Santa Monica City College may reconsider two-tier pricing. Trekking the Pacific Crest Trail. Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Tim Cogshell and Andy Klein to review this week’s films, including American Reunion, We the Party, Damsels in Distress and more. TGI-FilmWeek! The life and art of Barbara Stanwyck.
Santa Monica College may reconsider two-tier pricing
Update: After the airing of this segment, SMC trustees voted to put the two-tier pricing plan on hold
Following Tuesday’s pepper spraying incident, and a request from Community Colleges chancellor, Jack Scott, trustees at Santa Monica College are meeting this morning to reconsider their controversial two-tier pricing system.
The pilot program will make certain classes about five times more expensive than most others at SMC and would have gone into effect this summer.
The move proved to be very unpopular with students, who made their voices heard especially loudly at a board meeting on Tuesday. Apparently students stormed the small meeting room, prompting campus police to pepper spray the crowd. The blowback from that incident has garnered national media attention and may have prompted today’s emergency session.
But students aren’t the only ones opposed to the plan.
“Most faculty that I’ve spoken to feel opposed to it because we know there's a certain bias that’s going to be in the system that’s going to leave out certain students,” said Nick Pernisco, spokesperson for the Santa Monica College Faculty Association. “We're just afraid there's going to be a lot of students left behind and not able to get the classes they need.”
Also weighing on trustees has to be the threat of a possibly lawsuit from Chancellor Jack Scott. His office has indicated that they don’t believe the pricing plan is legal under California’s education code and could price poorer students out of an education.
They want more time to investigate the legalities before the rate hike goes into effect.
“The first time we heard about it was when the president of the college announced it and then the board adopted it at the last board meeting,” said Pernisco. “So we didn't have a chance to comment on it or speak about it. It just kind of flew under the radar.”
For their part, SMC believes they’re on solid legal ground. The events at SMC over the past couple weeks are raising a lot of questions. The fact is California colleges have gotten slammed by budget cuts and must come up with some way to pay their bills while still serving their students.
Is this two-tier system a way to do that? Other community colleges in the Southland will be watching closely to see how the legal issues shake out. If the program is compatible with the education code, will other colleges consider it?
Did students take it too far when they tried to enter a small meeting room at SMC? Or did campus cops indiscriminately pepper spray a non-violent crowd? Are administrators to blame for not anticipating the passion students felt about this issue?
Guests:
Vanessa Romo, KPCC education reporter (covering the SMC Trustees meeting at SMC Theatre Arts Main Stage at 1900 Pico Blvd.)
Jasmine Delgado, Vice President of the Associated Students of Santa Monica College
Nick Pernisco, Spokesperson, Santa Monica College Faculty Association; Professor of Communications
Trekking the Pacific Crest Trail
At just 26 years old, Cheryl Strayed was undone by a series of setbacks: her mother’s death, the break-up of her marriage, and the fragmenting of her family.
In the midst of her turmoil she made a decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail by herself, with no previous wilderness training or experience.
Her new book “Wild” is the story of her 1,100 mile trek from the Mohave Desert to Washington State and how she put her life together while hiking the trail step by step.
She started from Mohave with a backpack so heavy she called it “Monster” and as she lightened her load so did she transform herself. She confronted snowstorms and rattlesnakes while facing her own psychological wilderness and emerged from the trail blistered and bruised but stronger and with a new sense of self.
Have you ever challenged yourself physically and come away from the experience emotionally transformed?
Guest:
Cheryl Strayed, author of “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” (Random House)
FilmWeek: American Reunion, We the Party, Damsels in Distress and more
Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Tim Cogshell and Andy Klein to review this week’s films, including "American Reunion," "We the Party," "Damsels in Distress" and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
"American Reunion" trailer:
"We The Party" trailer:
"Damsels In Distress" trailer:
"ATM" trailer:
"Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope Official" trailer:
"The Island President" trailer:
Guests:
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Box Office Magazine
Andy Klein, film critic for KPCC, Glendale News-Press and the L.A. Times Community Papers chain
The life and art of Barbara Stanwyck
Film Scholar and author Dan Callahan gives readers a lifelong look at the overshadowed reputation of the actress Barbara Stanwyck. Beginning with a rocky upbringing in between foster homes, this biography spans Stanwyck’s rise from chorus girl to one of Hollywood’s most talented and highly paid leading women.
After finally breaking into Broadway, she starred in a stream of high-end films from the 1930s-1950s working with such directors as Cecil B. DeMille, Frank Capra and Fritz Lang. After making more than eighty Hollywood films, the actress reprised her career in television with her role in the 1960s series “The Big Valley.”
Stanwyck was a four-time Academy Award nominee, a winner of 3 Emmys and a Golden Globe. She was also honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Academy.
In “Barbara Stanwyck: The Miracle Woman,” author Dan Callahan brings the reader to the top of the profession in the golden age of Hollywood while offering a personal narrative of the sometimes under-appreciated actress.
What are some of your favorite roles Stanwyck had throughout her career? How did her trials in her early life affect her creative profession?
GUEST
Dan Callahan, author of “Barbara Stanwyck: the Miracle Woman” (University Press of Mississippi), independent film scholar who has been published in Film International, Time Out New York and others