Los Angeles Collegian V175 N6 (December 9, 2015)

Page 1

Collegian Los Angeles

LACC WEATHER FORECAST WEDNESDAY

80/52

THURSDAY

72/48

FRIDAY

66/42

SATURDAY

67/42

SUNDAY

64/42

NEWS BRIEFS LAUSD SAFETY BRIEF: SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines says that there are no foreseeable threats for Los Angeles schools. Cortines says that principals, teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers and all employees should immediately report anything suspicious or suspicious activity to authorities.

UC ADMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS The deadline for student’s to apply for University of California’s has been extended until Jan. 4, 2016. This only applies for students who wish to transfer to UC for fall 2016.

FINAL ART EXHIBIT HOSTS LIMBS Da Vinci Gallery will host artist Camila Taylor’s “These Limbs,” for its last artist exhibition of the semester. Taylor’s art contains sculptures and etchings inspired by nightmares and dreams. Her artwork will be displayed in the gallery until Dec. 26.

CAMPUS LIBRARY TO EXTEND HOURS IN 2016 Library hours will be extended starting in the winter intersession. The new hours will be: Monday through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The extension runs on a trial basis for the next three academic terms and will be reviewed in the fall of 2016.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015 Volume 175 Number 6

Recent sheriffs responses to campus intruders causes concern among students and staff. Los Angeles County Sheriff James McKain says, the Campus Sheriff’s Department responds to emergencies within two to three minutes, which he says is well under the 10-minute “national average.” Witnesses say that on more than one occasion sheriffs have taken longer than 10 minutes to arrive.

REALITY IS, WE TRY TO GET TO YOU AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE —JAMES MCKAIN, LOS ANGELES CITY COLLEGE SHERIFF

BY TOMAS RODRIGUEZ

SEE BANNERS PAGE 8

TOMAS RODRIGUEZ/Collegian

Susan Ahn Cuddy is one of LACC’s alumni that was selected for the banners. Her work in the Korean Community and success in the Navy made her an iconic figure in LACC history. Cuddy’s family, President Reneé Martinez and Executive Director of the LACC Foundation Robert Schwartz celebrate her legacy at the college.

Experts: PrEP Changes Face Of HIV Prevention THE BATTLE AGAINST HIV/AIDS CONTINUES. THERE IS A NEW DRUG, HOWEVER, THAT IS GAINING MOMENTUM AND ATTRACTING THE ATTENTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES AND CONSUMERS ALIKE.

FALL FINALS SCHEDULE MARKS BEGINNING OF WINTER Finals for the fall semester begin on Dec. 14. Finals-week dates and times can be viewed on the LACC website or in the fall semester schedule on page 7. The 2016 winter session begins Jan. 4, and the spring session begins Feb. 8.

HOLIDAY MEAL FOR HOMELESS Union Station Homeless Service and the L.A. Mission will host Christmas dinners for the homeless in Pasadena Central Park and Downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row. The Union Station Homeless Service can be reached at (626) 240-4559 or visit the L.A. Mission website at losangelesmission.org for more information.

CHILD DEVELOPMENT CENTER OFFERS CHILD CARE SERVICES Eligibility requirements and child care services applications are available on the LACC website. The Child Development Center (CDC) is an on-campus preschool and general child care program for children of LACC students. For more information please contact the CDC at (323) 953-4000, ext. 2220.

MUSIC DEPARTMENT CONTINUES CONCERT SERIES Music student performances include classical, jazz and chamber music throughout the month of December. The next concert will be on Thursday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. in the Clausen Recital Hall.

INDEX Opinion Campus ampus Life A&E News Features eatures

2-3 4 5 6-7 8

BY MIKE SKIFF A little blue pill is redefining the battle to prevent the spread of HIV. Since the 1980s, condoms have been the sole source of reliable protection against contracting HIV. However, condoms can break and their usage relies on mutual consent between partners. Truvada has been used since 2012 as part of the arsenal of drugs doctors prescribe to control viral replication in people already infected with HIV. The Food and Drug Administra-

tion has approved the once-a-day pill to prevent HIV infection. The drug is known as (PrEP), pre-exposure prophylaxis. It is for people who do not already have the virus. Many have not heard of PrEP. The protocol has begun a paradigm shift in stopping the spread of HIV. We should “help our communities to update their thinking on ‘safer sex’ from the outdated 1980s model,” said Garry Bowie, executive director of the Los Angeles-based HIV/AIDS support organization Being Alive. In a recent study carried out by Kaiser Permanente and published

in the September issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases, PrEP was shown to have 100 percent efficacy against contracting HIV. Over 600 HIV-negative individuals in San Francisco considered to be at high-risk for contracting HIV were tracked for a period of 2.5 years. During that time, not a single person seroconverted – the change in a test from negative to positive or from HIV-negative to HIV-positive. (The Centers for Diseases Control currently cites a rate of 92 percent efficacy on their website.) The CDC recommends PrEP be considered by those people who are HIV-negative and at a substantial risk for HIV exposure. This would include HIV-negative individuals in an ongoing relationship with an HIV-positive partner, gay or bisexual men who have had anal sex without a condom or who may have been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection in the past six months. Heterosexual men and women who do not regularly use condoms during sex with partners of unknown HIV status are also urged to take part in this regimen. “Over 40 percent of all new HIV infections are among those ages 15 to 24, with half unaware of their HIV infection,” Bowie said. The Obama administration has made PrEP part of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, with the goal of reducing the rate of HIV infections by 25 percent in America by 2020. Truvada is attracting the attention of other pharmaceutical companies. “I think as a result, a lot of other drug companies are very quickly trying to move through clinical trials

to get their competitor [drug] on the market because they know Truvada is doing really well,” said Allyson Noonan, a spokesperson for Treato, which calls itself the “Trip Advisor” for health care. The company gathers consumer reviews about new drugs. The little blue pill is not without controversy. PrEP is not a vaccination against HIV nor does it prevent infections from other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, or human papilloma virus. PrEP is not intended as a replacement for condoms. Individuals who hope to make PrEP a part of their sexual health have faced “slut-shaming” from a major HIV/AIDS wellness organization and a health insurer. Some believe PrEP would encourage gay men to stop using condoms, thereby creating an explosion of new HIV infections. The president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Michael Weinstein, came under fire by HIV/AIDS and LGBT organizations for calling Truvada a “party drug” and “a public health disaster in the making.” His words were seen by some as an attempt to shame sexually active gay men into rejecting PrEP in the face of mounting evidence demonstrating PrEP’s effectiveness. AHF has since softened its stance by launching a new national ad campaign last August that seeks to “reach common ground on PrEP” as it officially recognizes that it does prevent the spread of HIV. A man in Boston, MassachuSEE HIV PREVENTION PAGE 6

District to Modernize 40-year-old Student Information System Trustees in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) take steps to upgrade the current Student Information System (SIS). The system manages millions of digital student information archives and was last upgraded 40 years ago. Now, the district has decided to do something about it: phase out the current system and replace it. BY CLINTON CAMERON For millions of students’ records, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions will replace Legacy as the district’s Student Information System (SIS) next year. Students should expect a full implementation of the system by the fall semester of 2017. System changes include the way grades, transcripts and class schedules are accessed online. “There are 3.8 million student records in our Legacy system,” Regalado said. “It goes back to 1974 to current time. We are converting all of the student records along with every catalog [and] ev-

SHERIFF’S RESPONSE TRIGGERS CONCERN BY EMMANUELLA DUROGENE

Names like Morgan Freeman and Mark Hamill all come from the same alma mater, Los Angeles City College. However, there are other names that aren’t as recognizable such as Susan Ahn Cuddy that have left a legacy of success behind at LACC.

A

Page 8

The Student Voice of Los Angeles City College Since 1929

BANNERS ILLUMINATE SUCCESS

celebration of triumph took place at the student and alumni banner project unveiling on the third floor of the Student Union Building on Nov. 18. Each banner highlights a current student, or an alumni and different departments at Los Angeles City College. At the event, the banners are placed next to each other along the wall, illustrating the history of LACC’s student population.

'STAR WARS' STAR MARK HAMILL'S TALKS

ery schedule that has existed since 1974, a huge undertaking when you deal with data conversion.” Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) receipts, online payments, and transcripts for all college campus records will be accessible through the student website portal according to PeopleSoft representatives. Transcripts from any of the nine campuses will be included in a single document with the new SIS. “One huge advantage is that when a student orders a transcript, they receive all their course work in the district on that transcript,” Regalado said. “So, there’s a huge cost savings because [students]

don’t have to order a transcript on every school that they attended.” Ryan Kushner works with a lot of disabled students in the Office of Special Services. He assesses the needs of those who visit his office. An email from the administration alerted Kushner of the new SIS presentation at the Student Union. “[PeopleSoft] seems like a step in the right direction,” Kushner said. “We have to go through testing to be sure. “… There’s definitely issues with the old system in terms of accessibility for specifically students with visual impairments but, we’re hoping the [new] system fixes those issues.”

Another upgrade to the system will help decrease the number of trips students take to the Admissions Office. The “Business Portal” feature on the new SIS will allow students to keep their place in line after they join a class waitlist, regardless of their status. “If a seat opens up on the closed class side and a seat opens up because a student dropped out, the system will automatically take the first student off the wait list and attempt to move them into the space in the closed class,” Regalado said. “Before they move them over, they’re going to check their SEE DISTRICT PAGE 6

On Oct. 5 a man entered the campus and attacked a worker on the east side of the old Men’s Gym, according to the Campus Daily Crime Log. Then, on Oct. 15 an intruder entered a class in session inside the Chemistry Building. She caused a disruption, smelt of alcohol and refused to leave the classroom, according to Journalism Professor Rhonda Guess. “I called the sheriff’s twice, and I’d say they got here between 12 to 15 minutes after it all started,” Guess said. “A cadet came. A sheriff never showed up after the incident to speak to me.” Cadets are student workers employed by the Los Angeles Community College District to provide safety services on college campuses. These cadets are not sheriffs. The angry woman entered Chemistry 207 and began to swear and threatened students after she saw a photo of herself published in the Collegian asleep on a bathroom floor. Guess says that the irate woman posed a threat. One student videotaped parts of the incident. After Guess called the sheriffs, she says that she wedged herself between the intruder and her students. She says that is when she smelled alcohol. “I heard yelling across the hall and I was over here in the lab,” Guess said. “It startled me, so I got up and ran over there, and I saw this woman there, just swearing up a storm and smelling to high heavens. She got in my face and was overwhelming, the smell, the language.” A man attacked a campus worker in the early morning hours on Oct. 5, according to the Campus Daily Crime Log. Dexter says the perpetrator was arrested and booked. The victim, who would like to remain unidentified, says it took the sheriffs a very long time to arrive on scene.

IT’S AN OPEN CAMPUS FROM WHAT I’VE BEEN TOLD. WE DON’T WANT TO FORTRESS THE PLACE AND SURROUND IT WITH GATES.” —DEXTER JONES, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF “He was arrested on the charges … on several accounts,” Jones said. “Being on school grounds … failure to leave the campus and that’s basically trespassing … and failure to return lost property.” Jason Piskopus, a chief editor for the Collegian says he is aware that the college is an open campus, and trespassing will occur. He says that security should be more vigilant in their response time. He was in Chemistry 207 when the woman entered the room. “It’s kind of worrisome to me that when this woman came and was raising a riot, it took police almost 20 minutes to show up,” Piskopus said.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.