The Telescope 58.19

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ASG president to be exa ined • Student government polity tonllitts with governing bo11rd H ' John Asbm·J

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.The Associated Student Government unanimously approved a motion during its March 30 meeting, requesting that the governing board modifY policy so that the student trustee's oneyear term would begin in December rather than May, as it does now. . The governing board policy now states that the newly elected ASG president's term begins in May, following elections. Governing Board policy states that the president also serves as the student trustee during the same timeframe. The motion by the ASG keeps the president's term at one year. However, as a result of moving the elections from May to December, the term of ASG President Paul Charas will be extended for five months. Charas was elected to serve until May 2005, but in August of 2004. the. ASG n~visP.n it_c:: bylaws and moved the elect10ns from May to December, which extended Charas' term as stu• SEE CHANGE, PAGE 2

Local ..-esidents • • • votce optntons over cell towers

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A battle has been raging in committee and department meetings at Palomar College over the denied tenure of life sciences professor Roya Lahijani. The governing board voted unanimously to deny her tenure March 12. Lahijani has filed an appeal, claiming her tenure committee intentionally skirted p"rocedures and treated her unfairly throughout the process. Lahijani said she was denied the four-year tenure track position she was working toward because of departmental politics, strained relationships and the college's decision to eliminate its biotechnology program- a program she was · hired to create. "If t hey get r id of me, they get rid of the biotech program ." Sara Thompson, the dean of math and science, served on Lahij ani's tenure committee during the third and fourth years of her evaluation process. "This review has nothing to do with whether we have a biotechnology program. We don't have a biotechnology program - we have a biotechnology class," Thompson said. "If we wanted to get rid of biotech, we just wouldn't offer the class." Berta Cuaron, vice president of instruction, said the established processes for evaluating tenure were followed. Despite the reasons she was denied tenure, the evaluation process was not followed Lahijani said. She claims tenure review documents were "doctored" and her committee broke precedent by basing its final evaluation "solely on negative student evaluations." After being hired out of the biotech industry, Lahijani said she came to Palomar with limited teaching experience. Lahijani said her hiring committee knew she was not an experienced teacher but overlooked that because

ADAM AND STEVE ? Definition of m11tti11ge tlllled in to question. • PAGE 4

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PHOTOS BY DOMINICK ULLOA I TH£ TElESCOPE

Top: Life science professor Roya Lahijani voiced her d ~sappointment with the governing board's decision to deny her tenure March 12. Bottom: Student Jeffery Costello speaks in support of Lahijani.

she was hired to develop a biotechnology curriculum. "They knew that they had hired someone with limited teaching experience and that I would need guidance," Lahijani said. "I received none of that- I was set up to fail from the beginning." Thompson said the Life Sciences Department recognized that developing a new biotech course would take a Iot of

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Concerns over two proposed mobile-phone towers planned for Palomar College San Marcos campus arose at a public forum March 30. More than 20 nearby residents attended the meeting with concerns about property value, potential health risks and the visual aspect of the antennas. The two towers are currently in the college's approval phase. On April 12, Palomar's governing board will receive a report by the Facilities Department, where they will echo the concerns giving by the local residents. After the information is presented to the board, the five-member governing board will bring the item back as an action item May 12 and either approve the construction of the towers or reject the bid. The towers, one proposed by T-Mobile and the other by Nextel CGmmunications, would be located near the north end of campus. T-Mobile's antenna will be a 45-foot tall "monopine" antenna designed to look like a large pine tree. Nextel's antenna would be a 47-foot communications tower located next to Parking Lot 9. Joseph Andrews, an adjunct physics professor at Palomar, estimates he lives 200 to 250 feet from the proposed T-Mobile antenna site.

• SEE TENURE, PAGE 6

• SEE CELL

SPECIAL SPRING BREAK Student spends hi11tus tnweling to seve111/ Eumpe11n eities. • PAGE 5

Ptofessot puts his m11tk on television histoty. • PAGE 2

TOWER, PAGE 3


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