Committee eliminates College Algebra from schedule

Kevin Perez kperez.roundupnews@gmail.com

Students looking for a three-unit math class to fulfill their requirements will have to look elsewhere starting next semester, as Math 245 will be eliminated at Pierce.

College Algebra, which is a transferable course to both UCs and CSUs, will no longer be offered after a decision reached by Pierce’s Academic Scheduling Committee. The committee recommended changes in course offerings across all disciplines, said Bruce Yoshiwara, the Mathematics Department chair.

The committee made changes to address the redundancies in the num- ber of classes offered by Pierce and the number of classes needed by students to transfer.

For mathematics, the committee chose between two options, one being reducing the number of transfer math units by 12 in both the fall and spring. The option they ultimately decided on was eliminating Math 245.

Math 245, despite fulfilling a general education requirement for transfer, is not required for any specific major. It is however, the only transferable three-unit class that fulfills a math requirement.

All other offerings consist of fourunit to five-unit classes.

The difference in workload between a three-unit class and five-unit class makes a difference to students like political science major Matthew Oh, 21.

“They can’t cut the class. It’ll be hell,” he said.

Oh, who is currently enrolled in Math 245, said that not having the class on the table for him would have been equivalent to leaving him with no options at all.

If the class had not been available, “I would have been petitioned,” he said.

Other Math 245 students like computer information technologies major Karl Rojo, 22, consider the decision to be a step in the wrong direction.

“There were only two other sections for this,” he said, referring the

The units that are currently not functioning are three units in Parking Lot 7, one near the North of Mall Project in Parking Lot 1, which is located in an area that is unavailable to students due to construction, and one in the Swine Unit of the farm.

“We are working to have the wiring re-pulled [in the Swine Unit] so they will be functional,” Nieman said.

The Sheriffs can still receive calls from students in case of an emergency from the active blue phones, or from cell phones.

“Students can [still] approach a Sheriff on campus and request help in what they might need, or locate us through the blue emergency phone poles they see on campus and even their own cell phones,” Deputy Sheriff Bill Dunkin said. Some students feel safe on campus despite of the blockage of the blue phones.

“I feel secure when I drive into campus, see the Sheriffs’ vehicles and see the cadets in their carts in the parking lots and throughout campus,” Pierce student Kaitlin Allen said.