from schools in order to enter and
re-enter the United States.
The updated information which
has been sent to the Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS) has
been available since Aug. 1.
"The law says that the student
has to have possession of this docu¬
ment," said Barbara Griffith, inter¬
national student adviser.
Griffith said that over 150 l-20s
still remain in the folders in the
office waiting for the students to
pick them up.
"We put signs in the counseling
office, announced it in the interna¬
tional student's club meetings, and
so on, but we still haven't contacted
many of them yet" said Griffith.
Since the beginning of the fall
semester, the INS has been paying
closer attention to the records of
foreign students, through the
Students and Exchange Visitors
Information System (SEVIS). This
internet-based tracker collects and
updates information about foreign
students in real-time periods.
After the
9/11
attacks, the INS
needed to update its information on
international students, because they
realized that the old monitoring sys¬
tem was not efficient.
A few of the hijackers entered
the United States with student visas
but they never showed up for
classes. Now the INS, trough the
SEVIS, can get information on every
single international student
instantly.
For this reason, the international
student office works everyday to
update information about students.
Griffith also stressed that stu¬
dents need to report any change of
personal information within 10
days, including address and tele¬
phone numbers.
The INS has access to only part of
the international student's record.
Every night the INS, through the
SEVIS, can update changed informa¬
tion done by the international stu¬
dent office. Griffith said clearly that,
"We only give [to the SEVIS] the
information requested by law."
The SEVIS also requests informa¬
tion by using the "Alert Screen."
This is a list of students whose data
needs to be updated or reorgan¬
ized. The categories on this list
range from students whose visa or I-
20 is about to expire, to students
preparing to transfer.
"The SEVIS lets us know what
information needs to be updated, so
we either provide them the infor¬
mation if it is in our records, or we
contact the student to get the infor¬
mation" said Griffith.
The International Student Office
is meeting all the deadlines that the
SEVIS is requesting, according to
Griffith. The next deadline that this
office faces is 30 days from the last
day to add and/or drop classes.
PCC has to turn in enrollment
and attendance data showing regis¬
tered classes of the international
students to the INS.
for recruitment and retention.
Naeem is now responsible for
overseeing the day-to-day opera¬
tion of the CEC, including supervis¬
ing the classified staff.
A former executive director of
the Pasadena chapter of the Urban
League, Naeem has been active in
the local community for many
years.
He hopes to raise the visibility of
the CEC among the college popula¬
tion.
"We're often the overlooked
step-child of the district," Naeem
said. "I want to make sure our stu¬
dents don't feel separated and
apart from the rest of the PCC com¬
munity."
Sports:
The winning
streak comes to
an end
Terrance Parker
Copy Editor
A new supervisor of Community
Education Center operations was
hired by the PCC board of trustees
at its Sept. 17 meeting.
Voting 4-3, the trustees chose
Ibrahim Naeem as the new second-
in-command under Dr. James
Crayton, CEC division dean.
Undeterred by the closeness of
the vote, Naeem was eagerly at
work the next morning
Over the past three years
Naeem has served part time in var¬
ious capacities at the CEC.
Most recently he worked on a
Partnership for Excellence project
Marijuana
makes everything
better
Naeem
Feature:
Aimee Ramos
Staff Writer
When new and returning PCC students
arrived this semester, they were greeted
with this message posted on signs
throughout the campus.
The policy it represents is meant to
keep smoke from drifting into campus
offices and classrooms.
The signs, and the policy, have sparked
various reactions from PCC students.
Some students are happy about the
new policy and are pleased about the
reduction of smokers near buildings.
Other students wish the policy would
be enforced more strictly. “
The non-smokers rights are being vio¬
lated. They can't help but breathe the air
around them," said student Joandrea
Noguera. "I'm totally for it and I think it
should be enforced.
Then there are the smokers. Certainly
there are smokers complying with the
new policy, yet it is not unusual to still see
someone smoking a cigarette next to a
campus building.
Some feel that because they are out¬
side they should be allowed to smoke any¬
where.
The fact that many tables and ashtrays
are located closer than 20 feet from the
campus buildings is another concern.
REMINDER:
"I'm not going to stand over there in
the middle of the quad and smoke. It's hot
over there," said Konstantin Stepanyan,
psychology major.
Bradley Young, PCC police supervisor,
said that he understands why smokers
may be closer to buildings than 20 feet if
tables and ashtrays are placed within that
space.
"In my opin¬
ion, we're not
logistically set up
for the 20 foot
rule for all build¬
ings. That's why
you are going to
see the violations
that you do,"
said Young.
Young said that he intends to reevalu¬
ate where the ashtrays are located on
campus. Students are not the only ones
affected by this policy.
Professor Charles Harrington disagrees
with the policy. "I think its over-regula¬
tion. I'm sure there are more of us than
there are non-smokers. Some laws, poli¬
cies and regulations like that are for the
benefit of very few."
Harrington still plans to smoke on cam¬
pus, but he's not worried.
He believes the policy will be difficult
College policy prohibits
outdoor smoking within 20
feet of the outside perimeter
of any building.
to enforce. So how is this policy being
enforced? Young said that for now, the
campus police are focusing on educating
the public and letting them become
aware of the policy.
"It is relatively new. So keep in mind
for returning students, we didn't have this
policy last year. They didn't know about it.
The new students
never knew about
it."
There is currently
no penalty if you
get caught smoking
within 20 feet from
a campus building.
But that could
change. Young cites
the authority of the
district to take disciplinary action against
students as outlined in the student hand¬
book.
Although jail time may not be likely,
there could be some real consequences
for violating the ban on smoking in the
future.
"We could get to the point where we
could start issuing written
warnings, citations, that type of
thing," said Young.
There is no
official grace
See page
Policy Pushes Smokers Back 20 Feet
Police hope to educate students with warnings
New CEC Supervisor Takes Office
Phony Letter Fires Up Student Outrage
Mitchell Wright
Editor-in-Chief
A phony letter designed to stir
up problems between MEChA
and campus police circulated
around campus this week draw¬
ing attention back to the rift
between the students involved in
a demonstration last semester
and campus police.
The letter signed by Police
Chief Philip Mullendore and Lt.
Bradley Young, said "We knew
that your kind of people would
never follow through. Next time
you feel like making unsubstanti¬
ated claims please include us. We
would not mind another paid
vacation!"
Students were upset and
demanded to know why police
would write such a mocking let¬
ter.
The letter, however, was circu¬
lated by someone other than
Mullendore and Young.
"We didn't write that letter,"
said Young.
The incident recalled the clash
between demonstrators and
police on March 20 when stu¬
dents alleged they were brutal¬
ized by campus police.
The campus has so far spent
$145,000 to get to the bottom of
that incident, Dr. James Kossler,
college president, said.
Mullendore and Young were
escorted off campus on May 21
when private investigator Larry
Malmberg and Dr. Fran Newman,
his assistant, began interviewing
eyewitnesses.
Their paid leave stretched into
three months as the investigators
questioned students and staff
who had knowledge of the inci¬
dent.
The two officers returned to
campus for the start of the semes¬
ter, but they still don't know the
outcome of the investigation.
"We were not even informed
of the allegations against us for
months until we were inter¬
viewed by Malmberg," said
Young. "We had no idea what the
allegations were."
Young and Mullendore are still
in the dark about what is actually
happening with the final report.
It has now moved on to
Gabriel Gutierrez, retired
Los Angeles Superior
Court judge.
Gutierrez is See page