Campus News Spring 2019 Issue 20

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Volume 76, Issue 20 | www.elaccampusnews.com | Wednesday, April 24, 2019 | Single copy free - additional copies 50 cents

Grant provides education to formerly, currently incarcerated students

LGBTQ students to gain scholarships BY CHER ANTIDO Staff Writer

CN/STEVEN ADAMO

BY STEVEN ADAMO Staff Writer Help for formerly or currently incarcerated students will be offered at ELAC starting July thanks to a $114,636 grant from the state of California. ELAC is one of 52 community colleges in California to receive the grant. The Formerly or Currently Incarcerated Students program aims to provide a clear educational pathway and the skills necessary for employment. “(It) will provide them with tutoring, an academic coach, emotional support team and a person to help navigate them through the educational process,” Lisa Vartanian, Assistant Professor of the Psychology Department, said.

Vartanian said a criminal record often prevents people from securing employment opportunities, but in the field of Addiction Studies, it does not. “Currently, the county and the federal government are putting a lot of money into prevention, so now we are training prevention specialists so that they can go out and get a job right away,” Vartanian said. “It will help (students) develop a career path where their background isn’t going to hinder them in any way,” Vartanian said. Students enrolled in the program will take three 3-unit courses in order to receive a certificate as a Prevention Specialist. The courses include Addiction Studies 1: Introduction to Drugs and Alcohol, Addiction Studies 22: Prevention, and Addiction Studies 7: Intervention.

For currently incarcerated students, classes will begin at the Lynwood Women’s Jail. Outreach will work with other facilities in the future. Lou Hughes, an internal evaluator for the Addiction Studies Department, helped write the grant with Vartanian and will also determine if the project is reaching its goals and objectives. “A primary job source will be the 300 prevention and treatment programs funded by the Los Angeles County Substance Abuse Prevention and Control (SAPC) Department,” said Hughes. “With more emphasis on prevention, other job sources include non profit organizations, and service organizations.” Based on data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, The Sentencing Project— a non-profit organization

focusing on criminal justice— incarceration rates have skyrocketed during the “war on drugs” in the early 1980s. 40,900 people were incarcerated for drug offenses in 1980, compared to 450,345 in 2016. Early referrals for the new FOCIS program at ELAC are coming from the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s Juvenile diversion program as well as the Conviction and Sentence Alternatives program, which was designed by the U.S. District Court, U.S. Pretrial Services Agency, U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Central District of California. Students interested in the program for themselves, a family member or friend can visit the Psychology Department office at F7-316 for more information.

The Point Foundation opens scholarship opportunities for LGBTQ students attending community college to receive up to $3,700 for tuition and a chance to be a part of their network of LGBTQ scholars. Applications are open for submission until Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. Point is the largest scholarship o rg a n i z a t i o n f o r L G B T Q students in the United States. Not only do they grant scholarships, but they also give students a chance to be a mentor to the organization’s scholars. Point Scholar Anthony Pacheco became a recipient in 2018. “As a Point Scholar, it is more than just going to school everyday and earning the grade. Throughout your four years, you strive to make an impact in the world in a way that defines who you are,” he said. Pacheco attends California State University of Los Angeles and finds ways to help spread LGBTQ awareness. “We are both a scholar in our academics and within the LGBTQ community,” he said. The organization offers more than just money for school; they help connect the LGBTQ community and encourage them to make an impact in society. It’s not just about the money,

but to meet other like-minded people. “When I joined Point Foundation, I truly felt like I wasn’t alone,” Pacheco said. To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be enrolled and in their last year of community college by fall of this year. Students must also intend to transfer to a four-year university by fall of 2020, and be “out” as a person of the LGBTQ community. “Out” means that students openly identify themselves as either lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer. Point will publish the winning students’ names and photos through their website and may be distributed to schools. Students must be comfortable with this to be able to apply. Point evaluates their applicants based on their financial need, school grades and community involvement. Even when a student hasn’t been accepted to a four-year university, they can still be eligible. Point Scholar Kylie Aquino Waddy answered through the website, “You must be intending to enroll in an accredited undergraduate or graduate program.” Application is available at pointfoundation.org.

ASU candidate’s poster vandalized BY JUAN CALVILLO Staff Writer ASU candidate Jose Pelaez had one of his posters vandalized Thursday, with the words “You need to speak English first” written across it. Emiliano Escobar, a member of Pelaez’ campaign group, showed the poster to the Associated Student Union after being notified by a fellow East Los Angeles College student. Escobar said that after showing the poster to ASU he was given an email address to send pictures, but that nothing could be done at the time. Kelly Figueroa, another member of the campaign team, said that she heard of the incident through Escobar. They noticed cameras on the bookstore and library, and they went to ask about the possibility of seeing the video. They were referred to the

Sheriff’s office but found ELAC security members and explained the situation. Escobar said that the security member was dismissive about the incident. This lead to Escobar walking the poster over to the Dream Resource Center and looking for further assistance. A member of the DRC emailed the Vice President of Student Services, Julie Benavides, and informed her of the situation. Friday, Pelaez went to see ELAC president Marvin Martinez but was told he was unavailable. His secretary advised him that taking the poster down would be a good idea. Pelaez and his campaign decided that posting on social media might get some reaction from ASU and the school.The postings drew the attention of other colleges, specifically former ELAC students and Cal State Los Angeles. By Monday he was contacted by

COURTESY OF JOSE PALAEZ

PREJUDICE ON POSTER—A poster urging ELAC students to vote for Jose Palaez was vandalized with the words “You need to speak English first!” a member of the DRC suggesting he reach out to Dean of Student Services Sonia Lopez. Pelaez, Escobar and Figueroa spoke at length with Lopez about the incident giving all the details of

the events of that day. Escobar said that Lopez told the group that events like this are common during election season. “She said that whenever ASU has elections situations always come

up,” said Figueroa. Figueroa said that Lopez was adamant that she was not trying to be insensitive but that situations like this arise. Despite that being true, Figueroa and Escobar didn’t think

that type of reaction was justified. “That doesn’t give it a reason to be taken lightly,” said Figueroa. The group wanted the situation to be taken seriously and for something substintative to be done in reaction to what happened. Lopez assured the group that ASU would be following up on the situation and release a statement about in response to the events of last week. ASU released a statement Tuesday night that said,“ASU does not condone and will never accept this type of discriminatory behavior, because we as student leaders understand that we have an obligation to make sure that every student feels safe on campus at all times…” In reaction to the events Pelaez quoted American author H. Jackson Brown Jr., “Never make fun of someone who speaks broken English. It means they know another language.”

Safety app to help protect community college students in Los Angeles BY LUIS CASTILLA Staff Writer The Los Angeles Community College District is in the process of purchasing a custom safety app that would protect students in an emergency or natural disaster. William Ramirez, LACCD safety and emergency services manager, has been working on obtaining the app for six months and hopes to introduce it to all nine colleges in the district by the 2019 fall semester. “My goal for the app is to bring another tool to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and staff,” Ramirez said. Ramirez said the app would be named after the college and the word “safe.” For example, East

News Briefs

Los Angeles College’s app would be “ELAC Safe.” Ramirez said the app would protect students in catastrophic events like earthquakes or school shootings as well as crimes like theft or sexual assault. One of the features Ramirez is most proud of is the Mobile BlueLight which allows users to share their live location with campus police. This feature aims to protect students who take night classes and would dispatch an officer if they see that the user has stopped behind a building or anywhere suspicious, an indicator that the user might be in trouble. Virtual Walkhome is similar to Mobile BlueLight, but will monitor users who walk home. Students will be able to share their location with

ASU Elections

campus police or a friend. Bianca Ortega, an ELAC student, said she would use the app. “As a female student who occasionally takes night classes, I would feel more safe with the app,” Ortega said. Students would also be able to report tips to law enforcement anonymously, and might receive pay for doing so. “If it doesn’t look right to you, it’s probably not right,” Ramirez said. All nine LACCD colleges will have the same app, but each college will have the ability to customize it based on their needs. The app will also have standard features that will be available to all colleges like emergency plans, emergency calls to campus police, emergency contacts, maps of the college, virtual walk, anonymous

Voting for the 2019-2020 Student Government and LACCD Student Trustee closes on Monday at 11:59 p.m. Students can vote by logging into SIS portal and selecting the “Vote for Student Gov & Trustee” option to the right of the page.

tips, Mobile BlueLight, Virtual Walkhome and requesting an escort. Emergency plans could be updated in case of any changes and will be available offline. The app will also have customizable push notifications that would immediately alert all users, in the event of an emergency, of anything from where to meet to when a shooter has been apprehended. Ramirez said the app will be free and will work on all operating systems as well as older phones. “I want everyone to be able to use it,” Ramirez said. The app will be designed on the AppArmor platform which has made custom safety apps for hundreds of clients worldwide, including the University of California, Los Angeles.

Hire a Husky

CN/STEVEN ADAMO

SAFETY FIRST—Screenshots from the app Bruins Safe show the main page, which has different features to choose from, and the emergency plans page which gives students information for differenct situations.

The South Gate job fair will take place in the parking lot on May 8 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Students will have oppurtunities that include interviews, internships, volunteering and networking.

Job Fair Workshops

Workshops will take place on the main campus from noon to 1:30 p.m. There will be one today in E3-211 and tomorrow in Library room 103, then on May 1 in Library room 101 and May 2 in E3-211.


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