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Wednesday, May 3, 2017
www.elaccampusnews.com
Audit finds unreported funds in UC system BY DORANY PINEDA Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY IVAN CAZARES AND PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY STEVEN ADAMO
Thousands gather for May Day March BY IVAN CAZARES Staff Writer Thousands of marchers used the annual May Day March as a platform to protest President Donald Trump’s administration on May 1. Demonstrators gathered at MacArthur Park at 11 a.m. and marched about two miles to City Hall in support of workers’ issues, issues of discrimination and immigration issues. Groups chanted, “We don’t want a fascist U.S.A.” Another group chanted in Spanish: “The people united will never be divided.” One group dragged a piñata of Trump through the streets of downtown. Another piñata of the President was paraded around with a sign that read, “All hail the idiot king.”
Drummer's struck their instruments during the two mile march. Musical performances before and after the march included Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello performing “This Land Is Your Land” to a crowd that sang along. Community leaders and elected officials like Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti expressed to demonstrators their support for their causes. “We are the resistance. We’re persistent. Los Angeles is the heart of this movement,” Garcetti said. Garcetti has openly spoken out against the President’s immigration policies ever since Trump took office. He said Los Angeles draws strength from its diversity, and that the city’s immigrant communities are crucial to its economy.
California Senator Kevin De Leon took the stage to inform demonstrators that Congress decided against funding Trump’s suggested Mexico border wall. “Today we are sending a strong and direct message. We are against politics that target immigrants and the most marginalized. We are all immigrants. We all deserve dignity and respect,” Leon said in Spanish. Many called for unity among minority groups. “There is no such thing as a single issue struggle. I rise up because I have community,” Zack Mohamed from the Los Angeles Black Worker Center said. Minority groups present included members of the African American, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, Muslim, Asian and Latin American communities. Mohamed, an African American who self-identified as a queer
Muslim, said seeing diversity among demonstrators was inspiring. He encouraged demonstrators to support each other's causes. “When we unite, we have power,” Martha Segura from the Center For Biological Diversity said. Other speakers included members from the Clergy United For Economic Justice. The group has members of several religious groups and supports workers’ movements. One of the main topics of discussion was immigrant rights. Groups advocated for the rights of immigrants from all over the world.
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A state audit report released April 25 revealed hidden funds and excessive administrative salaries in the University of California system amid tuition hikes. According to the California State Auditor’s Office report, the University of California administration failed to make known to the public and the Board of Regents that it had $175 million in budget reserve funds. The Office of the President has denied hiding those funds, but has yet to provide evidence to refute the accusations. The audit also found that administrative staff of the Office of the President received salaries that were much higher than state employees who did the same work. Auditors discovered, for example, that the senior vice president of government relations received $130,000 more than each of the top three highest-paid state workers in similar jobs. The Office of the President defended those salaries, stating that employment in the higher education world demanded higher salaries. Although the state audit established that to be true, it was only for certain executive positions and not for administrative staff. In a letter written to Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature by state auditor Elaine Howle, she wrote: “Our report concludes that the Office of the President has amassed substantial reserve funds, used misleading budgeting practices, provided its employees with generous salaries and atypical benefits, and failed to satisfactorily justify its spending on system-wide initiatives.” Howle also wrote that the president’s office purposely
interfered with the audit process when the auditors contacted individual campuses “about the quality and cost of the services and programs the Office of the President provides to them.” Campus survey statements that were critical of the office were changed to be more positive, as were the quality ratings. Auditors suggested to the Board of Regents that they contract an independent third party to help them implement and monitor a corrective three-year plan. The design would focus on accountability and transparency within the Office of the President. In January, the UC presented a proposal to increase tuition by 2.5 percent after a six-year pause. Leaders in the UC system, along with the California State University institutions, told the Los Angeles Times in November that they “were pressed to find more money to preserve the vaunted.” Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to the auditor’s finds and the UC’s tuition increase, saying that “it is outrageous and unjust to force tuition hikes on students while the UC hides secret funds.” Newsom called for a reconsideration and reversal of the tuition hikes by the Board of Regents. President of the UC Student Association Ralph Washington Jr. hopes that the reserve money found goes to helping the student population. He proposed lowering tuition or helping homeless or starving students. Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty, Jose Medina and Al Muratsuchi held a joint hearing yesterday to review the audit finds. The hearing was titled “The University of California Office of the President: It Failed to Disclose Tens of Millions in Surplus Funds, and Its Budget Practices are Misleading.”
Sexual assault survivors share survival stories at Take Back the Night BY IVAN CAZARES Staff Writer “What didn’t kill me made me stronger,” a survivor of sexual assault said during East Los Angeles College’s Take Back The Night event on April 27 at G3 Foyer. “What we are seeing is that talking about (the trauma) is the beginning of the healing process,” Sexual Assault Awareness Violence Education team director Sonia Rivera said. The survivors’ emotions were visible when they spoke. Some broke down in tears but received moral support from
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fellow survivors and continued to share their stories. ELAC’s Sexual Assault Awareness Education Team and the East Los Angeles Women's Center have hosted the event for more than 10 years to advocate against sexual assault and domestic violence. Survivors are also given an opportunity to share their stories. The first Take Back The Night march was held in Pennsylvania in 1975 after microbiologist Susan Alexander Speeth was stabbed to death blocks away from her home. The murder of the young microbiologist rallied citizens to advocate for women’s safety when walking home at night.
The term “Take Back The Night” has been used worldwide to protest violence against women ever since. After several survivors of sexual assault shared their stories in the G3 Foyer, attendees marched around the campus holding lit candles while chanting, “Women have the right to walk alone at night. Yes means yes and no means no, sexual assault has to go.” Most of the survivors who shared their stories mentioned that the person who abused them was someone they trusted like a family member, a friend of the family or their intimate partner at the time. The most common form of sexual assault is rape.
Job and internship far East Los Angeles College will host a Job and Internship Fair on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in E3/E7 Main Quad. The first 30 participants with a student ID will get a free giveaway. Students are encouraged to bring their resumes.
About 20 million out of the approximately 112 million women in the United States have been raped, based on statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring,Apprehending, Registering and Tracking’ website. The most common forms of rape are date rape and rape by a family member or friend of the family. Based on reports by the U.S. Department of Justice, approximately 69 percent of rapes reported to law enforcement happen in the residence of the victims.
CN/STEPHANIE GUEVARA
NO MORE—Melissa Sawyer (left), member of the Non-Traditional Student Union Club, holds a banner as she assembles For more on this story, visit students for a march outside the G3 Foyer on Thursday. elaccampusnews.com.
Choral concert
Resistance theory
The ELAC Music Department will present the Spring Choral Concert on Monday at 8 p.m. in the S2 Recital Hall. The show is free and donations will be accepted.
Dr. Delgado Bernal, an education and ethnic studies professor at the University of Utah and UCLA, will explore questions of resistance on Tuesday from 12:10 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. in the G3 Auditorium Foyer.