Treatment for AIDS has fast become an
expensive venture; those unable to af¬
ford medications will be left out
Federal programs to distribute medications fail to
include all of those who need it.
NEWS/ FEATURES
Ben Sakoguchi, profes¬
sor to bid farewell at
the end of semester
Beloved professor taught and
inspired art students during his
32 years at PCC.
— ■ SPORTS ■— ■
Despite a 2-8 Lancer football record, coach Tom
Maher has reason to be optimistic next season
After nearly defeating powerful Mt. SAC and El Camino, the Lanc¬
ers regained the respect the team had lost the last two seasons.
8
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/AcropoIis/1560/
Poindexter
claims story
Mies, all lies'
BY ROCKIE HERNANDEZ
Special Correspondent
Forrest Poindexter, associated stu¬
dents president, called the Courier’s
Nov. 7 story and Nov. 21 editorial,
“lies, all lies.”
Poindexter labeled the reports as
irresponsible and unprofessional. He
vehemently denied campus police
allegations of his use of both profan¬
ity and racial slurs and what was
reported as erratic behavior.
“The Courier has me looking like
a violent man, and I was not,” said
Poindexter. “ Students read this pub¬
lication and believe this stuff. There
are two sides to every story.”
Poindexter was detained by cam¬
pus police on Nov. 3 for not comply¬
ing with a police order to vacate his
office. During a speech tournament
held on campus, students were using
the campus center copier next to
Poindexter’s office. When
Poindexter and Janet Chin, AS com¬
missioner, discovered that the stu¬
dents using the copy machine had
master keys to the building, an argu¬
ment ensued and campus police
stepped in to settle the disturbance.
Poindexter said that a number of
facts were unreported. He claims
that campus police used violent force
on him, not the other way around. He
said that he was repeatedly thrown
against the elevator wall by Steven
Lester, campus police officer. Chin
stated in writing that not only did she
witness this event, but she even tried
to stop it.
“Their violence shocked me. I
screamed. I told them that Forrest
was already wearing a neck brace
and to not hurt him even more,” said
Chin. Poindexter was injured from a
car accident a week before this inci-
Please see POINDEXTER, page 4.
• TIS THE SEASON TO BE JOLLY
MICHAEL ARNOLD
/
THE COURIER
Despite a busy schedule, Santa found time to listen to toy requests at last weeks PCC Flea Market.
Effort to censure
two adminsitrators
fails to win support
BY DOUGLAS WILKIE
Courier Staff Writer
TheFaculty Senate Board rejected
a motion at a Nov. 26 “emergency
meeting” which would have autho¬
rized a vote of “no confidence” to
proceed against Joyce Black, vice
president of instruction, and Patricia
Mollica, dean of human resources.
The eight to seven vote, with two
abstentions, prevented the distribu¬
tion of ballots which call for an up-
or-down vote on the competence of
the two top PCC administrators.
An ad hoc Board of Inquiry had
unanimously called for the vote after
determining that Black and Mollica
were unable to “perform the duties
and responsibilities of (their) admin¬
istrative positions.”
Instead, the Board unanimously
agreed, with one abstention, to dis¬
tribute packets prepared by the panel
in which complaints lodged by some
faculty against the two individuals
are included. Written questions to
which both Black and Mollica pur¬
portedly did not respond also appear
as attachments.
The move to call for the non¬
confidence vote was the result of
three months of deliberation by the
special group created by the Board
on Aug. 26 to “investigate and make
recommendations with respect to
numerous faculty complaints against
Black and Mollica.” Of the eight
panel members, five also serve on
the Board: Harry Kawahara, Ellen
Ligons, Robert McLean, Keith
Oberlander and Jean Volckmann.
James Bickley, as well as
СТА
rep¬
resentatives Gary Woods and Ed
Ortell, are not Board members.
Xhe five faculty, notwithstanding
their stated opposition to Black and
Mollica, ultimately agreed with the
peared off-guard by the swiftness
with which the Board of Inquiry had
acted. She indicated that she wanted
time to discuss the reports with her
colleagues in the math and computer
sciences department.
Cordon expressed reluctance at
moving forward with the no-confi-
dence vote because of apparent de¬
lays in keeping Board members fully
apprised of the Board of Inquiry’s
activities. “In the past, minutes of
Board meetings have been delayed,”
she said. “I consider this to be an
issue of proper representation by
Faculty Senate Board members.”
McLean stressed that any delays
in asking for the vote would inevita¬
bly drag out the issue beyond the
current semester. “We want to get
this behind us,” he stated. “This is
not a vote on the merits of demerits
ofthecase against Black and Mollica.
A ‘yes’ vote would only allow fac¬
ulty to decide the issue on an indi¬
vidual basis.”
Cordon stressed her opposition to
the process used by the Board of
Inquiry, statingthat she “never dreamt
it would go this far.”
Bickley expressed skepticism that
“the other side” could rebut what he
called the faculty’s “legitimate com-
plaints.” While acknowledging that
the identities of complaining faculty
members remainlargely anonymous,
he indicated his desire to proceed
with the balloting. Invoking the
biblical admonition of “let him with¬
out sin cast the first stone,” Cordon
said that the two administrators
needed time to correct their alleged
mistakes. “The buck stops with Presi¬
dent Kossler,” she stated. “Does
shared governance say Black and
Mollica are accountable to the fac¬
ulty?”
Board member Gordon Brown
Hellenic Society invites Greek General Consul
JOSE CORTEZ
/
THE COURIER
Far left Philip Pastras, outgoing Hellenic Society faculty adviser
seated next to John Gregory, incoming adviser, listen to Greek Consul
General Christos Panagopoulos during luncheon last Tuesday.
■ PCC’s Greek student
organization hosted top
official from Greece to
speak during luncheon
last Tuesday in which
studens and faculty
were invited.
BY DOUGLAS WILKIE
Courier Staff Writer
The PCC Hellenic Society held
its final meeting of the semester on
Tuesday at which the Consul Gen¬
eral of Greece was an honored guest.
Christos Panagopoulos was invited
by the Society to the Circadian lun¬
cheon at which both college faculty
and staff were honored.
According to its charter, the Hel¬
lenic Society “promotes apprecia¬
tion and understanding of all aspects
of the civilization of Greece and its
influence and impact on Western
civilization and the world in gen¬
eral.” Although facets of ancient
and modem Greece are the group’s
focus, Society president Pat
Mavromatis emphasized that the or¬
ganization is open to all interested
individuals regardless of ethnicity.
In a brief interview following the
luncheon, Panagopoulos said the
event had provided “a very good
break” from his diplomatic chores.
He considers Hellenic societies lo¬
cated at various Southern California
colleges like PCC to be important to
Greek cultural life.
“These societies are the nucleus
of student activity among three or
four universities in the Los Angeles
area,” he said. “They provide a
constant flow of information. In fact,
because it is often a luxury for vari¬
ous Hellenic chapters to visit each
other due to considerable geographi¬
cal distances, our consulate decided
to establish an Internet web page.”
Panagopoulos also reflected on
his efforts last summer to have the
popular “Echoes of Greece” program
revived by KPCC management.
“I testified before the Board of
Tmstees after having received liter¬
ally thousands of telephone calls from
Greeks and Greek-Americans alike
who were upset that the program was
cancelled,” he said. “I felt obliged to
communicate those sentiments as a
diplomatic representative of the
Mediterranean region.”
Mavromatis said his organization
had wanted to distinguish particular
individuals at PCC who were ac¬
tively involved in the Society’s ac¬
tivities. Carrie Afuso, coordinator of
the Cross-Cultural Center, was also
honored.
Speaking before the small group,
Mavromatis commended those in
attendance.
“I and the PCC Hellenic Society
would like to present to you who are
Greek, or of Greek descent, these
certificates of acknowledgment for
service to the college and for contri¬
butions to the Hellenic spirit,” he
said.
The group recently sponsored a
trip to the J. Paul Getty Museum in
Malibu which attracted some 60 par¬
ticipants. Past events on campus
have featured lectures by various
scholars representing different aca¬
demic disciplines such as philoso¬
phy, art and history.
In addition to the awards, Com¬
munication professor John Gregory
was named faculty adviser, replac¬
ing Philip Pastras, instructor of En¬
glish and foreign languages, who
will be on sabbatical leave in 1997.
The Hellenic Society meets ev¬
ery other Tuesday at noon in C336.
BY YUSEF ROBB
Courier Staff Writer
Cooperation between two
competing bookstores has re¬
sulted in campus police request¬
ing the issuance of a felony arrest
warrant for a suspect in a Nov. 4
theft at the PCC Bookstore.
The suspect allegedly entered
the bookstore at about 3 p.m. He
is accused of taking a purple book
bag from the storage cubicles near
the entrance. The bag contained
a set of keys, makeup, a binder,
an assignment book, a pencil box
as well as government, algebra,
and political science textbooks,
according to the police report.
After discovering the theft, the
victim notified bookstore man¬
ager Douglas Ferris that the bag
had been stolen.
Ferris subsequently reviewed
the tape from the security camera
that observes the cubicles and
confirmed the theft. The tape also
Board to distribute their findings
without the more contentious resolu¬
tions and ballots.
“The past three months were a
difficult time for us,” Oberlander
said. “Our unanimous decision to
recommend a vote of no confidence
to the Faculty Senate was the result
of disrespectful and possible illegal
behavior on the part of the two
individuals. ’’Questions arose regard¬
ing the fairness of the process used to
indict Black and Mollica. Mary Jane
Cordon, who had initially moved to
table the no-confidence motion, ap-
provided him with a description of
the suspect.
Ferris then notified the Book Mart
on Colorado Boulevard to be on the
lookout for someone attempting to
sell the textbooks from a purple book
bag. Ferris also provided a descrip¬
tion of the suspect and gave instruc¬
tions to the Book Mart manager to
notify him and delay the suspect.
Shortly after Ferris’ call, the sus¬
pect allegedly entered the Book Mart
and attempted to sell the textbooks.
A Book Mart employee delayed him
by taking her time looking up the
prices of the books, while the man¬
ager called Ferris, who, in turn, no¬
tified PCC police.
Ferris then confronted the sus¬
pect saying, “That’s not your book
bag,” and telling him that he had the
theft recorded on videotape.
The suspect surrendered thebook
bag, keys and the books and pro¬
ceeded to exit the store while ver¬
bally berating Ferris. He turned
west on Colorado Boulevard and
complained that taking such a vote
should not require evidence that ei¬
ther Black or Mollica had violated
the law. “They will not respond to
numerous complaints, regardless of
how it (faculty inquiries) is struc¬
tured,” Brown said. “If a student
accused an instructor of promising
an ‘ A’ for S 1 ,000, the administration
would be allowed to confront that
faculty member.” According to the
Board of Inquiry, Kossler ordered
the two administrators not to re¬
spond to questions submitted to
them on Oct. 3 1 .
disappeared before PCC police
could arrive.
When the victim received her
property from the police, she
found an Olympus microcassete
recorder inside her book bag
which did not belong to her. Po¬
lice think that the recorder may
be stolen property from another
theft.
Ferris identified the suspect as
a former employee of the PCC
Bookstore. Statements by Book
Mart employees said that the sus¬
pect had attempted to sell books
at the Book Mart “several times”
before, becoming “rude and up¬
set” when he couldn’t sell a book.
Investigator Beatriz Samorano
of police and safety services tried
to contact the suspect at his last
known address, but he no longer
lived there.
She then referred the case to
the Los Angeles County District
Attorney’s Office who will issue
the warrant.
College bookstore theft thwarted