Volume 76, Issue 9 | elaccampusnews.com | Wednesday, November 7, 2018 Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents
ELAC event conveys importance of voting BY KALEEN LUU Staff Writer The East Los Angeles College Adelante First-Year Experience and Social Science department encouraged students to vote in the midterm election yesterday. The workshop, “Stakes are High: The Impact of Midterm Elections,” ran from noon to 1 p.m. in multipurpose room F5-201. ELAC Political Science Professors Dr. Kenneth Chaiprasert and Rogelio Garcia took the stage as the featured speakers and the event stressed the power of democracy. A PowerPoint presentation accompanied the duo and showcased the demographics of past voter participation and previous election turn out. “ I t ’ s a n i m p o r t a n t d a y, election day. It’s incredibly important for you to have your voices heard in the midterm elections. This determines how our country functions,” said Chaiprasert, who has a doctorate in political science from the University of California, Irvine. “Make your voices heard, do something that makes a difference. This is more than just on the federal level; we are voting on California.” Highlights from the event included the pair emphasizing the importance of voting and how necessary it was to turn in ballots for the midterm election and not just the presidential election.
“In some ways, the midterm election is more important than the presidential election. This is when we make decisions on propositions,” Garcia said. “With the midterm elections, we can measure the temperature of politics and get an idea of where things are going.… if we don’t go out and vote, then things may not turn out ideally.”
“It’s an important day, election day. It’s incredibly important for you to have your voices heard in the midterm elections.” DR. KENNETH CHAIPRASERT
Asst. Professor of Political Science
The workshop explained the critical details of the election and went over the big question, “What are we voting for?” Chaiprasert took the lead on this question and said, “The media keeps focusing on this president, but we must remember it’s Congress and our senators that are the ones writing these laws.” The significance of this midterm election is rooted in the belief that the House of Representatives may flip from Republican to Democrat control. This is based on the
increased voter registration from the youth population. “We’ve had record breaking registration this election period from the younger generation and we’re hoping this gets reflected in the voter turnout,” Chaiprasert said. H i s t o r i c a l l y, a c c o r d i n g t o the U.S. Election Project, the youngest voting bracket, ages 18 to 29, have the lowest voter turnout. In addition, the Hispanic demographic is also the lowest. “We need to go out and vote. We need to elect more diversity. More young people, more women, more people of color,” Garcia said. Attention to the 2008 and 2012 presidential election voter turnout was raised by Chaiprasert, who noted that it was the only two times in history that the white demographic was surpassed in turnout. “This is proof that we can do it. We must mobilize together to get what we want. It can happen, and it will happen,” Chaiprasert said. The issue of California passing Proposition 187 in 1994, “Save our state S.O.S.,” was brought up by Chaiprasert as a scenario of what could happen if people didn’t exercise their right to vote. Prop 187 was controversial because it tried to deny public services like access to health and education to unauthorized immigrants in the state. It was ultimately ruled
PHOTO JOE DARGAN. PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY STEVEN ADAMO
ROCK THE VOTE—Adelante FYE student ambassador Golden Sheard, left, facilitated a discussion on shifting voter demographics with professors Rogelio Garcia and Dr. Kenneth Chaipraset during the “Stakes are High: The Impact of Midterm Elections” workshop in F5-201. unconstitutional however by the federal courts as a violation of due process. “We need your voices heard. O t h e r w i s e , i t ’s l i k e g i v i n g Trump a carte blanche, a blank check, to continue with his policies. It would embolden him to do the things he’s been doing for the past two years.” Garcia said. “This time, we can let him know with our vote that we are not happy. Your vote is critical at this time— make your voice heard.” Another topic touched on was the controversial U.S. and Mexico border wall, and what the midterm election could do to affect it. “That wall costs money. If we
don’t flip the House and it stays red, then they’ll think we’re saying to go along with Trump’s program. We can’t let this go on any further. This is one of the most corrupt administrations i n m o d e r n h i s t o r y. T h i s i s embarrassing and we must take control back. The youth enthusiasm is key,” Garcia said. “You can bring the government to its knees. Remember, the government works for you.” The idea that Prop 187 had been passed to an overwhelming majority vote as recently as 1994 and the current issue of the border wall was emphasized during the event. The two pushed the importance of the younger generation exercising
their right to vote. “If you don’t vote, your voice is silenced. Our government caters to people who vote. The baby boomer generation are consistently the ones who have the highest voter turnout, so they have been walking all over on you. If you vote, then the government will start thinking about what your generation cares about, like education and global warming,” Chaiprasert said. “Be united. You can come together to create so much change.” The two closed the event by fielding questions from the audience and urging students to pre-register to vote in the next election.
New nursing building to open 2022 Navient sued by BY STEVEN ADAMO Staff Writer Construction of the new Nursing, Allied Health and Administration of Justice building is set to begin in the fall of 2020 and will be completed by Winter 2022. According to BuildLACCD, the $9.5 billion building program is funded mostly by four bonds approved by Los Angeles voters since 2003. The new building will be located on the H8 site, located right next to the Anthropology, G e o g r a p h y, G e o l o g y a n d Physics building. The new building will replace the current nursing building, which was built in 1977. “We hope to have a place that is built well and secure so that it doesn’t create problems for anyone in that building,” said Lurelean Gaines, chairperson of the ELAC Nursing department. According to Gaines, the location for the new nursing building has changed multiple times, at one point being placed at ELAC Corporate Center. “This is a college-first opportunity for many of my students. They’re first generation, they need to be on the campus with everybody else,” Gaines said. “They need all the resources in the environment where they are.” The new building will also house Allied Health and the Administration of Justice department.
News Briefs
NO DIRT TURNED—A conceptual diagram of the new ELAC Nursing, Allied Health, Public Service and Administration of Justice building, provided by BuildLACCD at a budget committee meeting in September, 2018.
Correction
In last week’s issue, the story “MESA has altar for Dia de los Muertos,” said MESA made the altar, but the Adelante FYE program were the creators.
“ We ’ l l b e s h a r i n g t h e building and that’s pretty cool because I think there’s some natural overlap in what we do. Out in the real world, nurses and police officers work very c l o s e l y w i t h e a c h o t h e r, ” said Curtis Walker, professor and department chair of Administration of Justice. “We’re bringing patients in, patients are coming in and t h e r e ’s a l a w e n f o r c e m e n t issue. If somebody comes in as a victim... they have to report it to the police.” AJ was originally housed in the bungalows by the gymnasium before moving to their current location in the F9 complex two years ago. “We’re one of the last group of people to be put into a real building,” Walker said. “If we had to be here interim, I don’t think anybody would object because this is way better than the bungalows.” A c c o r d i n g t o Wa l k e r , LACCD prioritizes the construction of new buildings based on efficiency. “They want to build the most efficient buildings first and if you have just one department in a building, it’s less efficient,” Walker said. Wa l k e r s a i d a n e w l a b for the EMT program is in the works, as well as a new forensics science program with a fingerprint lab and blood-splatter lab. “There’s a couple of cool things that we’re planning, and then they’ll work on the actual layout with us at that time. But that’s a little ways off,” Walker said.
teachers union BY JOE DARGAN Staff Writer The American Federation o f Te a c h e r s s u e d N a v i e n t , one of the countries largest student loan servicers, on We d n e s d a y f o r a l l e g e d l y misguiding borrowers through a vital student loan forgiveness program. The class action lawsuit f i l e d We d n e s d a y, o n b e h a l f of nine teachers and college professors, centers around the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Signed into law in 2007, the program is designed to provide an easier path to debt relief for eligible public service employees. Qualified borrowers, such as teachers, firefighters, social w o r k e r s a n d p o l i c e o ff i c e r s who remain in their field for 10 years and complete 120 on-time loan payments, are eligible to have the remaining portion of their student loan balances forgiven. According to the AFT, instead of guiding those eligible through the PSLF program, Navient, previously known as Sallie May, has been steering unsuspecting borrowers toward repayment programs and other forms of forbearance in order to “retain more fees for itself.” Last year, the first borrowers became eligible to apply for loan forgiveness only to find that a whopping 96 percent of all applications would be denied according to a report issued by the Department
Free preview for study abroad program
There will be a free preview for the summer study abroad in Paris program on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. in E3-170. For more information, e-mail vogelzlc@elac.edu or ebinrs@elac.edu.
of Education last week. The report says that only 96 out of the 29,000 applications were approved. Most were turned away for having the wrong loan type or missing or incomplete information. The lawsuit details how employees of the Wilmington, Delaware-based company would tell borrowers they were on track for debt forgiveness regardless if they completed all of the necessary requirements for the PSLF program. Earlier this year, congress passed a spending bill allocating $350 million for the Department of Education to extend eligibility to borrowers who may have inadvertently enrolled in the wrong repayment plan. “Navient has purposely and systematically trapped teachers, nurses and other public service workers under a mountain of student debt instead of providing them with accurate information about their loan options and the loan forgiveness programs they qualify for and deserve,” said AFT President Randi Washington in a statement to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Just last year, Navient was hit with a federal lawsuit by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for allegedly deceiving student borrowers to the tune of $4 billion for similar practices. A spokesperson for Navient said the company is not commenting on pending litigation.
Political Science Career Fair
The East Los Angeles College Social Sciences department is hosting a Political Science Career Fair on Thursday in K5-108 between 12:15 p.m. and 1:30 p.m.