ROUND OUNDUP www.theroundupnews.com
Woodland Hills, California
Home for new library on hold
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Volume 117 - Issue 6
Spooky Issue Inside:
Page 2: Cameras on campus Page 4: Photo Essay: Ary Gallery Page 5: ‘How the Other Half Loves
October 31, 2012
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
DREAM Act is a pivotal issue Immigration reform affects many
Completion of Learning Crossroads has been pushed back indefinitely
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Michaia Hernandez/Roundup
mhernandez.roundupnews@gmail.com Completion of the Learning Crossroads building, which will house the library and the food court, has hit a snag following an unexpected revocation of a previously approved surface material system by the Division of the State Architect. Because of this, it is unclear when the building project will be finished. A representative from the DSA came this October to inspect the construction premises and determined that pavers supported by pedestals at key exits in the building weren’t attached correctly to the structure, according to Project Deputy Director Ed Cadena. The DSA wants it anchored to the building, he said. The problem with this is that certain features of the structure won’t be able to support new changes to the foundation, according to Cadena. “We’re looking for an alternative solution,” he said. Because the situation involves an approval process that is out of Cadena’s hands, he says he doesn’t know at this point when everything will be taken care of. What is unexpected about the entire affair is the fact that the scrutinized system was actually already previously approved by the DSA, according to Cadena. “It doesn’t look like they made any changes to the code,” he said. “Apparently, someone didn’t look closely enough.” This seems to be the case, Monica Hassan, public information officer for the Department of General Services, said on behalf of the DSA. “Upon further review of the approved plan, it was found that the plans were not compliant with the building code and the Field Act; and therefore, the approval was revoked,” said Hassan. This isn’t the first incident that’s affected completion of the Learning Crossroads building this semester. Early on, the building was impacted by a water line breaking on site. This caused a an approximate six-week delay in completion, and left estimated substantial occupancy by November, Cadena said. This was remedied almost immediately, however, because the project team had control over the situation. The building was slated to be completed by October of this year, according to the original Pierce Project Construction Summary Schedule. “We’re really getting itchy to move in there,” Librarian Paula Paggi said. “Nobody has confirmed [the delays] with her, but if it’s true that’s not good.”
With the presidential election rapidly approaching, many controversial topics that could affect Pierce College students are currently in the spotlight, including immigration reform. Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, and President Barack Obama both hold different views in regards to the topic, possibly making it a critical issue in the race to win the election. “It definitely will have some impact,” said Kassem Nabulsi, assistant professor of political science. “The magnitude of the impact we cannot predict at this point, but our argument would be that mostly for the Latino community the issue of immigration will be an absolute concern to its constituency. They will make sure that it’s going to be an important issue in the calculation of choosing a president.”
1,545,894
undocumented immigrants have been deported during Obamaʼs term according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.
(SOS) and the Resistance Against the Gutting of Education (RAGE). Brenda Medina, a coordinator of the event as well as a California State University, Northridge graduate, also participated as a zombie and even helped by applying makeup to others. “We wanted to symbolize the sucking out of education if Prop. 30 doesn’t pass,” said Medina. Pierce student and RAGE member, Rueben Garcia, participated in the downtown march as well, but as a student survivor. “We’re down to the bones and any more cuts will definitely hurt the system as a whole,” Garcia said.
Having recently granted temporary relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants who meet certain guidelines under the executive order known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), President Obama is seen by many as the more pro-immigrant candidate of the two. Pierce College student Nicholas Klotzman, 23, said he favors Obama mainly because of his support for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, a legislative proposal that would grant permanent residency to certain undocumented immigrants that arrived to the United States as minors if passed. “I will be voting for Obama,” he said. “The DREAM Act has the possibility of affecting and changing the lives of many people I know, and he wants to make it happen much more than Romney. It would be a new start for them and would open many new doors.” The DREAM Act is something Obama claims he has been trying to pass since his first year in office. However, Obama has also set an alltime record for deportations in his four years as president. According to the most recently updated immigrant removal statistics on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website, a record 1,545,894 undocumented immigrants have been deported during Obama’s term. The figures were published Aug. 25, 2012.
[See ZOMBIES, pg. 3]
[See IMMIGRATION, RU ONLINE]
Kristen Aslanian/ Roundup
BRAINS: Teresa Curry from Mission College poses on the front steps of Los Angeles City Hall on Oct. 26
Zombies take a stand Supporters of Prop. 30 dress up for ‘The Walking Debt’ in L.A. Calvin Alagot/Roundup
calagot.roundupnews@gmail.com Some one hundred demonstrators in support of Proposition 30 paraded to the governor’s office from City Hall Friday when they were ambushed by a horde of flesh-eating zombies. The quarter-mile march was aimed at gathering support for the proposition that calls for tax increases to prevent further cuts to public education funding. The group was comprised of L.A. college and community members from all over Southern California. Dozens dressed as zombies to symbolize the horrifying obstacle
that will be posed against public education funding if Prop. 30 does not pass. “I came here to show support for Prop. 30 which is supposed to fund the schools,” undead Pierce student Bernard Hanamichi said. “If it doesn’t pass we’re going to lose a lot of classes over the course of the next couple semesters.” The zombies prepared for their attack in a parking lot located at the intersection of Spring St. and 3rd St. Hanamichi, who was dressed as a zombie, is involved in Pierce’s student government as well as other groups that helped coordinate the event such as: Students Organizing for Success
Volleyball still undefeated
Fighting violence with awareness
Reigning state champs stand 23-0 this season
Clothesline gives victims of domestic abuse a voice
UD/Roundup
Kirsten Quinn/Roundup
ud.roundupnews@gmail.com
kquinn.roundupnews@gmail.com Strings of T-shirts dressed the Mall in flapping blues, purples, oranges, reds, greens and whites as they caught the wind and painted the southwest end with scrawled messages of pain, anger and hope. With his back to the clotheslines, Nick Schafer sat straight and still with one hand, half-covered in a white sleeve, touching the curve of his forehead. Running it to the back of his neck or the top of his mouth, only his hand moved for minutes at a time as he stared at a blank, orange shirt. Schafer painstakingly constructed a letter to a man, his sexual abuser, for the Clothesline Project, a nationwide domestic abuse awareness campaign hosted at Pierce College on Wednesday.
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WRITING: Shaina Barnett, 21, pens her own message on a white T-shirt during Pierce Collegeʼs Clothesline Project for Domestic Violence event on Oct. 24. Behind him, each color signified a message of resistance and hope for victims. different story, a different kind of abuse. Over the past four years, Holly Hagan, Pierce students Nick Schafer and bookstore buyer for Pierce College and a Brandi McMullen pen their own message survivor of domestic abuse, collected about on a white T-shirt during Pierce College’s 250 shirts from Pierce men and women Clothesline for Domestic Violence event to affected by domestic abuse, and about half on Oct. 24. Schafer spent fifteen minutes of them flicked and twisted in the wind scribing his account of abuse at the hands from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. [See CLOTHESLINE, pg. 3] of a celebrity, while McMullen penned a
P I E R C E The Pierce College Weather Station has provided meteorological data to national agencies since 1949. Information for this week’s report comes from meteorology student Kevin Gabriel, who volunteers at the station.
Wed.– Oct. 31 High: 78° Low: 53°
Sunny
Power. Harmony. Terrible, crushing poetry in motion. The Pierce College women’s volleyball team embodied this Friday night as they won in straight sets (25-18, 25-19, 25-18) at home on Ken Stanley Court against the visiting ladies of Bakersfield College inside the South Gym in Woodland Hills, Calif. Head coach Nabil Mardini knows all too well what complacency can do to even the most battle-hardened team, and warned against letting previous good fortune get in the way of their goals. “They said we were ‘ripe for a loss’,” Mardini told his team in their pre-game meeting. Some shook their heads, others smiled humbly.
W E A T H E R Thur.– Nov. 1 High: 72° Low: 53°
Fri.– Nov. 2 High: 76° Low: 52°
Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny
UD/ Roundup
CHAMPS: Pierce huddles before their game against Bakersfield on Oct. 26. “No, it can happen, just like that,” Mardini said. “Just go out there and do what we do.” The Renegades (16-5,) still salty after taking only one set in their last three [See VOLLEYBALL, pg. 6]
R E P O R T
Sat.– Nov. 3 High: 81° Low: 53°
Sun.– Nov. 4 High: 84° Low: 56°
Mon.– Nov. 5 High: 83° Low: 54°
Tues.– Nov. 6 High: 80° Low: 54°
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Sunny
Wed.– Nov. 7 High: 78° Low:55° Cloudy