CHRISTINE MICHAELSNews Editor

It was 1981, and PCC TrusteeJohn Martin had been elected forhis first term as president of theBoard of Trustees. At the age of26, he had been an oddly young

candidate for the position. Hisfirst meeting did not go com-pletely as he planned it, with hiseye on the Rose Court princessesduring the meeting’s social hour,and a sore case of laryngitis thatkept him from not only talkingto them, but also from speaking

loud and clear about his hopesfor his first term as the president.

But despite his sickness thatevening in ’81, Martin kept hisgoal of holding PCC up to thehigh standards it carried duringhis first term as president, andthe ones that followed.

Newly re-appointed BoardPresident Martin for 2013, nowin his fifties, sat with his handscalmly folded on the tablerecently, and explained why hewas looking forward to anotherterm as president.

EMILY CHANG-CHIENStaff Writer

A crowd of students and facultyprotested on Jan. 10 against campusmismanagement and complication ofstudent education plans because of cal-endar changes, expressing anger atwhat they saw as a climate of fear oncampus.

Social science Instructor DavidMcCabe said that PCC has adopted a

culture of people being fearful of theadministration.

“There are a lot of unhappy students[and] there are faculty that are nottending to family issues at homebecause of their commitment to thestudents here,” said McCabe. “[Thefaculty] all are here; we’re happy to behere, but it’s not without cost. Thereare consequences.”

Languages Instructor MelissaMichelson expressed her concern with

the college work environment. “I amsad to say I work in a climate of fearand distrust,” she said in a speech.According to Michelson, colleagueshad informed her that they wouldattend the rally, but would not speak.

Psychology Instructor Julie Kiotasechoed this sentiment and solemnlyadmitted that faculty members werepetrified. She added that this fear

NICHOLAS SAULEditor-in-Chief

An initial lawsuit filed against the district con-cerning two fired school officials’ bribery scandalwas dropped on Jan. 10, but it could be amendedand refiled.

The complaint stemmed from allegations ofbribery solicitations in excess of $250,000 againstformer Vice President of Administrative ServicesRichard van Pelt and former Facilities DirectorAlfred Hutchings. The two men are currentlybeing investigated by the District Attorney’s office.They were fired in June after the investigation wasannounced.

District representatives challenged the legal suf-ficiency of the complaint, with the court agreeingand giving the plaintiffs, LED Global, LLC, 10days to amend their complaint. The complaintalleges breach of contract as well as negligencerelating to the bribery scandal.

“In simple terms, we won this morning andknocked [the plaintiff’s] entire complaint out ofcourt,” said Gail Cooper, the school’s legal counsel.“They get a second chance and we will go back tocourt to move to knock it out again.”

Separately, LED Global — a lighting firm thatlost a contract to install energy efficient lighting onthe campus — and it’s two principles Robert Dasand Saila Smith filed a similar lawsuit against vanPelt and Hutchings in which they claim the twomen solicited bribes, made a host of hedonisticrequests and demanded a first-class excursion toIndia in exchange for the $5 million lighting .”

Continued on page 7Continued on page 7

Continued on page 6

Pasadena City College

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New chief of police is selectedPHILIP MCCORMICKStaff Writer

The Board of Trustees wasscheduled to approve the hiringof a San Bernardino CountySheriff’s captain as the new cam-pus chief of police onWednesday.

Don Yoder, a 28-year-veteranof the department, has served asthe chief of police for the City ofVictorville, which contracts withthe sheriff’s department for law

enforcement services.“The [administration] had me

on the short list the first timearound,” said Don Yoder, refer-ring to the selection of a newchief less than one year ago. “Iwas one of the top three candi-dates selected for the job.

“I was notified in Novemberthat the position could be open-ing up,” said Yoder in an inter-view on campus Jan. 10. “I’mlooking forward to continuing[former Police Chief Stanton]

Perez’ great work that he hasdone with the department.

Yoder is set to replace Perez,who left the position late lastyear due to eligibility issues withhis retirement program. Yoderwill be the fourth head of thePCC Police Department in thepast two years.

“I plan on being here for atleast five to 10 years,” saidYoder. “First, I plan to get toknow the campus and communi-ty and after that, we’ll have to

see.”Yoder said that he had just

given notice to the SanBernardino County Sheriff’sDepartment, but was still actingas captain until getting replaced.“I’m going to officially be start-ing on Jan. 26,” said Yoder.

According to the VictorvilleDaily Press, Yoder formallyannounced his retirement fromthe San Bernardino Sheriff’sdepartment at a meeting onWednesday.

www.VVDailyPress.comNewly selected chief, Don Yoder.

Hearings heldin two briberycase lawsuits

Buren Smith / CourierA gathering of student protesters makes its way towards campus during a demonstration on Jan 10.

Group protests against administration’s actions

Newly appointed Board president optimistic about futureBoard ofTrusteesPresidentJohnMartin

ANTHONY RICHETTSOnline Editor

A former student who was arrestedat the Aug. 29 Board of Trustees’ meet-ing will get his day in court. LawrenceGandara, 25, received the date for histrial by jury at a pre-trial hearing onJan. 2 in Pasadena Superior Court.

At the hearing, Gandara said he hada good feeling about the trial andbelieved he has a good chance at beingacquitted.

“I would like [the trial] to get settledquickly,” said Gandara, “but if itwould help my case, then more timewould be great.”

Gandara did seem to be in good spir-its, especially when a small group ofseven PCC students arrived at the

hearing to show support. The group,in high spirits and confident that theirfriend would be successful in court,chatted with Gandara before the hear-ing as if it were any other day, makingbreakfast plans, discussing issues oncampus, etc. During the hearing, thegroup was passive, watching silentlyas their friend goes through themotions of the criminal justice system.

“You seem passive and you hopethat everything will turn out ok, butyou don’t want to get your hopes up,”Said Sarah Belknap, one of the stu-dents supporting Gandara.

During the hearing attorneyNicholas Hnatiuk of Anderson &Associates Law Firm, who is repre-senting Gandara during his pre-trial

hearings, asked for a brief continuanceof the trial and presented video evi-dence to the court.

Gandara was arrested while protest-ing the cancelation of the winter inter-session at the board meeting at theCommunity Education Center. He wasinvolved in a scuffle when he gotbetween another protester and campuspolice trying to escort that protesterout of the building. Campus policehave claimed that during the incidentGandara physically struck an officer,and was charged with battery of apeace officer, a misdemeanor.

Gandara will have another pre-trialhearing on Feb. 1. His jury trial willbegin on Feb. 19.

2 Courier January 17, 2013News

Police Blotter Officials plan for full summerJanuary 4An unknown Rose Parade

grandstand constructionemployee damaged shrubberyand the water line when theydrove a vehicle over the Lot 1west side curb. An officer con-ducted an investigation by tak-ing photographs of the dam-aged area and filing CHP acci-dent and incident reports.

A man and a woman werereported to be involved in afight in Lot 10. The man wasreported to be holding thewoman against the fence. Anofficer counseled both partiesand later released them.

January 6A verbal dispute between

mother and son was reportedwhen she asked her son and hisfriend to leave the area of Lot 5,level 3D. An officer respondedand reported the son leaving thearea on a skateboard.

January 7A staff member’s vehicle sus-

tained slight damage when theLot 1 gate arm closed on hervehicle.

January 8A man was transported to the

student health center after anofficer responded to a report ofa student not feeling well. Hewas found in the restroom onthe fifth floor of the R Buildingwhere he reported that he had acold.

January 9A student reported that she

felt threatened after a note wasfound on her vehicle in a park-ing lot. The note stated that hercar would be “axed” the nexttime she parked in two spots.

A woman was transported toArcadia after being reported tohave a dislocated knee at theCEC campus, in the cosmetol-ogy room. An officer respondedand the Pasadena FireDepartment was notified.

A hit and run driver left a stu-dent with scrape on the right rearbumper of their vehicle in Lot 5,level 3E. A cadet was radioed tothe Lot, but the driver’s vehiclewas gone on arrival.

A student was transported toHuntington Memorial Hospitalafter being found lying on thefloor of a classroom. Staffreported that a student might belosing consciousness.

Compiled by Madison Miranda

CHRISTINE MICHAELSNews Editor

About $4.4 million in new statefunds will be used to add classesto the summer sessions after theBoard’s approval at the Decembermeeting. At least 750 classes areplanned for the summer term,according to officials.

If the college receives its defer-ral check from the state in May asexpected, this summer will offerthe most courses in recent PCChistory, according to Director ofInstitutional Effectiveness CrystalKollross.

The majority of classes beingconsidered are required for cer-tificate transfer degrees, or gener-al education certification (IGETC),according to Kollross.

The counseling and enrollmentmanagement teams worked close-ly together to create the coursesplanned for summer, as well assome more to be added to thissemester, according to Dean ofCounseling Cynthia Olivo.

“We try to make sure that thegoals that students are aiming toachieve are offered [with classavailability],” said Olivo.

Since the Board meeting, when

no language classes were plannedfor summer, more language class-es requested by faculty have beenadded to the proposed summercourse list, according to Kollross.Various levels of Chinese,Spanish, and Japanese, as well asItalian for students who wish tostudy abroad.

“We looked at students whotransferred to UCs that we couldfind and then we looked back atwhat languages they took here,and predominantly which lan-guages they took, we added to thesummer list,” Kollross said

With the new analytic informa-

tion system (AIS) Banner on itsway, students and faculty alikewon’t have to request whichclasses need to be planned andoffered for transfer, according toOlivo.

“I am looking forward to ournew program, Banner, becausethen it will not be individual peo-ple saying what classes areoffered, it will be Degreeworks. Inthe future, all you have to do isrun a report [for] what courses areleft for the students to take. It getsa little tricky when you have peo-ple informing what classes shouldbe offered,” she said.

AssociatedStudents to presenttown hallBENJAMIN SIMPSONStaff Writer

The Associated Students will hold a town hallmeeting Jan. 24 to discuss student problems withtransferring credits to colleges after the eliminationof winter intersession, and the feasibility of chang-ing the smoking policy on campus.

The 6 p.m. open meeting will be held in theCreveling Lounge.

“Ideally the first half will focus on the transferissues, the smoking issues,” said Simon Fraser,president of the Associated Students. “Afterwardswe will open up to anything [students] have aproblem with on this campus … this is your[venue], in a safe space, in a safe environment.”

The elimination of winter intersession, and thechange to a three-semester calendar has createdproblems with students in transferring credits touniversities.

According to the University of California web-site, five out of nine UC campuses do not allowsummer courses to be transferred into the follow-ing fall admission.

“We are working behind the scenes right now toget students transfer guarantees,” said Fraser.“We are not there yet, so hopefully I will be able tosay on Thursday, this is what the administrationhas done to [ensure] that you will transfer if youtake that summer class.”

There is discussion on campus, according toFraser, about making the campus into a smoke-freeenvironment.

“We need to get as wide an opinion from stu-dents as possible, start looking at health and safetyconcerns, start looking at enforcement of the cur-rent policy,” said Fraser. “The goal is, in April, topresent to the Board of Trustees [a recommenda-tion from the] Associated Students.”

Jaime Morales / CourierStudents wait patiently for discounted bus passes in long lines wrapping around the CCBuilding on Jan. 8

Long wait for low-cost bus passesJONATHON BILES ANDPHILIP MCCORMICKStaff Writers

Students waited in long lines on Jan. 7and 8 that snaked all day around theCampus Center building for up to twohours to get their bus passes at StudentBusiness Services.

“I’ve never seen it as long as it is today,”said Campus Police Officer Mike De Spainof the PCCPD. “But I guess these studentswill have to wait in the line if they wanttheir [bus] passes.”

Students speculated as to whether or notthe Student Business Services office wasunderstaffed.

“I was wondering how many peoplewere working,” said Alexis Rodriguez,music. “But all the windows are open.”

Other students thought that there were“a lot” more people getting bus passes thisyear than last year, as the line hugged the

CC Building and went down the stairsnext to the clock tower elevator.

“It’s worth it for the pass,” said HarlanCheer, computer science. “But I have neverseen it go down those stairs. I waited a lit-tle more than an hour.”

The common denominator with thequeuing students is that they can only getwhat they need from this office.

Erica Perez, child development, joinedthe line minutes before talking to theCourier, but this was her second day ofwaiting. “It’s pretty dumb but I have towait here for a $2 voucher that I need forphotography supplies,” Perez said. “Thisis my second day of waiting I can only buythe equipment from the school and I can’tget this voucher anywhere else on cam-pus.”

Dean Chen, undecided, is new to thiswaiting experience.

For more details, visit pcccourier.com

Arrested protester will get his day in court

Amber Lu / CourierFormer Lancer Lawrence Gandara protests at a rallyabout the school budget cuts in March 2011.

3CourierJanuary 17, 2013

Letters to the EditorThe Courier welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be about

300 words and may be edited by Courier staff. All letters must containyour full name and a correct daytime phone number. Letters can bedelivered to the Courier office in CC 208 or sent by e‐mail to changchien_courier@yahoo.com.

Corrections The Courier staff endeavors to ensure accuracy in all aspects of its report‐

ing. If you believe we have made an error, please contact us at (626) 585‐7130or via e‐mail to saul.nicholas@yahoo.com.

Note to Readers

How has the addition of 7,000 more seats intospring semester class sections affected you?

Reporting by: Tiffany Roesler, Photos by: Lissett Matos

“I’ve gotten a lot more classes.It’s only my second term and Ihave 16.3 units so it’s definite-

ly affected me pretty well.”Jessie Pinon, Sociology

“It gives me an opportunity toget more classes because I

couldn’t get any last semester.It’s made it a lot easier.”

Princesa Gargia, Undecided

“An addition of seats? I haven’treally noticed.”

Frank Murphy, Music

“Well I got most of my classesthrough Pathways so I [was]

basically guaranteed admissionto most of my classes, so not

very much.” Josiah Ruberry, Microbiology

“It has not affected me in anyway because I have classesthat [keep me] here until 10p.m., so no one knew about

those 7,000 seats.”Yanni Joseph, Anthropology

and Theater Arts

“I do think that it’s good thoughbecause last semester it was

really crowded and a lot of stu-dents didn’t get classes.”

Angie Perez, Psychology

“It hasn’t affected me.” Aaron Lu, Biology

“It’s been a lot easier to getclasses, I’ve noticed. I’m on

waitlists for a lot of them and Igot most of them.”

Caroline Sadorra, MusicProduction

“It hasn’t helped at allbecause I’m still trying to crashclasses. The tough part is find-

ing major classes.” Khalil Jammal, Neuroscience

“Personally it hasn’t affectedme because I’ve added theclasses I needed. I’m pretty

sure it helped a lot of studentsbecause of the budget cuts.”

Philip Taing, Business

ONLINE POLL RESULTSONLINE POLL RESULTSOnline, we asked: Should the US adoptstricter gun control?

Results as of 5 p.m. Wednesday:Yes 53%No 46%

vote atpccCourier.com

VOICES:

Fiscal cliff, or fiscal fiasco?Courier2012 JACC General Excellence

Award WinnerEditor­in­ChiefNicholas Saul

News EditorChristine Michaels

Online EditorAnthony Richetts

Opinion EditorEmily Chang ‐ Chien

Assist. Opinion EditorRaymond Bernal

Arts & Entertainment EditorPaul Ochoa

Features EditorLuis Rodriguez

Assist. Features EditorShelly Maldonado

Sports EditorPhilip McCormick

Assist. Sports EditorBenjamin Simpson

Photo EditorBuren Smith

Assist. Photo EditorMatthew Chan

Chief PhotographerJustin Clay

Online Photo EditorAntonio Gandara

Assist. Online Photo EditorJohn Novak

Scene EditorConcepcion Gonzalez

Staff Writers:Jonathan Biles, Aerika Dave, TiffanyHerrera, Teresa Mendoza, MadisonMiranda, Vivan Meza, Adam Mitchell,Tiffany Roesler, Andrew Salmi, KarlaSosa

Staff Photographers: Alia Funaro, Jordan Harris, TeresaMendoza, Caitlin Kelly Thompson,Lissett Matos, Jaime Morales, MaryNurrenbern, Bridget Sanchez, BenjaminSimpson

Faculty AdviserWarren Swil

Photography AdviserRachel Fermi

Advertising CoordinatorAnthony Richetts

The Courier is published weekly by thePasadena City College JournalismDepartment and is a free‐speechforum. Editorial opinions and com‐ments are those of the authors and donot necessarily represent the positionof the institution and its administra‐tion, student government or that ofthe Pasadena Area Community CollegeDistrict.

The Courier is written and produced asa learning experience for student writ‐ers, photographers and editors in theJournalism Department.

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© Copyright 2012 Courier. All rights reserved.

Opinion

TIFFANY HERRERAStaff Writer

The deal made in Congressmay be better than going off thefiscal cliff, but it doesn’t evenbegin to fix the giant mess thecountry faces.

For decades, the governmenthas been spending more moneyevery year with no accountabili-ty. According to the U.S.Treasury website, the federaldebt is at $16,432,680,097,613.85and growing.

Higher taxes are not necessari-ly bad for Americans. What isbad is taking those taxes and notcompromising with spendingcuts where there is waste andmismanagement.

According to the HouseBudget Committee website,spending is leading us down aproblematic road. “For [the fiscalyear of] 2012, total federal rev-enue was…$2.45 trillion, buttotal federal spending [was]above $3.5 trillion, giving us thefourth straight year of more than$1 trillion deficits,” says SouthDakota Sen. John Thune’s web-site.

The power point from theHBC website, Spending is the

Problem, explains that as a per-centage of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) in 2006, tax rev-enue was about 18 percent andspending was only slightly moreat 20 percent. In 2011 the tax rev-enue was 15 percent and spend-ing was about 23 percent.

According to another powerpoint from the website, HouseGOP's [Fiscal Year] 2013 BudgetCharts, in 2012 the U.S. debt heldby the public as a share of theeconomy was 100 percent. If wecontinue on his path, it is project-ed that it will be at 850 percentby the year 2080.

This is not an issue Democratsand Republicans should be fight-ing about. The facts show thatraising taxes without spendingcuts and reform is counterpro-ductive when trying to lower ourdebt. There are so many wayswe can make the future Americaa better place.

If you want a mess likeEurope, don’t do anything. But ifyou want to get back jobs and abetter economy, urge yourSenators and Representatives todo the right thing and work forspending cuts. Tell them to workacross the aisles and set asidepolitics for the greater good.

RAYMOND BERNALAssist. Opinion Editor

Congress finally did a tinyportion of its job and the fiscalcliff was averted earlier thismonth.

The fiscal cliff deal was goodbut could’ve been better.

According to the NationalPriorities Project website about98 percent of Americans werehelped due to Congress and TheWhite House reaching a deal toroll back some – if not all – pend-ing tax increases.

The child tax credit, the earnedincome tax credit and the tuitiontax credit were all made perma-nent.

Millions of unemployedAmericans had their unemploy-ment benefits extended andthere will be no immediatechange to Medicare.

As a result of the deal, individ-uals making more than $400,000and couples making over$450,000 will see their incometaxes go up from 35 percent to39.5 percent.

Investment income was alsoraised from 15 percent 23.8 per-cent.

The $1.2 trillion of automatic

spending cuts due to take affecton Jan. 1, mostly on defense andentitlements were postponedwith a continuing resolution.Congress will take the issue upagain in March along with thenew debt ceiling

The deal was good but somuch more needs to be done.

The fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling,automatic budget cuts – aren’twe tired of these phony, manu-factured crises Congress and thepress tend to shove down ourthroats on a regular basis?

We all must have heard thephrase “fiscal cliff” about a thou-sand times these past couple ofmonths, though it turned out tobe more like a “fiscal slope”.

One would think the sky wasfalling.

But, the media has to find away to sell newspapers andbring in viewers and they alwaysseem to sucker us in.

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxersaid it best “This is not a fiscalcliff. This is our job.”

The politicians in Washingtonhave to find a way to do theirjobs without making a federalcase out of each every issue.

Budget, tax deal fell short of fixing the federal deficit problem

Enough with the artificial crises;Congress simply must do its job

SCENESCENE January 17, 2013 5Courier

Up and at ’emBack in full swing for the spring

Concepcion Gonzalez / CourierYue Zhang, 24, business administration, (center) looks for a cheaper copy of his

book for his Economic 1B class Jan. 11.

Jaime Morales / CourierOne option students have to get to and from school is the I-tap transitpass, which is available for full time students for a low price of $30 for

the semester, Jan. 8.

Benjamin SimpsonThe morning ritual at the start of the semester of cars pulling off

Hill Avenue through parking Lot 3 into parking Lot 4, Jan 9.

Concepcion Gonzalez / CourierA white sign at the end of the line in the B Building informs students thatparking permits are sold out, Jan. 10. They must purchase their parking

permits online.

John Novak / CourierBrendan Mai, psychology, shows his support for reinstating winter

session in front of the Mirror Pools, Jan. 10. Brendan supportswinter session because it allows him to transfer earlier.

Mary Nurrenbern/CourierStudents use registration computers in the L Building on Jan. 11.

LUIS RODRIGUEZStaff Writer

Michael James Buckhouse,who worked at PCC for 30years died suddenly on Jan. 6 atthe age of 53.

Buckhouse was the seniorproduction clerk in theInformation TechnologiesDivision.

According to Buckhouse’sbrother, Thomas Buckhouse,who was vising from Oregon,Michael slumped over in hischair after dinner at his Arcadiaresidence and was unrespon-sive. Attempts by paramedicsto resuscitate him were unsuc-cessful.

PCC faculty members wereshocked to hear of his suddendeparture.

“He was very outgoing. Heknew everyone on campusfrom being here for so long,”

said Jo Ellyn Marie McGrath,administrative assistant.

“This was his one and onlyjob. He started as a studentworker and his mother workedhere.

I was really surprisedbecause I saw him before weboth left before break. Helooked fine.”

“He ran reports for drops andadds and all the things thatwent along with student servic-es and all the reports that cameout of our date servers,” saidMcGrath.

A common sentiment sharedby many was Buckhouse’s pas-sion for trains and Disneyland.

“He liked trains ever since hewas a little kid,” said ThomasBuckhouse, “and I know hewould go to Disneyland a cou-ple times a year.”

“He loved trains. He was atrain enthusiast. He was look-

ing forward to getting close toretirement. He would literallytake a few weeks during hisvacation to train ride across thecountry,” said Dale Pittmann,Director of InformationTechnology Services.

Haroldine Gardner, Secretaryof Public Relations, was a long-time friend of Buckhouse.

“He was very easygoing,smiles all the time,” saidGardner.

“He was a very importantpart of our organization and hewill be missed.

He was a friend and col-league. I saw him the Fridayafternoon before he passedaway in the Boone SculptureGarden.

We had a nice chat about sev-eral things and we were allshocked on Monday.”

“He was a gentle soul,” saidLeslie Tirapelle, interim direc-

tor of distance education.“We’ll all miss him.”

A memorial service isplanned for Feb. 13 on campus,

according to Denise Albright,secretary of LEOP&S.Buckhouse’s brother and sister-in-law will be in attendance.

6 Courier January 17, 2013

30-year IT employee, 53, suddenly dies

Photograph courtesy of Administrative Assistant of InformationTechnology Jo Ellyn Marie McGrath.

Michael Buckhouse in his office surrounded by pictures of loved onesand trains.

Benjamin Simpson/CourierJaclyn Molinar stands next to her art work entitled 'Women: Many Stories” on display in the Campus Art Gallery until Jan 18,2013. Molinar received one of the first three Westerbeck scholarships for her paintings.

Students receive scholarships

BENJAMIN SIMPSONStaff Writer

Jaclyn Molinar, visual arts, MelissaFuentes, music, and MichaelaEscarcega, theater arts, have receivedthe first of many scholarships to be pre-sented in the name of Robert andAdrienne Westerbeck who donatedover $5 million to PCC.

The award ceremony was held in

December at the unfinished Center forthe Arts building, where the three stu-dents received their awards andPresident Mark Rocha dedicated TheRobert and Adrienne WesterbeckRecital Hall due to be completed in July.

Robert Westerbeck attendedPasadena Junior College (the precursorof PCC) from 1932 to 1936, before goingon to work at Lockheed Aircraft. Hiswife Adrienne taught music classes atPCC as well

as private music lessons in Altadena.Robert died in 2006 and Adrienne in2010 at the age of 103.

The Westerbeck’s donation over $5million is the largest donation to PCC inthe college’s history, according to BobbiAbram, executive director of the PCCFoundation.

The scholarship fund will make avail-able about $120,000 per year, availableto all students at PCC who meet the pre-requisites of 24 credit hours completed,a minimum 2.5 GPA, minimum six cur-rent hours enrolled and two faculty rec-ommendations.

“[The Westerbeck] fund almost dou-bled the size of the number of scholar-ships that we can give away,” saidAbram.

Applications for scholarships areavailable through the PCC Financial

Aid website starting in October.While the scholarships in the future

will be handled by the Financial Aidoffice, the first three scholarships for$2,000 each were directly nominated byfaculty in the performing and communi-cation arts and the visual arts and mediastudies divisions.

Jaclyn Molinar, who won the visualarts award, is a fine art major and wonthe award for her oil and acrylic paint-ings in mostly feminist genre.

Molinar is planning on transferring toa liberal arts college in the fall.

“I have already used [the money] onbooks this semester,” said Molinar, “I’mtaking art history, and the books tend tobe really enormous books and prettyexpensive.”

Two of Molinar’s paintings are cur-rently on show at the campus artgallery.

Last semester Melissa Fuentes, whowon the music scholarship, was a per-cussionist section leader in the LancerMarching Band, and this semester willplay in the concert band and is the per-cussionist for the spring musical.

Fuentes plans to use the money fortuition and books.

Fuentes has been accepted to CSUFullerton, and plans on becoming amusic teacher.

New Boardpresident optimisticabout school year

dar, a reduction of course offerings, and anunpopular restructuring of the campus at large.

But with the passage of Proposition 30 inNovember, and the $6.7 million check that shouldsoon be coming to the college, the tables haveturned at an opportune time for Martin to take hislead.

A major hope with the Board’s decision at theDec. 12 meeting to allocate $4.4 million of the $6.7million towards adding more classes this year, isthat the Board will move forward in a brighterdirection from the year just passed.

“We are using [the money] for classes. It’s beennumber one in my heart for a while … Studentaccess is about getting you where you want to goas expeditiously as possible,” Martin said.

Student access has been a major topic over thelast year, and student’s success, according to Boardmembers, goes hand in hand with accessibility toPCCs services.

Newly appointed Board Vice President AnthonyFellow wishes to see more use of extended learn-ing offerings that go beyond the limits of the maincampus’s geographic location, especially with therise of enrollment since the passage of Proposition30.

“I’m not surprised to see enrollment go up, buthow do we service all of the students?” Fellowexplained. “I’d like to see more of an implementa-tion of satellite campuses.”

Martin, whose area covers the outer borders ofthe district, and wished to see more satellite cam-puses as well as more online instruction.

Martin explained he hoped to be a good facilita-tor of the Board once more with goals to worktowards student success.

“That is our biggest goal,” he emphasized.With his mind set of working towards serving

the Board to serve the PCC community, Martinexplained his role as president is in reality sub-servient.

“[Being President] is more of a servant role. I amthe facilitator for the Board … it’s time for me tostep back from any personal desires I may have,”Martin said slowly nodding his head, and holdinghis hands out.

With a small grin on his face and closing hishands together, Martin continued: “We are milesahead of many. We are looking forward [to] howwe can do even more.”

Alumni donate$5 million to PCC for annual awards

Continued from page 1

deterred students and facultymembers from donning protestshirts. “It’s not a police state,” shesaid.

Student Kelly Camacho,English and fine arts, lauded fac-ulty participation in the protest,acknowledging the dangers thattheir presence may entail.

“It’s really difficult and can bedangerous for them to come out.

They have families also and theydepend on this job to feed [their]families,” Camacho said. “It wasone of the few times that we’ve allcome together like that … we hadsuch great student and professorunity.”

Community Education CenterInstructor Daniel Hamman saidthat the goal of the protest was toraise awareness within the com-munity. “We want the communi-

ty aware of what is going on,”Hamman said. “The mismanage-ment, the misuse of funds, thecutting of winter session, and thelack of access to classes for stu-dents — I don’t think the commu-nity has any idea of what has beengoing on here.”

“[President] Rocha needs tohear the students and the facultythat are not happy here with hisadministration.”

The students’ and faculty mem-bers’ passionate advocacy — fromvigorous chants and cheers toeager sporting of signage — wasgreeted with support as car driv-ers honked their horns in agree-ment with their message.

“It’s good to see that people arewilling to step out on the ledge alittle bit and speak and we want tosupport that,” said McCabe. “Wedon’t suffer bullies.”

History Instructor Eloy Zarateexpressed the importance of fac-ulty support at the protest. “It’svery important that we are here atthe beginning of the year, despiteour contract, that no matter whatthe administration does to makeour lives difficult, that we willalways side with the students andwhat their needs are.”

Additional reporting by VivianMeza

contract.In turn, van Pelt and

Hutchings filed a cross-com-plaint stating LED Global con-spired to commit fraud as well asslander them.

These lawsuits also went tocourt on Dec. 14 where JudgeSuzanne Bruguera ruled that theentirety of the cross-complaintbe dropped on account of thedefendants’ responses to variousmotions which include anti-SLAPP motions and complaintobjections. SLAPP is a state lawpreventing frivolous lawsuitsdesigned to discourage individ-uals for participating in mattersof public importance.

Philip Layfield, the lawyerthat represents LED Global, out-lined the dismissal of the cross-complaint in the Pasadena courthouse.

“At this point the defendantsdismissed their cross complaintwithout prejudice,” he said.

Gary Beeks, a lawyer that rep-resents van Pelt and Hutchings,claims that the cross-complaintwas dropped because they werenever able to reply to motionsagainst them. “ We neverreceived [their answer],” he said.“That was a surprise, we have noreason to not file something

Continued from page 1

Continued from page 1

7CourierJanuary 17, 2013

Women’s basketball throttles El CaminoPHILIP MCCORMICKSports Editor

The women’s basketball teamcrushed the El Camino Warriorson Wednesday night, as theLancers won by 31-points andcame away with their 13th winthis season. The final score was72-41.

The Lancers traded points withthe Warriors for the first 10 min-utes of the first half, but endedthe half up by 14-points. “Theteam played pretty well,” said

Head Coach Joe Peron. “TylerCrockom played really well outthere and surprised me.”Crockom ended the game withnine points and eight rebounds.

“It was a good game,” saidShay Jackson, who had an allaround game with 10-points, six-assists and six-rebounds. “Weplayed a lot better in the secondhalf.”

PCC came out in the secondhalf with ‘great’ intensity andsoon they were up by more than

20, but even with a huge lead, theWarriors never stopped beingaggressive and physical.

“You get pushed around a lotin the block,” said Kaitlyn Parks.“It gets tiring, but you have topush past that and play thegame.” Parks had another biggame for the Lancers with 18-points and 16-rebounds.

It was no problem for PCC toget to the rim, as four Lancerplayers got to double-digits inpoints. Sabrina Martinez had 10

points and five steals, whilethree-point specialist StellaGhazarian had11 points andthree assists

“Our team played an allaround good game,” saidGhazarian. “ We got tiredtowards the end, but I don’tthink it showed. We are pushedto the brink in practices for thisreason. It helps us late in games.”

The one disappointing part onthe Lancers side of the statswould have to be their free

throws. They were 11-22 frombehind that line. “We’ll get betterwith time,” said Peron. “Justneed to work on that more inpractice.”

The win came on the night thatPeron was handed a game ballfor reaching the 400th win in hiscareer at PCC. “I’m glad thisteam got me there,” said Peron.“I hope I’m able to get to five orsix hundred wins in the comingyears.”

Suit againstschool maybe dropped

Men’s basketball team falls to No. 2 ranked Mt. SACADAM MITCHELLStaff Writer

The men’s basketball teamcame out strong but hampered bysecond half turnovers fell to theNo. 2 ranked Mt. SAC Mounties76-61 at home on Friday.

Head Coach Michael Swaneganattributed the Lancers defeat tolack of experience. “It was inexpe-rience versus experience tonight,”Swanegan said. “We had a lot ofyoung guys trying to make toomany plays.”

The Lancers had a fast start,coming out with tough on-the-ball pressure and forcing someearly first-half turnovers that ledto some easy baskets. Good playby both Jeffrey Dockett and GaryMatthews had the Lancers up 19-14 with 7:06 to go in the first half.

The lead was short lived how-ever due to PCC’s poor transitiondefense and inability to rebound.The Lancers found themselvesdown by one, 29-28 going into thehalf.

The Lancers came out in the

second half with many of thesame problems that plagued themin the first. Nineteen totalturnovers led to a lot of easy tran-sition baskets for Mt. SAC. Poorshooting also hurt PCC with theLancers shooting only 34 percentfor the game, while the Mountiesshot a blistering 51 percent for thegame and 60 percent in the sec-ond half.

“It was a tough second half. Wehad no intensity; there wereheads down and we got scared,”said Dockett about the dismal sec-

ond-half performance. “We gothurt in transition, no rotation andtoo much gambling up top.”

The Lancers used a small lineupfor most of the game, starting fourguards and playing them togetherfor much of the contest. The sizemismatch showed on the glasswith PCC getting out-rebounded46-31.

Swanegan also noted thatfatigue my have played a role inthe second half collapse. “The sec-ond half fatigue cost us. We hadtoo many turnovers. That’s not

going to get it done,” he said.It was a tough loss for the

Lancers, who had high expecta-tions going into the game withrivals. “Mt. SAC is ranked No. 2,and they played well. But weplayed lower than our expecta-tions and lower than our competi-tion,” said Dockett.

The Lancers need to turn itaround quickly. With the bulk oftheir conference schedule still tocome, they are already behind theeight ball (1-1) in the conferenceand (5-10) overall.

Lady lancers can ball

Sabrina Martinez drives the ball forward in PCCs loss atLos Angeles Southwest College.

Left: Shay Jackson drives the lane against Mecca Stribling. PCC lostto Los Angeles Southwest College 84-81 on Jan. 11.

Protesters kick off spring semester with campus-wide demonstration

Benjamin Simpson / Courier

JONATHAN BILESStaff Writer

After facing a double-digitdeficit Jan. 9, the Lancer men’sbasketball team stormed back towin their home and conferenceopener, defeating the L.A.Southwest Cougars 83-79.

The Lancers improve to 5-9 onthe season and 1-0 in conferenceplay.

The Lancers lost the lead earlyin the first half and finally tookthe lead back with 51 secondsleft in the game.

PCC had spurts of lockdowndefense but had moments oftotal lapses on the defensive end.

“This was our home opener sowe had a little stage fright. Wecame out pretty nervous,” HeadCoach Mike Swanegan said afterthe game. “We settled down inthe second half and picked upour intensity as the game wenton.”

With Lancers leading scorerthis season Mike Swanegan Jr.,(the coach’s son) going 0-7 fromthe field and playing only 21minutes, the scoring burden fellto freshman point guard JeffreyDockett and sophomore guardEvan Moore, who both scoredtheir season high in points.

Dockett went 9-13 from thefield, 3-3 from three-point range,8-10 on free throws, six assists,and added two steals.

Brooks went 7-14 overall, 5-8from three, a perfect 7-7 from thefree throw line, and was onerebound away from a double-

double.“They just wanted me to find

the open man and create,”Dockett said, who also con-tributed six assists. “I’ve had thegreen light from coach to scoreand play my game since the lasttournament.”

Also contributing to the win-ning effort was sophomoreguard Steven Shares, who addedgreat defensive intensity,accounting for two steals, andsophomore forward Alec Tatumwho added seven points and 10crucial defensive rebounds.

The final scoring run startedwith back-to-back threes byBrooks, followed by a pair ofclutch Dockett free throws totake the lead.

Fouling Dockett proved to becostly and resulted in LASouthwest’s top two playersfouling out and having fourfouls.

“I’m little and fast so I guessthey felt the need to foul me,”the 5’9′ tall Dockett said.

The shot clock had beenturned off and there were 23 sec-onds left in the game as theLancers held onto a three-pointlead.

The Lancers came out of theirfinal timeout with one singularmessage from Coach Swaneganand his vocally active assistants.

“Don’t foul,” Brooks said.“Whatever you do, don’t foul.”

The Lancers played clinicallyefficient defense in the finalmoments, forced a missed basketfrom the Cougars, grabbed the

rebound, and held the ball untilthe clock ran out.

“Our gameplan was to open

the floor up and play in transi-tion, play physically and disci-plined,” Coach Swanegan said.

“I thought for the last ten min-utes of the game our intensitylevel was great.”

SPORTSSPORTSJanuary 17, 2013OURIERC

Men’s hoops win a close home-opener

Jordan Harris/CourierChris Smith whips the ball around the defender on Jan. 9, kicking it into the paint for an easy two points.The final score was 83-79, Lancers.

Softball aims to go hard for season Lancer baseball lookingforward to new seasonMADISON MIRANDA

Staff Writer

The Lancer softball team,according to Head CoachBrittany Williams, is shaping upto have a good season with tworeturning sophomores and 15freshmen players.

“I am confident going in to ourgame next Friday,” saidWilliams.

Even with the new faces addedto the team, Williams is not wor-ried.

It was an easy transition for theteam, with the returning playershelping out the new girls shesaid.

“There is cohesion with theteam. The new players fell in line.They respect the returning play-ers. Everyone helps out,” saidWilliams. “They are good kids.Very, very good kids.” The play-ers work well together and pusheach other to do better she says.

“I think it’ll be a good year,”she added. This is her secondseason as head coach and herthird year at PCC.

When looking for players forthis season, the coaches choseathletes that could play multiplepositions. “We wanted to havemore options,” said Williams.

Ashley Shaneberger, returningsophomore and outfielder,

thinks the team is looking goodthis season. She is not worriedabout the team’s ability to worktogether. “Once we step out onthe field, everything goes awayfor us and we just focus on thegame,” Shaneberger said.

Natalie Ficocelli, returningsophomore and first baseman, isalso feeling confident for the sea-son. “We’ve had some bumps onthe road with positioning, but wehaven’t even hit the surface [ofour potential] yet,” Ficocelli said.

According to the coach, the

biggest obstacles the team facesthis season are some injuries andworking around academics.Williams said there are five play-ers red shirting this season, twoof which are for injuries.

The other three decided tofocus on their schoolwork andbecome stronger players.

“Academics come first,” saidWilliams. With only a few prac-tice days left, Williams is excitedto see the team in action.“Everyone wishes for more time,but we are ready.”

ANDREW SALMIStaff Writer

As the Lancer baseball teamapproaches its upcoming 2013season, Head Coach EvanO’Meara expects the team toimprove in all areas for his ninthseason at PCC.

After a very disappointing 2012season in which the team finishedwith six wins and 30 losses, CoachO’Meara is optimistic about thestarters and noted some impactplayers who are returning for the2013 season

“David Halstead was an all-conference first baseman last yearand we look for him to step upagain this year.

Third baseman Danny Gomezwas with us last year. He’s a ter-rific student and is kind of theelder statesman on the ball club,”O’Meara said

Also expected to make animpact on the field are middleinfielders Bobby Fraijo and JoshClark, catchers Cameron Silvaand Corey Richards, and outfield-er Charles Smith.

“As of now we just found outwho our team is since we just gotdown to the final cuts,” said soph-omore shortstop Josh Clark.

On the mound, noted pitchersEvan Stransky, Spencer Stute andTrevor Gleason are returning andwill help turn around a pitchingstaff that struggled mightily lastseason.

“I’m excited. We thought wehad a really good team last yeartoo but we lost so many guys togrades, but this year we have abetter infield than I’ve seen andour pitching staff is really comingaround” said sophomore pitcherGleason.

O’Meara is optimistic.“The overall depth of the team

is actually stronger this year thanit was last, especially defensivelyand offensively.

We’re not as deep pitching-wise as we were last year, but weweren’t very successful on themound last year anyway so it did-n’t really matter if we were deepor not,” said O’Meara

O’Meara said, however thatassistant coach David Waltershad done a tremendous job withgetting the pitchers ready for theseason.

The baseball team will open theseason playing host to AntelopeValley College on Feb. 1.

File PhotoLancer Kayla Moore slides into home plate, as the ELAC catcherattempts to tag her out at Robinson Park last season.