PCC Courier, September 26, 2002

Altar of the Body See page 6 Yee-haw, check out the fair See page 5 Men’s soccer still unbeaten See page 7 s A D I N A c С O L E G Ё Courier Since 1915 VOL. 88 NO. 5 www.pcc-courieronline.com ШШШЖ Book Title Architecture -Form, Space & Order Dimension of Human Sexautity Hands In Clay Ag $39.95 „^$86.00 I $48.95 I К A J c ||b. • Э г * Л яшЙ1 JCZf4 $39.95 1 jjg$83.77 Г "%|$51.95: Human Anatomy 1Ц$118.00| . * . • g Literature - Reading Fiction... _ $64.00 Mathematics For Elementary Teachers Modernrecordinq Techniques ^$99.00 | $36.99 1 Nutrition Now g$67.70 j N/A ^$91 .88 j $33.26 pjg ’$36.95 _ Щт $82.95 jfe ' ЛЯ8$49.95 I l$11Z95j ! $59.95 I N/A $65.91 N/A N/A Pathophysiology Physics for Scientists & Engineers 1 $75.95 , *$9L70 — rw* ■ЩШ • ■ ■: PCC № - - — MM Find out where to go for the best deals on textbooks By Steve LuKanic Staff Writer With the soaring cost of text¬ books continuing to stir debate, the Courier recently set out on a comparative shopping trip to find out where, exactly, the price is right, or at least not quite as goug¬ ing. The results indicate that while PCC students may easily find a larger inventory of books at the campus store, they will likely save money, sometimes as much as 16 percent, at off-campus outlets. In a random sampling of 30 textbooks, all required for various classes at PCC, the Courier com¬ pared the cover prices at three stores: the PCC bookstore, the Book Mart (located across from the reflecting pool at 15$5 E. Colorado Blvd.) and a new store, Textmania (located at 1308 E. Colorado Blvd., one block west of campus). All the books compared were brand new, although the three stores did offer used versions of many of the same titles at widely varying prices. The Book Mart, which opened in 1993, has unarguably been the PCC bookstore’s biggest competi¬ tor over the years, with a highly visible location across from the campus and an extensive invento¬ ry. of PCC-required books. The Book Mart’s competitive prices are also a major draw. Of the 30 titles surveyed, 70 percent of them cost roughly $2 less per book than the same titles at the PCC store. Still, manager Ignacio Medrano believes the prices of textbooks, in general, are too high, and he blames the book publishers and authors. “They publish new editions every six months to a year and a half,” Medrano said, “because they know it’s the only way they’re going to sell new books. And we have no choice but to get the new edition, so we have to buy new books also.” But while the Book Mart has enjoyed a steady business over the years, competing solely with the PCC bookstore, this fall a new competitor entered the mix: Textmania, located just a couple of blocks down the street, next to McDonald’s. Although smaller in size than the Book Mart and PCC’s store, Textmania is the second in a chain (the other store is in Monterey Park), and while the Pasadena store currently has only 20 percent of the PCC-required textbooks in stock, 86 percent of the titles sur¬ veyed are priced on average §2 to $4 less than at the Book Mart and PCC. In some cases, Textmania’s dis¬ counts are even as high as 1 6 per¬ cent off PCC’s prices. The fifth edition of the book “Physics for Scientists & Engineers,” for example, costs $91.70 at PCC’s bookstore and $76.95 at Textmania. Likewise, the third edition of “Human Anatomy” costs $118 at PCC, $116.88 at the Book Mart and $1 12.95 at Textmania. Additionally, Textmania offers a 27 percent discount on used books versus the Book Mart’s 30 percent discount on the same titles. With lower prices and a close proximity to the campus, Textmania will soon likely attract greater numbers of PCC students, predicts owner Jonathan Choi. He said the store is also launch¬ ing an intensive advertising cam¬ paign later this fall and plans to increase the inventory of PCC textbooks to an estimated 80 or 90 percent for the spring semester. According to Choi, Textmania’s prices coincide with the books in their Monterey Park store. “Where there’s competition, the book prices are lower,” said- Choi. “Where there’s not, the prices are higher. Obviously, there are bookstores that will hike up the price for bigger profits, but # see BOOKS, page 3 English and Math Classes May Help New Students Stay in School By Luis Romero Staff Writer First-time students need to make sure they enroll in an English or math class in their first semester because that may ensure that they continue in college. Statistics in a report published this month indicate that these are courses that help students suc¬ ceed. Not only that but men attend¬ ing college for the first time drop out at a higher rate than women. The report, compiled by PCC’s Institutional Planning and Research Office, also indicated that first-time Hispanics and African American students were less inclined to continue at PCC compared to Asian/Pacific Islanders and Whites. As researchers compiled statis¬ tics, they tried to think about what types of things would interest fac¬ ulty and administrators, said Cynthia Lopez, research analyst at the Institutional Planning and Research Offices. “We wanted everyone to start thinking about how we can improve this.” The report compared last fall’s students entering PCC for the first time with students who had main¬ tain enrollment beyond a semes¬ ter. It also separated credit stu¬ dents — students who receive a grade in class — from non-crcdit students attending the college. Last fall, of the 25,589 total credit students that enrolled, 53.1 percent were continuing credit students and 20.6 percent were first-time students. Of those first time-students, 64.7 percent completed their courses with a grade of C or bet¬ ter, finishing with an average GPA of 2.48. 80.5% of first-time's who took att Englisl math class continued t the spring serr.os^ ^ 33% of first-time students who didn’t lake an EngSsfe or math class didn't continue into the spring semester On the other hand, continuing students performed stronger with .70.4 percent completing their courses with a C or better main¬ taining an average GPA of 2.73. SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 College Ready for Inspection By Terrance Parker Staff Writer For three days next week a small but mighty army will invade the PCC campus. Although only the size of a football team, this group possess¬ es the raw power to affect the future of every student, instructor and staff member on campus. It is accreditation time again at PCC. More specifically, it is time for the comprehensive accredita¬ tion visit. Thomas Fallo, president of El Camino College, leads this year’s visiting accreditation team. Fallo and 10 other academic professionals were chosen by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC), which is part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). According to the ACCJC Web site (www.accjc.org), accredita¬ tion is “a status granted to an edu¬ cational institution that has been found to meet or exceed stated cri¬ teria of educational quality.” It further defines two basic pur¬ poses for accredi¬ tation: (1) “to assure the quality of the institution” and (2) “to assist in the improve¬ ment of the insti¬ tution.” One example of the evaluation criteria is a clearly defined and published mission statement. Also, the school needs clear lines of authority and responsibil¬ ity for both the governing board and the administrative staff. Strict financial accountability, including outside audits, is a necessity, as is a sufficiently qual¬ ified faculty. PCC also needs to publish and distribute items of information related to attending the institution and participating as a student. In order to stay accredited, PCC must follow an ongoing six- Fallo Kossler year cycle of required activities. Every year the college sends a brief report to the ACCJC. The three-year mark calls for a more comprehensive report. PCC sub¬ mitted its midterm report in November 1999. These reports describe the school’s progress in achieving its own goals and objectives. These may be items previous visiting teams have suggested for possible improvement, or they may be objectives PCC initiates. The institutional self-study consumes most of the time and labor spent dur¬ ing the accredi¬ tation cycle. This compre¬ hensive in-depih look at the col¬ lege’s perform¬ ance measures how well (or poorly) PCC con¬ forms to established ACCJC and WASC standards. The report con¬ siders how effectively the school uses its resources. It also pro\ ides detailed reports on progress in achieving these goals. PCC started its most recent self-study two years ago with the appointment of a coordinator and a steering committee. Over the next several months standards committees and sub¬ committees began meeting. First drafts of reports appeared last October. Meetings and reviews continued through winter and spring. Final workups were finished by May. In July, the completed self- study report was submitted to the board of trustees for approval. At the July 17 meeting of the board, the trustees accepted the report and unanimously voted to submit it to the ACCJC. It was mailed in August, which brings us to next week’s visit. The team’s visit is the marquee event of this long process. Using the self-study as a starting point, team members will examine PCC’s performance from an ф see READY, page 3 Get in the Zone Luis Romero/Courier “There is always that transition shock. Students come here and they don’t have a clue, especially Ф see SUCCESS, page 3 By Terrance Parker Staff Writer Where do the members of PCC’s sports teams go between classes? Starting this semester they go to the Zone. Room 1 12A of Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium is the home of the new Academic Athletic Zone. The converted locker room hous¬ es several rows of computers and half a dozen round tables. It also has a rich mixture of student-athletes, both male and female, studying lessons, typing up - homework assign¬ ments and working with tutors. When competing on the play¬ ing field or preparing on the prac¬ tice field, the “athlete” portion of the term “student-athlete” is emphasized. However, in the Zone the “Student” part takes precedence. “We want them not only to keep their units up, we want them to do well,” said Michael McClellan, athletic coun¬ selor and coordi¬ nator of the Academic Athletic Zone. The PCC sports depart¬ ment has had -'.academic sup¬ port programs in the past, but the Zone represents a whole new approach. McClellan said that one major change is the mandatory - nature for stu¬ dents considered to be “at risk” academically. In practice, this means any student- athlete who docs not yet qualify for English 1A or Math 3 must ф see ZONE, page 3 “ Most of our student-athletes want to go on and play at a four-year school. ..so tve’re preparing them. ” Michael McClellan, Coordinator of the Academic Athletic Zone X