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ccclarion.com Volume LXXV • Issue 14 Tuesday, May 17, 2022
Blues are the muse Forced Exhibition at Citrus Art Gallery showcases loss and memories BY MIRANDA PALMAS
STAFF REPORTER MPALMAS@CCCLARION.COM
An art exhibition about the feeling of loss and memories is being showcased until May 20 at the Citrus Art Gallery. The exhibit is “The Pact of Forgetting” by Azusa artist Luselia Marin. Marin said she wanted to “create an environmental setting and narrative… that is somewhat nondescriptive.” The exhibition includes a total of 24 art pieces, with 21 being paintings and drawings, and three sculptures using materials such as resin, wood and home-grown crystals, all created at the start of 2020. The work being showcased is an allusion “to a snapshot of a memory or a glimpse into the future,” Marin said. The artwork includes sculptured solo body parts and paintings of women that are cut off with the artist wishing to “create a feeling of loss within each work” and she encourages “the viewer to decipher their own narrative,” Marin said. Marin studied at Citrus College and then transferred to Cal State University, Fullerton where she graduated, and is currently exhibiting her masters of fine art graduate show. “Citrus was a great stepping stone in allowing (her) to explore different mediums and art disciplines prior to attending art school,” Marin said R PHE GRA . She chose to have this exhibition at the Citrus gallery to allow y OTO r H e P l al FF - STA s Art G students to see contemporary artwork from a former student. MAS itru PAL C A e D h N t Marin’s inspiration comes from a range of different muses such as “something A R t MI ed a play (she) has read, cinematography in a film and/or (her) travels,” Marin said. “The list s i d n” orizo is endless.” H ew g “N Museums that Marin has favored are the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, the intin a p The Uffizi in Florence, Italy and the Pitti Palace, also in Florence.
New leadership promotes new chances Diversity, Equity and Inclusion director focuses on helping faculty and students BY KARINA CURIEL
STAFF REPORTER
KCURIEL@CCCLARION.COM
Tyesha Thomas-Volcy was hired as the new Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Citrus College to create and carry out programs to make sure students, faculty, and staff feel included and equal. The Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion works to modify policies, systems and norms that add to barriers that students, faculty and staff of marginalized groups face that hinders their success. “My experiences as a community college student, dedication to student success, and
THOMAS-VOLCY
empowering communities are the main reasons why I enjoy working in the California Community College system,” Thomas-Volcy said in an email. “I strive to
help systems and people move toward their goals and I enter conversations to serve students and employees, ensuring they have the tools, resources, and training needed to be successful.” As the Director of Diversity Equity and Inclusion, ThomasVolcy says she will work to make sure students of all identities and backgrounds get the same opportunities as everyone else. Along with this, she will work to ensure that students feel included on campus and to promote engagement. “Equity focuses on understanding that each individual has different needs, lived experiences, priorities and learning styles. Second, it is acknowledging that many of our systems were not built with everyone in consideration,” Thomas-Volcy said in an email. “Therefore, we should meet people where they are and
provide them with the resources they need, in a way that works best for them.” Thomas-Volcy says she will focus on educating faculty and staff on diversity, equity and inclusion to make sure everyone has the same understanding of what this really means and to move forward at Citrus College to help all students and employees feel included on campus. “Ms. Thomas will provide leadership on a number of DEI related items and will collaborate with members of our campus community for the purpose of developing and implementing priorities and plans to support the college’s efforts, consistent with the college’s Strategic Plan,” Greg Schulz, superintendent/president of Citrus College said in an email.
to run again
Special election will decide on board members and to approve or deny amendments BY ANDREW PEREZ
STAFF REPORTER
APEREZ@CCCLARION.COM
ASCC election voters elected one person, with the other candidates not reaching the 50 votes required in the Associated Students of Citrus College Constitution in Article VIII section three. Jamie Iles was elected president getting 52 votes, fulfilling the requirement of 50 votes. Rosario Garcia, an adviser to the ASCC board, said a special election will begin 10 school days after the election May 24. Garcia said the special election will have differences. “Students are going to be voting for senators for the student trustee and now for the amendments to the constitution,” Garcia said. One of the amendments changes the vote to simple majority instead of the 50-vote requirement, Garcia said. In the ASCC meeting on May 10, the board said the amendment of the start date for student trustees from May 14 to May 15 of next year to June 1 and May 31 of next year was approved. The ASCC board said the amendment for amendments and revisions being available to students for at least five school days before an election instead of 10 was approved. However, Garcia said the approval of the amendments is still up to the students. “It’s possible that the majority of students decide that they don’t like those changes,” Garcia said. “... So then it doesn’t change.” Having students fall short of the 50-vote requirement is not usual, Garcia said. Last year lack of votes were caused by students taking online classes, Garcia said. Garcia said the lack of votes this election year was harder to pinpoint. “Maybe students are not as engaged, you know?” Garcia said. “Again a lot of students are taking online classes they’re not all here so it’s hard, it’s challenging. So that’s why you know we wanted to make those amendments to the constitution because you know things have changed.” Garcia said election results are posted outside the Campus Center and that this is the only place they are required to have them.
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Bumpy road to graduation Students struggle with obstacles and workload as graduation nears BY BROOKE SPEARS
STAFF REPORTER
BSPEARS@CCCLARION.COM
Citrus College students have been busy with finishing up course work in order to graduate and transfer. Student Margarita Camarena Lopez is finishing up her final semester before graduating. “It was very stressful due to me wanting to graduate and get out of community college within two years,” Lopez said. “My last class was in winter, which was a fast paced course so I gave it my all.” Lopez is planning on transferring after she departs from Citrus, and is planning to transfer to Cal State Dominguez Hills with a history major in the fall of 2022. Most students don’t always finish within a two-year mark like some. Former student David Monroy said he had a difficult time finishing within a two-year period due to some of the struggles he faced while majoring in engineering. “Unfortunately, I didn’t finish in two years. I was looking to transfer to an engineering program, which was hard for me, since I took the
wrong classes,” Monroy said. Monroy said he had difficulty putting together what classes he needed to graduate. “I wasn’t fully informed of what degrees were available to transfer to. I wanted to transfer to a mechanical engineering program, thinking that there were only two types of engineering available, both civil and mechanical engineering,” Monroy said. Monroy said he wishes he would have been more aware with the direction of what courses to take while at Citrus before transferring. “Had I known all of my options I think I would have been able to transfer earlier,” Monroy said. Which I believe was particularly my fault for not researching engineering in general.” William Zenda is also planning on transferring and plans to attend Cal State LA in the fall after his time at Citrus comes to an end. Zenda is going through difficult workloads leading up to graduation and said although the workload is hard, he tries to find time to get work done on time.
“Leading up to graduation the workload can be hard but you have to find time in between to get your work done on time as well,” said Zenda. Monroy said his workload was heavy leading up to graduation. “It was heavy, I think the way the road maps are developed should be changed to better optimize what can actually be done,” Monroy said. “Most of the classes that we need to graduate tend to be impacted, so when they free up, we didn’t consider the work that needs to be put in.” Monroy said it isn’t such a good idea to take difficult classes within one semester to avoid overloads of work. “I wouldn’t suggest to anyone to take upper decision math, chem, and physics in the same semester,” Monroy said. “Those classes require you to quit the world because of the amount of work. But when you don’t have a choice because classes are impacted, you just take on the work regardless of what you have to give up.”
ANDREW PEREZ - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Nicole Rabaudi and Natalia Duarte host a booth for Mental Health Awareness Month on May 4 near the VA building.
Sharing is caring for the mind Therapists from the Student Health Center host a mental health awareness BY ANDREW PEREZ
STAFF REPORTER
APEREZ@CCCLARION.COM
Therapists from the Student Health Center hosted a booth for Mental Health Awareness Month. Natalia Duarte and Nicole Rabaudi were the two therapists hosting the booth. Duarte said during May they look to raise awareness about mental health and partner with organizations like the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Duarte said they try to branch out with interactive exercises, fact sheets and goodies at the booth to raise awareness about resources students may not know are available to them. Breaking the stigma of mental health is something they focus on, “whether it’s stressors at home or school, anxiety, depression or other mental health needs,” Duarte said. “It’s pretty common, it’s just that we don’t always always talk about it so we don’t realize there’s other people that are experiencing it.” Duarte said they want to let people know that they are not alone. The services provided on campus can be a bridge to getting other referrals outside of school, Duarte said. Duarte said five sessions
are given a semester offering counseling support, and the care provided is equal no matter the perceived level of the problem. “We do individualize care so maybe one person’s coming in for something that seems small but for them it’s a big deal,” Duarte said. “And someone else may need more emergency services but they’re both equally important because it’s a stressor to the student.” Duarte said not enough staff to do long-term care is why students get five sessions. As long as health fees are paid and students are registered, they can receive care, Duarte said. Each session is about 50 minutes, Duarte said. Duarte said they notice changes in students who come consistently but some just come at a point of crisis. Students choose how to use the services from the health center, Duarte said. Duarte said mental health should be treated like medical health, and the more students keep up with it, the higher chances of staying mentally healthy. Breaking down the negative stigma of mental health is important for it being treated just like medical health, Duarte said. “You break your arm, you don’t
just not go to the doctor, because it’s painful,” Duarte said. “You’re severely depressed, you need to go and get help because you’re not meant to figure that on your own.” Students should not be by themselves if in severe need, Duarte said. Rabaudi said students feel intimidated and scared of what was going to happen in the session. “When you’re vulnerable and you’re reaching out for help it can feel really scary because you don’t know how that’s going to be received,” Rabaudi said. Rabaudi said people are relieved that they are there to listen and not there to judge what they are going through. Rabaudi said they have heard everything under the sun and everything is confidential. Reports would only be made in an extreme circumstance where the student would benefit from it, Rabaudi said. The overall message is that students are not alone and there are people here to support them, Duarte said. “Even if you have no family, even if you have no friends, even if you are living here, going to Citrus you’re an exchange student, you’re by yourself you have people that care,” Duarte said.
BROOKE SPEARS - STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Time to crack open the textbooks. This student has biology, English and statistics homework due by the end of the week; it’s time to get busy. ADVERTISEMENT
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Lessons of the past for the issues of today
Spanish professor writes book on uncle and his time during the Civil War BY ANDREW PEREZ
STAFF REPORTER
APEREZ@CCCLARION.COM
Ana Afzali who is a professor in Spanish wrote a book about her great uncle Gonzalo Pando Rivero who played a role in the Spanish Civil War. Afzali said it is a topic that has always interested her and that there has been no Spaniard that has not been affected by the Spanish Civil War. The book is titled, “Gonzalo Pando Rivero: De Médico a Comandante Republicano de la Guerra Civil Española”. Spain has a law called the Protection of Privacy Data, which said unless someone is related to the person of interest, they can not have access to their historical information, Afzali said. With Rivero being Afzali’s great uncle, she could get information that others did not have access to and tell a story she felt needed to be told. The writing of the book started four years ago, but a majority of the work was done in the last two years. During the pandemic, Afzali started digging through the historical
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ANA AFZALI
Author Ana Afzali poses with the book she wrote about her veteran uncle.
archives from the 1920s and ‘30s and got in contact with historians in Spain, like Fernando Colmenarejo, who wrote “La Sierra Convulsa”, and Ernesto Viñas, who is an expert on the Battle of Brunete.
Afzali said the wounds of the Spanish Civil War are still very open. Afzali said the politics in Spain are similar to the United States with people being divided. The two sides of the war are liberals and fascists,
and her great uncle Rivero was a commander for the liberals. Afzali said people in the far right believe she is writing this with political motivation, however she said she is only interested in documenting history. “When we don’t learn from history, history tends to repeat itself,” Afzali said. Afzali hopes the book will connect with the youth to help avoid mistakes of the past. “If the younger generation can learn from it and try to avoid future wars and future confrontations then my job is done,” Afzali said. Afzali not only sought help from people outside of the country but also more locally from a colleague, professor Bruce Solheim. Solheim writes and publishes, and even made a play about, his family history. Solheim said there is a parallel between both of their works as they both focus on family history. Solheim acknowledged the
possibility of escalation of the situation in Ukraine and how the timing of this book is good. “I think her book is coming along at a very good time,” Solheim said. “Even though it’s about a different time period, there’s some things people might be able to learn.” Solheim said it is important young students have knowledge of history from books like Afzali’s as they all play an important role. “It really brings it home for young students to realize that they make a difference, that the choices they make can make a difference,” Solheim said. Solheim said the more younger students know about their past, the more equipped they will be to deal with future events, and he said he knows Afzali is a dynamic teacher who can get people excited about this. Afzali said that it has been received well enough that there will be an English version made in the next one to two years.
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Head first to avoid a ticket
Citrus College’s parking rules are not a suggestion BY ANDREW GARCIA
STAFF REPORTER
AGARCIA@CCCLARION.COM
Parking regulations for current students and full-time employees are posted everywhere around each parking area, yet many students and faculty continue to get tickets. There are many types of parking permits that Citrus allows such as the automobile, motorcycle and visitor permits, as well as the disabled permit parking, and they also provide charging stations for electric cars. Students and employees have had trouble with some of the parking and traffic regulations that have been placed by Citrus. “When Tesla’s park pulling forward towards the charging station, the charging cable leans up against the paint of the car and it might not reach without touching.” said mathematics professor Paul Swatzel at the April 27 Academic Senate meeting. The current Citrus parking regulations posted on the Citrus College website are as follows: PARKING and TRAFFIC REGULATIONS : 1. Park in designated parking stalls only. 2. Vehicles must be parked entirely within a designated stall. 3. Do not drive against the designated traffic flow in the parking lots. 4. Vehicles must be parked facing into the stall (head in parking only). 5. Pedestrians have the right of way in the parking lots. 6. The speed limit in all parking lots is fifteen (15) miles per hour. 7. Vehicles must not be stopped behind a parked vehicle. 8. No overnight parking. 9. Parking on campus is for official campus business only. 10. No public transit parking allowed. Campus safety officer Ben Macias responded to Swatzel by stating, “I have no idea if the Tesla cable touches the car but the car must be pulled in no matter what.” Although this is current Citrus
College policy that will not change, one may also go through the citation appeal process. This process allows those who feel that they received an unjust citation to file an appeal online in order to void the unjust citation. There are three steps to the appeal process: 1. First level, Initial Review 2. Second level, Administrative Review 3. Third level, Court According to Campus Safety, “Per California Vehicle Code 40215, all persons receiving a citation have the right to appeal within 21 calendar days from the issuance of a notice of parking citation.” After the 21 calendar days are up the violation can not be submitted and it will not be considered. All motor vehicles must display a parking permit unless parked in meter spaces. Parking regulations also conclude that there are no designated spaces and parking is subject to availability. Parking violations against the rules set by Campus Safety will result in a $35 citation for each obstruction. “The $35 citation fee is paid to the third party, known as Ipark, and is not to generate revenue for the school at all, it is simply the payment which we directly hand over to the third party,” Macias said. If payment is not made and violations continue to be broken, Campus Safety may notify the Glendora Police Department, the dean of students, or the appropriate administrator so that further disciplinary action may be taken when appropriate. Students coming to campus for the first time since the pandemic have struggled to not break these rules. “The first week I was here I was worried about getting to my class on time since I had no idea where any of the classes were and I didn’t see any signs so I got a ticket when I backed my car in,” said Tyler Molinari a current student at Citrus College. In the meeting, the posting of new
signs was talked about in order to resolve this problem of the signs not being visual enough. “There are signs out there by the parking permit payment stations already, but we are looking to put more out there that are bigger and easier for students and staff to see,” said Macias. CITRUS COLLEGE
CLARION Editor-in-Chief Mark Snow
MAY
msnow@cclarion.com
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Staff Reporters: Andrew Garcia
agarcia@ccclarion.com
Andrew Perez
aperez@ccclarion.com
Anthony Rossi
arossi@ccclarion.com
Brooke Spears
bspears@ccclarion.com
Karina Curiel
kcuriel@ccclarion.com
Melissa Orozco
morozco@ccclarion.com
Miranda Palmas
mpalmas@ccclarion.com
Mizuki Smith
hsmith@ccclarion.com
Melissa Orozco
morozco@ccclarion.com
Nicholas Lira
nlira@ccclarion.com
Rhys Teuber
rteuber@ccclarion.com
Clarion advisers: Patrick Schmiedt Stacy K. Long
YESTERDAY AND TODAY:
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