PCC Courier 03/05/2015

VOLUME 111 ISSUE 6

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES AT PCCCOURIER.COM

March 5, 2015

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CAIRO What is the Academic Senate president’s endgame?

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Frankenstein comes to life Accreditation visit team @pcccourier

arrives at PCC Philip McCormick Editor-in-Chief

The accreditation visit team from the state arrived on Monday to start its evaluation of the school and to write an “exit report” disclosing what observations were made about PCC during its four day visit.

Information about PCC’s reaccreditation status will not be released until June. However, college leaders have already said that they feel the college will be placed on warning.

“In any accreditation process there is always the possibility, if not the likelihood, that the school being evaluated will be placed on some Daniel Valencia/Courier sort of sanction, with a warning being the least Frederick Frankenstein, played by Alex Mashikian, stands before the monster, played by Richard Seymour, as he damaging,” PCC President Robert Miller said. is about to bring him back to life. STORY ON PAGE 5.

“I call it the velvet hammer of accreditation.

Sometimes it takes an outside entity to remind an organization that there is room for improvement and there is a need for improvement. I see the accreditation as a very positive force in support Philip McCormick of student success.”

Editor-in-Chief Academic Senate President Eduardo Cairo concurred with Miller’s sentiments.

With the Academic Senate elections “Everyone who’s been part of the process is coming up, the executive board will aware that we have a lot of problems,” Cairo said. have some company on the ballot “Because of those problems, we’ll probably be when its members seek reelection on put on warning. That being said, our accreditation March 19 after running virtually unopis not in jeopardy.” posed last year.

According to Miller, the accreditation team Eduardo Cairo, Patricia Rose, Manny will be having interviews with a lot of teachers Perea and Kris Pilon will be seeking over the course of its visit. The members will ask reelection, while Valerie Foster, Stephaquestions about various issues the campus has nie Fleming, Shelagh Rosa and Jay Cho Michelle Gonzalez/Courier been having. will be running against them.

New senate candidates Jay Cho, left, Valerie Foster, Shelagh Rosa and “From my perspective, the accreditation team The four new candidates are running Stephanie Fleming. is here to ask us questions to try to determine on the same ticket together, and said focusing its effort on what the Senate “Our slate is running because we what type of problems the college has and once in a joint statement that it was time for want to see a change in leadership,” is supposed to do.” they know the problems, they are going to proa change in what the senate has been the statement said. “We feel that the They also said that they hope to vide us with plans that we should implement to focusing on. current leadership has NOT been ELECTIONS page 6 try to fix them,” Cairo said.

After the recent departure of Matthew Jordan, the co-creator of the accreditation self-evaluation, Associate Vice President Kathleen Scott recently regarding the relanine College Coordinating Matthew Kiewiet Council (CCC) standing tionship between the shared News Editor committees, in addition to governance commencement committees within each acacommittee versus the AcThe abundance of comdemic division, all of which ademic Senate commencemittees within the Acamust find time to meet ment committee—and some demic Senate, including a within the College Hour senators have expressed “Breakfast Committee” and (Tuesday and Thursday discomfort with the process a “Committee on Commitfrom 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.). As in which some committees tees,” has caused frustration a result, quite a few of these File Photo were formed. In addition to for some members due to committees have conflicting Patricia Rose. committees devoted to colthe limited amount of time meeting times. lege business, there is even set aside for each committee “The executive committee Rose said. “Unfortunately, Nagisa Mihara/Courier to meet. not much progress has been a “Breakfast Committee” has suggested to CAPM to Board members and President Robert Miller formed to determine what Currently there are eight made.” expand the College Hour to listen in at an accreditation team open forum senate members should eat. standing committees, nine The number of commitMonday through Thursday in the Westerbeck Recital Hall.

There are committees that operational committees, nine from 12 to 1 p.m.,” Academ- tees has caused confusion ic Senate Secretary Patricia during senate meetings most COMMITTEES page 6 Ad Hoc Committees, and ACCREDITATION page 6

Senate candidates ready for election

Too many committees cause senate-frustration

I N S I D E

KIRUKI

Alumni plays part in designs solarpowered saddle system for camel convoys in Middle East PAGES PAGE45>> & 5>>

HISTORICAL ODDITIES

Pasadena Museum of History gets trivial with interactive exhibits PAGE PAGE6>> 7>>

SPEAK OUT! Will the school pass accreditation in June?

Vote at PccCourier.com

NEWS

2 COURIER

March 5, 2015

Miller will not recommend winter to board Keely Damara Staff Writer

Interim President Bob Miller stated at the College Council meeting on Thursday that, despite student and faculty support for a winter intersession, he will not be recommending a 20152016 winter calendar to the Board of Trustees.

His announcement comes after the Calendar Committee voted 8-3 in their last meeting to recommend a winter calendar to the College Council and the Associated Students formally backed a winter session after analyzing their student survey results last week.

Miller chairs the College Council and told the council in the last few minutes of the meeting that while he would not recommend a winter calendar to the board, he would submit the proposed winter calendar that the council voted to move forward with.

Miller gave two reasons for not supporting a winter calendar at this time. First, a decision still has not been made on the Pasadena Area Community College district’s appeal of the Public Employment Relations Board’s 2013 ruling that the district violated the Educational Employment Relations Act by unilaterally implementing a 2012-2013 trimester calendar. Additionally, the new superintendent, who has yet to be hired, should be able to

Erica Hong/Courier Interim President Bob Miller stated at the College Council meeting on Thursday that he will not be recommending a 2015-2016 winter intersession to the Board of Trustees.

weigh in on such a large decision, he said.

Associate Vice President of Student Services Cynthia Olivo brought up that the deadline to submit a financial aid disbursement schedule was on Jan. 1. If a winter calendar is adopted next year, students could be left waiting for their financial aid money for winter session until the scheduled spring disbursement.

“We need time to work on an ed plan. We need to program in the appropriate financial aid disbursement schedule,” said Olivo.

Miller said a switch in a calendar at this time could leave students in a similar position

to when they switched to the no-winter calendar in the middle of the 2012-2013 academic year.

“I’m very, very open to this topic,” said Miller. “I just want to make sure we don’t do what we did last time leaving several hundred students in a lurch.”

Following the meeting, Marshall Lewis said in an email that he disagreed with Miller’s assessment that it was too late to switch to a winter calendar for the 2015-2016 school year.

When the calendar switched to a no-winter calendar, it was done in the middle of the school year.

“We are in a position now where that can be done with

much more preparation. That is what the students want, so that is what I feel we should do,” said Lewis.

Despite this, Lewis said he appreciated Miller’s openness and honesty.

“I appreciate that he gave valid reasons instead of what we’re used to which is, “Because it’s my recommendation so I can,” said Lewis. “I do want to move forward with a winter calendar but I do understand the difficulties at this point with a presidential hiring on the horizon.”

The College Council also discussed the Student Equity Plan, the Spring Campus Survey of faculty and staff, Brown Act training and the difficulties in hiring committees when there are not enough volunteers or the same faculty members keep volunteering.

Associated Vice President of Strategic Planning and Innovation Ryan Cornner proposed a program called Strategic Conversations aimed at creating an open dialogue between those that create policy and those who are affected by it.

“The goal of this effort is to help our Board of Trustees thoroughly examine what drives its policy decisions by involving everyone who wishes to express a point of view and gathering information in a less structured atmosphere than a traditional board meeting,” said Cornner.

Police Blotter

Feb. 17 A woman student reported a hit a run that took place in Lot 4 level 2. Her vehicle was hit and a witness provided information on the offender. The suspect was found using license plate information. Officer Robins advised both parties and information was exchanged.

Feb. 20 A student reported their vehicle was broken into in Lot 5 level 3C. The front passenger door window was smashed and an iPhone 5s was taken from inside the vehicle. A rock was found inside the vehicle near the driver’s foot pedals. Surveillance footage wasn’t available. ~Compiled by David O’Connor

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March 5, 2015

Courier

2014 JACC General Excellence Award-Winner Editor-in-Chief Philip McCormick Managing Editor Kristen Luna News Editor Matthew Kiewiet Online Editor Justin Clay and Mick Donovan Opinion Editor Hannah Gonzales Features Editor Mick Donovan A&E Editor Anthony Martinez Lifestyle Editor Ashley Park Sports Editor Daron Grandberry Asst. Sports Editor David O’Connor Photo Editor Nagisa Mihara Online Photo and Graphics Editor Daniel Valencia Asst. Online Photo Editor Traece Craig Scene Editor Keely Damara Staff Writers: Ahmad Akkaoui, Daniel Axume, Nataly Chavez, Alex Chhuon, Keely Damara, Alan Flores, Monique LeBleu, Samantha Molina, Neil Protacio, Luis Rodriguez, Aaron Salazar, Sammy Wu Staff Photographers: Traece Craig, Victoria De La Torre, Mick Donovan, Shaunee Edwards, Michelle Gonzalez, Eric Haynes, Erica Hong, Kristen Luna, Mary Nurrenbern, Michael Osborne, Scott Spencer, Daniel Valencia, Tiffany Yip, Max Zeronian 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 free speech 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

OPINION

COURIER

The curious case of Eduardo Cairo

Justin Clay Columnist

Academic Senate matters are usually discussed in detail in the newsroom. Over the past year, with accreditation looming on the horizon like a storm about to break, the issues between the faculty and the administration seem amplified.

Back in November, Senate President Eduardo Cairo held out on signing a document that would have given the college nearly $3 million that would have gone toward improving the dreadful process that is the counseling service here at PCC because he said that his input into the document was not taken into account, and that he was only given 24 hours to review the document.

School officials said that Cairo was actually notified of the document months in advance, and that his input helped shape the document itself.

Cairo later signed the document after a two week standoff, once he felt like his concerns had been addressed.

Around the same time, there was a dispute between the current administration and the senate over the number of full-time faculty to be hired.

Interim Superintendent Robert Miller initially estimated that the college would need to hire five to 10 new full-time faculty. Miller later revised this estimation to include more hires, and apologized for the initial mix-up.

Even after Miller admitted the mistake and

offered an apology, Cairo attempted to press him about how the mistake was made in the first place.

Last month, Cairo once again refused to sign a document. This time is was the final draft of the Accreditation Self-Evaluation Report, and, once again, he complained that the Academic Senate did not have adequate time to review the document and that the Academic Senate didn’t have enough input.

Many faculty members disagreed, stating that an electronic copy of the document had been available for weeks. An email battle between senate stalwarts and skeptical faculty ensued.

Cairo’s concerns and some of his actions seem a bit, for lack of a better word…nitpicky.

I often wonder if it is because he is so used to the culture of fighting and bickering that was prevalent during the previous administration.

“We didn’t trust Dr. Rocha. He didn’t respect shared governance and Dr. Miller we trust, he respects shared governance,” said Cairo.

But there are signs that things are getting better.

Cairo and Miller recently released a joint statement agreeing on the importance of policy 6030, dealing with campus wide professional development.

I’m not trying to marginalize Cairo’s concerns because I imagine his job is incredibly stressful.

And I’m in no way advocating that Cairo and the senate bow to every decision that the administration makes.

But these public standoffs over fixable issues have to stop. I don’t always agree with the decisions taking place in the newsroom,

but sometimes you have to give a little in order to compromise, and at least it looks like things are starting to run more smoothly.

“At present, I think cooperation is working very well. We’re on the same page on many issues. The important thing is that, both sides are talking and both sides are listening, said Cairo.

Mark Rocha’s departure should have given everyone a chance to start over and heal the wounds that were caused during his tenure. And maybe the culture of mistrust and bickering is finally beginning to erode.

And it could not have come at a better time considering how we will soon be judged on how collegial we are as a college.

loan debt, according to the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

“Students will have a range of programs from which to choose to earn high quality, affordable and in-demand degrees,” said California Community Colleges Chancellor Brice W. Harris in a press release.

“California employers win too, as they will have improved access to highly qualified candidates,” added Harris.

The degrees in question are all technical based disciplines and are not offered at a nearby public university so that junior colleges will not be competing directly with universities.

Shelling out extra cash for a degree from a more prestigious school might not make a difference in majors like dental hygiene and mortuary science, which are now possibili-

ties.

Leaders in junior colleges are confident that companies will adjust to the new fouryear degrees and not stigmatize them.

As reported in the Los Angeles Times, Pamela Luster, San Diego Mesa College’s president, met with local businesses to gauge their interest in graduates with bachelor’s degrees from a community college and “it was not an issue at all,” Luster said. “They said there’s a huge need for people in the [health information] field.”

Along with Obama’s vision to make community college as free and accessible as high school, the start of bachelor degrees being offered at two-year universities signals an overdue renaissance in higher education that has been plagued by rising tuition costs.

Max Zeronian/Courier Academic Senate President Eduardo Cairo

Two-year schools should offer Bachelor’s degrees Luis Rodriguez Staff Writer

Community colleges are doing the right thing and offering four-year degrees at a two-year school price.

Hesitations lie with what a four-year degree from a community college will mean on resumes but should be dismissed as speculative at best.

PCC was not on the list of 15 colleges approved by the Community College Board of Governors to begin offering the new programs as early as this fall but the school has expressed interest in offering them.

Making college more affordable will indirectly put a damper on the ballooning student debt which now tops $1 trillion dollars, exceeding both credit card and auto

Clarification: The Courier would like to clarify that in last week’s article “Creator of accreditation report resigns suddenly”, Matthew Jordan had given the school proper notice before resigning his position and it was not “sudden.”

VOICES:

What do you think about the Academic Senate’s new Committee on Committees?

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.

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3

“I think if their mission is to uphold accountability, then that’s great. I definitely think it’s a positive goal to aim for.”

Ryan Liu, Political Science, ASPCC Chief Justice

“Sounds dreadfully boring.”

Lyman Chaffee, Math Instrctor

“It sounds to me like if there’s a fire, let’s put it out by throwing more gasoline on it. A committee of committees of committees sounds redundant.”

Ken McLin, Photo Lab Technician

“I think it’s ironic that they have another committee to help manage other committees that can’t come together. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Briana Ramirez, Undeclared

“Just the fact that they’re addressing the issue is a good thing, but there could be better ways to solve the problem rather than adding more committees.”

Louie Esteem, Film

Reporting by: Neil Protacio Photos by: Shaunee Edwards

4 COURIER

SCENE

March 5, 2015

The Commute

Eric Haynes/Courier Students exit the Metro Gold Line train at Allen Station in Pasadena and rush downstairs to catch the shuttle to PCC. Eric Haynes/Courier PCC student Peter Meitzenheimer, music, reads Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” on the Metro Gold Line en route to Lake Station in Pasadena.

Daniel Valencia/Courier Christopher Wrenn, undecided, stands next to his GS500 Suzuki next to PCC’s parking lot 11 on Wednesday.

Daniel Valencia/Courier Cristina Alvarez, biochemistry, demonstrates her skills on her cruiser board skating down Colorado Boulevard on Wednesday afternoon in front of the Shatford Library.

Keely Damara/Courier Masa Sekioka (right), 20, music, teaches his friend Christopher Laborde, 20, biotechnology, Japanese while they hang out by their bicycles in the quad on Wednesday.

Scott Spencer/Courier Flinn Crosby, business finance major, stands next to his ride.

FEATURES

March 5, 2015

5

It’s Alive!: “Young Frankenstein” a success

Mick Donovan Features Editor

He wrenched his arm and it made a ratchet cranking sound to match. It was plain to see that his arm had been replaced by a mechanical one.

“It cost me an arm and a leg,” he said “Which cost more? The arm or the leg?” asked another villager.

“We need a new village idiot!” he said in response.

Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein” opened on the Sexson Auditorium stage at Pasadena City College on Friday, Feb. 27 with great success.

Walking into the auditorium, it was very plain to see that that the show was a college level production. No one was attempting to hide the fact. However, once the curtains opened, the audience was instantly transported into another world on a completely different level than one might expect from students.

There was very little to be found in what could go wrong during a production. What little existed was easy to forgive or look past with the sheer level of talent and hard work that was obviously poured into the show.

It was a pleasant surprise to be in awe by the pure melodic

voices that were produced by these students. Every note, high or low, was not only hit but sung beautifully by each leading cast member. Not only were they fantastic vocalists, but their characters shined through, both during and out of song.

If the singing wasn’t enough to pull a Broadway musical together, the way these young future stars worked with one another in between songs was superb. The cast picked up cues in near perfect time, almost none of the jokes were lost in translation and the humor was spot on. The level of camaraderie between cast members brought the characters to life in a whole new way.

The leading cast was able to take characters that have been iconically ingrained in audiences minds all around the world by stars the like of Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle and breathe just enough new life into the roles as their own while staying true to the script.

With sets as minimalistic yet beautiful like these, singing and dance numbers you can tap your foot to and the brilliance of Mel Brooks comedy come to life, it is difficult to tell the difference between this production and one that would be staged in New York.

COURIER

Photos by Daniel Valencia/ Courier Young Frankenstein, the musical theatre production written by Mel Brooks, was performed at the Sexson Auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 26, and was directed by Whitney Rydbeck.

Left: Frederick Frankenstein, played by Alex Mashikian, sings “Man About Town” to the Monster, played by Richard Seymour, in Act 2.

Design student advocates change in East Africa

people’s lives, in particular to benefit those most in need with better solutions and product options.”

According to Kiruki, Africa needs appropriate investment in its people. Kiruki’s organization does this by developing goods at the lowest prices possible and engaging the bottom half of the economic pyramid.

Banza focuses on producing products that address sanitation and health concerns in East Africa.

“We believe everyone has a right to a dignified, safe and hygienic means of disposing human waste,” said Kiruki.

Hannah Gonzales Staff Writer

Former PCC alum and Art Center student Patrick Kiruki splits his time between LA and Nairobi and works as an advocate for change by designing products that help improve the lives of poverty-stricken areas in East Africa.

Kiruki has focused much of his life on designing innovative products. His latest endeavors have been focused in East Africa where he wants to address sanitation and health concerns.

As a product designer and social entrepreneur, Kiruki has been the brains behind notable projects, including the Banza Sanitation Project and a solar-powered saddle system for camels.

“It was really good to go there and see the need,” said Kiruki.

Kiruki first became aware about how his products could help others when he was a student at Art Center.

“I got involved with Designmatters in my third term at Art Center for the Nyumbani project that was involved in designing a new community of families,” said Kiruki.

The Designmatters project involved Kiruki going to villages and visiting with nomads so that he could better understand the situation and what kind of product he could create to help their lives.

While there, Kiruki realized that he needed to come up with a product that was easy to transport and easy to maintain.

In the end, Kiruki designed a solar-powered saddle to help the nomads that had to travel through harsh environments.

To create the actual saddle, Kiruki teamed up with Princeton engineers.

“I actually built this relationship with Princeton,” said Kiruki. “At the end of the day it was very beneficial. The way we worked together with them was very good.”

Kiruki’s awareness about environmental concerns and sanitation issues in East Africa also led him to design a sanitation solution that was nominated for an award in 2011.

Although he did not win, he was proud of his design

“We believe everyone has a right to a dignified, safe, and hygienic means of disposing human waste.”

Tiffany Yip/Courier Designer Patrick Kiruki displays a picture of his design for The Camel Mobility System Project in front of the E building on Tuesday. This invention transports crucial vaccines to nomadic tribes in Kenya in hopes of eradicating diseases such as polio.

because it helped raise awareness about the problems in East Africa.

“In 2011 I went ahead and established Banza Limited,” said Kiruki. “[Its] a for-profit organization in Kenya, with a mission to use design as a tool to empower

Banza has produced such products like the Banza Toilet to address the lack of safe and unhygienic toilet systems in East Africa.

The Banza Toilet is a foldable, multi-functional unit designed to be placed in homes that are not connected to a sewer system.

“It allows users to hygienically dispose of human waste in the security and privacy of their own homes,” said Kiruki.

Kiruki initially designed a toilet because he noticed that the capital city of Nairobi had a large slum where people used pit latrines and plastic bags as primary methods of human waste disposal.

Human waste that is not disposed of properly often contributes to the spread of disease such as dysentery and typhoid.

In 2013, the Banza toilet was selected to be one of the “bold ideas with big impact in global health” by Grand Challenges Canada.

Kiruki has involved himself with other projects as well since then.

He is the lead principal designer at Alru Design Consultancy and has been awarded the 2014 Outstanding Service Alumni Award for his work in improving conditions in East Africa.

6 COURIER

ACCREDITATION

Continued from page 1 took over as the school’s liaison to the accreditation team.

“It’s unfortunate that Matt Jordan left when he did,” TV and Radio instructor Sarah Barker said. “But I understand the circumstances and the situation and I don’t know that it’s necessarily going to hurt us there. I really don’t know. I guess we will find out.”

The accreditation team had a meet and greet open to the campus on Tuesday, as well as two open forums on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Faculty and administrative

ELECTIONS

Continued from page 1

instill positive change in the senate and that they believe in an Academic Senate that is “positive, welcoming, and respectful of all faculty members.” They said that if elected they hoped to bring a proactive engagement of issues that concern faculty.

Cairo, who is running for a third term as president of the senate, said that he felt that he and his executive board had accomplished a lot in their roles and felt that because they were on the verge of implementing new policies, they had to be reelected to their positions.

“In order to ensure that they pass and are implemented, we hope that the four of us together can make that happen,” Cairo said.

He said that one of those policies was 6030, which deals with professional development. Cairo also said that by passing the policy, the college would be in compliance with the State Bill AB2588 and would be able to receive more state funding.

The bill requires all community college to have a comprehensive professional development plan, an advisory committee comprised of faculty, administrators and staff and an annual reporting to the Chancel-

NEWS members were able to ask questions to the accreditation team and receive feedback.

Miller said that the visit from the accreditation team would only help improve things on campus.

“It’s been our pleasure to work with what I see as an extremely professional and fair group of peers who are involved in the accreditation process of our college,” Miller said. “ I am very confident that what ever they report will be balanced, will be for the most part accurate and will be an important indication of the work that we need to do moving forward.”

Staff writer Matthew Kiewiet contributed to this story. lor’s Office. The policy 6030 would ensure that this happened Foster, who is running against Cairo for president, said that as a senator she had developed an appreciation for diverse perspectives and knowledge of senate procedures.

“My hope is that these experiences will allow me to lead our college in a more collaborative direction that will better serve students,” she said.

Both parties expressed a respect for one another, but the new slate said they were troubled to see senate agendas that did not regularly, proactively engage in academic and professional matters because it meant that the senate did not focus enough on how it effectively serves the students.

“We were also deeply disappointed that the Senate Executive Committee did not regularly agendize the Accreditation Self-Evaluation because it did not lead to dialogue and limited the Senator’s ability to provide feedback,” they said in the statement.

They also felt that millions of dollars in funding tied to the Equity and Student Support Services Implementation plans have been placed at risk because of the current board’s failure to respond to these proposals in a timely fashion.

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At a Glance

Erica Hong/Courier Academic Senate Executive Board members Patricia Rose, left, Manny Perea, Kris Pilon and Eduardo Cairo sit in the College Concil meeting on Thursday

COMMITTEES Continued from page 1

rarely or never meet, have retired members, and are unaware of their mission statements,” said Academic Senate President Eduardo Cairo.

As a result, a “committee on committees” was formed. Sarah Barker is the chair of the Committee on Committees, and will be joined by Rhea Presiado and Shelly Gaskin.

Their first order of business will be to “clean up the web-

site,” said Barker. They will be updating the site with the current committees, along with the dates and times of meetings, and finally posting the agendas and minutes for said meetings, according to Barker.

In their first two meetings, they have begun evaluating each committee based on what the senate bylaws require. Barker will present a full report at the next Academic Senate meeting on March 23.

“There is a lot of work to be done,” added Cairo.

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LIFESTYLE

COURIER

7

Pasadena relives history with trivia and mystery

at some of the odd facts,” said Verlaque. “It struck me that it would be wonderful to figure out a way to turn these questions into an exhibit.”

Soon after, the museum contacted Ann Erdman about curating a companion exhibition based off of her historical photo blog titled Mystery History to accompany McLaughlin’s exhibit.

“Where are we? What’s happening?” These are the two questions Erdman posts on her blog along with an uncaptioned historic photo related to Pasadena every other week.

Her readers submit their guesses and she reveals the caption and backstory two days later.

Erdman said adapting her blog to an exhibit featuring related museum artifacts was a long process.

“It was time consuming and yet fun,” said Erdman. ”Each of the photos had to be either from the Pasadena Museum of History archives or from the Pasadena Public Library. The trick was: is there a related artifact to that photo?”

Verlaque worked closely with Erdman and McLaughlin in searching the museum collections for related artifacts–such as the champagne bottle remnants and decorative ribbon used to christen the U.S.S. Pasadena that accompanies the photo of Mrs.

C.G. Wopschall, the mayor’s wife, breaking the bottle over the hull during a launching ceremony in 1943.

“The challenge was taking two ideas that appeared in book and blog form, and translating them to an exhibit, which needs visual stimulation,” said Verlaque.

Both Erdman and McLaughlin enjoyed hearing the conversations sparked from their exhibits at the member-only opening in February.

“I’d hear people saying ‘Oh yeah, I remember that restaurant’ and ‘I had my first date there!’” said Erdman. “We’re building community here at the Pasadena Museum of History.”

McLaughlin says they were looking for things that would spark people’s memories.

As a librarian, he has witnessed first-hand how historically preserved artifacts spark community interaction and discovery.

After a photo of Hopi Indians performing a snake dance on a reservation in 1905 was donated to the public library from a private collection, a woman mailed a letter to McLaughlin saying she was certain her grandmother was in the photo because she found an old diary that placed her there.

“It’s moments like that you’re happy to be a librarian,” said McLaughlin.

“You’ve preserved it – you’ve cataloged it so people have it accessible. They can sort of incorporate it back into their lives.”

The exhibitions are on view at the Pasadena Museum of History from noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday through the end of March.

Sammy Wu Staff Writer

grew larger and larger, executive directors Samantha Curley and Chelsea McInturff were motivated to expand the organization on an international scale. Thus Level Ground has performed in over seven major cities in both the United States and Canada.

“When we decided to expand the organization, we also decided to rename the group ‘Level Ground’, which comes from a prophecy in the book of Isaiah in the Bible. The name embodies a space where we descend from our mountains and climb out of the valleys to meet one another on sacred, though likely uncomfortable, level ground,” said Curely. “To me, the name carries significance because it means leaving behind our egos and selfish selves to connect with one another on an equal and respectable manner, which is what Level Ground strives to do.”

Artists of the night included Brian Behm, Jessica Lyn Johnson, Don Nocon, Scott Turner Schofield, Mac Shannon, Noel Suarez, and Mandi Rice,

all of whom have some sort of connection to Christianity and the LGBT cause. Their performances ranged from storytelling, dancing, singing, and painting.

“Emily Dickson always said that the role of art is to speak the truth but to do so with a slant,” McInturff says, explaining the importance of art. “Art bridges differences- connecting individuals of different backgrounds and experiences with something truly universal. The performances shown tonight might be packed with emotion and sometimes controversial, but they all tell the truth.”

The event lasted for about two hours, followed by a discussion over free beer and wine. Overall, the reception to the entire show was quite positive.

“I never knew art could be so profound in uniting people from different backgrounds, so I really appreciate Level Ground for showing to me this,” said Nick Davis, an attendee of the event.

“I would definitely consider going back to the show next year.”

Keely Damara Staff Writer

The Pasadena Museum of History is currently hosting two companion exhibits–“Pasadena Pursuit” and “Mystery History”–that focus on engaging the community in Pasadena’s storied past by posing questions and revealing answers to attendees in an interactive trivia game format.

“We ask fascinating questions or at least intriguing questions,” said Pasadena Pursuit curator Dan McLaughlin. “You sort of see how history is sort of made and interpreted by looking at the original source material.”

For over 25 years, McLaughlin has worked as the history librarian at the Pasadena Public Library.

His exhibit titled “Pasadena Pursuit” features trivia questions based off of old newspaper articles pulled from the Pasadena Public Library archives and showcases related museum artifacts.

There are multiple-choice answers just like the popular board game.

If the question intrigues an attendee, they can find the answer in a folder containing copies of the original newspaper articles.

For those who prefer to interact with a screen rather than flipping through pages, each trivia question displays a QR code that sends your smartphone to a digital copy of the original newspaper article on the Pasadena Digital History Collaboration website.

“If you’re interested in the question you can explore further and if you don’t care, you move on,” said McLaughlin. “This is an exhibit where you sort of bring whatever you’re interested in and get back information that is tailored specifically to you.”

Keely Damara/Courier Curators Ann Erdman and Dan McLaughlin stand in the “Mystery History” exhibit in the Pasadena Museum of History on Mar. 1. The exhibit showcases historic photographs and related artifacts from the Pasadena Museum of History. The companion exhibit, “Pasadena Pursuit,” is an interactive experience with trivia derived from the Pasadena Public Library newspaper archives.

It all began when McLaughlin created a series of 30 trivia questions to train new librarians how to use his newspaper archive database, the Pasadena News Index, at the Pasadena Public Library.

“If you are engaged with the question, then you learn a lot better,” said McLaughlin.

Pasadena Museum of History Director of Collections Laura Verlaque approached McLaughlin about curating an exhibit after reading his 2014 book titled “Pasadena History Headline Quiz” composed of the trivia he had been collecting over the years.

“We were all passing it around at a committee meeting, and either marveling or chuckling

Christianity, LGBT causes stand on Level Ground

Traece O. Craig/Courier Cissy Brady-Roger answers why she is a good person for one of the questions asked by a host at the opening of the Level Ground Film/Art Festival located at the Los Angeles College of Music (LACM) on Feb. 26.

On a cold, Saturday night at the garage of the Los Angeles College of Music, the student group Level Ground sought to bring LGBT students and churchgoers together in an open dialogue about the intersection of faith, gender, and sexuality through the use of art.

Level Ground started in early 2012 as a LGBT student group, called One Table, at Fuller Theological Seminary. In just its opening year, One Table hosted Gene Robinson and his documentary film “Love Free or Die.” One Table also held monthly dinners where students gathered to exchange ideas about the relationship between sexuality and religion. In March of that year, it also developed the first faith-based LGBT film festival, showing renowned films and inviting directors, actors, and professors as guest speakers.

As the audience for One Table

SPORTS

8 COURIER

March 5, 2015

Lancers softball victorious after shaky start Anthony Martinez Staff Writer

After a shaky start, the Lancers softball team came back to beat the El Camino College Compton Center Tartars in Tuesday’s game.

The Lancers were down 3-0 at the end of the first inning and unable to answer back. Brianna Lopez took over the mound at the top of the second inning, replacing Cierra Newton. Lopez was able to momentarily shut down the Tartars until the middle of the third inning, trailing 6-0.

“I was really nervous, it was neck to neck and when they would hit pop ups that looked over the fence I was really scared but I feel we did good, we came back,” said Lopez, who pitched for the remainder of the game.

The Tartar’s lead, however, would be shortened in the bottom of the third when Breanna Rodrigo started a rally that would bring the Lancers back to life. Executing a beautiful slap down the third baseline, Rodrigo found her way to second base

and eventually crossed the plate thanks to Justine Zavala, whose triple came just short of flying over the fence. Further in the lineup, freshman third baseman Jackie Aguilar also hit a triple followed by Alejandra Grimaldo’s base hit, which brought Aguilar and made the score 6-4.

The score was tied at the end of the fourth inning and Zavala once again drove in another runner, Yecenia Cardenas (who stole two bases), before scoring herself after Katelyn Thordason split the gap between first and second.

A tight top of the fifth led to Cardenas scoring on an overthrow to home plate, which would be the last run of the game. Cardenas also robbed a home run the following inning, a major play for the Lancers.

“I wasn’t thinking anything, I just knew that I had to get the ball and [make the] play,” Cardenas said. “I booked it and I put my hand out there [looking for] the fence and my adrenaline was just pumping and I got it.

I was relieved just knowing the fact that I saved it, helped my

team out.”

The final inning of the game was one of the easiest for the Lancers. Though the Tartars’ first batter walked, the next three batters were easy outs. The victory breaks the Lancers’ two game losing streak to East LA and Glendale.

“Unfortunately did the same thing we’ve been doing and

made a few errors that put us in a hole, but this game was different,” said head coach Monica Tantlinger. “We made some adjustments right away, focused on the little things, focused on quality at-bats, getting the first out; we celebrated the little victories and we were able to string some things together and fight and come back.”

“Coming back from 6-0 is a really big deal for us,” she added.

“Compton’s doing well in our conference right now so hopefully that’s a good confidence booster and shows the kids what they’re really capable of.”

The Lancers host Cerritos College on Thursday at Robinson Park. The first pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.

allowing the Warriors to take an early 18-4 lead and momentum throughout the beginning of the first half. Turnovers and foul trouble haunted the Lancers Friday as the freshman tandem of Regerina Baker and Judith Espinoza were hampered with foul trouble due to a few questionable calls. Despite the sluggish start,the Lancers battled back to tie the game at 27. At halftime the Lancers trailed 30-27.

“We had an off night,” Baker said. “We weren’t making shots, we were in foul trouble. It was

hard to play aggressive.”

The athletic and aggressive Baker was limited with four fouls in the second half but came up big when the Lancers’ needed her most. With 6.8 seconds left in regulation, Baker made a steal on an inbounds pass and scored the game-tying basket to send the game to overtime at 62-62.

“Playing with Reg has made the game a lot easier for me,” Espinoza said. “Because she’s a great player so many teams are always focused on doubling her so there’s usually an open player

or she beats the double team to the basket.”

Despite being in foul trouble, Espinoza continued to attack the basket with ease and finished with a game-high 25 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

“Judith is just poised,” freshman guard Hope Peron said.

“She’s battled through a shoulder injury and hasn’t let it get in her way.

“I’m very excited for Judith,” Baker said. “She was in foul trouble, but we always expect the best from Judith. Someone had

to step up with all the fouls and she did just that.”

Baker finished the game with 12 points and nine rebounds.

Sophomore guard Emily Thach added nine points and freshman guard Chy’annea Hodges added nine points and seven rebounds.

The Warriors were led by Nisja Bass, who scored 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals. Kyla Jolly added 11 points for ECC. The Lancers finished the season 17-12.

Eric Haynes/Courier Freshman catcher Holly Riker-Sloan hits the ball during the Lancers’ 7-6 come-from-behind victory Tuesday at Robinson Park. The Lancers improved to 11-7 on the season.

Women’s basketball knocked out of playoffs early Daron Grandberry Sports Editor

Despite a valiant second half rally to send the game into overtime, the 10th-seeded Lancers women’s basketball team could not overcome a 14-point first half deficit, losing to seventh-seeded El Camino College, 71-64, in Round 2 of the Southern California Regional Playoffs Friday night.

The Lancers dug themselves an early hole in the first half,

Lancers outswim rivals in South Coast Conference opener

SAC and Cerritos] in team points but I knew we could have some really good races.”

A standout on the men’s team was Women’s swimming came out on top Mohammad Esmaeilian who won the 100 against rival Mt. San Antonio College and freestyle by .01 of a second for a time Cerritos College in a double dual, scoring of 48.78 over Mt. SAC’s Philip Wright 157-117 and 175-96 respectively in the (48.79). He also went on to win the first round of South Coast Conference 200-freestyle. games on Friday at the Aquatic Center.

“I know [Mt. SAC] has a very good Men’s swimming lost to both teams men’s team,” said Esmaeilian. “Last week and stands at 0-2 in SCC. we went to the Mt. SAC Invitational and Overall, the women’s team won 10 out they got first place.” of 14 events, including three individual Esmaeilian was also disappointed he wins each by freshman Ariahn Givens didn’t beat his best times. and sophomore Connie Peng.

“A swimmers mentality and happiness Undeterred by PCC’s abysmal record is about going your best time,” said Stodagainst Mt. SAC, Peng was eight seconds ahead of the next swimmer in the 100Traece O. Craig/Courier dard. “Where you’re the best you’ve ever been and they strive for that.” yard backstroke (1:03.74) and used that PCC’s Connie Peng competes with her team in a 200 yard relay against Mt. San “I really felt that Muhammad and Sammomentum to secure the 200 backstroke Antonio College and Cerritos College at PCC’s Aquatic Center on Feb. 27. uel [Sanchez] both stepped up in their by only .67 of a second over Mt. SAC’s events. This is as tough a competition as Kayleigh Davidson and an even closAll around, the victory over Mt. SAC said, “I can beat this person, I can beat we’re going to have and we responded er win by .53 over Cerritos in the 200 was the crowning achievement. this person…I can’t beat this person.” well,” Stoddard added. butterfly.

Sophomore Jovana Meza researched Head Coach Terry Stoddard was all Win or lose, the team is set on improvDespite the victories, Peng was deterthe competition before diving into the smiles after the meet for his team despite ing throughout the season and taking the mined to push herself harder. pool alongside them. the loss on the men’s side.

Mounties off their throne.

“I don’t feel good today because I “I knew that Mt. SAC was pretty good “This was an outstanding day for us,” The Lancers swim team will be back in didn’t make my best times,” said Peng. but I didn’t think we could beat them but said Stoddard.

“The men’s meet…we the waters this Friday when the travel to “I’m going to practice more on my enwe did,” said Meza. “I did research on have two people injured right now, so I face Diablo Valley College. The first race durance. I’ll try my best this season but I is scheduled for 12 p.m. can’t promise anything.”

Cerritos. I went on their team website and knew that we couldn’t keep up with [Mt. Luis Rodriguez Staff Writer