SPECIAL Highlights from Los Angeles Comic Con 2016
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NEWS
SPORTS
Dia de los Muertos festival
Men’s soccer ties with Chaffey College
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Volume 74 Issue 8
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Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
www.elaccampusnews.com
Campuses see increase in crime were several car-related incidents. A hit-and-run was reported in the Staff Writer P3 Parking structure on the Oct. 19. On Oct. 20, a traffic collision occurred on the 2nd level of the P3 East Los Angeles College and the Parking Structure and another car South Gate Educational Center has was vandalized. The very next day seen an increase in reported bike a vehicle was reported stolen in P4 and car thefts, vandalism, traffic Parking Structure. collisions and other incidents last “Students feel unsafe walking month. to the parking lot alone, so we Several students reported their increased security on campus,” car batteries stolen at the South Pastrano said. Students can also Gate Educational Center back request to be escorted to their parking lot, others had their bikes vehicles. stolen on the main campus and a ELAC has an alert registration car in the P4 Parking Structure had system for emergencies. Anytime profanity written on the door with a major incident occurs, the school permanent marker. notifies students, staff and faculty These incidents are just some through text of the activity and email. that occurred Not all during October incidents “We’ve increased the according to the are reported amount of personnel ELAC Sheriff’s through the Station Daily and increased patrol notification Crime Log. The system. Last checks.” daily crime log Monday, an is available for alarm went the public upon off in the E7 request at the Te c h n o l o g y ELAC Sheriff's Center around ADOLFO PASTRANO Station. 10 a.m. ELAC Sheriff Station Deputy ELAC Sheriff Although Station Deputy sheriff’s later Adolfo Pastrano confirmed recently published a community someone allegedly pulled an warning bulletin on the Sheriff’s alarm, many students, faculty and page on the ELAC website about staff were not notified of what car burglaries at South Gate happened. campus. “Anytime there’s an alarm it According to the bulletin, should be taken seriously,” ELAC South Gate’s back parking lot on Administrative services Associate Southern and Calden streets has Vice President Bill Gaspar said. been targeted by a series of vehicle Gaspar said that ELAC recently burglaries where car batteries were tested its alarms and have stolen. improved. Both Corporate Center “We’ve increased the amount and South Gate campus alarms of personnel and increased patrol were successfully tested too. checks,” Pastrano said. With increased incidents on both Pastrano suggested people campuses, Gaspar offered several should lock their vehicle and park safety tips. back-in against the wall. “Always be aware of your The reported stolen bikes personal surroundings, avoid occurred at the E7 and E1 buildings walking alone and be aware of on Oct. 13 and 24, respectively. your personal belongings,” Gaspar “I recommend students buy said. u-locks because they’re tougher to Any suspicious activity should cut,” Pastrano said. be reported to the Sheriff’s Station Car-related crimes have been at (323) 265-8800. The Sheriff reported on the main campus as Station is located in the Stadium well. In a span of three days there B5-104.
BY ROGELIO ALVAREZ
Essay, personal statements for sale resurface on campus BY FRANCISCO PORTILLO Staff Writer A poster in Chinese, offering to sell essays and personal statements to East Los Angeles College students has resurfaced on campus. Previously reported by an former Campus News staff writer Faith Lee in 2011, she discovered that the unethical practices are still occurring. The flyer is written in Chinese and contains the English equivalent next to it that reads; “Are you having trouble with you personal statements?” Lee called asking to receive help on an essay and discovered that the writing coach was willing to go further than the advertised tutoring sessions. According to his website, Jon Arsmden, known as the “writer’s coach” on the flyer, charges $250 for undergrad statements and $300 for graduate school admission statements. This year, the University of California system introduced a new format of personal statements in the form of personal insight questions to prevent plagiarization and forgery during the application process. The Department Chair of the Counseling Department, Christopher Garcia, believes that it is too difficult for someone to forge a student’s personal statements. The consequences of such actions would result in the immediate termination of the student's application, but Garcia suggests that it's too difficult to determine whether or not a student had committed forgery. “One of the factors for changing the format of the personal statements is because the personal insight questions make it more difficult for students to plagiarize,” said Garcia.
Garcia also felt that it would be difficult for students to convey their stories to a secondary party who would transcribe the stories effectively. “As someone who went through the process, something definitely feels off. It doesn't seem to be a good service, it seems to be more of a disservice for students,” said Garcia. “If someone close to me wanted to use the service, I would advise them against it to avoid this coming back to haunt them in the future.” In 2011, the flyers were not approved from Associated Student Union and were ordered to be taken down. Given the fact that the flyer was approved by the ASU this time around, questions were raised about the approval process of flyers. In order to get the stamp of approval from the student government, the posters are required to sign a Posting Contract and comply with the rules and regulations in the contract. There is no research done by ASU to make sure the flyer is credible. “We don’t approve (flyers) by the specific content. This doesn’t seem like it’s a hurtful message. They’re not stating that they’re doing anything unethical. I can’t even determine whether this is taking place or not,” said Frank Lozano, who is the inter-club council advisor. The ad is approved by the ASU with an Oct. 31, 2016 expiration date. “What we can do, is we can have a discussion with our administrators to make sure that they know about the situation,” said Lozano. To ensure that the flyer is not approved again, ASU President Aurora Paredez and Lozano made a point of gathering a group of people to conduct a campus-wide sweep of the ads. “I honestly don’t think that students are intending on calling this guy because we have a lot of resources here on campus. We have a Writing Center where students can go to for help, we also have the Transfer Center who is there to help students with their personal statements,” said Paredez. Lozano stated that just because the flyer had the ASU stamp of approval on it it does not mean that they promote the activities of said flyer.
VPAM student altars exhibit celebrate life and culture BY DIEGO LINARES Staff Writer A melange of heavy hearts, bright minds and curious onlookers filled the Community Focus Gallery of the Vincent Price Arts Museum for the 13th annual “Day of the Dead: Student Altars” exhibition last Saturday. Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a day in Mexican tradition when it is believed that people who have died come back to visit, as the living celebrate their lives by making altars in cemeteries to celebrate alongside the deceased. During the exhibition people payed their respects to Chicano/a public figures who had an impact
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in arts in the United States. Professor and organizer Angelita Rovero assigned the project to students five weeks ago and has seen the process unfurl for the her fifth year involved in the project in conjunction with VPAM. “I’ve always believed that people look at Chicano culture, or Chicanos in general, like we’re mediocre people. We’re not mediocre. We’re grandiose people. Like the people in that room, we can accomplish a lot,”said Rovero. “I believe that what those altars show, is the hard work, their pride, their dignity. They (poured) their hearts and souls into those altars.” Edgar Beltran, Eder Quiroz and Salvador Leyva are students who
built Jose Montoya’s altar for the exhibition. After being put into groups and appointed Montoya’s altar, the three admitted to knowing little about the bilingual poet and musician and his impact on the community in the beginning, but found themselves learning a lot. Quiroz said that in doing the altar, he grew to admire Montoya for the way the poet a took advantage of the opportunities to educate himself, despite his upbringing. “It’s a testament to show how far one can come. He did come from humble beginnings, growing up with parents who were migrant field workers. A lot of us can relate to that. Myself, I can relate to that.
Student recital The Music Department will have a student recital today featuring performances by vocal, instrumental and composition students. The recital begins at noon in the S2 Recital Hall. Admission is free.
My parents were migrant workers,” said Quiroz. The opening reception of the Chicano/a Studies class project attracted people from different walks of life. Actor Sal Lopez was in attendance to see the altars of numerous people whom he had connections to. As a member of the Latino Theater Company, Lopez worked with Lupe Ontiveros on a few pieces, as well as Annette Cardona, on top of knowing Montoya’s son, Richard Montoya, and performing in the feature film and musical for Selena. For more on this story, visit elaccampusnews.com
Missing Student East Los Angeles College student Gorge Gordon did not get on his bus to go back home from school yesterday. Gordon is autistic and has trouble communicating. He was last seen wearing a white t-shirt. If you see him contact his sister, Blanca Zuniga at: (323) 253-8391.
Architecture lecture series The Architecture Department will begin its three-part lecture series with Yasushi Ishida on Nov 4 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture is free and opened to the public.
Summer study in Paris
Summer study in Paris will have a free program preview Nov. 9 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in E3 room 255. For more information contact Dr. L. VogelZuiderweg at vogelzlc@elac.edu or Professor R. Ebin at ebinrs@elac.edu