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Thursday, Dec. 10 2015 - Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016
calendar Tuesday, Jan. 5-7: Online registration by appointment beings for non-matriculated students (During Admissions and Records office hours) Friday, Jan. 8: DVC Basketball home games; Women’s game: 5:30pm - 8:30pm / Men’s game: 7:30pm - 10:30pm Monday, Jan. 11: Open registration for all students (During Student Services Center office hours) Friday, Jan. 22: CLASSES BEGIN (all day) Thursday, Feb. 4: Last day to add classes for spring semester of 2016 (all day)
police beat Tuesday, Nov. 24 DVC Library Complex As reported, a student was sleeping in the library when his backpack was stolen from beneath his feet. Tuesday, Dec. 1 DVC Parking Lot 2 A police report was filed after a vehicle was broken into on campus. Stolen property included an in-dash stereo, an iPod and wallet. There were no witnesses present. Wednesday, Dec. 2 DVC Library Complex A student’s bicycle was stolen from the library-area bike rack. Wednesday, Dec. 2 DVC Parking Lot 8 Bus Stop An unidentified subject was transported to County Hospital in Martinez for intoxication. Wednesday, Dec. 2 DVC Liberal Arts Building, LA 218 A student was given a Conduct Referral for pushing another student and taking their cell phone. The altercation was reportedly spurred on by a $2.00 debt. Monday, Dec. 7 DVC Music Building, M121 A student reported that a trumpet was stolen from the music building.
Millions march for change
Courtesy of MILLION STUDENT MARCH ERICK MUJICA HERNANDEZ Staff member
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said in an interview with Yahoo’s Katie Couric in June that “If a million young people march on Washington they [say] to the Republican leadership, we know what’s going on, and you better vote to deal with student debt. You better vote to make public universities and colleges tuition free, that’s when it will happen.” Sanders also emphasized a need for a movement led by student activists calling for a plan to end the debt. The Million Student March was inspired by this comment and left college students all over the coun-
try wanting to make a difference in the student debt. Marchers focused on three economic goals: the right to free education, the elimination of current student debt, and the creation of better-paying jobs on campuses. The United States, had a total student debt of six-hundred million, according to a U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau figure reported by Reuters. March organizers say 58 percent of that is held by 25 percent of poor Americans. The average college graduate of 2015 has over $35,000 in debt. Average students should not have to be penalized by debt in order to improve their lives through education. Two weeks later, across seas the
Conference of Parties 21 (COP21) met in a highly anticipated gathering of all the nations to discuss regulations for climate change. Unfortunately the COP failed to find a solution to the on-going on issue. According to Bron Taylor, professor of religion and nature, environmental ethics and studies, University of Florida, “The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Paris, France... the goal is a legally binding agreement by all the nations of the world to reduce and adapt to anthropogenic (human caused) climate disruption.” As the conference was occurring, members of Brandalism, a revolt group against corporate
control of the visual realm, took to covering Paris street’s in subversive artwork that call out the corporate takeover of the Conference. This is of course leading to the Billion Person march on Dec. 19. One in seven people in the world will be taking to the streets together as one movement orld War or Financial meltdown. Being primarily linked through the internet the objective of the Billion Person March is to focus on causing a power to shift the global narrative towards a sane sustainable future.
Contact ERICK MUJICA HERNANDEZ at EMujica@DVCInquirer.com
Chancellor Harris’ last meeting in Contra Costa JESSE SUTTERLEY News editor
In his final year as chancellor of the California Community College District, Dr. Brice W. Harris is still working tirelessly to find the shortcomings in the Community College System. In a lecture hosted by the Community College of California Leadership Imitative (4CDLI) Harris covered the challenges facing the system and how they are faring. The room was packed with 150 staff members from across the Contra Costa Community College District and the lecture was live streamed for those that could not attend. Helen Benjamin, who is in her eleventh year as the Chancellor for the Contra Costa District, introduced Harris and said he has “set us on a path to righteousness.” Harris began the lecture by discussing his optimistic outlook on the challenges that have been facing the Community College system since he has been at his position. “This system is really a quite healthy one, in spite of the challenges we face. We now enroll about 2.1 million students, and thankfully that number is up over last year,” Harris told the group. Harris also noted that the numbers have steadily risen since the economic crash in 2010 and 2011. “From our high water mark back in
THE INQUIRER Diablo Valley College 321 Golf Club Road, ATC-103 Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 The Inquirer is published Thursdays during the school year by the Diablo Valley College journalism students. Unsigned articles appearing on the opinions page are editorials and reflect a two-thirds majority opinion of the editorial staff. Signed columns and cartoons are the opinions of the writer or artist and not necessarily those of The Inquirer, Diablo Valley College or Contra Costa Community College District.
2008-09 at about 2.6 million students, down to lower than 2.1 million students, was really a tragedy for all of us at community colleges,” Harris said. ”We got in this work because we believe in open access. If someone wants to benefit from an education, there ought be a place for them to go.” Making a point to talk about the necessity for a diverse teaching staff, he said, “A diverse faculty is a leader in success.” Harris also pointed out that the teaching staff will not be able to fully catch up with the diversity of the student body due to the higher rates of diversity in the K-12 student body. He believes that hiring someone based on their ability to effectively work with students from all different backgrounds should be a high priority. However, Harris made sure to end the lecture on a high note as he spoke of the success coming from Skill Builder Indicator. Harris mentioned that in the past two weeks a group working on a project developed a new tool to help make students become more successful. The data capture by the indicator is about 70 percent of the entire student population in California and 90 percent of the courses that are offered by community colleges. That leaves 30 percent of students outside the scorecard, and up until now they have all been considered failures. Those from the 30 percent that fit into the
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JESSE SUTTERLEY / The Inquirer
Chancellor Harris addresses 4CDLI and DVC staff members in Martinez on Dec. 4 criteria for a Skill Builder program were students that were not seeking a degree or a certificate for transfer. They are generally older and in the workforce and are usually taking one or two Career Tech courses. Harris said, “What they found were 92,000 students that fit the bill and the average wage gain for taking one or two courses was 4,500. That’s a 420 million plus shot into the California economy.” Harris thanked the audience for attending, and told them that it’s “people like you who attend these leadership events that are shaping the future of California.” Contact JESSE SUTTERLEY at JSutterley@DVCInquirer.com
Staff SENIOR STAFF WRITERSMelanie Calimlim, Austin Lemak, STAFF MEMBERS Madeline Berry, Julianna Cardinale, Emily Fishbaugh, Soohyum Kim, Jung Min Lee, Pamela Levin, Erick Mujica, Tyler Newhouse, Sean Ross, Allison Roullier, Nic Wojcik, Erin Smith, Randy Taylor INSTRUCTIONAL LAB COORDINATOR Julius Rea ADVISER Mary Mazzocco
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