Volume 78, Issue 11 | www.elaccampusnews.com | Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Race for president comes down to five BY ANDREA CERNA Staff Writer The search for the next East Los Angeles College president was narrowed down from fifty candidates to five. The candidates that Dr. Juan Avalos, Dr. Cynthia Azari, Dr. Robert Frost, Dr. Albert Román and Dr. Christopher Villa. They are expected to reflect leadership, integrity and community engagement.Each candidate will be introduced during a final evaluation on the week of Dec 7. T h e n e x t p r e s i d e n t ’s responsibilities include reporting to the Los Angeles Community College Chancellor. They will lead the college through its current online learning environment and return to in person classes. The president will have to make important decisions such as how to handle student public health given the current COVID-19 pandemic. These responsibilities and decisions directly affect students who are currently enrolled at ELAC. Avalos currently serves as the Vice President for Student Services at Saddleback College and has 27 years of cumulative experience across private and public institutions. He is also serving on the board of directors of the California Community College Athletics
Association. Avalos embraces the importance of education, hard work, pursuing your dreams, and being of service to the community. Azari has 30 years of experience in community colleges. She was formerly the President for Oxnard College. While holding the position, Azari focused on increasing dual enrollment and had classrooms and faculties. She aslo worked on strengthening her partnerships with local K-12 districts. Azari has also held different positions, those being Vice Chancellor, President, Vice President, Dean and faculty. Vasquez worked at Oxnard College for more than a year and took a “paid leave” prior to retiring. Frost has partnered to focus on college accreditation, internal climate and enrollment challenges. His work extends to many years as an international education leader that includes California, Oregon and Midwestern States. He has served as a community college and university professor, dean, vice president of both academic affairs and student services, and college president. Román has 19 years of collective experience through different roles. He has been a public school employee, faculty member, director of resources, and assistant superintendent. Román
CN/IVAN AREVALO, STEVENADAMO
FIFTY APPLIED—The remaining five candidates Dr. Juan Avalos
(top left), Dr. Cynthia Azari (top center), Dr. Robert Frost (top left), Dr. Alberto J. Roman (bottom left), Dr. Christopher Villa (bottom right). held a position as Vice Chancellor of Human Resources at the Los Angeles Community College District and currently serves as the Interim President at ELAC. He wants to achieve equity between students that are at a disadvantage during these challenging times. Villa recently served as Campus President at Portland Community College-Rock Creek and played a role in advancing partnerships
with community representatives from business, community-based organization, k-12 partners, and universities. He is one of the founders of Colegas which is a college network that addresses racial equity and social issues within California Community Colleges. The Board of Trustees is expected to formally announce the new ELAC President on Dec 16.
Students prepare for transfer BY ALMA LIZARRAGA Staff Writer The Center for Community College Partnerships at UCLA held Zoom meetings during the last four days to help students who are transferring and extended their hours Sunday. A UC PIQ (Personal Insight Questions) Café was held Sunday Nov. 29 offering their services to East Los Angeles College. Students joined through Zoom to communicate with counselors. The hours Sunday were extended longer than usual, to reach out to more students before the end of the week. The CCCP helps community college students with transferring to four-year universities, offering information and resources as well as feedback on UC applications. Students were allowed to seek any help relating to transferring and were not limited to only the specific PIQ cafè sessions as students were allowed to ask any questions relating to transferring. Participants were required to wait before being attended, but had a counselor in the main room who offered assistance to those with questions. Due to the hours of the café being opened for a few hours, many joined the meeting at their own time. The Zoom link was advertised to students for anyone to join at ELAC. Students met with counselors and peer mentors in breakout rooms to receive one-on-one
help. In the break room, ELAC students communicated freely what they needed to focus on and receive an amount of time to talk with a mentor. There was a time limit and mentors were shuffled to receive all the students attending the Zoom meeting. Though the mentors at the CCCP were actual staff, some were former students who had experience transferring who offered personal insight into the application process. This allowed the CCCP to offer a student’s perspective. Through screen sharing, members of the CCCP shared direct websites and necessary resources by going over and explaining what is required to transfer. Several websites such as assist. org gave insight to transfer students about the college requirements that are needed. The PIQ Café presented some of the most asked questions in applications, which students must prepare for. Students are able to share their answers and receive insight into what colleges are looking for. They may also choose to ask about any of their specific concerns about their applications. The program has continued despite COVID- restrictions to reach out to students offering their services. The CCCP attempts to have other sessions like the PIQ café that will help community college students often, and attempt to meet students to help themnavigate for their future.
ASU meeting introduces new clubs BY PAUL MEDINA Staff Writer Five new clubs were chartered during Friday’s East Los Angeles Student Union meeting. One of the newly chartered clubs, the ISA will serve with the purpose to help international students adapt to a new lifestyle in America. It will serve to enhance their chances of being accepted to Cal States, UCs, and other universities. ISA plans on meeting Friday afternoons. College wide events are a staple of the Associated Student Union. They operate a budget of $294,000 for the fiscal year of 2020-2021. Those funds are derived from the optional student services fee, paid by countless students every semester. The budget is used to
plan and fund events throughout the academic year. The meeting was chaired by ASU President Yuxuan Bai and overseen by adviser Sonia Lopez, current Dean of Student Services. The student-led meeting, which took place on Wednesday Nov. 25, instead of its normal time slot was held via Zoom, consisting of executive officers, and senators. The meeting served as the central organization of student led activities and affairs at ELAC. Bai oversaw many actions in the meeting including the chartering of many clubs such as: International Student Association (ISA), Math and Science, Puente, Roots of Stem and Vietnamese Club. During a traditional year, you can find ASU activities throughout campus. ASU conducts events and
activities directly, in collaboration with other clubs and departments. They also fund various events on campus.
“faculty have suggested wanting an in person meeting and recptive with limited guests” During the COVID-19 pandemic, ASU has been forced to shift many of its events online. Vincent Bagabaldo, ASU Senator, said a Christmas sweater contest will be held. Entries for the event will end on December 13 with the winner to be announced on December 22 via
ASU’s Instagram page. The ASU government is comprehensive. Members attend student, faculty, and administration run committee meetings such as the ELAC Shared Governance Council and South Gate College Council. South Gate campus ASU Vice President Wendy G. Aguilar spoke about attending the latest South Gate College Council meeting. She said ASU’s task on the South Gate campus is to identify South Gate and provide them promotional items at an upcoming giveaway. There was mention of the hotspot policy which will soon be implemented allowing students the ability to use Wi-Fi on campus at designated locations. Parking lot 4 at main campus appears to be a tentative location for the hotspot usage, while the
South Gate Campus’ main parking lot will be the location. The hours of operation and logistics for the hotspot are still in the planning stage.Senator Polly Ren debriefed on the recent graduation committee meeting in which students and faculty have suggested wanting an in-person meeting and reception with limited guests, but students are still waiting to hear back from the district to hear what will happen. An update was made on the district’s selection of the future ELAC President, currently occupied by an interim President. The five finalists were announced during the ESGC meeting. A town hall forum is scheduled on Dec. 3 at 12:30 p.m. where students can ask questions and provide input on the selection of the finalists.
This past Monday’s meeting, Bai said that ELAC will continue to seek membership with the Umoja Community. The community serves as a resource to improve the experience for African American students which currently exists in many campuses throughout the district. Former ASU board member Pedro Flores encourages students to become active on campus and highly encourages them to join ASU. He was drawn to student government by having the ability to combine the two things he really liked: education and the passion to help others. Students looking to become involved in clubs, organizations, or in campus involvement the next ASU meeting is scheduled for Dec. 11 via Zoom.
Film based on historic tragedy paints a new perspective BY ANNETTE LESURE Staff Writer East Los Angeles College held a screening of “For Rosa,” a film inspired by the Madrigal Ten, a group of women unknowingly castrated during childbirth on Nov. 18. Boyd-Batstone is a Masters of Fine Arts graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. She said she wanted to share this film to honor the Madrigal Ten and the many other women whose voices were never heard. ELAC’s 75th Anniversary Committee, along with Student Services, hosted the short film’s screening with a question and answer session. The storyline follows a fictional character and is based on true events that happened to Latina women while giving birth at Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center in the 1970s. The film’s writer and director, Kathryn Boyd-Batstone, 27,
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was inspired to write her thesis film about the Madrigal Ten after watching a PBS documentary called “No Más Bebés.” She was shocked to learn that she was born and raised in Southern California and had never heard of the case. The Madrigal Ten filed a federal class-action lawsuit in Los Angeles after being sterilized without knowledge or proper consent. The case known as “Madrigal v. Quilligan” came out when one key witness, Karen Benker, a medical student at USC, testified against Doctor James Quilligan and his barbaric practices. Boyd-Batstone said eugenics played a role in these sterilizations and that the women experienced medical racism. She said the idea of population control and war on poverty were both factors in sterilizing these Mexican American women. The eugenics movement in California was created to sterilize women that were not deemed as fit for procreating. From the start of 1909, federal agencies began funding states
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based on the amount of castration procedures performed. California was responsible for two-thirds of the illegal operations. While many people believe these illegal practices no longer exist, Boyd-Batstone disagrees. After interviewing various doctors at local county hospitals. “They’ve told me that they’ve had a few patients come in and tell them I don’t know why I haven’t had my period in three or four months and then the doctor has done a checkup on them and found that their uterus is not there. And that’s in Watts, in LA. And that’s in the past couple of years,” Bastone said. Boyd-Batstone said although the “Madrigal v. Quilligan” was ruled in favor of the doctors, changes were made going forward. Such changes include better-informed consent forms for women and bilingual paperwork for nonnative English speakers. The judge who tried the case passed away, and President Nixon appointed a new judge who refused the woman
Town hall for students
any reparations. “I chose to write about a fictional character in this true story to bring attention to the topic,” BoydBatsone said. She feels people watch documentaries that they are already passionate about and interested in. Therefore, giving the audience a fictional version with a loving family is an opportunity to gain a wider audience and empathy towards the topic. Boyd-Batstone said that the hospital now keeps the consent document in a master database to show all of their staff. She said they are currently demolishing the ward and are rebuilding it in attempts to reach out to the community and repair the mistrust. Dora Gonzalez, a clerk at the Women’s Clinic at LAC + USC Hospital, said that a woman would never be castrated without her knowledge at their clinic. While Gonzalez avoided The Madrigal Ten topic, she insisted that these practices no longer exist and that all medical staff is well trained in the procedures.
Administration will host a Town Hall for Students on.Thursday, at 12:30pm- 1:30pm. ELAC VP Ruben Arenas and other administrators will be available to answer their questions.
CN/ KATHRYN BOYD-BATSTONE
A SILENCED HISTORY— Main character Eva captured with a sorrowful stare in the movie poster.
Univision Hosts Health Fair Drive-Thru
Health Fair Drive-Thru Univision is hosting a Drive-Thru Health Fair providing a full day of information, health screenings, raffles and more. The event will be on Saturday from 9am-2pm. For more information: https://www.eventbrite. com/e/univision-health-fair-drive-through-2020-tickets-125958977693