Inside
Next Week
Read about Coach Bill Norton’s plans for the Pierce football team. Please see page 7.
A photo essay on Pierce’s five-day carnival.
Sept. 9,1998
Vol. 89 No. 1
Woodland Hills, Calif.
Air conditioning may come to Pierce, board to vote on project today By Jason Hait Staff Writer An extensive air conditioning and energy conservation project may begin soon at Pierce pending approval by the Board of Trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District at their regular meeting today. “I’ve been here about 18 years and this is the biggest project I’ve been involved with,” says Frank Vitone, Plant Facilities supervisor of heating, ventilation and air conditioning at Pierce. “I’m sure everyone will agree it’s long overdue.” Todd Hugen/Roundup The air conditioning project, After leaving his car parked for a few minutes, student Roy Lo returned to find intended to be completed within smoke billowing from the hood. The fire dept, arrived on campus to extinguish the fire. two years, is actually the major component in a series of projects which have been packaged together and bid as a whole. The other pro jects include the retrofitting of classroom lighting, new ceilings | For those students who found finish their academic programs,” General Psychology is schedu;ed and an upgrade of classroom venti Aug. 17 a little too early to go back said E. Bing Inocencio, Pierce from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Saturdays. lation, according to Dave Bush, Other Saturday classes include two Plant Facilities supervisor. College president. to school, Pierce is offering short The classes include Political and sections of Intermediate Reading and term classes beginning Sept. 14 The project will cost approxi Social History of the United States, Composition and one section of College mately $ 5-6 million, according to ' and running through Dec. 14. The September College will scheduled from 6:30-10 p.m. Reading and Composition. The three Michael F. Holzer of All shorten the fall semester from 18 to Mondays and the Role of Women in English courses will meet from 9 a.m.- Temperatures Controlled Inc. in 12:30 p.m. Saturdays. I 14 weeks and will offer 12 courses, the History of the United States, Chatsworth, the sole bidder for the Additionally, a Government of I scehduled on weekdays, week • offered on Tuesdays from 3:30-7 project. Their bid was submitted the United States section is sched i nights, and Saturdays. p.m. Aug. 26. uled from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Priciples of Economics One will Enrollment will take place from be .offered from 6:30-10 p.m. Saturdays, while a Pre-Algebra I 8:30 a m -7 p.m.'today and tomorMondays and 3:30-7 p.m. course will be offered from 9 a.m.' row and from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays. A Pre-Calculus class 12:30 p.m. Saturdays Friday in the Admissions Office. Students may call (818) 719' “This is great for the growing will meet from 1-4:10 p.m. Fridays The Associated Students 6404 for more information. numbers of students in a hurry to and 9 a m -12:30 p.m. Saturdays. Organization will host an
Short-term classes offered
mihrrrews
Enrollment drops districtwide By Jeff Zacuto Staff Writer Despite a concerted effort to increase enrollment. Pierce College's current enrollment is down 10.34 percent from last fall, the third greatest decline among the Los Angeles Community College District. A Sept. 3 enrollment comparison shows the Pierce fourteenth day enrollment total at 13,546, which is a decrease of 1,535 students from the fourteenth day of instruction last fall. These statistics, provided by the LACCD, indicate that among the nine district campuses. Pierce has the third lowest percentage of returning students for the fall semester. District-wide, enrollment is,down by 6,672 students, 6.1 per cent fewer than last fall. Dr. Joy McCaslin, Dean of Student Services, said Pierce has focused on several methods to
open house today from 11 a,m.-1 p.m. in the ASO trailer. Everyone is invited to attend.
£t A major part of the enrollment problem is that the semester starts too early.” — DR. CARMELITA THOMAS, vice president of academic affairs increase its enrollment, including three weeks of local radio adver tisements. postcard reminders to returning students not yet enrolled, direct mail pieces and early admis sions from 14 local "feeder” high schools like El Camino High School and Taft High School. A phone campaign to contact hundreds of returning students who had not yet enrolled was also part of the recruiting effort. The phone campaign got “a lot of positive feedback," McCaslin said. Some students were simply unaware that the semester was starting so early, she said. Dr. Carmelita Thomas, vice pres ident of academic affairs, agrees. Thomas said that a “major part of
the enrollment problem is that the semester starts too early.” In an attempt to alleviate that problem, Thomas is trying to setup new short-term classes in addition to those already listed on pages 24 and 25 of the fall 1998 schedule. These new short-term classes are expected to be general education subjects like English, math, politi cal science and history, and would start Sept. 14 and end Nov. 14. Thomas and McCaslin both indi cated that the decline in enrollment could have a significant impact on next year's budget. (Funding for next year's budget is based on enrollment statistics from the previ ous year.)
A Red Cross “End of Summer Blood Drive” will take place in the Campus Center Sept. 14-16 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Friday is the last day for students to drop classes without receiving a grade of “W".
The Music Dept, will pre sent a Noon Concert tomorrow at the Mainstage Theatre. The concert will feature Martha Masters, solo gui tarist. The concert is free.
A portion of the money necessary to complete the project was obtained by agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Office of Energy Assessment (OEA). FEMA money was obtained due to struc tural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge earthquake, while OEA granted Pierce approximately $2.8 million based on energy savings which would result from the pro ject. The $2.8 million loan will be paid back on a yearly basis out of the money saved by energy conser vation for 15 years. The annual payment is approximately $300,000, according to Vitone. The energy savings would be generated by primarily by the low ering of ceilings in classrooms, pro viding for more effective insula tion, and the installation of an Energy Management System (EMS) which would include occu pancy sensors that detect when a person has entered and left a room. according to Bush. The sensors would provide for more effective energy management by turning off lighting and air con ditioning when no motion is detect ed in a particular classroom after several minutes. “There’s no belter savings than to have something off.” reasoned Vitone? In addition to the motion sensors,
the EMS would provide plant facil ities personnel with the ability to control lighting and air condition ing from their homes via computer. There are two critical phases of the project which will be approached simultaneously, according to Vitone. One phase will be the construc tion of the central air conditioning unit, which will be located north of the Women’s Gym and will involve the relocation of a putting green currently at that site. The new loca tion for the putting green has yet to be determined. The second phase will involve construction in the individual class rooms. Up to 10 classes at a time would be temporarily relocated to "target classrooms” while construc tion is completed. Relocation could be as short as two to three weeks, according to Vitone. Plant Facilities personnel are currently upgrading older, unused classrooms for use by instructors and students as their original classrooms are retrofitted. Bush warns that while many of the classrooms will be retrofitted for air conditioning early in the construction process, all buildings will receive air conditioning at the same lime, once the project is com pleted. “We’ve already had the Math
Please see A/C, page 2
Library hours return to previous schedule By Gisele Ramirez-Gonzalez Staff Writer After a spring semester that saw the Pierce College Library's hours cut by two-and-a-half hours each weekday, the library has returned to its previous hours for the fall semester. The library hours are: MondayFriday 8:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. and Saturday 11-3 p.m. Under the for mer schedule, the library opened at 10 a.m and closed and 8 p.m Monday-Thursday and I p.m. Fridays, while its Saturday sched ule of 10 a.m-3 p.m. remained. Last semester’s shortened hours were the result of the Pierce administration not renewing the contract of one of the three full-time librarians, thereby reducing the number of full-time librarians to three. Administrators tried to lessen
the blow to the library’s hours by adding 13 hours of parttime. However, the full-time librarian worked 30 hours per week, leaving the library short 17 hours of labor necessary to maintain its schedule from last fall. Library chairperson Florence Robin stated that “it was decid ed by the administration that the library was a very important function for students and the staffing necessary to keep the library open was approved.” In regard to having accom plished her goal. Robin said “1 had to justify the need for staffing by providing staffing standards set by various nation al library organizations and comparing us to other commu nity college libraries.” We’re happy with the increase in library hours because we know the students are as well.”
Please see Enroll, page 2
ADA funds changes for disabled By Alison Cohen Staff Writer
“It was a pain in the neck getting to classes.
Providing students with varied and vast opportunities is the job of any educational institution, and Pierce is no exception. But, until now, opportunities were severely limited for those stu dents with disabilities who utilize wheelchairs as their form of trans portation. Those students whose movement is impaired by arthritis also had limited right of entry to buildings on campus, including administra tion offices and job center. Opportunities were limited because accessibility was finite. With the installation of approxi mately 15 ramps, the remodeling of 50 bathrooms to eliminate exposed pipes under sinks and the addition of 300 door handles, the ADA has brought Pierce into compliance with ADA codes and provided dis abled students with accessibility to opportunities on campus. A state grant made it possible for
Faster ramps help out a lot.” — chris gabler, student Pierce to be brought into compli ance with ADA codes. Pierce student Chris Gabler, 24, a computer science major who is wheelchair bound following a ski ing accident eleven days after his 22 birthday credits Pierce with the “best special services program” that he has seen. “I've been to other colleges to find out where their sensibility is,” said Gabler. Pierce “provides the most for dis abled people.” However, Gabler noted that before the new ramps “it was a pain in the neck getting to classes. Faster ramps help out a lot.” The project is a two phase endeavor whose aim is to provide the most benefits to the campus and students as possible given the funds
available. According to plant facilities man ager Dave Bush phase one is on schedule and within its budget. Half of the bathrooms on campus are in the process of being revamped to bring the number of wheelchair accessible bathrooms from 43 stalls on campus to an as yet unknown number, according to Bush. Following a request by the LACCD, Bush said the changes that are most needed and most ben eficial to students were identified and included in phase one changes. In order to use the approximately 1.5 million dollars to Pierce College effectively, phase two will focus on issues that are more expensive, such as elevators in buildings.
Construction began March 3 and will continue until the end of the one year contract at which time the project should be completed. Unless something beyond any one's scope, such as a labor strike or material shortage, no extensions will be granted. Carlos Martinez, Dean of Academic Affairs at Pierce and for mer Special education director at East Los Angeles College, said that Pierce can now “accommodate dis abled people much more easily." Martinez added that Pierce will continue to “provide any support that we can” to the disabled com munity on campus. Not everyone on campus will use the new ramps or notice the new door handles but according to Norm Crozer, director of Special Services, some students “will be affected now and some will be affected later.” Crozer said that the ramps are not limited to those 100 or so students who are in wheelchairs at this time.
Please see ADA, page 2
William A. Laga/Round up
Student Bryan Grady utilizes a ramp to get to class. The ADA funded the installation of ramps across campus.