WEEKLY FEATURE ----.
THE
. . . . . LESC
Palomar Communiq College San Marcos ,C4
Friday, September 17, 1993
-INSIDE---
~ Election '93
Religious studies professor teaches students a lesson in life and death. Page7
Volume 47, Number 2
Instructor sues Palomar Robert Freeman charges racism in EEOC lawsuit
• Featured on page 4. Includes candidates' profiles,election information and much more.
By Christopher C. Holmes Open Forum Editor
Beat Editor
Nationally renowned artist and part-time instructor Robert Freeman has filed a $200,000 lawsuit against Palomar College alleging racial discrimination by campus administrators, including President Dr. George Boggs. '"This is a racist college in numbers and attitude," Freeman said, who has picketed the school daily with a sign that reads, ''End Racism Now." Freeman, an instructor for 16 years and a Lakota Sioux native American, filed the suit following the closing of his one and only class this semester, a Monday evening art class held at the Escondido Center. '"The racists are coming out of the woodwork here at Palomar," said Freeman.
Palomar arts instructor Robert Freeman protests the closure of his class, charging that the class on grounds of racial discrimination. Freeman has filed alawsuit against Palomar College.
• See FREEMAN, Page 3
• HBO's "And the Band Played On" review is a must-read on a mustsee made-forcablemovie. See page 8. • Former Telescope cartoonist is featured in new connc book. See page 9. Roger Fergoso
•The Green Column warns of the dangers of the very water you drink. See page 11
College strives to attain diversity goal By Mireille Samson Editor-in-Chief
• Palomar's best athlete ever has her Division I eligibility reinstated and her college decision is eminent. See page 12. • Football Preview on page 13: Comets travel to Chaffey College
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While the college is taking steps in the right direction toward increasing diversity awareness on campus, a student activist said that if significant changes are not made soon, there will be more protests. Robert Jenkins, student co-chair of STANDUP (Students and Teachers Actively Nurturing Diversity Unifying Palomar), an organization created in the wake of the protests last spring, said while some goals have been accomplished, the issue needs to be handled to its completion. What that completion entails is attaining the goal of 30 percent of the faculty consist-
"I think that we've increased awareness on the need for a diverse faculty." Dr. Merrilee Lewis Assistant Supperintendent, Vice President of instroction ing of historically underrepresented backgrounds. Budget constraints will prevent the college from filling 11 facualty possistions until the '94 -'95, according to Dr. Merilee Lewis, assistant superintendent/vice presi-
dent of instruction. She said when the college hires new faculty, a concerted effort will be undertaken to recruit, employ and retain culturally and ethnically diverse qualified individuals. "I think we' ve increased awareness on the need for a diverse faculty," Lewis said. Until that time arrives, efforts to recruit diverse individuals to Palomar have already been undertaken. Dr. Candice Francis, an associate professor of life sciences and the new faculty diversity coordinator, said that through two grants from the state Chancellor's office, a teaching internship program called Leader-
• See DIVERSITY, Page 3
Debate brews over voucher initiative By Roger Fregoso Campus Beat Editor A highly controversial state-wide proposition on the November ballot that is opposed by a majority of Palomar College District's governing board was the topic of a heated debate sponsored by the Palomar Speech Team Sept. 10. Debated was Proposition 174, which proponents call the Parental Choice in Education amendment. The public will vote on the voucher initiative in a special election Nov.
2. '"The Great School Choice Debate," debated by two San Diego educators, commencedin P-32 in frontofanalmost-packed theater audience. The governing board approved a 13-paragraph resolution 3-2 Sept. 7 to oppose Prop. 174. Voting to oppose the voucher initiative were Dr. RobertDougherty, Barbara Hughes, and Dr. Rita White. Harold Scofield and Ralph Jensen voted against the resolution. Brian Bennett, headmaster at Blessed Sacrament School in San Diego and an instructor at University of San Diego, debated
• ALSO Refer to related Pro/ Con debate on Prop. 174 in Open Forum, page 10. in favor of Prop. 174. He was opposed by Don Crawford, the Social Studies Department chairman at Lincoln High School in southeast San Diego. He is the director of the National Education Association for Imperial and San Diego counties and holds a master's degree in education from SanDiego State University. Prop. 174 is a largely untested concept of providing parents tax-paid vouchers redeemable at public, private or parochial schools. Similar initiatives have been on ballots in both Colorado and Oregon, but trounced by voters. Several years ago, an attempt to put the voucher initiative on California's ballot failed when organizers did not gather enough signatures. The two educators debated "Resolved: That the passage of Prop. 174, providing school vouchers for parents of school-age children, to be used at private or public schools, is desirable."
"Parents are and ought to be the primary educators of their children," said Bennett. "As a consequence, parents should be vested with the decision-making of the most important choice they will make for their children and that is the selection of the school to which they will go. "If one is to argue that parents are not the primary educators of their children, one invites the advent of educational socialism in this country, and furthers the monopolistic and bureaucratic approach taken by the California State Department of Education. '"This same proposition was opposed by the California Teacher's Association two years ago because they did not like change then, and they do not like change now," argued Bennett. Crawford said: "Californians will vote on an issue that has the potential to gravely harm public education as we know it and further increase the social stratification that currently exists within our society." He concluded, "As a parent, teacher and taxpayer, I am vehemently opposed to this initiative. This will be a huge new government entitlement program."
Roger Fergosol Campm Beat Edit..-
Don Crawford, Social Studies Department chairman at Lincoln High School, speeks outagainstProp.174atthedebateSept.lO.