NEWS
CSUDH BULLETIN
CHANGES From page 1 semester, said a women’s studies major, or any class in the department, can benefit all students. “Women’s Studies as an academic field can be of benefit to anyone personally or professionally,” Brandt said. One reason for that, Brandt said, is the prominent role that gender as a social construct plays in today’s society. A better understanding of gender can have a huge bearing on job performance, as well as contribute to a more well-rounded perspective on many contemporary issues. “All the things you hear about in the news that are such hot topics: immigration, the economy, and politics, so much of that, whether we realize it or not, has a lot to do with our perception of gender and how we understand the world in terms of gender,” Brandt said. Sergio Apodaca, a soonto-be transfer, currently a student at Long Beach City College who is transferring to CSUDH in Spring 2020, student from Long Beach City College, said Women’s Studies would definitely benefit his goal of becoming a history professor because it would give him a broader understanding of what women endured through a different perspective than that which was taught in grade school. “I was going to transfer to CSUF for their gender studies major but now that CSUDH is offering Women’s Studies as a major, I’m going there…and it works out because it’s closer to home,” Apodaca said. Women’s studies, stemmed from the same crucible of activism in the late 1960s that forced college campuses to begin changing their curriculum to reflect the growing diversity of their students, including Africana studies, Chicano/a studies and Native American Studies.
SERVICES From page 1 number of how many of CSUDH’s appointments have centered around questions relating to undocumented status or specifically DACA-related issues, Ana Barragan, the program coordinator of the Toro Dreamers Success Center, said CSUDH has approximately 500 undocumented students, and one out of eight students have an undocumented parent and paths to legal residency may exist for them. “There is research that shows 18 percent of undocumented immigrants qualify for a pathway to legal residency,” Barragan said. “But a lot of times they don’t know about that pathway or even know they qualify because
The first women’s studies program, offered 11 classes, and was formed at San Diego State in 1970 becoming the first women’s studies department in 1975. According to the website of the University of Maryland, there are now more than 900 universities world-wide offering women’s/gender/ feminist studies programs, departments or research center, including 12 CSUs. The CSUDH major will bring a new tenure faculty member to campus, and offer several new courses such as Gender, Sex, the Body, & Politics, and Feminist Principles. Earlier this year, a bill was proposed in the California State Assembly that would make an ethnic studies course a graduation requirement at all CSU’s. While some have questioned whether that might adversely affect the number of students who take a women’s studies class in favor of one that reflects their cultural heritage, Brandt said the requirement would actually support and enhance the work already being done in existing departments and CSUDH’s new department. “Women’s Studies, particularly here at CSUDH, is an intersectional field that considers the ways race and ethnicity impact gender,” Brandt said. According to the women’s studies page on the CSUDH website, the knowledge obtained from studying the discipline helps students assess where and how their expertise would best benefit themselves and society. “In terms of a critical thinking standpoint of understanding what it means to look at structural problems in society around privilege and oppression, having a women’s studies degree is going to prepare you to challenge those kinds of problems, tackle them and hopefully, solve.” Brandt said. they don’t have access to lawyers or cannot afford to pay for the pathway.” The CSU has contracted with four immigrants-right organizations in the state to provide the legal assistance, including CARECEN, which is working with eight Southern California CSUs, including CSUDH. While the legal services are free, students and employees are still responsible for any fees associated with application fees, such as the $495 it costs to file a DACA application. Most of the services offered are only for CSUDH students and staff, but the legal team is also offering help with family petitions. This allows CSUDH students and staff to get help with applying for their family members to become legal resi-
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2019
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The Crime Rate on Halloween By MATTHEW ALFORD Staff Reporter Halloween ranks among the best nights of the year for children dressed as ghosts, zombies and other monsters, but it can also bring out an unfortunate real-life scary element. From intoxicated party-goers who decide to get behind the wheel, to burglars taking advantage of empty houses of parents escorting their kids on their candy-seeking missions, the crime rate does tend to spike on Halloween in some communities and cities. According to the xtown. la website, based on numbers sourced from the Los
Angeles Police Department’s public online database, from 2011-2017 Halloween had the highest number of crimes than any other day of the year. And get this: the average number of crimes reported on Halloween over those years? 666. Of course, that’s an average of 666 crimes reported in a city with more than 3 million people, so no need to arm the young ones. But, it is never a bad idea to be extra cautious whenever kids are involved. One preventive measure is to view the 25 safety tips posted on lapdonline.org, including: kids should never enter a stranger’s home, they should
walk, not run, while trickor-treating; always walk on sidewalks instead of streets; As far as the CSUDH campus? According to Campus Police Lieutenant David Hall, nothing particularly unusual “occurs on Halloween; sometimes ASI puts on events and [campus police] are [asked] to help with crowds.” Other than that, Hall said, Halloween is just another night on campus. So, if you’re still unnerved by the thought of going out on Halloween, just huddle in the campus library. It’s on a Thursday night, so it’s open until 11. At least you’ll know kids won’t still be out at that hour.
Provided by Dr. Annemarie Perez
Syllabus for the World of Harry Potter class.
Uncovering the Wizarding World of CSUDH By DESTINY JACKSON Co-Opinion Editor Have you ever solemnly sworn that you were up to no good? Or perhaps you’ve spent every summer since you were 11 years old dreaming of receiving your own letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Well, if you’ve only imagined it, here’s the next dents. “The direct services are for the staff and students of CSUDH, but let’s say if you come in and say ‘My parents are undocumented. I’m a legal citizen and I want to petition for them.’” Barragan said. “You are still the client and we would be able to help you.” The fate of individuals involved in the DACA program was thrown into turmoil after Trump, who campaigned on a strong anti-immigrant platform, ended it in 2017. DACA was created June 5, 2012 through an executive order by President Barack Obama as a way that those brought to the country as children and who met certain criteria, such as graduating from high school or serving in the military and posing no threat to national security, were granted two
best thing: The World of Harry Potter,” a special topics class offered in the Interdisciplinary Studies Department taught by Dr. Annamarie Perez. Now, while there’s no denying the popularity and uniqueness of the 1997-J.K.Rowling-novel-turned-global-spanning-collosuss. What is a class based in a years of protection from deportation and given work permits. Recipients could renew their status every two years. In his September 2017 announcement that he was ending DACA, Trump gave Congress a six-month “deadline” to legalize it or it would expire. But before that deadline expired, the University of California filed a lawsuit Jan. 8, 2018 on grounds that rescinding DACA was unlawful. A district court judge agreed to an injunction that froze the revocation, allowing those who had, or previously had, DACA status to continue to submit applications to renew. That lawsuit was joined by two others, which also saw injunctions issued. In November 2018, the government, claiming the decision to rescind DACA
fictitious world of wizards and muggles doing at university? You’d be surprised. Classes that somehow relate to the Potter universe have been the subject of serious scholastic inquirty for 22 years, including classes called covering Discrimination in Society, and the Physics of Quiddich. [See Potter, page 8]
was not reviewable by the courts, asked the Supreme Court directly to review the lower courts’ decision. The court passed at that time but on June 28, 2019, agreed to review the challenges. It said it would consider two questions: whether the decision to rescind DACA is reviewable by the courts; and whether ending DACA is legal. The court will hear oral arguments Nov. 12. A decision is expected before June, 2020. In a brief filed last month, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra wrote that DACA recipients generate approximately $9 billion in taxes annually, and that businesses would lose billions of dollars if DACA were revoked and they were no longer to legally live and work in the U.S.