Collegian ollegian
PANDEMIC RESISTANCE ISSUE
Los Angeles
See Resources Pg.5
The Voice of Los Angeles City College Since 1929
Wednesday, April 1, 2020 Volume 184 Number 3
COVID-19 CASES
COMMUNITY
CAMPUS SURVIVAL
Deserted Campus Attracts ‘Digital Orphans’
PANDEMIC PATROL Monday, March 23, 2020 - 9:50 a.m. East Los Angeles College confirmed a student was diagnosed with COVID-19. The student was quarantined and was recovering according to the latest report. It is possible the student came in contact with the virus while visiting UCLA on March 8. College administration provides instructors with guidelines on what to do should a student notify them they may have COVID-19.
Most L.A. City College students are away from campus now, but some come to school to “connect.”
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 7:07 p.m. LACC President Mary Gallagher reports three unconfirmed cases of COVID-19. Wednesday, March 25, 2020 7:56 p.m.
By Diego Andres Chavez
President Gallagher says a library employee visited their doctor and was “probably” infected because of community spread. The employee is not in a high-risk group and was not tested by their healthcare provider. The employee, who was last seen on campus on March 19, was reportedly in self-quarantine.
Photo by BEATRICE ALCALA The United States Navy Ship (USNS) Mercy sits at the port of Los Angeles, the cruise ship terminal in San Pedro, Calif., on March 29, 2020. The hospital ship has more than 800 Navy medical staff that have begun to accept non-coronavirus patients. The Federal Emergency Managment Agency (FEMA) deployed the ship from San Diego last week, according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
Virus Fuels Efforts to Reclaim Abandoned Caltrans Houses By Paul Keith
Two students may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus while in a patient’s room at a Kaiser facility. The two students have been in self-quarantine since March 10.
Neither rain, pandemic, nor pressure from police have stopped a group of activists who reclaimed an abandoned home for a pair of housing insecure families in the East L.A. Neighborhood of El Sereno on March 14. The coalition of volunteers from Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, United Caltrans Tenants, Los Angeles Center
Friday, March 27, 2020 - 3:55 p.m. City College received confirmation that a student tested positive for COVID-19. The student was last on campus on March 12. Since then, the student has traveled to Florida, and it remains unclear where the student was exposed to the virus. The students and faculty who were in class with the student were notified. The 14-day incubation period passed without any other reports of infection.
Photo by PAUL KEITH An activist prepares a sign in El Sereno in front of a “reclaimed” house on March 14, 2020. Activists say it is inhumane to leave abandoned houses empty while people in L.A. are homeless.
SEE “HOME RECOVERY” PAGE 7
AROUND CAMPUS
Collegian Editors, Ande Richards and Richard Martinez stand with students who attended their, “So, You’re an EIC: How to Manage, Organize, Survive and Win” session at the CMA convention in New York on March 13, 2020. Students from around the country attended the Collegian editors’ workshops despite concerns about the coronavirus.
Collegian Editors Lead the Way in New York Photo by REBBECA GRAZIER
By Rebecca Grazier and Cindy Aguilera
INDEX Opinion & Editorial
2-3
Resources
4-5
Photo Focus
6
News
7
Sports
8
SECTION B
Reporters Notebook
SEE RELATED STORY ON PAGE B2-B3 “REPORTERS NOTEBOOK”
Clouds move over the L.A. City College Quad after sanitation efforts end on March 17, 2020. Administrators say every building on the 175-acre campus will be disinfected while classes continue remotely. Insert Swish Pressure Wash - Courtesy CrativeCommons
Cleaning to Prevent COVID-19 Spread
Features
SEE “ORPHANS” PAGE 7
NEW YORK
City College received confirmation that a student tested positive for COVID-19. The student was last on campus on March 12. Since then, the student has traveled to Florida, and it remains unclear where the student was exposed to the virus. The students and faculty who were in class with the student were notified. The 14-day incubation period passed without any other reports of infection. As of March 12, all buildings on the north side of campus have been disinfected and sanitized. City College administration expects campus-wide sanitation to be complete by the end of next week.
for Community Law and Action, L.A. Tenants Union, and Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), have worked in shifts to monitor the home, 24 hours a day. Forty-twoyear-old Marta Escudero is one of the two mothers whose family now has shelter thanks to the reclamation. “The first few days, especially the first day, I was really nervous, scared,” Escudero said. “There was a lot of police presence, and I didn’t
B1 B 2-3
College campuses all over the nation canceled classes amid COVID-19 concerns, but while many students maintain social distancing, others study in their bedrooms or elsewhere away from campus. But there is another group. On a Wednesday afternoon, students sit on benches shaded by umbrellas in the community garden next to the Chemistry Building. They are digital orphans—students who come to campus to study because they do not have Wi-Fi One student stands outside of the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, which is closed. “I don’t have anywhere to go when I am not a student,” said Scott Oliver, a 19-year-old psychology major. Students like Oliver and Chereya
Facilities management at L.A. City College dispatched 35 employees to sanitize LACC’s 175acre campus. The Los Angeles Community College District will clean and disinfect the grounds and facilities at all nine colleges to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Custodial staff began to disinfect “high-touch” areas at LACC including restrooms and classrooms. “They showed up in full force
this morning to start the sanitization process for the entire campus,” President Mary Gallagher said in an email to the Collegian last week. “So that when we resume operations on campus, we’re ready to do that in a very sanitary way.” In an email to the Collegian, William Boyer, director of communications & external relations said the college was looking at doing significant sanitization at all of the colleges during spring break. Facilities Manager Khalil Harrington says custodial staff are using a no-touch cleaning system, SEE “CLEANING” PAGE 7
which combines an indoor pressure washer to disinfect fixtures and floors. The product blasts soiled areas of the floor with a high-pressure water spray. “We are utilizing Swish for desks, tables and chairs, computers, keyboards and door handles,” Harrington said. “The Swish product is also being used for carpeted areas as well as vacuuming with a HEPA filter vacuum to prevent any airborne contaminants. We are using the Eco E62 as an overall to all of our touchable areas and the powdered detergent disinfectant for hard surface floors.”
I came to LACC without any real goals or direction. Joining the ranks of the Collegian set me on a trajectory toward something meaningful and gave me the skills to make an impact
-Richard Martinez
By Beatrice Alcala
E
very year before Saint Patrick’s Day, College Media Association (CMA) in New York attracts students from all over the country, and as far away as Canada for its annual convention. Two L.A. City College students were among the presenters for the second year in a row. CMA selected Collegian editors, Ande Richards and Richard Martinez, to present two workshop sessions for the March 2020 conference. Students from the staff of the L.A. City College Collegian have attended the national conference many times, but Richards and Martinez raised the bar when they headed the staff that won the Apple Award, for “Best TwoYear College Newspaper,” two years in a row at the conference in 2016 and 2017. SEE “NEW YORK” PAGE 7
