Pasadena City College

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Pasadena City College (commonly abbreviated and known as PCC) is a community college located on Colorado Boulevard in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California, USA.

PCC mainly serves people who live in the cities of South Pasadena, San Marino, Temple City, Pasadena, Burbank, La Canada Flintridge, Arcadia, Sierra Madre, portions of Rosemead, and portions of El Monte. All of these cities are part of the Pasadena Area Community College District, established in 1966.

Its mascot is the Lancer and the colors are cardinal red and gold.

Contents

[edit] History

PCC was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. In 1954, Pasadena Junior College merged with another local junior college, John Muir College, to become Pasadena City College. In 1966, voters approved the creation of the Pasadena Area Junior College District. The name was subsequently changed to the Pasadena Area Community College District.

In 2003, voters approved a bond measure that will improve the facilities for about $150 million by 2010. A significant portion of these funds are earmarked for the construction of a new building to house the college's art and music departments.

As of 2006, over one million individuals have taken classes at PCC since its founding in 1924.

[edit] Overview

PCC regarded as one of the best community colleges in the state. The rate of students who transfer to four-year universities in order to complete a bachelor's degree is ranked second after Santa Monica Community College. The math department has won the AMATYC community college mathematics competition numerous times. The music department provides the honor band for the Rose Parade and is the host of the annual Band Fest. Until recently, its applied music staff included John Dearman of the L.A. Guitar Quartet. The Visual Arts Division has a celebrated artist-in-residence program, a sculpture garden, an active gallery program, and a high transfer rate to specialized art and design schools, including the nearby Art Center College of Design. The campus has a number of exceptional physical facilities: PCC is one of the few community colleges with its own observatory.

The Shatford Library was completed in 1993. It has two floors and one basement facing the Colorado Blvd. The previous library only had one floor.

As of fall 2004 there are 24,932 credit students and 3,931 noncredit students. The demographics of the students are: 35.9% Hispanic, 32.9% Asian or Pacific Islander, 19.2% White, 6.5% Black, and 0.7% American Indian.

The Fall 2006 enrollment was expected at 29,000.

The local radio station KPCC 89.3, a member station of National Public Radio, airs from PCC. Unlike most NPR stations, where they may have music programming in addition to news,KPCC's main output is talk radio. A dispute arose on campus in 2001 about what to do with the license for the radio station, which was owned by the trustees of the Pasadena Area Community College District. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) submitted a bid to manage the station, which the trustees accepted, retaining ownership of the license but giving a mandate to MPR to make the station financially self-supporting. A purge of presenters and programs ensued, in which popular music and community-oriented programs were cut. Larry Mantle, the host of the talk show Air Talk, was one of the main proponents for this change. This is in line with NPR's recent strategy shift towards maximizing audience, in contrast with the strategy that formerly prevailed in which the emphasis was on maximizing quality, and "small" was perceived to be "good". The uproar that ensued was mitigated when the trustees and MPR publicized a plan under which a "National Academy of Broadcasting Sciences" was to be created, under which student internship positions within the station were to be created, and also, news programming was to adopt a new focus on California-related news.

During the California budget crisis of 2003, PCC found itself in the enviable position of having a budget surplus and an A+ loan rating. Using a part of that surplus, construction started on a second parking lot that runs parallel to Allen Avenue, and was opened for the Winter 2005 semester.

PCC is currently the defending champion of a two-year college competition in Mathematics.

PCC maintains the largest police cadet force in the nation. It's campus police is made of 4 full-time officers, a detective, a lieutenant, the chief and 66 campus cadets, most of which are PCC students. 70 percent of cadets are criminal justice (PCC says "Administration of Justice") students.

In the wake of recent school shootings, PCC Board of Trustees policy of not arming Campus Police officers with guns stands firm. In a survey, 53 percent of students say that arming Campus Police Officers should be considered. Most recently, the Associated Students and some clubs say that they oppose arming campus police. Currently, PCC Campus police officers carry batons.

[edit] Statistics

According to the California Postsecondary Education Commission in 2003, 465 PCC students transferred to the University of California system and 1,160 PCC students transferred to the California State University system. PCC has the highest number of transfers to the California State University system.

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, PCC's transfer rate is still the second highest in California, with 1816 students transferred during the 2005-2006 academic year, behind Santa Monica College's 2234 students.

[edit] Administration/Board of Trustees

PCC is governed by a nine member board of trustees, made of the President, a student trustee, and seven members each representing an area of the Pasadena Area Community College District. Seven members are elected by the people of the seven trustee areas, and the student trustee is elected by the student body. The President, who is the top administrator, serves as the secretary for the Board of Trustees and is the chief administrative officer of the district

The current president of PCC is Dr. James Kossler, who will retire in June 2007.

[edit] Events

In 2000, another campus dispute centered on Irv Rubin of the Jewish Defense League, who came to speak on campus. Some students felt he should not have come.

In 2001, faculty-administration negotiations on salary reached impasse. Protests ensued, including one at which Dolores Huerta spoke.

In the Fall of 2005 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger made a surprise visit to PCC, but was met with criticism over not meeting with students and faculty, and over the tuition increases during his administration.

On May 18, 2006, the PCC branch of MEChA took responsibility in the destruction of numerous copies of campus newspapers. Months later in the September 7, 2006 issue, a member issued an apology to the campus newspapers.

On the 65th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a group of PCC students from Students for Social Justice demonstrated outside the joint military recruiting offices across from PCC, protesting against the Iraq war.

On March 7, 2007, demonstrators from Philadelphia-based Repent America demonstrated on campus, leading to tensions between demonstrators and some students, most of whom are homosexual. They were offended by a sign that said "Thousands of ex-homosexuals have experienced the life-changing love of Jesus Christ."

[edit] John Kerry speech

Senator John Kerry talking with PCC students
Senator John Kerry talking with PCC students

Main article: John Kerry Controversy over comments on Iraq and education

On October 30, 2006, PCC hosted a town hall meeting featuring Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides along with Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Senator Barbara Boxer, and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry in a campaign rally, in which 370 students were in attendance. At the event Senator Kerry stated, "You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't you get stuck in Iraq." There was a controversy surrounding his remark afterwards and Kerry later responded calling the remarks a "botched joke." Kerry later apologized for the remarks.

[edit] Offsite Facilities

PCC has two offsite facilities, which are the Child Development Center and the Community Education Center.

The Child Development Center, located one block west of the PCC campus, is a childcare center for children of PCC students.

The Community Education Center, located two miles east of the PCC campus, is an offsite facility where vocational training, some ESL courses, American Citizenship (known as "Americanization") courses, and PCC's high school diploma program take place. A shuttle service from the main campus is available to the Community Education Center.

PCC offers courses that can be taken at nearby high schools:

PCC's baseball team uses Jackie Robinson Field, a baseball field near the Rose Bowl, for practices and home games.

[edit] Getting to PCC

PCC offers many options of transportation. Students can park at PCC lots for $2 per day or $64 per semester.

PCC is accessible by bus, including Metro Bus lines 181, 256, 267, 686, Metro Rapid 780, Foothill Transit 187, and some Pasadena ARTS buses. PCC provides a shuttle to and from the Allen Metro Gold Line station.

Parking rules differ at the Community Education Center.

[edit] Notable Students

[edit] Famous alumni and attendees

[edit] External links

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