CO U R I ER Pasadena City College
Serving PCC since 1915
JULY 16, 2015 VOLUME 112 ISSUE 1
ONLINE EXCLUSIVES PCCCOURIER.COM
Eric Haynes/Courier
New football coach on campus!
Neon Retro Arcade brings together kids of all ages Erica Hong/Courier Nine-year-old Nick Banuelos of Pasadena plays soccer pinball for the first time as his dad shows him the games he grew up with at Neon Retro Arcade on Raymond Avenue on Friday, July 3.
ACCJC puts school on probation Kristen Luna Editor-in-Chief Pasadena City College officials announced last week that the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) decided to maintain PCC’s accreditation while putting the school on probation for not being able to work together for the betterment of the students and the institution. According to the ACCJC letter to PCC, an institution is placed on probation when the institution drastically strays away from the commission’s eligibility requirements, accreditation standards, or commission policies, but not to an extent that justifies the termination of accreditation. When ACCJC met in early June to review the Institutional Self Evaluation Report and the report of the External Evaluation Team that visited in March, Assistant Superintendent and Senior Vice President Robert Miller, along with other school representatives, addressed the commission’s recommendations
and their plan to improve the college’s community. “I have full respect for the accrediting commission and for the recommendations they have brought forth, and I believe that this college will rally around those recommendations that we need to do in order to be successful,” Miller said the day after the report was released. “I think we need to come
together as a college community to rally around the most important aspect of the institution, which is accreditation.” Newly elected Superintendent President Dr. Rajen Vurdien of PCC said he is well acquainted with the work it will take to successfully move the school out of probation. When Vurdien first arrived at Fullerton College, they had just been
placed on probation and within a year, the school was fully accredited. “The college fully embraces the recommendations of the ACCJC and will aggressively address these issues working towards quick resolution,” Vurdien said. “The college’s academic programs continue to be among the highest-ranked and well-regarded in the nation. The college’s commitment to providing a high-quality, academically robust learning environment that encourages, supports, and facilitates student learning and success will continue unabated through this process.” Katherine Scott, associate vice president of academic affairs, took over as the accreditation liaison officer in February. Working alongside accreditation faculty leader Stephanie Fleming, they formulated the changes that needed to be implemented in order to address the recommendations that were made after the site visit. “When we had a sense of what the recommendations were going
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Rocha retains severance with new settlement Kristen Luna Editor-in-Chief After a Los Angeles Superior court judge nullified former Superintendent President Dr. Mark Rocha’s severance package last April, ruling that Rocha and the Board of Trustees violated the Brown Act by not listing his severance package negotiations in closed sessions, the district signed a new settlement agreement with Rocha allowing him to keep $403, 826, along with the $16,000 in legal expenses negotiated
in his severance package agreement. According to the settlement agreement signed by Board President Berlinda Brown last month, Rocha hired a lawyer in May 2014 and threatened to sue the district for breach of contract and defamation. On two separate dates between July and August, Rocha and the board met in closed session with both of their attorneys concerning those threats, listing the meetings in the agenda as “anticipated litigation.” “No other facts or circumstances
regarding the threat of litigation were stated, because it was the opinion of the district’s counsel that to have done so at either meeting would have required the disclosure of information which was not yet known to potential litigants, including but not limited to Dr. Rocha,” the settlement agreement states. In October 2014, the non-profit group Californians Aware filed a lawsuit against the Board of Trustees and Rocha that accused the board of violating open meeting laws and demanded that the school
retract Rocha’s package. A judge agreed and nullified the agreement in May. The financial terms of the latest agreement have not changed, as Rocha received a sum equal to 18 months of his salary and a letter of recommendation from the board. The settlement also states that the agreement has enough necessary information that “neither party will make any further statements to the
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Erica Hong/Courier
Summer is Here! Turn to page 4 & 5 for Scene!
Griffith cleared, settlement reached Kristen Luna Editor-in-Chief The district recently signed a settlement agreement stating there was no evidence found that former architecture instructor Coleman Griffith committed sexual harassment, agreeing to allow Griffith to resign with full retirement benefits and pay $18,000 to a search engine optimization firm to “perform online reputation management services.” According to the settlement agreement, Griffith has not filed any lawsuits against the district and he agrees that he will not sue the district in the future. One of the provisions in the settlement is that all records involving Griffith and the district are to placed and remained in a “sealed envelope and marked with instructions that the contents shall be disclosed only upon written authorization by Griffith,” according to the letter. Even though the district main-
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July 16, 2015
Search for new police Trustee retires, new chief now underway candidates vie for seats Keely Damara Managing Editor Almost a year after former PCC police chief Don Yoder was fired from the position of director of Campus Police and Safety Services, the district is finally beginning the process to fill the position permanently. The district hasn’t started the recruitment process yet, but on Tuesday Senior Vice President Business and College Services Robert Miller advised Terri Hampton, the executive director of human resources, that the district intends to begin the search for candidates. “The Office of Human Resources will begin the recruitment process as soon as the required Post and Fill (internal hiring document) is received,” Hampton wrote in an email. “I anticipate receipt within the next few days.” Steven Matchan filled the position in an “acting” capacity after Yoder was placed on paid administrative leave on June 25 of last year. In a November 17 meeting, the Board of Trustees fired Yoder “with cause” for reasons undisclosed in the interest of protecting personnel privacy. On January 22, Matchan was selected from a pool of applicants to fill the position as interim director of Campus Police and Safety Services.
ACCREDITATION Continued from page 1 started immediately to work on them and I feel that we have a really good start,” Scott said. “As long as we work collaboratively with faculty, classified, administration, and students, I think we’re going to be fine. We have over a year to make sure we have met the recommendations and it is our intention to do everything we have to, to make sure that happens.” With the history of shared governance not getting along, and constantly working against each other to reach the same goal of serving the students, Vice President of Academic
According to board bylaws, a classified employee, such as the director of Campus Police and Safety Services, can fill a position in an acting capacity for six months. The president of the board can then choose to extend the position for up to a year in an interim capacity to allow time to find a permanent replacement. “At a year, an interim can remain another six months, but that remaining six months has to be during a period of time where the district is making a formal search,” said Robert Bell, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs. Matchan said that whoever is hired to permanently fill the position will “have the support of a fine organization, employees, and support staff to assist them.” He said his time as interim director of Campus Police and Safety has been a learning experience and that he found mentorship in Miller and retired Police Chief Frank Scialdone. “When I became a police officer, I became an officer to serve, and I never forget that,” said Matchan. “I never forgot where I had been, where I came from, or whom I serve. So no matter what position I may fill in the near future I will serve the best I can.” The new police chief will be the fifth that PCC has had since 2011. Affairs Robert Bell feels that the best thing to do is stand behind the new president. “I think the correct thing to do is rally around the new president,” Bell said. “We need to talk collectively as a collected group with students, faculty, staff, administrators about what do we need to do to address the immediate concerns, such as the accreditation report. But not just to address the accreditation report, how do we make this community stronger going forward? We all just need to rally together to take a residual purpose for a common cause.” Former Academic Senate President Eduardo Cairo has been vocal about the issues with shared governance throughout the accreditation process and even went as far as refusing to sign the final draft of the Accreditation
Matthew Kiewiet News Editor After 32 years, Dr. Jeanette Mann will be stepping down from her seat on the PCC Board of Trustees. “I have other lives to live,” said Mann, quoting Henry David Thoreau. Elections for board positions will be held on November 3 for areas 2, 4, and 6. As of July 15, Bill Thompson will be running unopposed for reelection in area 4 and John Martin will be running unopposed for reelection of area 6. They have served on the board for eight and 32 years, respectively. Running for area 2, which covers mostly East Pasadena and Sierra Madre, will be Tom Selinske and Jim Osterling. Osterling, who is endorsed by Trustee Ross Selvidge, owns Bridge Financial
Self-Evaluation Report. “The majority can be accomplished in one year, they are very simple,” Cairo said. “It’s my understanding that there’s nine recommendations but the reason we’ve been put on probation is because two of those were from six years ago … it’s their (ACCJC) way of saying six years ago these issues were highlighted so why hasn’t it been taken care of ? If anything, shared governance has worsened and that’s what the report states.” In the 2009-2010 school year, the college was put on a warning with two recommendations relating to the improvement of program review, planning processes, and shared governance. Cairo believes that in order to really work to-
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Unified School District from 2007-2015 and was board president from 2008-2010. He is currently an instructor in business management at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandizing in Los Angeles. He also ran a losing campaign for Mann’s area 2 seat back in 2011. “We’re slowing our kids down through lack of access to key classes, which costs them time and money,” Selinske said in an interview with Pasadena Now. The filing period for the November 3 election starts on July 12 and ends on August 7 (or August 12 if the incumbent does not file for reelection). There is no runoff election. The highest vote getter, no matter how many candidates, wins.
gether to overturn the probation, “we need to have a will and desire to actually do something and not just say you want to do something.” As a result of being on probation, the school is the required to submit a follow-up report in October 2016, which will be followed by a visit of the external evaluation team in November 2016 to determine whether or not all necessary changes have been made to address the recommendations presented in the final report. The final report included nine recommendations issued by the ACCJC, which include the need for improvement in the areas of shared governance and communication, planning, adherence to institutional policies, and overall institutional effectiveness.
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Continued from page 1 ment,” and that Rocha, the district and the board shall refrain from making any public statements to the public about the agreement. “The agreement with Dr. Rocha speaks for itself concerning what
Advisors and is an adjunct professor at USC. He thinks very highly of PCC. “I truly think that PCC is a very important institution in our community in terms of the number of students it serves, and the high quality, affordable education that they provide,” he said. Osterling also expressed a sense of urgency and concern that PCC maintain full accreditation by removing itself from probation that it has been placed on by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges following their site visit in March. Finally, Osterling stated that he would be an asset to the board by improving their financial decision making. “I would apply my financial expertise to maintain good fiscal discipline by good oversight from the board,” he said. Selinske served on the board of the Pasadena
the parties agreed to do,” wrote Brown in an email. “Beyond the foregoing, the district has no further comment regarding the agreement or the litigation.”
Louis C. Cheung/Courier Profile picture of former president Mark Rocha on July 7, 2010.
finding that Griffith committed sexual harassment against any person at any time,” the settlement also states that “neither party admits to the truth and merit of the position asserted by the other party or the falsity or lack of merit in the positions asserted by it with respect to any matters existing from or relating to either party’s claims.” Griffith is no longer eligible to be hired for any position within the district. “As you know Professor Griffith retired and other then wishing him the very best in his retirement and future endeavors, I cannot comment further on personnel matters,” said Assistant Superintendent/Senior Vice President Robert Miller. The settlement was discussed in closed session at the last Board of Trustees meeting due to “a verbal claim of damages of Coleman Griffith, architecture instructor, against the district sounding an invasion of privacy arising from a comment by a district employee,” said Gail Cooper, the school’s general counsel. When Griffith was placed on paid administrative leave in January, Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Robert Bell was criticized for his comments disclosing the reason Griffith was placed on paid
leave with faculty and administration. He and the Faculty Association accused Bell of violating confidentiality in the personnel matters of a faculty’s pending investigation. Bell later retracted his comments. Griffith was placed on paid administrative leave on Jan. 20 and suspended without pay starting Apr. 20. In the past three years, Griffith is the third teacher to be accused of having inappropriate behavior with students and the second to be placed on administrative leave. Former history professor Hugo Schwyzer resigned from his position after admitting to having sex with former students and former Courier adviser, Warren Swil, was placed on leave and then returned to the
school after admitting to showing a student nude photos of himself.
Tiffany Yip/Courier Coleman Griffith, an architecture professor reached a settlement with the district.
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Serving PCC since 1915 Editor-in-Chief Kristen Luna
Opinion Editor Hannah Gonzales Features Editor Mick Donovan Lifestyle Editor Monique LeBleu Photo Editor Keely Damara Scene Editor Erica Hong and Nagisa Mihara Staff Writer: Alex Chhuon Staff Photographer: Eric Haynes, Monique LeBleu Faculty Adviser: Nathan McIntire Photo Adviser: Tim Berger Advertising Manager: Daniel Nerio
The Courier is published weekly by the Pasadena City College Journalism Department and is a freespeech forum. Editorials and comments are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the institution and its administration, student government or that of the Pasadena Area Community College District. The Courier is written and produced as a learning experience for student writers, photographers and editors in the Journalism Department. Phone: (626) 585-7130 Fax: (626) 585-7971 Advertising (626) 585-7979 Office: 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., CC-208 Pasadena, CA 91106-3215 © Copyright 2015 Courier. All rights Reserved. Letters to the Editor The Courier welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be about 300 words and may be edited by Courier staff. All letters must contain your full name and a correct daytime phone number. Letters can be delivered to the Courier office in CC 208 or sent by email to luna.courier@gmail.com
Corrections The Courier staff endeavors to ensure accuracy in all aspects of its reporting. if you believe we have made an error, please contact us at (626) 585-7130 or via email to luna.courier@gmail.com
VOICES
Unaffordable nationwide subsidies? Alex Chhuon Staff Writer
News Editor Matt Kiewiet
July 16, 2015
With the Supreme Court ruling in favor of Obamacare, the future of the Affordable Care Act should be secure. As such, insurance for all at competitive prices follows in turn. While it remains true that the Affordable Care Act does provide insurance at more cost-effective prices, a ruling against it would not have been all bad. To begin with, Obamacare’s strength is its ambition, a drive to provide health insurance to all, but its weakness is also that ambition. As with everything else in the world, this ambition and drive costs money, and plenty of it. One of the main costs is creating a competitive market in the state where citizens can purchase insurance at reasonable prices. While the idea has merit, implementation of it in reality has not translated well. “Most exchanges have operating budgets of $28 million to $32 million,” said Lena H. Sun and Niraj Chokshi of The Washington Post. “One of the biggest cost drivers is call centers, where operators answer questions and can sign people up. Enrollment can be a lengthy process — and in several states, contractors are paid by the minute.” Sun and Chokshi cite Minnesota, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Hawaii as states that have struggled with a tight budget in raising a state marketplace for insurance. A couple states considered forgoing the trouble and passing the issue over to the federal government, which the Supreme Court will allow. Yet, even that does not cleanly solve their money woes. “Each exchange would have to be made compatible with the federal marketplace at a cost of about $10 million per exchange,” Jim Wadleigh, executive director of Connecticut’s exchange, told The Washington Post. With such a high cost invested in the ambition of Obamacare, the country’s already bloated debt is only further inflated. The U.S. is
still debating about cutting Social Security due to the money required to maintain it. Additionally, it’s not just states paying up, but average citizens as well. The American Action Forum estimates that about 11 million people would be freed from the individual mandate of $1,200 if the case had been ruled in favor of King. As not everybody desires health insurance, the mandate is a punishing money sink for those individuals. Using basic fourth grade math, $1,200 multiplied by 11 million is $13.2 billion freed up in the country. Obamacare even affects those who subscribe to it. “When it comes into effect in January 2015, Obamacare will require firms with 50 or more full-time employees to offer them affordable health insurance or pay a fine of $2,000-3,000 per worker,” The Economist wrote in an editorial. “That is a daunting prospect for firms that do not already offer coverage. But for many, there is a way round the law.” While the Affordable Care Act’s requirement for companies to insure their workers (if they have at least 50 full-time employees) is quite attractive and beneficial for those employees, companies themselves will react rather negatively to that steep cost. The main issue is if the companies hire more workers and slash hours so employees are considered as part-time workers to avoid paying the lucrative costs of insurance. Alternatively, smaller companies may fire employees so that the total number of full-time employees would add up to less than 50 as well. Either way, without that mandate, companies would hire more employees and in turn allow them to work more hours. Overall, Obamacare definitely possesses overwhelming positives as it seeks to provide healthcare and a better livelihood of all the citizens of America, but it has its hidden problems that wouldn’t be missed if it disappeared such as the increasingly high costs and negative impact in certain workplaces.
Hannah Gonzales Opinion Editor
T he Supreme Cour t’s decision to not vote in favor of the plaintiff in King v. Burwell is a major victor y for the Affordable Care Act (ACA). T he 6-to-3 r uling to uphold the ACA means that the federal g over nment is allowed to provide nationwide tax subsidies. Low and moderate income Americans who would have previously str ug gled to buy health care can now afford it. If the Supreme Cour t had voted to not uphold the ACA it would mean the end of health insurance for millions and send thousands into debt. T he ACA, while only in it’s second year, is providing affordable coverag e to those who were uninsured. According to data from the Urban Institute, the uninsured have fallen from 16 percent to 7.5 percent. T hat means 15 million previously uninsured adults were able to afford coverag e between Se ptember of 2013 and March 2015. T he Affordable Care Act Tracking Sur vey, sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund, also released results in favor of the ACA. Among adults who live in pover ty, the uninsured rate fell from 32 percent to 22 percent and Latinos, an ethnic g roup with one of the lowest insurance rates, have made g ains since Se ptember 2013, resulting in a 13 percent drop in the uninsured. For those that were wor ried about paying medical bills, the ACA has also helped the newly insured pay for the costs of health care. In May, the Health Refor m Monitoring Sur vey released a sur vey proving that fewer families are having problems paying their medical bills. Adults ag es 18 to 64 who had problems paying medical bills fell 21.3 percent between 2013 and 2015. In addition, more adults than ever are now using their insurance to access health care. One of the problems
ACA faced was the concer n that newly covered people might not be able to access a physician or appointments with a physician. According to the Affordable Care Act Tracking Sur vey, 60 percent of adults who g ained coverag e under the ACA have been able to access a doctor or fill a prescription. T he data also shows that without the ACA, 62 percent of adults would not have been able to access the necessar y care that they needed. For the naysayers who bemoan that fact that the ACA would cost the federal g over nment more than expected, the cost is actually expected to be 20 percent lower in the upcoming years. In 2010, the Cong ressional Budg et Office actually overestimated how much the ACA would cost. T he new projections, which were estimated last year, are approximately $600 billion less than what was expected four years ag o. What about the economy? Another concer n opponents of the ACA had was that providing a nationwide health care law would end in economic chaos. T hose that opposed passing the ACA created the Re pealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, which was never passed by the Senate. Like it’s title states, the law sought to reverse the ACA on the bases that it would kill jobs. However, the U.S. economy has actually created more jobs since the ACA was passed. Although the ill will the ACA has drawn from opposition is well-founded, this law has exceeded its g oals. Despite effor ts to re peal it, despite fear that it will r uin the American economy, this law is working. It has surpassed expectations and is giving millions of Americans the access to health care, a basic necessity that ever yone should be able to access.
How do you feel about marriage equality becoming legal in the Unites States?
Reporting by: Monique LeBleu Photos by: Eric Haynes
Magali Garcia, criminology
Alyssa Acosta, criminology
Salina Ho, pharmacy
Lorenzo Byers, performing arts
Harlan Entler, computer science
“People are finally going to be able to be with who they want to be with without worrying about anybody else.”
“I know a lot of people that are gay and finally to get the rights...I feel like it’s been a long time coming.”
“I was really happy that we were able to progress in that direction…in a positive direction.”
“I think it’s cool. I think it’s great. I feel like people should like whoever they want to like.”
“I’m not gay myself, but it seems fine if people want to do that sort of thing.”
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Erica Hong/Courier Dads gather to watch the East Altadena Little Leaguers play baseball at Donley Field on Washington Boulevard in Pasadena on July 5.
Erica Hong/Courier Summer is about baseball at Donley Field in Pasadena on July 5 as the scoreboard displays the stats of a game in progress.
Here Comes
Erica Hong/Courier Fireworks from the 88th Annual Fourth of July Celebration at the Rose Bowl seen from the Angeles Crest Highway turnout on July 4.
the SUN
Erica Hong/Courier Jake Arellano, 9, gets a hit against Central Altadena as teammates look on at Donley Field in Pasadena on July 5.
Monique LeBleu/Courier Jesus Sanchez of PCC and Marco Arandia of Caltech take advantage of the acoustics in the Center for the Arts recital hall lobby on July 9.
Erica Hong/Courier Fireworks light up the sky in Pasadena above the Angeles Crest Highway on the Fourth of July.
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July 16, 2015
Recruiting violations alleged
File Photo by Scott Spencer/Courier Women’s basketball coach Joe Peron stands in his office on Thursday, March 5, 2015. Peron had the longest tenure of any PCC athletics head coach. Hannah Gonzales Staff Writer Joe Peron, who has coached the women’s basketball team at PCC since 1996, is under a second investigation for violating the recruiting by-laws of the South Coast Conference. Last month, Peron was removed from his
position as head coach. It is undetermined whether he will return to the team. In February, an incident occurred in which Peron paid a hotel room for one of his players who had asked Peron for help after leaving unstable living conditions, Peron said during the June 15 Board of Trustees meeting. This sparked an investigation from the school
and the South Coast Conference into Peron’s recruiting methods and led the administration to relieve him of his duties as head coach. Peron then called for an independent investigation into the allegations, so a second investigation conducted by a neutral party has begun. Community leaders, alumni, and current
than us, but if we’re disciplined we will find ourselves with a chance to win in the fourth [quarter],” he said. “Let’s not beat ourselves.” Kaumeyer brings quite an extensive and impressive resume to the table. At 48 years of age, he already has more than 20 years of coaching experience at the NFL, NCAA, and community college levels, including serving as an assistant for three national championships at Palomar College. As a player, he was a standout safety at Palomar and later an All-Pac 10 selection at the University of Oregon. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Los Angeles Rams in 1989, and played with the Seattle Seahawks from 1989 to 1992. Kaumeyer credits a great deal of his coaching success to playing experience and coaching alongside great coaches such as Tom Craft at both Palomar and San Diego State. The main focus of summer workouts will be attention to detail, he said. “If we can learn all the schemes in the summer, we can put everything together in the fall,” Kaumeyer said.
Kaumeyer was hired to replace Fred Fimbres, who was let go in December of 2014 after racking up a total of just nine wins compared to 31 losses in his four years with the Lancers. “I wish it had turned out better,” Fimbres said in an interview with the Pasadena StarNews. “It’s not to say we didn’t make a great effort. But these things happen in this profession. You keep score and scores matter.” Kaumeyer gets his first crack at lighting up the scoreboard on September 5 when the Lancers hit the road to take on El Camino College.
Lancer athletes spoke on behalf of Peron at the June 15 meeting. “The administration claims to want to protect the women’s basketball program but does not realize they are in fact hurting and diminishing our team,” said Judith Espinoza, the women’s team captain. “Coach Joe Peron has coached for an outstanding 20 years, has successfully won a state championship, and sent a number of women off to universities to not only further their education, but their basketball careers as well.” Gary L. Moody, the president of the Pasadena branch of the NAACP, said Peron’s alleged infractions “do not weigh anywhere near the successes that he’s had.” “You should reconsider and reinstate to make sure that this program continues,” he said. According to Peron, his intentions are to be reinstated as the 2015-16 women’s basketball head coach. Dr. Robert Bell, PCC’s assistant superintendent and senior vice president of academic and student affairs, whom the athletic department reports to, hasn’t yet determined whether the administration will be replacing Peron as the second investigation is ongoing. “I can tell you there were two violations of the conference bylaws,” said Bell. “Once we come to the close of that investigation we’ll know where we are,” said Bell. Bell said he learned about the violations right before the close of the season. Other than being removed as head coach, Peron has not been suspended from his job as a tenured professor in kinesiology. “Mr. Peron is still a member of the college faculty,” said Bell. “That has not been interrupted.” Peron has been a coach for 20 years at PCC and led the Lancers to win one state championship and six conference titles.
Lancers football looks to get back on track Matthew Kiewiet Staff Writer Riding the coat tails of four disappointing seasons under former head coach Fred Fimbres, PCC is looking to defensive guru Thom Kaumeyer to turn the ship around in 2016. Expectations are high. Kaumeyer’s hiring as the head coach was described as “a move that is expected to change the fortunes of the Pasadena City College football program” in a press release sent out by Sports Information Specialist Robert Lewis. Despite his recruiting process being cut short due to the late hire, Kaumeyer is optimistic about the 2015 season. “I do believe our guys will be prepared,” said Kaumeyer. “We have an opportunity to win each game, no doubt.” The only two statistical categories that the Lancers finished in the top half of their conference in were turnovers (20th) and penalties (18th). To improve these weak spots, Kaumeyer will stress fundamentals. “We will probably face teams more talented
Photos by Eric Haynes/Courier PCC’s football coach Thom Kaumeyer huddles with his players to discuss the next move to work on during practice on Monday.
PCC’s football coach Thom Kaumeyer poses for the camera during practice at Robinson Stadium on Monday, July 13, 2015. Kaumeyer was recently named PCC’s new head football coach.
2015 Football Schedule 9/5 @ El Camino 9/12 vs. Grossmont 9/19 @ LA Harbor 9/26 vs. Canyons 10/3 @ Cerritos 10/10 vs. East Los Angeles 10/17 @ Ventura 10/24 vs. Moorpark 10/31 vs. Allan Hancock 11/7 @ Bakersfield
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Inspired design of Center for the Arts wins award Monique LeBleu Staff Writer PCC’s Center for the Arts unique design elements qualified it for “exemplifying a level of excellence in architectural design” for an Institutional Building for design firm AC Martin, winning the firm the Design Excellence 2014 Citation Award from San Fernando Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) earlier this year. Gail Bouvrie, director of design at AC Martin and the lead designer on the Center for the Arts project, has worked on various projects that have previously received the prestigious award. She explained that through anonymous submission for consideration, AC Martin won for its service. The Center for the Arts building had its ribbon cutting in January 2014. But for a building that was a long time in the planning and execution stages for nearly a decade, this was momentous. And this year’s AIA recognition is a testament. “It was a miracle that we opened that building in the fall of 2013, but we opened in phases,” said Rueben Smith, PCC’s executive director of facilities. “There’s three separate buildings...so final completion was January of 2014. The recital hall was last.” Stephanie Pulcifer, space manager at PCC and a project manager on the bond measure team, helped to take the Center for the Arts building through the design development stages, where award-winning architectural firm AC Martin’s bid was ultimately chosen. “The building was part of the master plan and was the last building we built,” Pulcifer said. They had experience in arts and performing arts, and that was key. They had a vision that spoke to the committee that chose them,” said Pulcifer. “[They effectively] married two creative functions into one space where they lived together harmoniously.” Bouvrie spoke extensively on the awarding process, on how she came to the project and her initial ideas for the building that was based on the committee’s criteria. During a process called “programming,” Bouvrie and team members from AC Martin reviewed the initial space to discuss PCC’s initial requirements. The AC Martin team met extensively with various faculty members and the department deans to determine priorities and to accommodate the space and acoustics and equipment needs for the art and music departments.
The upstairs interior of Westerbeck Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts building on Wednesday. “Typically the knee-jerk reaction would be to separate the music— which is noisy—from the art, which can be messy,” she said. “But we really wanted to energize the building, so we mixed up those spaces so that when you walk down the hall, you’ll be able to have the rehearsal hall next to a 3D design studio next to the jewelry lab.” This was particularly true for the first floor of the building, where they decided to “mix up the music and the art quite a bit,” according to Bouvrie. And this was a particular challenge concerning the jewelry classroom space because of the “tremendous exhaust requirements.” “But we made the decision because it was such an interesting space to put on display in the middle of the building and provide a lot of glass looking into the space, and that’s actually been quite successful,” she said. “The idea was to create a sort of main street that the rooms were off of the main street, connecting the east and west of the campus, became almost like shop windows where people would walk by and they’d see interesting stuff going on,” she continued. The new building also created attractive transitory walkways between buildings. Joseph Futtner, associate dean of the Visual Arts and Media Studies, discussed the elements that made it into the final product that now contains his office and elaborated on the joys that come with it. According to Futtner the space
Eric Haynes/Courier Gail Bouvrie director of design at AC Martin and lead designer for the Center for the Arts building on Monday.
was “a kind of a no man’s land” prior to the existence of the Center of for the Arts building, and had looked forward to the increased circulation on that side of the campus. “They were hidden, basically, from the rest of the campus,” said Bouvrie. “So one of our major goals of the project was to sort of reveal to the rest of the campus, and the Pasadena community in general.” The main street aspect of the first floor corridor was a notable key element added to encourage the slowing of traffic and bring attention to the peek-through “store front window” aspect of the classrooms and the jewelry, video, art and music display cases. “This is a place that is kind of designed to delay, and retard, and engage in a same sense that music or dance has those meters and moments and dynamics,” said Futtner. “It’s an extraordinarily rich and unarguably rewarding opportunity to walk down that [main street] corridor of the building.” Dance and drawing classes have begun to incorporate an exercise that involves both disciplines. “This is truly an example of that type of serendipitous exchange of ideas across discipline silos,” Futtner said. Bouvrie said they tried as much as possible to create large spaces within the corridors to encourage a student hang outs between classes. This was a special focus for spaces on the second floor. “Those sort of spaces were created for students to hang out and to engage with each other,” she said. “We wanted have both sides bring music and art together, but at the same time maintain their separate identities.” To maintain those identities, the design incorporated unique entrances for access to the art gallery and the recital hall in order to showcase them, to aesthetically reflect them, and to provide plazas and an outdoor lobby space for before and after events and to engage the campus. “Formally, the recital hall was inspired by two things. One was the fact that it was facing the sculpture garden. So that allowed us to actually start to think about a sculptural form that was different than anything at PCC at the time,” she said.
“And we then decided to look at the sides of musical instruments—the cello, the violin—so the sort of wooden curve that faces out to the sculpture garden was informed by the shape of musical instruments.” They also looked at some histori-
Erica Hong/Courier accommodate a certain amount of square footage, so some things had to be cut.” “I think that the building could have used more student collaboration spaces,” she said. “And I think
Erica Hong/Courier Westerbeck Recital Hall in the Center for the Arts building on Wednesday. cal aspects of the existing buildings on campus. The frieze included at the top of the building recalls that of some of the historical buildings around campus, as well as the style of the long windows that are facing south. And with all that was incorporated into the building, with budget and space restrictions, there were a few additional flourishes and accommodations Bouvrie wishes they could have incorporated still. “We weren’t able to include the sculpture and ceramic studios, and the printmaking. So if I was going to change anything, I would say that I wish we could have incorporated those spaces. There were some issues with only being able to
that there could have been some sort of food service in the building, because that’s a tremendous draw for the students.” Overall Bouvrie was quite pleased with the outcome, the process and the experience. “The project just had a wonderful set of criteria and it is sort of a dream for an architect to do a project like this,” she said. “I was so impressed with [the deans and faculty] at PCC, their dedication— and for so many years. They were working in substandard spaces and they were doing just amazing things. So it was really quite a wonderful experience.”