CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LONG BEACH
VOL. LXVIII, ISSUE 57 | FEBRUARY 2, 2017 ASI
Students fee-ling confused ASI discusses SIRF, CSULB internationals, TAP cards and the tuition hike. By James Chow Staff Writer
Bobby Yagake | Daily 49er
DANCING INTO THE SPRING SEMESTER
Kenta Tominaga dances at the CSULB Breakers booth at Week of Welcome Wednesday. To read more about it, see page 2.
Associated Students, Inc. Vice President Logan Vournas reported Wednesday the confusion around the Student Involvement and Representation Fee, labeled as a $2 student advocacy fee on MyCSULB. On ASI’s website, SIRF is listed as voluntary, but students have trouble opting out. Vournas reported that SIRF is system-wide among the California State Universities, which means individual campuses can’t opt out of it. Vournas said she is looking into informing students about what the fee is via media campaign. ASI also addressed the issue concerning the status of international students and faculty in light of President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration. In Marvin Flores’ president’s report, which was read by Vournas in his absence, he said he will follow up with Jeet Joshee, associate vice president for International Education, about the status of international students. Also, Cal State Long Beach Provost Brian Jersky was set to “release a letter to faculty about the status of our professors that are here on green card or visa,” Vournas said. The letter, which encouraged such professors to “consider international travel with great care,” was distributed later in the day. “I feel we can voice more support for undocumented immigrants,” Estefany Flores, College of Education senator. Other issues were delineated in Flores’ report, one of which being that TAP cards will no longer be given out next year. Instead, students will receive a TAP sticker to put on their student ID. Original TAP cards will still be valid, though. The replacement fee for the TAP sticker is $5. Vournas said that students who lose their ID and wish to replace both the ID and the sticker will have
see FEES, page 2
DACA
DREAMers’ DACA status uncertain beneath Trump
By Lola Olvera Staff Writer
Michelle Javier was only a year old when she was brought across the Mexican border into the United States. Fearful of the rising violence in their home of Guerrero, a coastal state in Southern Mexico, and horrified after the murders of two relatives, Javier’s parents sought a safer alternative. Like so many other immigrants, they said goodbye to their family, enlisted the help of a paid guide across the border,
or a coyote, and crossed the border illegally. Javier is 23 years old now, juggling a job and working towards a sociology degree at Cal State Long Beach like any other typical college student, but she doesn’t take it for granted. Her ability to legally work, study and drive in the U.S. is dependent on her status under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which she has renewed every two years since its inception in 2012. Undocumented immigrants under 35 who were brought to the U.S. before they were 16 are eligible for DACA. This policy, passed by the Obama administration, prevents DREAMers from being deported and allows them to work in the U.S. as long as their application is renewed every two years. Now, their ability to renew their DACA
may be in jeopardy. What are purportedly drafts of White House executive order proposals were published last Wednesday by
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CSULB DREAMer responds to rumors of DACA repealment.
I can’t say I felt 100 percent safe prior to Trump because I never have felt safe. -Michelle Javier, Undocumented student
online news site Vox. One alleged draft asks for “ending unconstitutional executive amnesties,” which would effectively end DACA, an executive order
by Obama. DACA’s repealment would leave DREAMers like Javier without any documentation to legally reside in the U.S.. Although Vox admits they can not confirm the authenticity of the documents and if they are legitimate they still remain subject to revision or rejection, a repealment of DACA is closely aligned with President Trump’s expressed views on immigration. President Trump has issued executive orders related to immigration, one which orders sanctuary cities to comply with immigration officials in deportations of undocumented immigrants with a criminal record and the initiation of the building of a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border. “I can’t say I felt 100 percent safe prior to Trump because I never have felt
safe,” Javier said. “The hardest challenges have been dealing with the stigma associated [with] immigrants. It’s been difficult overcoming constant obstacles and barriers in affording my education and trying to remain a decent human being at the same time while hearing so many racial slurs thrown at me.” Trump’s presidential victory, she says, “...only intensified and amplified [her] fear.” According to the CSULB website, 39 percent of CSULB undergraduates identify as Latinx. AB 540, better know as the California Dream Act of 2011, allows undocumented high school diploma recipients who attended a U.S. high school for at least three years to pay in-
see DREAM, page 2