PCC Courier, September 29, 1978

THUMBS UP— Butcher Nick Farago of Lirettes meat sculpturing, the weighing. He went to Food Box puts the finishing touches on his PCC over 25 years ago. (Tleat Cutters ‘Artists’; Not All Blood, Gore Meat cutters are artists with business minds, and their art pays. "Boning and rolling a leg of lamb or making a crown roast takes artistry," says Howard S. Takata of the Engineering and Technology Department, who teaches Meat Cutting Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 6 to 10 in Slid. “It's a skill few people have. And you have to work fast." There is little competition for jobs, and if you're female you've got it made." “Meat cutting," says Takata, “is cool." The working climate is 50 degrees. You have to work Saturdays, but you get a day off during the week. If you're skillful with your hands and take pride in your work, you can finish your apprenticeship and become a journeyman— journeyperson?— in two years. After that, “if you want a job as manager of a super¬ market meat department, it's there," Takata says, "but you have to prepare for it." Preparation includes training in pricing, ad writing, merchandising, and looking after your image. Become something of a chef and you can answer your customers' questions about how to prepare different cuts of meat. Hone your ability as a psychologist and you can deal successfully with customers who want moFe of your attention than you think they need. Takata suggests beating out the competition by the excellence of your service. One of Takata 's Tuesday evening students says he's into meat cutting not only because it pays, but also because it s a good way of getting rid of his hostilities. Joyce Nelson is taking the class so she can cut meat at home and "save dollars, not cents. " She plans to buy a freezer. Meat cutters take Takata's class as part of their apprenticeship program. Pam Gordy works at Safeway. She originally applied there for a job as a checker, but the store manager suggested she try cutting meat. After the Bo-day probation period, during which Ms. Gordy found she liked the job. Safeway kept her on as an apprentice at $5.17 per hour to start The pay increases every six months during the two-year apprenticeship. Ms. Gordy says meat cutting is a great opportunity for women, especially now that beef is "broken" at the packing house instead of in the market, and super strength is no longer required of meat cutters. She says her job is hard work, the pace is fast, and you have to be very careful with all those knives. But she thinks it's a great way to get her bread together. BUZZ— The hand coordination of a meat cutter the meat saw could cause a few fingers to cannot be overlooked. A misguided slice with disappear. -courier photos by Marcus wiik Insurance Woes of Foreign Students By Kathy Braidhill News Editor Foreign students may be paying a dollar more than necessary for two overlapping school insurance policies, said Associated Men Students President Shahid Hamid. Hamid, who brought the discrepancy to the attention of ASB President Derek Coleman and Dr. Irvin Lewis, vice president of student services, discussed the possible duplication of the health services fee required of all students and the mandatory foreign student, insurance at the last ASB meeting. F-l visa students, those who come to this country just to attend school, are required to pay $39 for insurance, or make arrangements for an alternate insurance policy. This is in addition to the $48 a unit for classes that foreign students must pay. Out-of-state students are 1 not required to have this insurance coverage; they pay only the tuition, but all pay the $5 health services fee. The health services fee is split, said Coleman ; $4 goes toward health services and the remaining dollar is for insurance. This is where there’s a possibile duplication. Hamid was questioning the foreign student's in¬ surance vs. the health services in¬ surance. "We're taking it to an insurance analyst to find if there is a duplication," said Coleman The wording on the policies is difficult for laymen to understand, he said. If there is a duplication of insurance policies, Coleman said, "the foreign The $5 required health service fee is the first mandatory fee of any kind at PCC. according to Dr. Irvin Lewis, vice president for student personnel services. This action by the Board of Trustees is another result of Proposition 13. Lewis explained that the Education Code. Section 72248. has for some time authorized a fee for health services, but PCC has never required it. Now, the Board of Trustees has decided that rather than cut the budget in other areas, they would implement the fee. "Students do get a lot for their $5." stated Lewis. The health center, beginning Monday', added physician Garfield Monrow. Barbara Haisch is the head nurse and Dr. Joseph Kisser is the health center psychologist. The health services available to students who have paid the $5 fee in¬ clude: emergency care for illness and injury; vision and hearing screening tests; health education and coun¬ seling. accident report; insurance filing for on-campus accidents; referral to community agencies; students should be given the con¬ sideration of having their money refunded.’’ Approximately 250 to 300 students would be affected. Coleman is also working on re¬ opening the Asian Affairs, Pan-African Affairs, Chicano Affairs, and W'omen’s Center offices. These offices upstairs in the Campus Center were shut down by the Board of Trustees this summer because of Proposition 13 budget cuts. “If we open them up, it’ll have to be on a volunteer basis,” he said. The This summer's unemployed CATC teachers who had difficulty obtaining employment benefits have been paid, according to Bernice Daitz of per¬ sonnel. The instructors at CATC were laid off during the summer -due to budget cuts. When they attempted to collect unemployment, their applications were denied. Marie Campos, a teacher at CATC, addressed the Board of Trustees last July 27 to recount the teachers' problems with the Department of Human Resources, and ask for their help. environmental health and safety education; and maintenance of health records. Medical services include: physician consultation by appointment: initial medical diagnosis and care; medical counseling: clinical laboratory testing at a reduced fee; writing of prescriptions for current illness and referral to both community physicians and hospital emergency rooms. Students are now required to pay the fee before they are allowed to register or change their class schedules. For those who have managed to avoid the fee. a follow-up will be done next semester at registration. Students who do not have a health card will be required to pay $10 rather than $5. approximately $100,000 needed to run the offices has been appropriated for other expenses, and the entire wing housing the offices has been closed. In the midst of the budget cuts this semester, a new expense has been added to the ASB budget. Two publications, the Student Handbook and the Crier, will be paid for out of the student service fund. ASB funds were not directly affected by Proposition 13, since they are supported by percentages of on- campus concessions. She also filed an unemployment claim with the DHR. No action was taken, and the out-of-work instructors had still received no benefits. At that time, the Board of Trustees advised John Madden, dean of per¬ sonnel. to contact the DHR to make sure there was no longer any difficulty in obtaining benefits. Campos wrote a letter expressing her inability to collect unemployment to Roger Gertmenian. a member of the Board of Trustees, who read it at Thursday's meeting. In it. Campos stated the Unem¬ ployment Department contacted her, saying PCC had appealed the claim and a decision is pending. "Please tell me if the Board rescinded its previous position during a subsequent meeting." said Campos in the letter. She also asked for minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting so she could find out what happened and why. T think the woman deserves an answer and the Board deserves an answer from Mr. Madden,” said Gertmenian T would consider it a personal favor if this woman were contacted." he said at the meeting. Madden promised he would look into the matter, and get the unemployment benefits for our teachers. According to Daitz of personnel, the county contracts with a firm that represents the schools, and due to a misunderstanding, the appeal was denied. "She filed before the rules allowed benefits to teachers," said Daitz. The firm that represents PCC ap¬ pealed the claim made by Campos. This resulted in the DHR's denial of Campos' claim. Ф'- Vi# , Free Health Aid Dies; $5 Fee Alive, Kicking CATC Teachers Paid After Letter Proposed Courier Policy Starts Controversy Unconstitutional or Not Restrictive Enough Change takes time, even with a new Courier Editorial Policy. The Board of Trustees is considering approval of a Courier Policy which was drawn up by Vice President of Instruction Stanley E. Gunstream, the Courier advisers and Melanie Lomax, deputy county counsel, the legal representative for the college. May 5 was the start of the policy push when the Courier Editorial Board printed its “Statement of Principles.” The administration countered with its own policy proposal because the past policy was found to be too restrictive. The students’ Statement of Prin-' ciples seems to have been lost in the shuffle as the modified version of the administrative policy reached the Board on September 7 and has been under consideration ever since. Controversy surrounds the ad¬ ministrative proposal as one section WALTER SHATFORD has been viewed as unconstitutional by some and not restrictive enough by others. The passage reads: "Columnists shall be free to take positions on political issues except when such positions serve to promote or defeat the election of candidates and ballot issues which affect only the residents of the Pasadena Area Community College District or a portion thereof.” At the September 21 Board meeting, Chrystal Watson, Comminications Department chairman, pointed out that prior restraint may be the only way to prohibit political writing. “If we exercise to any degree what’s known as prior restraint,” she said, "we are not only unconstitutional and illegal, but we are being afraid of ROGER GERTMENIAN something. And that fear is unfounded, the fear of hearing an idea we don’t like. It’s our job to help people defend ideas and present them.” Trustees Warren Weber and David Hannah felt differently, however. Weber said, “I feel that there is an opportunity for the students to express themselves on whatever they need. But stay out of politics.” Hannah expressed similar feelings, saying the Courier had “to learn to live under restrictions.” He also compared the publishing purposes of an in¬ dependent newspaper like the L.A. Times and a community college newspaper such as the Courier. “With the L.A. Times, you can cancel your subscription,” said Trustee Robert Spare. “The same thing is here. If the community gets really put out, the Board can cancel, too,” said Board President Charles Briscoe, later ad¬ ding that he didn’t think it would. Trustee Walter Shatford expressed concern for the constitutionality of the policy. He cited several court cases supporting freedom of expression in the school setting. “The right of free expression is part of the educational process . . . the overriding rights of free expression as expressed by our own Supreme Court take charge,” he commented. Spare was undecided, but is leaning toward Shatford, Watson and the students’ views. “I would not give the paper any kind of policy that said they could not discuss a politician that is coming up or a political campaign or whatever. I still haven’t made up my mind as to what position should be endorsed.” Ms. Watson pointed out that restricting writing would destroy opportunities for the student to train in that area, whether it be politics or sports. Trustee Roger Gertmenian felt that his rights had been restricted by the Courier for many years and that made him feel as if those opposed to the censorship quality of the ad¬ ministrative proposal were being “falsely self-righteous.” “I’ve tried for five years (to write a letter to the editor ) and all these years, you’re talking about freedom of choice and freedom of explanation and freedom of discourse? I’ve had my right violated for all those years ... it sure shatters your argument,” Gert¬ menian said to Ms. Watson. Gertmenian was reminded by Dorothy Kolts, journalism adviser, that the outdated policy restricted Courier written contributions from faculty or administration. Mrs. Kolts explained further that the previous policy was accepted by the Board and the purpose of discussion now was to formulate a new policy, not to criticize the old one. Superintendent-President E. How¬ ard Floyd recommended in May that County Counsel work together with the student legal representative, Frederick Tepker, to produce a policy “acceptable to both the students and the administration.” The student and Tepker, who was assigned to the case by the American Civil Liberties Union, were not con¬ tacted, however, during the summer when the proposed policy was produced. County Counsel Lomax is scheduled to appear at the next Board meeting on October 5 to discuss the legalities of the policy. HUNG BY HIS PEERS— This stuffed dummy was a publicity stunt by Circle K. Inter-Club Council President Kevin Mokarow commented, “The big thing is to get people involved.” That is, if hanging a stuffed dummy Will get people involved. -Courier photo by Mariska Leysslus