Collegian EAGLES FLY HIGH, WIN BIG
LACC WEATHER FORECAST WEDNESDAY
82/58
THURSDAY
85/60
FRIDAY
81/59
SATURDAY
81/59
SUNDAY
81/59
NEWS BRIEFS ComPiled By maTTheW ali
Gender Neutral Restrooms Now Required
SEE PAGE 6
Los Angeles
Wednesday, March 8, 2017 Volume 178 Number 2
The Voice of Los Angeles City College Since 1929
phoTo FocuS: The people uniTed
As of March 1, single-user restrooms with one water closet, one urinal and a locking door will be required to post signs for patrons of the facility acknowledging all-gender usage for restrooms fitting this criteria. This does not apply to restrooms with multiple stalls. New gender signage must be posted to meet the new ADA compliance rules. State inspectors will enforce these new requirements.
By aNgel JohNsoN
United Airlines Summer Paid Internship United Airlines has 20-30 paid internships available to college students. The internship is scheduled from June 1- July 31. This is a full-time position, 3240 hours per week and pays $18 a hour. The deadline to apply is March 10. For more information, and to register for the mandatory orientation visit apply online at: www. layouthatwork.org/2017_united_0311
Herstory Told by LACC Speech Department Women’s Herstory Month is the theme of this year’s World Speech Day contest here in LACC’s speech department. On Wednesday March 15 at 12:30 p.m. the speech department will be showing video entries until 2 p.m. in the multipurpose room on the 3rd floor of the Student Union Building.
Theatre Academy Presents “12 Angry Men” is the next classic presentation by LACC’s Theatre Academy, directed by Assistant Professor Tony Maggio. From March 22 to 28 the play will be presented in the Camino Theatre here on campus. Visit the college website for showtimes.
Freedom Festival The “Break It To Make It,” program and the State of California present the Freedom Festival. Led by Assemblyman Mike Gipson, the two-day event will promote togetherness between the many communities in Los Angeles through shows, panels art, films and food. The festivities begin March 23 from 12:30-2 p.m. and the next day March 24 from 12:30-5 p.m.
Artist Talk: Kerry James Marshall Kerry James Marshall, Artist Talk, March 29 noon to 1 p.m. in the Clausen recital hall at LACC. Marshall is a MacArthur Fellowship award winning artist who was born in Chicago but relocated with family to the Watts area of South Los Angeles, where he grew up, before moving to Chicago. He is also a published writer, his most recent publication was released in 2013 titled, “Kerry James Marshall: Painting and Other Stuff.”
Lit Society Book Sale The LACC Lit Society book sale is being hosted from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 23 and May 11 in the quad. Students will be able to find books on a variety of subjects in both fiction and nonfiction.
INDEX Photo Focus Opinion & Editorial News Sports
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Student Makes 77-Year Detour to Honorary Degree
Photo CoURteSy of StePhen fiXaRy
By Naomi JohNsoN Americans filled the streets of Downtown Los Angeles in the Pershing Square area on Jan. 21 to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump, children even joined in. Sign-yielding protesters are very common since President Trump has taken office. People are marching to protest not only his presidency, but an abundance of issues they fear will worsen during his time as President.
“These protest that you see are in response to the language the new president used in his political arena during the campaign, specifically targeting women, Muslims, Mexicans, immigrants etc. So the protests that you see are in response to that language of exclusion from the president,” Bertha Medrano, social science professor said. Signs have always been around, but with the worldwide potential sharing today’s society has, a photo of someone with a sign can travel quickly.
“It is not going out in the street-confronting candidates, but people are using the mediums that are available today. So the words are able to go out more quickly to a larger population using Facebook, Instagram twitter etc. to express your opinion as well as to organized protests, marches and petitions and so on,” Medrano said. Beatrice Anoh contributed to this story. SEE PAGES 2-3 FOR A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PROTEST.
Conditions in Student Services Building Unbearable The building is new, but the air conditioning is failing. In some offices, employees say the temperature can reach 94 degrees. The elevators are not operating and there are broken light fixtures, which makes working in the new Student Services Building a burden for students and staff. By soriNa szaKaCs Student Services opened during the winter session, months late. It was originally scheduled to open during the summer of 2016. Construction problems delayed the move from the Administration Building four times. A number of assistants who work in the Office of Special Services say once they moved in, they began to notice issues with the new building. In time, more problems surfaced. Michele Mattier works as a special services assistant and sits at a desk right behind the window counters. She says all of her co-workers wear scarves and jackets while working, because of the funnel-like effect
from the windows. “The cold air comes right to your chest and there is no way you can stay there without wearing a scarf, ” Mattier said. “We have no speakers so there is no privacy because everyone needs to shout in order to be understood. I think this place is a major failure.” Cheryl Morrison finds the temperature in the computer room unbearable at times. The instructional assistant says it has been so bad they have had to close the office several times. She has been keeping track of the temperature outside and inside since school started, and realized there is a pattern. “If the temperature outside is in the 50s, inside is in the 70s. If
outside is in the 70s, inside is in the 90s and we cannot work anymore,” Morrison said. “Our computers use special technology and when it is too hot, we cannot send students to use computers somewhere else on campus.” Student workers are also affected by the problems in the Office of Special Services (OSS) and say that they are not looking forward to higher temperatures. “Air conditioning system is on full blast but it feels like it’s not on at all,” Arron Yin, OSS student worker said. “Students get very agitated when the temperature in the computer room is high.” His co-worker, Yessenia Marroquin, shares his opinion and says that most affected by the air conditioning problem are students with special needs. “It is very difficult to concentrate. We sometimes turn on a huge fan, but it makes noise. If we open the doors, we need to block access through the hallways,” Marroquin said. “Some students
STudenT liFe reGulaTionS receiVe bacKlaSh By riChard Tzul Glenn Brightwell of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) on campus sent a letter of complaint to Associated Student Government (ASG) Vice President of Clubs Theresa Morgan-Cruz on Feb. 21. Brightwell also emailed to the addresses of other clubs on campus as well as their faculty advisers. The letter states that student life bylaws are too strict and prob-
lematic. Brightwell goes over four main points. For clubs to charter every semester, eight club members must pay the ASO fee and turn in their respective receipts with a charter packet (as well as a few other requirements). “The requirement that the clubs provide copies of students’ current registration receipts is unnecessary and unduly burdensome, as all registration information for each student is stored in the school’s da-
tabase upon payment of the $7 ASG fee,” the letter states. Brightwell also protests the requirement that clubs are required to have a faculty adviser present during club meetings and events. “This is an unreasonable time commitment for many faculty members,” Brightwell writes in his letter. Amy Alvarado is the co-president of Spectrum Alliance, the LGBTQ pride club on campus. Unlike Brightwell, she’s sympa-
have blood pressure problems and heat affects them more than it affects us.” Mario Nolasco uses the special technology computers in the OSS laboratory to help overcome low vision problems. “During the day, it gets extremely hot, especially with the sun right in front of the windows. It’s unbearable,” Nolasco said. “Unfortunately we have nowhere to go, but here.” Kelvin Luong is an instructional assistant with OSS and has his own little office, on the same side of the computer room with the windows facing southeast. He says that between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun is right on that side, they cannot sit next to the windows. “I had my desk next to the window, for the natural light, but I moved toward the north of the room, but it doesn’t help,” Luong said. “Temperature is really high from 10 a.m., we cannot sit next to the windows and we use a fan to make some breeze.”
thetic to the rule of having faculty advisers around. “I don’t really care if any other club has an adviser or not, but in our case, I’d rather have an adviser around just in case something happens,” she said. “If no one knows how to handle the situation at least [advisers] do.” The letter goes on to address another regulation. “The requirement that clubs make event requests 15 working days prior to the event is arbitrary SEE STUDENT LIFE PAGE 5
There were smiles and congratulations for former L.A. City College student Kimiko Kishi Umemoto as she received an honorary degree in liberal studies on Feb. 8, 2017 at East Los Angeles College during a Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees meeting. She is 95-years-old. Family, friends, students, staff and administrators who attended the ceremony congratulated Umemoto. It all happened so long ago that Umemoto says she did not need the diploma. However, since she lives in northern California, she saw it as an opportunity to see her sister, according to Rafu Shimpo newspaper. In 1940, Umemoto was a student at LACC. She came from John Marshall High School and enrolled in business and secretarial classes. Her parents were Japanese immigrants and had lived in the United States for more than 20 years. During her final semester at LACC, everything changed. Umemoto was forcibly relocated and incarcerated in a camp because of Executive Order 9066, which was approved by President Franklin Roosevelt. This order targeted and caused 120,000 Japanese Americans to be incarcerated. All Japanese Americans were involuntarily removed from the West Coast of the United States. Los Angeles was their home and they had no connections to Japan. After Pearl Harbor, Umemoto didn’t worry about anything happening to her because she was born in the United States. SEE ALUMNUS PAGE 5
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