Amid Protests, PCC Trustees Cancel Winter Session

Despite student protests, the Pasadena City College (PCC) Board of Trustees proceeded Wednesday with the cancellation of a winter session for the coming school year on the ground that it is ineffective for the students.

“Students generally aren’t happy,” Student Trustee Simon Fraser, the only one who voted for the inclusion of a winter session, told the Pasadena Star-News. “I think it’s fair to say that students like the winter sessions and benefited from it.”

Around 50 PCC students protested the cancellation of the winter session Wednesday night, claiming that students need the winter session to provide them the required credits to transfer to four-year universities, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The demonstrators wore winter attires including mittens, hats and scarves despite the summer heat and held banners that said “Restore Winter” and “No Trust in Trustees,” according to the Times.

Some demonstrators also complained the board’s decision to eject the protesters from the board meeting after several students unfurled a banner at the board room, the Times said.

“I was finally allowed to get in but they didn’t allow any people who got in late to give public comment,” Belknap, 26, a math and computer science major, told the Times.

The protest was generally peaceful.

Some students expressed concern on the process of the approval of the calendar because it was not endorsed by students, the Star-News reported. The calendar with the winter session was allegedly the one approved by the students, staff and faculty through shared governance.

“The calendar never went through shared governance. Our fear is that this is going to affect our accreditation,” PCC Academic Senate President Eduardo Cairo told the Star-News. “There was no presentation of its academic merits. How come there weren’t any students who came to the podium to speak on its behalf?”

Meanwhile, Fraser addressed the impact of winter session in pulling non-PCC students to enrol in PCC, the Star-News reported.

“Now that we’re in a period of growth, I think it’s important to maximize our funding opportunities,” Fraser told the Star-News. “Winter [session] is a way to do that.”

Last year, the board decided to eliminate the winter term in exchange of a three-term calendar with fall, spring and summer sessions.