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Pasadena City College
Football:
Team remains
undefeated as
Gossard breaks
win record
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Volume 102, Issue 5
"The Independent Student Voice of PCC, Serving Pasadena Since 1915." Thursday, September 30, 2010
Transfer advice given at University Day
Mercy Fabila
Staff Writer
Students gathered in the Quad
on Monday to visit representatives
of several universities visiting the
campus on University Day.
The universities, both private
and public, included schools from
the UC and CSU systems, as well
as out of state schools, such as
Columbia. The representatives
were armed with answers and
brochures for students who
stopped at the booths with ques¬
tions.
Some universities also sent a
representative of a specific school
on their campus. Pepperdine
University had a representative
from Graziado School of Business
and Management that offers both a
bachelor's and master's degree.
"With [the MBAJ] program, stu¬
dents can work towards earning a
bachelor's and then immediately
begin working on their master's
degree with only 30 additional
units," said Pepperdine represen¬
tative Lindsay A. Hughes.
Kate Carter, a representative for
the University of San Francisco,
Continued on page 2
Planning for the future
James Quon/Courier
Students get their transfer questions answered by representatives at University Day on Monday.
Students lobby
against larger
class sizes
Justin Clay
Staff Writer
Students for Social Justice is cir¬
culating a petition opposing
increased class sizes and request¬
ing more course sections.
The petition states that tem¬
porarily increasing class sizes is
not an effective way to deal with
the large number of students that
are unable to register for classes,
but rather offering more sections
would be a more efficient decision.
During the summer, enrollment
officials decided to increase the
number of seats allowed in each
class to deal with the growing
number of students this semester.
Associate Dean of Enrollment
Management, Sabah
Alquaddoomi, oversaw the
process of trying to add seats to
the sections.
"We went by a few different cri¬
teria. First we considered the class¬
es that the students needed. Then
we checked each classroom to
make sure the room capacity could
handle the extra students, and
finally we met with the deans and
made sure it was OK for each
department," he said.
"We realized in July that the
number of seats weren't enough,
and so we met with the deans and
faculty and added space to the sec¬
tions while not taxing the college
too much financially," said
Alquaddoomi.
However, Students for Social
Justice believes the college has the
ability to expand sections rather
than class sizes.
"We know that PCC has funding
in reserves that could be used to
increase sections," said Adrian
Frias, treasurer of Students for
Social Justice.
"Right now the teachers are
being overworked, and it dimin¬
ishes the quality of the education
for the students," he said.
"Having people sign the peti¬
tion is definitely not something
that can be ignored," said Frias.
The PCC Faculty Association
also alleges that students are suf¬
fering due to increased class sizes.
According to Faculty Association
President Roger Marheine, the col¬
lege is running at about 6.4 percent
over capacity this semester.
"The old cliche is true: when the
economy is down people go back
to school. And PCC is certainly
being affected by that," said
Marheine.
Marheine contends that because
of the increase in capacity, the stu¬
dents aren't getting the education
Continued on page 7
President shares vision for future of the college during Flex Day
Justin Clay
Staff Writer
PCC President Mark Rocha on
Wednesday outlined his plan for the
future, and he believes that the college
needs to reinvent what a community col¬
lege can do.
"This college was founded on the
American Dream. We need a vision for
the future that is worthy of our past,"
said Rocha at a Flex Day meeting attend¬
ed by faculty and staff.
In his address, Rocha talked about the
need for the college to pass the torch to a
new generation of instructors.
"We are so proud of our racial and eth¬
nic diversity, but we need more genera¬
tional diversity," said Rocha.
Rocha also spoke about taking the col¬
lege into the future with more updated
technology including the development of
an iPhone application to help students
add and drop classes and check sched¬
ules.
"I'm not a techie, I want to do this for
the students," he said.
Rocha feels that PCC should continue
with the Educational Master Plan regard¬
less of the state budget crisis.
"If we base our plan on the vain hope
that our state funding will increase, we
should stop now," he said.
Rocha wants the entire faculty to fully
participate in the discussions about the
college's future plans.
"We need to shift from ceremonial
shared governance to real participatory
decision making," he said.
Many of the instructors in attendance
had positive reviews of Rocha's plan.
"This guy is very special. I am an
activist and he really motivated me
today," said Maria Mayer, a Spanish
instructor.
"I thought it was a great speech and I
am ready to work full blast to help the
students," she said.
One of the new generation of instruc¬
tors, math teacher George Bekermenjian,
also felt that Rocha's speech was a posi¬
tive experience.
"This is one of the first Flex Days that
I've been to. I was just hired here this
semester and I thought it was pretty
good. I was inspired by it," he said.
PCC interim vice president Lisa
Sugimoto is ready for the challenge set
by Rocha.
"He is a servant leader and he fully
expects us to step up to the plate," said
Sugimoto.
"We have to set the stage for this insti¬
tution to move into the next generation,
and if we don't do that, we aren't serving
the community," she said.
Amber Lu/Courier
Mark Rocha speaks to the faculty about his plans
for the college during Flex Day on Wednesday.
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