Page 8: Baseball wins against Valley
Page 5: Art Exhibit debuts at Pierce
Page 4: Counselor turned rockstar
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At-a-glance news
Construction update pg.3 Theater student scubas pg.4 STEM week at Pierce pg.7 New vans not in use pg.10 A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION Woodland Hills, California
Vol. CXXVI - Issue 1
Wednesday, March 01, 2017
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
Plan revised for new Media Arts building #Piercewire
What was originally planned for one department now will house four TAYLOR ARTHUR Reporter @taya̲arthur
P
ierce College Council (PCC) members voted Thursday to revise original plans to build a new media arts building due to new construction prioritization guidelines by the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees. After the PCC meeting, Pierce College President Kathleen Burke offered a statement regarding observations made concerning bond Measure CC funds. The following is an excerpt from the full statement, which is available online: “The college has been asked to validate the priorities it had previously set for future construction projects based on the policy directions the Board of Trustees is considering for expenditure of Measure CC dollars. The criteria includes student demand for the program, a focus on new construction, and the Facilities Condition Index (FCI) for existing buildings. Based on that information, the College Council took advantage of the opportunity to realign its priorities regarding the North of Mall Phase II project and the Digital Arts and Media Building. It has been recommended that they be combined into one project to be built on the site of the former college Library. We know that this recommendation has an impact on previous expectations for those programs, we respect the fact the Board of Trustees is
ultimately responsible for ensuring that all bond funded projects, make efficient and effective use of bond funds.” According to College Project Director Ed Cadena, the bids contractors have proposed for Phase II North of Mall construction are over budget. Therefore, he moved PCC members to consider rethinking their original position in completely rebuilding four new buildings located North of Mall in addition to the old library. A major guideline set out by the BOT, highlighted in Burke’s statement, is the notion that colleges must prioritize replacing existing structures on campus with new facilities with equal square footage. PCC members ultimately decided that in order to ensure top priority buildings are built, the most cost effective and logical course to take would be to instead consolidate the four buildings into one new three story building. The new building would house the Math, Computer Science Information Technology, Psychology and Media Arts departments. By proceeding this way, the college can also focus on and ensure the new building would be compliant with American Disabilities Act guidelines. Placing the Media Arts and Computer Science departments together might be more practical because they share the need for similar facilities, like computer labs. While they would not share exactly the same space, it would be lucrative and convenient for both departments.
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Bathrooms remain open to all in CA
Taylor Arthur / Roundup The Old Library, and former site of the proposed Media Arts building sits in Woodland Hills, Calif. “The fact that they are the same buildings with the same equipment, it might get the Media Arts building over the finish line,” Cadena said. According to Instructional Assistant of Media Arts Sean McDonald, the existing square footage in which the Media Arts Department resides does not meet departmental needs. “We’ve been in condensed temporary space. Our problem is special needs classrooms,” McDonald said. Vice President of Academic Affairs Sherri Berger responded by recognizing the urgent demand for new Media Arts facilities. “I understand the program needs that the current facilities are not currently meeting. Clearly, if it was a college decision, we ranked Media
Arts number one,” said Berger. “We would be designing [the building] in a way to maximize square footage space.” The newly revised proposal passed with 13 PCC members voting in favor, zero opposing and five abstaining. PCC also voted to prioritize additional buildings that the college had planned to be built in the following order: Media Arts building under the new proposal Child Development building Auto and Industrial Technology building Applied Technology and Industrial Technology building Continuing Education building Student Union facility Field housing, parking and
bathroom facilities for the Athletic Department Members also voted to eliminate Horticulture expansion from the priority list due to existing bond measures that were allocated to cover the facilities expenditures. The above list will be sent to the BOT by the Feb. 24 deadline so that the board members will be able to allocate funds from the $700 million bond measure CC to the nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District’s ongoing construction projects. The new Media Arts building is set to be completed in the spring of 2021, according to BuildLACCD.org. tarthur.roundupnews@gmail.com
AD, others must reapply
Bob Lofrano, who has held position for 10 years, disappointed with new rule JOSHUA MANES Sports Editor @tweeporting
File photo / Roundup Bob Lofrano, among others have had to reapply for their current positions on staff, in accordance with accredidation recommendations and HR guidlines.
RUONLINE?
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For the past 10 years, Bob Lofrano has been the athletic director. Prior to that, he was the head baseball coach. Now, as a result of a recommendation from the accreditation office, the AD position is being reopened. If Lofrano wants to keep his current position, he would need to reapply and go through the hiring process. Lofrano has been at Pierce in one position or another since 1989, but his future at the school is now uncertain. The athletic director position is not the only one that has been put through this process. According to Vice President of Student Services Earic Dixon-Peters, the accreditation liaison, faculty development and new student programs positions have all gone through this process over the
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past two years. “We are operating based on a few things: accreditation findings for hiring practices and fairness of the hiring practices,” Dixon-Peters said. “The fairness is that you open up the position and allow competition and people to apply for the position. This is not an isolated incident.” Joanna Zimring Towne is the Director of New Student Programs. According to Towne, the position was created in Oct. 2014, prior to the accreditation, though she is not sure if it was in response to any sort of recommendation. According to Dixon-Peters, at the same time there were also HR guidelines in hiring and reassigning faculty positions. These reassigned positions are positions that are filled internally by current faculty members. Even though the recommendation was made years ago, Lofrano said he
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“was just told of that now.” “It’s a little disappointing, to be honest,” Lofrano said. “Really? I have to apply for the job I’ve had for 10 years? I can get a little hardheaded on that one. Do I understand that process? Yes and no. But if other people are doing it and it’s the same situation, then so be it.” Despite the disappointment, the irony of the situation is not lost on Lofrano, who didn’t even want the job when it was first offered to him. “I distinctly remember when they came to me 10 years ago, I said no,” Lofrano said. “I’m not an in-theoffice type of guy. I coached my whole life. P.E. teacher, I’m always outside. Now, ironically, 10 years later now it’s like, ‘Oh, you have to apply to be the AD.’ I didn’t even really apply 10 years ago.” see Lofrano pg.8
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The Trump administration rescinded former President Barack Obama’s transgender bathroom directives that were set to go into effect on March 1, 2017. California has been on board with the directives since 2014 after Gov. Jerry Brown signed AB 1266 into law. This leaves our state unaffected.
Financial Aid Deadline Deadline to submit a petition for Financial Aid for Spring 2017 is Sunday May 5, 2017. Office hours are Mon. and Tues. 8 p.m. to 4 p.m., Wed. and Thurs. 8 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Fri. 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Fake News Workshops Workshops designed to teach students how to determine the reliability of news sources through evaluation are on: March 1 at 12:30 p.m. March 21 at 11:30 p.m. and May 3 at 2:30 p.m. in room 5212 in the Library / Learning Crossroads.
Pierce College Foundation Foundation scholarship applications are now being accepted through April 7 for spring 2017. Students can to go to their department chairs to see if they qualify. The winners will be announced on the day of the ceremony, June 8, 2017.
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