Share the Bloom - SE students share their fashion story Page 6
Wednesday, February 15, 2023 – Volume 36 • Issue 16
@tccthecollegian • collegian.tccd.edu
NORTHWEST
DISTRICT
Students, staff explore NW05
Chinese spy balloon found over Montana
ALEX HOBEN
editor-in-chief alexandra.hoben@my.tccd.edu
TCC faculty and students were taken on a tour through the NW05 building currently being constructed. On Feb. 6, two groups were led on tours throughout the active construction site where NW05 is being built. The construction company Skanska cleared out most of their workers for the tours and so the members of the TCC community were able to see a glimpse of what the completed building would look like. The groups were taken on a circuit of the mostly-completed part of the three-floor building, and shown examples of what completed classrooms and labs would look like. NW05 includes the entirety of the Early College High School space as well as a wing for all of the sciences on campus, the tours explored both. Executive director of institutional and strategic project development Margaret Lutton, who is acting as the liaison between many departments for this project, led the student tour and explained the design theories behind the buildings: clarity, connectivity, community, identity, efficiency and stewardship. All of these principles were aimed at the betterment of the TCC community. “The design was very empathetic to students and how they function within the space,” Lutton said. NW vice president of academic affairs Thomas Sosa said he was amazed to see the plans for the building come to fruition. “When all of this planning started I was a faculty member,” he said. “I was a biology faculty member, and I was at one of the advisory panels that really contributed to the design of these structural spaces. So to go from those initial thoughts about these spaces and the planning for these spaces, to see it in person is just so exciting, so I’m excited. I’m personally excited about all of it.” Lutton said the color scheme both on the outside and inside of the building had a Texas-specific theme. “Notice the colors of the inside of the building match that of the Texas iconology,” Lutton said. “The sediment, the foundations, the oranges, the yellows. That all matches the Texas icon for this building, which is sedimentary.” NW ECHS student and SGA Senate chair Makayla Johnson was there as a student representative, and said she was excited to see the new building even if she won’t get the chance to use it since she is graduating
XAVIER BOATNER
campus editor xavier.boatner@my.tccd.edu
Alex Hoben/The Collegian
A construction worker uses an electric scissor lift to access the second level of the NW05 building. The building is currently still an active work zone. this semester. But according to Johnson, the next generation of students are excited about it. “Especially the juniors,” she said. “They’ve actually been bragging to us ‘Ha, we’ll get to see the new building and you guys won’t.’ So I mean, hey it’s alright, they’re the ones who spent their freshman year online not me.” Senior superintendent of the Skanska construction crew Greg Houle said floors two and three are more completed than floor one, and that he is excited to finish up both NW05 and NW01 so they can go build two
more buildings. “Can’t wait to get y’all in here,” Houle said. “I hope everybody sticks around for two and a half years when they can see this thing done done. It’s going to be beautiful.” Lutton said her favorite part about the building is the view from the building to the lake, the new classrooms and the new labs provided to students. “It is an easily accessible building which will house a great deal of swing space activities until the new buildings are built,” she said. “Once it opens, if in doubt, go to NW05.”
DISTRICT
Students speak on brutality after Nichols’ death OLLA MOKHTAR
campus editor olla.mokhtar@my.tccd.edu
Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, died as a result of brute force and abuse by officers of the Memphis, Tennessee police department. This occurred on Jan. 7, when he was stopped due to reckless driving. Immediately after the altercation he was brought to a nearby hospital where he died of his sustained injuries three days later. The start of COVID-19 and the shutdown of the nation opened many people’s eyes into police brutality against Black people, and for SE student Yulitza Ruvalcaba it made her more aware. “Since George Floyd, I definitely think people and also myself are more aware of police brutality, and it has become more well known since 2020,” Ruvalcaba said. “I wasn’t really aware prior to Floyd that police brutality was as bad as it was.” In regards to police brutality, she believes that the only thing that would help these situations would be police reform. She expresses her feelings towards her safety being threatened. “It’s very overwhelming, and it doesn’t make me feel safe. You’d think that in a country like America, these kinds of things wouldn’t happen,” she said. “But they happen almost everyday and it honestly makes it so that I’m scared to live and stay in this country.” She feels as though the main thing that
Play on “LOV3” SE theatre holds studentwritten Festival of New Plays Page 2
can help police brutality and these sorts of situations is police reform. The body cameras for Nichols’ case were released 20 days after his death whilst Floyd’s footage was released almost three months afterwards. With most of Nichols’ officers being Black and Floyd’s being mostly white and mixed race, Ruvalcaba believes it is for malicious intent.
There are cops that have been working since a certain time where black people and other minorities weren’t accepted as we are now.
Tony Fernandez SE student
“At first, I didn’t think it was related to race but I think Floyd’s footage wasn’t released earlier because they wanted to cover it up as long as they could,” she said. “It makes me think that by releasing Tyre’s footage earlier they’re doing it in an attempt to pit black people against each other and I think that’s what’s going to start happening if we keep seeing more cases like
Differences in colleges Students talk about their different college experiences Page 3
Tyre’s.” To NE student Elizabeth Palpan, nothing has been done to solve or dissipate the issue of police brutality. “Federally, no I don’t think anything has been done in regards to police brutality; it’s or gun violence in general,” she said. “Some cities’ solutions have voted to defund the police but the core of the issue is white supremacy and systemic racism.” Palpan said that in her opinion the delaying of Floyd’s footage was because of the riots in combination with the COVID19 pandemic and that she feels overwhelmed by violence in the U.S.. SE student Tony Fernandez explains his perspective on action from the U.S. government. “There are cops that have been working since a certain time where black people and other minorities weren’t accepted as we are now,” he said. “So the way they see us is different, which leads them to act the way they do.” Fernandez understood that even if he isn’t affected directly, he can sympathize with the Black community. “It doesn’t affect me directly because I’m not the one being persecuted, but it is similar to ICE splitting families up for no reason,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of hate in the world right now and just – be kind to people,” Ruvalcaba said. “You don’t know what another person’s going through, and it’s the time where we should be united, not tearing each other down.”
Police brutality Tyre Nichols’ death sparks conversation about police reform Page 6
TCC students voice their opinions following the invasion of multiple Chinese spy balloons. On Feb. 2, people across the nation caught wind of a then unfamiliar surveillance balloon floating high above the continental United States. According to the NYTimes, US officials confirmed the strange balloon to be part of a Chinese spying operation. According to CBS News, the initial balloon was shot down on Feb. 4, which has caused tension to stir between the two countries. This has led many to reflect on the incident, and people have begun debating whether or not the frenzy surrounding the balloon’s capabilities or China’s intentions was blown out of proportion. Some believe that China’s entire spy balloon operation was justified, while others feel China had no business sending unidentified objects into the United States, to begin with. NW Campus student Robert Flores agreed with the former stance. “I’ve seen the ‘chinese spy balloon’ all over my TikTok and Instagram,” he said. “I think that the worry is justified to an extent.” Meanwhile, Connect Campus student Alfredo Martinez agreed with the latter stance. “I definitely think that people’s anger was not justified,” he said. “It was all guided by mystery. Simply because it is unknown, it caused fear.” Disagreements in regard to whether or not the panic was justified are plentiful, and seemingly quite divisive. However, both students agree that, despite their differing opinions on whether or not the fear was warranted, speculation about the true intentions behind the balloon and the scope of its capabilities shouldn’t be a big source of concern. “I honestly can’t say what its true intentions were. It could truly be a weather balloon that veered off course,” Flores said. “I doubt that it was a balloon meant to cause explosive or chemical damage to US citizens.” Flores said he believes the balloon was built for a single purpose and that he didn’t see any reason to be worried by its appearance. “The possibility of it being any more than a tool to get information is very slim,” Martinez said. “I personally did not think anything bad about the object. Again it was just a balloon over in the sky. The balloon itself was not dangerous. The intention of it was to just get information. There is no reason to be scared or fearful,” he said. Regardless of how harmful or harmless the balloons are, there are still many people around the country that still aren’t convinced that China should’ve even sent any sort of spy equipment into the United States without any warning. “I believe that the US is and was, well within its rights to defend its own airspace against an unknown and possible threat regardless of what its true intentions are,” Flores said. “If it were truly a weather balloon that was at risk of flying into foreign airspace, China should have taken the proper steps in communicating, before letting an unknown object float around foreign countries.” The entire ordeal has split numerous people across the states. Some feel uneasy, and some feel indifferent. The arrival of the spy balloon will likely result in a greater discussion breaking out in the future involving what other countries should and shouldn’t do with their technologies and operations.
Joe Granita/Zuma Press/TNS
Debris falling from the sky after an alleged Chinese spy balloon was shot down by an F-22 military fighter jet.