Free textbooks coming soon

Share: The Academic Senate is expected to adopt a resolution in their next meeting that would make PCC eligible for an Open Educational Resource (OER) grant that could replace pricey textbooks with free online resources for students in some course. According to PCC Online, “the OER includes teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and repurposing by others.” With this grant, textbooks would not be mandatory for …

Editorial: Advisers inspire JACC wins

Share: This past weekend the Courier staff attended the Journalism Association of Community Colleges State Conference in Burbank where we not only attended panels and workshops but also competed in State Publication contests and On-the-Spot contests. We did extremely well individually and as a whole, winning a total of 19 awards including the Pacesetter Award, which is given to the top four student publications in the state. Follow:

PCC club cancels burning of the ISIS flag

Share: Updated: 6:52 p.m. In an email sent to faculty and staff on Monday, Executive Director of Communications and Marketing Alex Boekelhide revealed that the demonstration set for tomorrow will not be taking place. “As always, Pasadena City College takes no position on the substance of any demonstration of constitutionally protected free speech that takes place on our campus,” Boekelhide said. “ As a fundamental part of its educational mission, Pasadena City College supports the free expression of the ideas and opinions of its students, …

Accrediting commission placed under scrutiny

Share: The accrediting commission that placed Pasadena City College on probation this past summer is now being investigated for not complying with accrediting standards and is expected to revaluate their system for accrediting colleges. In early November, the California Community College Board of Governors (CCCBG) voted to create an accreditation task force and directed the Chancellor’s Office to create a new model for accrediting the 113 colleges in the California Community College system. The Accrediting Commission for Community Colleges (ACCJC) is responsible for executing the …

PCC offers classes at John Muir High School

Share: Starting this spring semester, PCC will offer dual enrollment courses at John Muir High School to allow students to complete college courses while still attending high school. This comes as a result of Gov. Jerry Brown signing Assembly Bill 288 (AB288), establishing the College and Career Access Pathways Act. The dual enrollment program allows high school students and the public to take the college courses offered. This will give people in the area who have no means of traveling to PCC’s main campus the …

School placed on enhanced monitoring

Share: In early September, PCC received a letter from the Accrediting Commission of Community Junior Colleges (ACCJC) stating that the college had been placed on enhanced monitoring because of it’s poor record of documenting student learning success. Student learning outcomes (SLO) are statements made by each faculty member that identifies what students will learn and be able to demonstrate after they complete their course. The outcomes of those should be expressed through their knowledge and/or skills of what they learned in that specific class. ACCJC …

PCC Football player arrested, accused of robbery and assault

Share: Lancer football player is back on the field after being arrested before Saturday’s game on suspicion of assaulting and robbing a local Pasadena man. Wide receiver Nathaniel Degraffinreaidt, 20, was taken into custody and booked along with Pasadena resident Taije Glenn-Ackles, 25, on suspicion of armed robbery and assault, police said. According to Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, prosecutors intend to charge Degraffinreaidt but those charges have not yet been filed. Citing insufficient evidence, Santiago said that …