Volume 78, Issue 18 | www.elaccampusnews.com | Wednesday, April 13, 2022 | Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents
PHOTO PROVIDED BY EVELYN MARTINEZ
CN/ANNETTE QUIJADA
Honor Student Cynthia Solis
Honor Student Evelyn Martinez
PHOTO PROVIDED BY JOCELYN HERNANDEZ
Honor Student Jocelyn Hernandez
Honor students participate in academic research council BY ANNETTE QUIJADA Staff Writer East Los Angeles College students, Evelyn Martinez, Jocelyn Hernandez and Cynthia Solis applied to the 21st Annual Honors Transfer Council of California Research Conference and they all got in. HTCC allows California Community College honor students to participate in academic research and encourages them to present their work at research conferences. Martinez, Hernandez and Solis first began their research as an assignment based on Chicanos in contemporary society. Each student did seperate research on different subjects. Martinez’s research presentation, “Undocumented Shouldn’t Mean Uneducated: Breaking Barriers by Improving Resource Centers,” focuses on the improvements of
Los Angeles Community College Districts Dream Resource Centers. Martinez is an undocumented student who from personal experience, has found that community college DRCs could use improvements. “One of the main findings I had was that the center needs more advocating and students need more knowledge of the services,” Martinez said. Martinez used a survey that was sent to representatives of each of the DRCs in the nine LACCD colleges. “Based on the information I received…there are budget issues and not enough money being invested into the centers, as well as the lack of staff,” Martinez said. Hernandez’s presentation, “From ELAC to UCLA: Testimonios (Testimonies) From Latina Transfer Students,” investigates the transfer pipeline for ELAC students that seek to transfer or have transferred
to the University of California Los Angeles. She specifically looks at Latina community college transfer students. “My central argument is that the community college system is the primary point of entry to a university and obtaining a degree for Latinos. Yet not enough are transferring,” Hernandez said. Hernandez said she was only able to find statistical data on the amount of Latinas who transfer to four-year universities , she was not able to find the reason. “I collected my data through testimonials. I interviewed Latina students who attend ELAC to add context to the statistics and found that there’s a disconnect. A lot of Latina transfers don’t believe they can transfer to institutions like UCLA. These Latina students don’t think that transfer is possible, their main goal is getting their AA
degree and therefore don’t look into transfering,” Hernandez said. She said the community college system is worth adjusting to meet the needs of transfering students. She said her own experience and lack of support in terms of transferring influenced her work. Hernandez currently works as a tutor at ELAC. Her job allows her to meet students at a personal level and meet their personal goals. She said a lot of the students she works with want to transfer, but they have a lack of confidence. Solis’s research presentation is titled, “Moving Away from Machismo: Bad Bunny Skillfully Battles Toxic Masculinity in Society through his Music.” Her research argues that Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known as performer Bad Bunny is currently the only Reggaeton artist to fight toxic masculinity. She focuses on Reggaeton music and the continuous
pattern artists have used targeting women. “Bad Bunny encourages women to take a stand, telling the male population to stop being machistas. As a Latina I grew up listening to Reggaeton and being a feminist I noticed the constant targetting of women,” Solis said. Solis said Bad Bunny is taking steps against toxic masculinity in the way he dresses as well as with his song, “Yo Perreo Sola.” Martinez and Hernandez both had the same mentor. Nadine Bermudez is a professor in the Chicano Studies Department. Both agree Bermudez had a big part in giving them the confidence they needed to submit their work for the conference. Solis’s mentor is Nadia Swerdlow. Solis said Swerdlow helped her edit and compose her presentation. Her guidance allowed for Solis to ready her research for presentation. Out of over 700 Honor students
enrolled only Hernandez, Martinez and Solis had the confidence and time to apply to the conference. “Hopefully this year or next, other ELAC honor students have the courage to submit their own works. I’m excited to let other ELAC students know it’s possible and we can take up space, Hernandez said. “As a transfer student it’s nice to know that I will leave ELAC and my name will still be somewhere,” Martinez said. Solis said, “I would tell students that they’re a lot more capable. Don’t be scared to submit their [ELAC students] paper especially on interesting topics with little background information to pave new ways for future generations.” The conference is hosted by University of California, Irvine and occurs annually in the spring. All three honorees are waiting for their university transfer acceptances.
News Briefs
Political Science professors tackle voting rights
MESA
BY LEONARDO CERVANTES Staff Writer Ken Chaiprasert spoke on voting rights and voter suppression. Chaiprasert went over important voter suppression cases like Crawford V. Marion County and the impact they had on the community. Through coded language states have been able to get away with voter suppression when it comes to low-income and minority communities. Voter suppression is the political act where politicians are create laws that undermine our democracy and our right to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a pivotal piece of legislation that finally made the federal government live up to the promise made in the 15th amendment. “After the civil war, this country passed the 15th amendment to give everybody the right to be able to vote in democracy regardless of their race but Washington D.C. never lived up to that promise or tried to enforce it until 1965 with the VRA,” Chaiprasert said. This act was the pivotal moment when congress and the U.S. president did something about it. “Voter fraud is an excuse to disenfranchise people of color the right to vote,” Chaiprasert said. In 2008, Crawford V. Marion County, due to Crawford the state of Indiana decided to have voter ID laws in order to vote. Even if citizens were able to vote they were now required to show current, valid and unexpired photo ID. The Supreme Court ruled that getting a valid ID is not a big enough burden and supported the states decision because this was Indiana’s way of fighting voter fraud. Matt Barreto and his political science colleagues Stephen Nuno and Gabriel Sanchez made an overall study of what the new ID law did to people in Indiana. Based on the statistical analysis they argued against the Supreme Court by showing real data that people of color, people that are
poor and democrats are negatively affected by these voter ID laws. In 2013, Shelby County v. Eric Holder was a Supreme Court case in which they argued that there is no more voter disparity in terms of race to justify having preclearance anymore. The impact of Shelby County v. Holder led to a decline in voter turnout among minority populations. The case also led to a decline in voter turnout in Democratic primary elections and an increase in voter roll purges. There were also decreases in members of Congress who support civil rights and an increase in Republican support for more restrictive voting laws. “As of 2022, there are over 250 bills with voting restrictions being offered around the country compared to 75 bills a year ago,” Brennan Center, a non profit organization, said. “There are at least 51 million, roughly 25% of votingage Americans, that are not registered and cannot vote. A disproportionate share are people of color,” Political Science Professor Kelly Velasquez said. As of the 2010 census data, about 37% of eligible Blacks and 48% of eligible Hispanics are not registered to vote. “By not being able to register people to vote they are preventing a large number of people from entering the voting population,” Velasquez said. Gerrymandering is a longstanding tradition in which district lines are drawn to give a political advantage to a party. One of the consequences of gerrymandering can be seen in North Carolina. In 2010, there were 2.7 million Democratic and almost 2 million Republican voters. In 2020 there were only 2.5 million Democratic voters and 2.1 million Republican voters. “In a Democracy voters choose their leaders but through the use of gerrymandering, these so-called leaders choose their voters,” Professor Rogelio Garcia said.
The Seminar “Selecting a STEM Transfer School” is on Thursday at 4 p.m. using the Zoom ID: 982 4055 3646
LGBTQ+ Center
QUESTION AND ANSWERING— From left Jocelyn Duarte, Roberto Román, Ricardo Zuniga, Carlos Antonio H. Vaqerano tune into concerns of the Latin/Hispanic community by providing constructive feedback.
Professor Felipe Agredano, and Ramon Arturo Perez, writer for the Selena Netflix Series, are hosting a hybrid event on April 19 at 7 p.m. on campus in Room E3-517 and online at Zoom ID: 989 518 2262
Town Hall meeting prepares for ninth Summit of the Americas BY BREANNA FIERRO Staff Writer East Los Angeles College Town Hall meeting was in conversation with Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, Ricardo Zuniga and the scattered communities of Los Angeles in preparation for the Summit of the Americas on March 29. The United States State Department is engaging various Latin American communities to hear their first-hand ideas in a more equitable future for the region. Understanding dynamic climatedriven risks in the Americas is fundamental when informing the communities about the potential risks and/or positive outcomes. Climate change is already affecting the region in different ways. South America faces socioeconomic vulnerabilities due to dramatic climate change. These changes include but not limited to, physical changes like landslides and coastlines experiencing rising sea-levels, food scarcity, water shortages, the rapid spread of epidemics, specifically vector borne diseases and gang violence. Zuniga’s main goal at the meeting was to listen to Latin
communities, what they think is important and what the government should be doing to work with other governments in the regions of the Americas. Focusing on improving the use of the data collected in the census to better help migrants in the United States. This would, in turn, also allow for an extension of this help in the countires where both census data is shared and where migrants come from. With ELAC being home to the largest student body of Central American students, the main goal is to build an unbiased and sustainable future for our hemisphere. Zuniga said Los Angeles has a long history of immigration and that like every other community it was under pressure. “Recognizing the particular events of the pandemic, communities everywhere are in severe strain,” said Zuniga. He believes that listening to other communities, especially those in dire condition post COVID, is important. Working with other governments in the region of the Americas to improve our census by enforcing these requests is at the heart of what he is trying to accomplish. Los Angeles is at the highest recorded numbers of immigration in the United States. This level of immigration and movement has
affected both the United States and Venezuela. President Joe Biden has a vision for the Southern Americas, through the Summit of Americas. It is the highest priority to have sustainable and equitable development in throughout the Americas. This would mean it would reach both people with resources and those who have been denied resources. The Americas have been facing not only lack of resources due to climate change, but a total displacement of any resources they get. Migrants in South America still face challenges. One of the main concerns among the communities of Los Angeles is how the United States State department will cooperate to curb migration and collaborate to create opportunities for migrants while respecting international asylum laws. The focus of the administration, at the outset, is not to stop migration. Zuniga said migration is a natural pattern that has existed across human history especially the americas and the united states. What countries, even those like the United States, can manage is the severe irregularity of people who are traveling into the country currently. Zuniga said there are around 5,000
to 7,000 people per day arriving at the Southwest border, which is only counting those entering the United States Zuniga said. However, when understanding and attempting to make resources sustainable, the United States department also needs to address the why there is a lack of resources. “How is it going to affect communities as they essentially try to do what they can to overcome the challenge of climate change,” Zuniga said. To hear and understand the community is what is of utmost importance to the United States State Department right now. Zuniga said it is possible for the community to impact U.S policy. This would mean that communities would have to speak on the regions they feel strongly about when it comes to migration. Creating a lasting impact would mean that focusing on any region would improve the use of networking, organizations, family connection, talking to the U.S. Department and also reaching out to congressional representatives. The ninth Summit of Americas will be from June 6 to 10 in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is also the home to one of the larget Hispanic and Latino Communities in the United States.