ROUNDUP Los Angeles Pierce College
www.theroundupnews.com
Woodland Hills, California
Volume 128 - Issue 3
A FIRST AMENDMENT PUBLICATION
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Volleyball Wins, 3-0 full story pg. 8
One copy free, each additional copy $1.00
Library has 105 tablets available to students VANESSA ARREDONDO Managing Editor @v̲anana
Shae Hammond / Roundup
Pierce College's Bernardo Roese sets the ball while playing against Los Angeles Trade Tech College at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on March 2, 2018.
Preview:
Day of Politics nears
Congressional candidates to speak on campus REBECCA O'NEIL Reporter @RebeccaRoundup Polarized ideologies may feel the heat during the Day of Politics when legislators and students take the stage for speeches, questions and moderated debates. On Thursday, March 15, student debates will start at 9 a.m., California Assembly candidates will speak from 10 - 10:30 a.m. and U.S. Senate candidates will come from noon - 1 p.m. Voter registration will take place throughout the event, which is sponsored by Pierce College’s Democrat Club, Republican Club,
Vegan Club, Alpha Gamma Sigma Honors Society (AGS) and ASO. Political science professor Denise Robb said the Day of Politics offers students a venue to learn more about their current political situation and engage. Robb began the biannual event when she first started working Pierce in 2011. “I wanted the students to not only vote —we register them to vote there too— but actually get involved in politics, to know who exactly is running for office what kind of propositions are on the ballot,” Robb said. Robb said this semester’s Day of Politics is particularly poignant given the three elections coming
up in California elections this year. The first election of the year, which is on April 3, will replace California Assemblyman Matt Dababneh (D - Woodland Hills), who attended a number of Pierce’s Day of Politics events and resigned earlier this year after facing accusations of sexual misconduct. Former Pierce student Ankur Patel is running for Assemblyman in District 45 will also be attending the event. “Now we have an open seat,” Robb said. “So that’s April, and June is the regular primary and November is the general election when we choose between the top two candidates.” Robb said Day of Politics is
sponsored by the Pierce College Democrats, the Vegan Club, the Pierce College Republicans, the Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), ASO and AGS. Bella Aguilar-Rosil, the copresent of College Democrats, said Day of Politics educates and motivates students to participate. “A lot of people aren’t as politically informed as they should be. This event is a great opportunity for people to come through and learn about issues they ought to care about because the government is a very large and important part of their lives,” Aguilar-Rosil said. [see Politics on pg. 4]
DACA recipients still have support
As President Donald Trump’s tentative date for the DACA rescindment nears, faculty, staff and on-campus clubs’ commitment to serve undocumented students continues. General knowledge of how to help undocumented students and campaigns that raise awareness have increased on campus since Trump made his statement. Dean of Student Engagement Juan Carlos Astorga said counselor Jeanette Madueña helped develop the resource website for undocumented students, headed the campus-wide Know Your Rights Campaign and conducted “UndocuAlly” trainings for faculty. Madueña said the knowledge and passion that inspired her to host UndocuAlly trainings came from her working with undocumented students while pursuing her master’s and doctorate degrees.
RUONLINE?
“When I got here two years ago, I realized there was nothing happening with support mechanisms, trainings, or anything like that,” Madueña said. “At Cal State Long Beach, there has been a training that’s been going on for many, many years. I was part of that training, so when I came here, I wanted to start something similar.” Faculty who complete the training receive a monarch decal that is then placed outside of their classrooms, Astorga said. “We use the monarch butterfly because it does a lot of migration,” Astorga said. She referenced I.D.E.A.S at Pierce (Improving, Dreams, Quality, Access and Success) and said they are trying to create a resource fair for undocumented students. “Julio Tsuha and this undocumented student support group want to create a resource day full of activities and information sessions,” Madueña said. A report released by the Office of Educational Programs
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and Institutional Effectiveness stated that 813 of the 11,501 undocumented students in LACCD attended classes at Pierce in fall 2017, 3.9 percent of the student population overall. Student Equity Coordinator Jose Vargas said his position on Pierce’s campus—designed under California’s Education Code sec. 78220-78221—exists to identify the needs of underserved populations and divert dollars to bring these students to parity. Vargas, who co-chairs the Student Diversity Committee, said the statewide initiative on behalf of the underserved student population explicitly includes identity, race, gender, veteran status, foster youth and disability. “The Education code does not enumerate specifically on undocumented students,” Vargas said. “But what we’ve done on this campus—equity, and I would say diversity too—is that we found work-arounds.”
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Instructor of Life Sciences Jamie Beavers is growing sweet pea plants, Gregor Mendel's model organism, in her Biology 110. “We lost some of them to rats. We are raising them higher so we don't lose more. These are safe up here. If we can have more of these trays that keep the plants up high, we’d be great. We had them on the ground until recently, because until there’s leaves, the rats don’t care about eating them.”
Quotes gathered by Vanessa Arredondo. Photo by Brian Caldera.qw
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An economic divide might keep students from accessing technology to complete schoolwork, but a new program helps get rid of those barriers. The Library / Learning Crossroads is extending its electronic device checkout to all students after a successful pilot program last semester through EOP&S and Distance Education. Students can check out Surface Pro tablets for two days or the entire semester. They need a valid Pierce ID and will need to sign a contract to be loaned the device. Director of EOP&S Kalynda Mclean said that priority for the program is given to individuals who are enrolled in distance education, online or hybrid classes. “It allows students access to electronic equipment that they normally would not have access to for the completion of coursework,” Mclean said. “For students who are educationally and economically disadvantaged, this program is of particular help to that student population.” Clay Gediman, the technology library, oversees the program and said it was created to help lowincome students who can’t afford to buy equipment or don’t have time to visit the library. “Laptops are expensive,” Gediman said. “A lot more classes are online, and though the library has pretty good hours, not everybody can make it in.” Distance Education Coordinator Wendy Bass said that the Surface Pros tablets were chosen because they are lightweight and easily portable, in addition to other features. “We found that the younger
generation likes to touch things,” Bass said. “We went with smaller computers, and we found that it was a generational thing. Younger people do work on phones. I can’t stand it. It's too small. But the tablets are nice size, light and versatile.” The tablets have Deep Freeze installed to facilitate distribution. Students are encouraged to save files on external and online drives because content is erased once the device shuts down, Bass said. “This would prevent anybody loading any viruses on them,” Bass said. “If the students aren't saving things on them, they won’t worry about losing them.” Bass said that she and Gediman worked closely together to bring the program to fruition. Gediman tested the tablets by taking one of Bass’ test, failing it, but demonstrating that the devices support Canvas and Proctorio. “He was instrumental in having us check them out of the library,” Bass said. “He's been hands on to make sure that this program will work and that students will succeed.” There are 15 tablets available for two-day checkout and 70 to be loaned for the duration of the semester, Gediman said. The tablets have Microsoft Office and web browsers. Though they don’t have the processing power to run Adobe softwares, Gediman suggests that students visit the Library / Learning Crossroads for those projects. Gediman said they are letting students know that anyone is eligible to check out the devices. “They have been getting checked out, we’d just like more students to know about the program,” Gediman said. “In the future, we'd also like to purchase more as others become worn out.”
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Undocumented students can receive help from faculty REBECCA O'NEIL Reporter @rebeccaroundup
Check out Fun and Games on page 7
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