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INSIDE
ROUND OUNDUP
Editorial: Campus protection Pg. 2 Features: Geology and Robotics Pg. 4 Sports: Women’s Basketball score Pg. 6
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Volume 118- Issue 2
March 6, 2013
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
President calls for cease-fire
Annual Civil War event canceled Natalee Ayala/Roundup
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Kristen Aslanian / Roundup
RESIST: An unidentified man was detained after assaulting a professor in Village 8209 on March 4. He then kicked out the window of the sheriffʼs patrol vehicle.
Professor assaulted in Village
Suspect kicks out squad car window in a display of violence and police defiance Roundup Staff
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A
young man was restrained after assaulting a Pierce College instructor in Village 8209 Monday morning. The man’s identity has not been released due to the ongoing investigation, according to Larry Kraus, associate vice president of administrative services. Adjunct English instructor Michael Schilf was teaching his 101 class when the suspect peeked his head into the room, according to Liliana Solano, 21, one of the students in the class. He was calling for someone and Schilf told him to stay outside, but he continued to disrupt the class, according to Solano. The situation escalated when Schilf had to
forcibly prevent the suspect from entering the class, according to Solano. “The kid was fighting against the teacher to come inside the classroom,” she said. “The guy was going ballistic, cursing at my teacher and threatening us.” The struggle resulted in Schilf pinning the man to the floor, said Solano. Campus authorities then came into the room and handcuffed the suspect as he resisted arrest, Solano said. It took four officers to detain the individual, according to Beatriz Sanchez, 27, who had a class in the room next to Schilf’s. After the suspect was placed in the back of the squad car, he repeatedly kicked at the window until it broke and shattered. He then stuck his head out of the window and began shouting at passers-by. Sheriff’s Deputy Al Guerrero then forced
him back into the vehicle. Officers drew out their Tasers as they verbally warned him to calm down. After about 15 minutes in the back of the damaged squad car, the suspect was strapped to a stretcher by several personnel and placed in a nearby ambulance. He was then taken to a hospital, according to Kraus. By this time, there were several emergency vehicles on the scene surrounding the Village. The entire incident lasted less than an hour. During the incident, student Frankie Manes (@frankiemanes) tweeted: “It’s a mad house at Pierce right now. People are everywhere looking at what’s going down. Can’t believe I have to watch from in class” The suspect, who does not attend Pierce, was trying to attack a student in Village 8209, according to Kraus. “I think it was a girlfriend,” Kraus said.
“There was a restraining order against the suspect.” The suspect threatened both Schilf and the student he was calling for with death and bodily harm, Kraus said. “Police showed up as soon as possible,” Kraus said. “Fairly quickly.” Complete details for the incident aren’t available yet. “This is a very serious incident. We will be looking at it very carefully,” Kraus said. “It’s going to take a little time.” It is not yet clear whether the suspect was charged with any crime. “They might be just interrogating him because he appeared to be under the influence,” Security Officer Pedro Pineda said. [Contributing: Calvin Alagot, Michaia Hernandez, Carlos Islas]
History buffs will not get a chance to participate in Pierce College’s Heritage Days this semester because the college’s president canceled the Civil War reenactment in response to neighbors’ complaints. “Ultimately, I had to make the decision, and I made the decision to cancel,” Kathleen Burke-Kelly, Pierce’s president, said. The event draws in a large crowd from the community and features real cannon fire, which creates significant levels of noise in the area. Pierce’s Farm Center has hosted this two-day event, the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County, for the past three years. Heritage Days has attracted over 400 participants that take part in the recreation of the Battle of Gettysburg. This July marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle. Ed Mann, an organizer of event for Pierce and also participates, declined to comment. He told the Roundup in an email that he was asked to “stand down by the person at the Farm Center.” Mann did, however, give a statement in an interview with ABC7. “A lot of people are going suffer for it. Not just the re-enactors, but all the several thousand people that have come in the last three years,” he said. “This is the only event that would have taken place in the Los Angeles County, and now it’s gone down the drain.” Robert Teague, a re-enactor, participated in all three Heritage Days at Pierce and thinks they are great. [See RE-ENACTMENT, pg. 3]
Students protest in statewide Sacramento march
Campus club members head to state Capitol for rally Nick McNamara/Roundup
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Mohammad Djauhari / Roundup
PROTEST: California college students converge in Sacramento to participate in a march supporting easier access to higher education on Monday.
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P I E R C E The Pierce College Weather Station has provided meteorological data to national agencies since 1949. The information in this graph was gathered from weather.com.
Marching across the Tower Bridge in Sacramento, Calif., a wave of chants rippled through the crowd of thousands of protesters. “The students united cannot be defeated.” Sixteen Pierce College students from the Associated Students Organization and Students Organizing for Success travelled to the state Capitol on March 4 for the March in March, protesting budget cuts and advocating increased college funding. The Pierce group met at the Pierce campus at 10 p.m. on March 3 where they boarded an ASO-funded charter bus that took them to the Capitol overnight. The march began at 10 a.m. on Monday, beginning at Raley Field, crossing the Tower Bridge up to the steps of the Capitol where a rally was held. Around 5,000 people took part in the march, according Dr. Zachary Knorr, a
professor at the University of California, Riverside. The attendance was surprising to professor James McKeever, the faculty mentor for the trip, who thought the passing of Proposition 30 in the November elections would make students more apathetic.
“People are still interested in education.” - Ruben Garcia Students Organizing for Success member “I think the turnout is amazing,” McKeever said. “I thought it’d be a third of this.” Also surprised with the attendance was SOS member Ruben Garcia, who travelled to Sacramento ahead of the bus. “People are still interested in education,” Garcia said.
W E A T H E R
Wednesday March 6 High: 57° Low: 45°
Thursday March 7 High: 57° Low: 44°
Friday March 8 High: 53° Low: 39°
Saturday March 9 High: 63° Low: 43°
Sunday March 10 High: 71° Low: 46°
Partly Cloudy
Showers
Showers
Partly Cloudy
Sunny
Despite the passing of Proposition 30, attendees, including professor McKeever, stressed the importance of continuing the fight to stop cuts and bring back lost funding. “This is when it’s really more important to sit there and demonstrate that the students who voted for those things are still watching and still care about the issues,” McKeever said. Though Proposition 30 passed, the price per unit has not gone down from $46, which McKeever said is an important issue to bring to the state government. “Some people, even Jerry Brown, have made statements about how tuitions are still lower than the national average so we still have room to move up, and I think that’s the wrong way to look at it,” McKeever said. “I think we should be looking at $14 or $15 per unit, or even free actually.” Former ASO president Ken Sherman was also on the trip, and he was also critical of the cost of community college. [See MARCH, pg. 3]
R E P O R T Monday March 11 High: 74° Low: 49°
Tuesday March 12 High: 74° Low: 48° Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy
Wednesday March 13 High: 73° Low:48° Partly Cloudy