The Courier, December 9, 1999

Pasadena City College Partly Cloudy, High: 66° Low: 39° Tomorrow: Windy. High: 60° Low: 42° Saturday: Windy. High: 68° Low: 39° Sunday Sunny. High: 66° Low: 39° Long-Time Campus Police Officer Retires Sgt. Vince Palermo will be officially retiring on April 1,2000. However, he has fallen ill, and will not l?e able to return to the campus. Serving the campus since September 1 989, Sgt. Palermo will be sadly missed by the campus police depart¬ ment and the entire cam¬ pus community. Fashion Show to Benefit Men's Basketball Tony Lenard, assistant men's basketball coach, will host a fashion show/ fundraiser on Jan. 8 in the Sexson Auditorium at 6 p.m. Players from vari¬ ous sport teams will par¬ ticipate in the fashion show. Rap artists, Above the Law and D.J. Quick, are also slated to per¬ form. Ticket prices will be $1 0 at the door. Crown City Tournament Set for Dec. 16-18 The men's basketball team will host its first home game in the new Hutto- Patterson gym, on Dec. 1 6. The team will be hosting the 21st annual Crown City Holiday Classic Tournament which will run through Dec. 18. Thursday, December 9, 1999 Volume 85, Number 14 Faculty fumes over parking Senate holds police chief accountable; meanwhile, new parking lot on Green Street nears completion By Tim Alves Staff Writer The voice of angry instructors has joined the chorus of students and members of the community over the parking situation on campus, and much like the students, the faculty is upset over the lack of space. “We feel that we, the teachers, have been left behind,” said Judy Fogle, associate professor of English and foreign languages. Fuming instructors vented anger over the lack of parking at the Dec. 6 Faculty Senate Board (FSB) meet¬ ing and demanded solutions from Dr. Rod Fleeman, vice president of administrative services, and Phil Mullendore, director of police and safety services, who were invited to address the FSB. “As we changed the look of the campus, we moved lots, added spaces and lost almost 100 employ¬ ee spaces,” said Mullendore. Much of the ire stemmed from instructors being upset over either not finding parking in faculty lots or circling endlessly waiting for a space. Senate members shared experiences and frustration over what they said were students park¬ ing in faculty lots, making them late for classes. “If the teachers can’t get a space to park, then classes can’t be held,” said Ellen Ligons, FSB president and assistant professor of business education. “We should have guaranteed spots. I have to be here when stu¬ dents show up for classes. When I come for early morning classes around 8 or 9, there’s no problem. But I teach classes at all times dur¬ ing the day, and when I come in at 11 or 1, the lots are filled,” said Fogle. One possible solution Mullendore ventured would be to take away 60 spaces from students in Lot 1 and convert them to faculty parking. “The new lot over on Green (Street) across from the CEC will be opening this week and that will add 114 new spaces,” said Mullendore. The new lot, designated Lot 1 1 will be available for both students and faculty to park without problems. Parking, Pg. 9 Jake Armstrong / Courier The new Lot 1 1 will open next week. Interplanetary trailblazers JPL programs give PCC students a chance to work on projects that are out of this world Richard Fa vela / Courier Former PCC student Eric Hayne, public affairs outreach coordinator at JPL, shows off a full scale model of the ill-fated Mars Polar Lander. By Anamaria Gonzalez Staff Writer Amid the tense, worried, yet hopeful sci¬ entists, engineers, and mathematicians of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, a select few PCC students worked side by side with JPL authorities, relayed status reports, answered phone calls from the public and wrote responses to e- mail questions throughout the past week as worried mission controllers waited for any communication from the Mars Polar Lander. Through the VESTA (visiting education¬ al scholars and teachers alliance) program, students in John Sepikas' Astronomy 1 class who worked a little bit harder in the class¬ room and were given the opportunity of a lifetime. The students most recently recruited by Sepikas have been involved in answering e- mail and phone calls in the Mars Polar Lander pressroom. In preparation for the questions they would face, they attended a monthly meetings given by the mission pro¬ ject managers and were allowed to ask any questions they had, in the hopes that they could in turn answer the majority of the pub¬ lic's queries and free up valuable time for the scientists. "It's been a tremendous experience, you don't get to work at JPL every day" said JPL, Pg. 3 ACADEMIC BEAT Plus/minus grading gets an ‘F’ By Gali Raval Staff Writer A plan that would incorporate the use of pluses and minuses in the existing grading scale was rejected by the Faculty Senate last Monday due to a lack of support. The plus/minus grading committee, chaired by Joyce Black, vice president of instruction, distrib¬ uted a Survey to 350 faculty members last October to find out the instructors’ stance regarding the pro¬ posed changes. Of the 350 distributed, 143 were turned in for tabulation. While 63 faculty members opposed the change, 7 1 were in favor and nine were not sure. However, due to the closeness of the survey results, the committee decided not to implement the proposed grading system. Black felt that there was a general apathy about the issue, which led to the recommendation not to adopt the plan. The board of governors of California Community Colleges, in 1998, decided to endorse adding pluses and minuses to letter grades for com¬ munity colleges, because many universities use that grading system. Although, each individual district was allowed to decide whether or not to adopt the policy. Proponents feel that pluses and minuses would offer instructors the option to grade students in a fairer manner. Had the plan been approved, instructors would have the option to assign a plus or minus to the let¬ ter grade, which would either increase or decrease the value by .3 of a point. “The plan has not been favorably received up and down the state. Instructors could not give out a Plus/minus, Pg. 3 A very, merry Christmas, Lancer-style By Jon Heller Staff Writer The spirit of giving back is alive and well on campus, thanks to a combined effort by Student Services, Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOP&S) and the Associated Students (AS). The 4th Annual Holiday Angels Giving Tree, located on the second floor of the student center, gives students, faculty and staff the opportunity to share the Christmas spirit by providing gifts to needy youngsters. A robot for 9-year-old Benjamin, G.I. Joe for Edgar, 5, roller skates for 4- year-old Dejonette or Pokemon for Britnee, 8, are just some of the more than 90 toy and gift requests this year. While the number of children getting gifts varies from year to year, the students pick up the wish tags and always make sure every child gets something for Christmas said Stephen Johnson, assistant dean of student affairs. Funded by the AS, the Giving Tree project matches gift-givers with the children of single par¬ ent students enrolled in the Cooperative Agencies Resources for Education (CARE) program through EOP&S. The program provides assistance to meet the needs of single parents and includes education¬ al planning, academic and personal counseling, vocational assessment, workshops and grants. Letters were sent out to the more than 1 30 par¬ ents in the program along with a form to complete indicating the age and Christmas gift request of the children. These gift wish cards were placed on the tree, which was purchased by the AS and decorat¬ ed by Student Services. To give a gift, simply choose a card from the tree, sign out the card, and bring the wrapped gift to student services. There is a $25 limit on the gifts, and while not preferred, cash will be accepted. Any unclaimed cards are bought by the AS and the Flea Market fund to ensure every child gets a gift. Richard Favela / Courier Special issue Millennium Madness! Help usher in the year 2000 with our special four-page insert, featuring Y2K readiness reports, faculty predictions for the next 1 00 years, and much more. Insert, Pgs. A-D WWW.PCC-COURIERONUNE.COM §§§§ ijjvj ijjimjij The Lancers win the first-ever women's basketball tournament at home. Sports, Pg. 7 / i