The Union Vol. 75, No. 6 Dec. 5, 2019

The Union EL CAMINO COLLEGE

SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1946

See Arts, page 16

See Sports, page 18

eccunion.com

DEC. 5, 2019 Follow us @ECCUnion

TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA Send us an email at eccunion@gmail.com

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Vehicle owner held at gunpoint in Parking Lot K

False alarm for car theft victim Fernando Haro

Editor-in-Chief @ECCUnionHaro

Red and blue sirens blared as officers held two alleged suspects at gunpoint.

As more squad cars rushed to the scene on campus, tires screeching, the ringing increased.

There was no escape, no way out but it was a false alarm.

A driver was held at gunpoint in El Camino College’s Parking Lot K by Gardena Police Department officers on Tuesday, Dec. 4, following the report of a stolen vehicle, officials

confirmed.

ECC Chief of Police Michael Trevis confirmed via email with The Union that officers pulled over a car by the Math Business Allied Health Building that was recently reported stolen.

That’s when police officers stopped the car and proceeded to take action.

However, the suspected car thief was in fact the owner of the car.

The car owner originally reported the vehicle stolen, found it and failed to notify the proper authorities, Trevis confirmed.

For more crime stories, visit The Union’s website.

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Tim Warren, 58, a Dominguez Channel resident, faces danger due to the flooding caused by a rainstorm Wednesday, Nov. 20. Homeless encampment residents face the increasing risk of accidental drowning as one encampment resident drowned in 2017 as a result of surging water levels during a storm.

Homeless residents will face rough weather phenomenon

H

omeless populations throughout Los Angeles County will be affected by a weather phenomenon known as an atmospheric river, which began this week.

Rainy weather conditions and consistent cold temperatures have affected Los Angeles County as signs of the winter season have

Jose Tobar

Senior Staff Writer @ECCUnionTobar

Juan Miranda

Staff Writer @ECCUnionJuanM

Cameron Woods Staff Writer @ECCUnionC

scattered throughout Southern California.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an atmospheric river is a long stretch of water vapor, with a flow of water similar to the mouth of the Mississippi River, that may precipitate in the form of heavy rain or snowfall.

On average, a few atmospheric river events can bring between 30% to 50% of annual precipitation, contributing to water supplies in California and other west coast states.

This comes after homeless residents of the Dominguez Channel experienced the first wave of a storm that struck Los [See Rough weather, page 8]

Basic needs goals: addressing the ‘pink tax’

Proposed hygiene plan to provide students free menstrual products

Rosemary Montalvo Photo Editor @ECCUnionrose

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union ASO President, Urwa Kainat, presents updates on ASO’s goals, accomplishments and future plans during the College Council meeting Monday, Dec. 2 in Schauerman Library. ASO plans on installing a feminine hygiene dispenser in the Warrior Food Pantry to provide female students with access to free menstrual products. with the same access that they have to condoms to menstrual care products, Kainat said.

“[Condoms] are openly passed out to students on the Library Lawn through the Health Center,”

Kainat said. “But we never see pads or tampons being passed [See Hygiene products, page 10]

Permits indicate elevators are past expiration date Requires state inspection Merritt Ryan Albin Copy Editor @merritt_media

Ryan Farrell

Photo Editor @ryanefarrell

The Union visited 40 studentacThe Union visited 40 studentaccessible elevators at El Camino College on Wednesday, Nov. 20, and found that 38 of them displayed permits that indicated they were expired.

Robert Brobst, assistant director of the ECC Facilities and Planning Department, told The Union that the permits displayed in the elevators do not expire on the expiration dates posted, but rather they are still active until an inspector from the California Department of Industrial Relations performs an inspection of the elevator.

After an inspection is performed, irregularities or mechanical issues are recorded and sent to the elevator manufacturer. Once the company fixes any issues, a state inspector returns and permits the elevator for service for one year from the inspection date, Brobst said.

An inspection is required

Questionable quality

Dance your heart out

The online program contains dead links and minor glitches.

It’s time for an update.

Get a look into El Camino College’s off-campus Fire Academy in Inglewood that has been training firefighters for more than 50 years.

A review of food safety health inspections near and on campus reveals varied results.

South Bay Ballet will perform “The Nutcracker” for 25th consecutive year.

See page 3

See page 13

See page 5

ARTS

Taking the heat

NEWS

Revamping MyECC

FEATURES

OPINION

A new initiative by El Camino College’s student government to install feminine hygiene dispensers in the Warrior Food Pantry was presented during the latest College Council meeting on Monday, Dec. 2 President of the Associated Students Organization (ASO) at ECC, Urwa Kainat, presented the College Council with updates on ASO’s goals and accomplishments for the fall semester along with future plans.

One of ASO’s main concerns for this semester was dealing with students’ basic needs and will continue to be a concern they work toward in following semesters, Kainat said during the meeting.

The initiative to install feminine hygiene dispensers stems from the need to provide ECC students

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Campus police officers surround the south gymnasium after arresting a homeless man Monday, April 1.

See page 16

annually after the elevator is first installed, when any alteration work is performed and when an elevator has been reactivated after being taken out of service for an extended period of time, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations website.

However, the California Department of Industrial Relations is under-staffed with inspectors, which leads to delays in re-permitting elevators, Brobst said.

The California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health said that it would not comment on any specifics regarding the issue.

Renewals for all elevator permits that are currently expired have been filed with the state, Brobst said.

According to California Labor Code, Section 7302, any person or establishment that has requested a “renewal of a permit” cannot be prosecuted for having an expired permit “if the request has not been acted upon by the state.

Under California Labor Code Section 7302, ECC is [See Elevator permits, page 10]

Women’s volleyball wins

SPORTS

Struggling to find shelter

Women’s volleyball team wins tenth straight conference title and advance to state championships.

See page 17

EDITORIAL

2 THE UNION

DEC. 5, 2019

Maryam Orujova/Special to the Union

Sometimes a discount isn’t worth it Restaurants that offer student discounts should be vetted in the future

W

hen students who are hungry are in-between classes, they oftentimes want to take advantage of the discounts the Associated Students Organization offers them for local restaurants around El Camino College.

But the last thing students want to spend their hard-earned money on is a plate of food that’s been in the presence of rodents, insects, birds and other vermin.

According to recent routine inspections for restaurants around ECC, many of them have major violations on record that need to be addressed. Some of these violations, which include improper holding temperatures, sanitation and animal infestation issues, are disgusting.

The Union believes that offering ASO discounts at places like these is insinuating that the college does not care about the heath of its students; it is a disservice and insult to anyone that spends their hard earned money, while oftentimes on strict college-student budgets, on food from establishments that have these health ratings.

According to Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, the Pancake Factory, located in walking-distance from ECC, received a 76% (C) during their last inspection.

The Pancake Factory currently has major violations including having rodents, insects, birds or animals present during inspection as well as not keeping food surfaces clean and sanitized. The restaurant also has a minor offense of not having proper hot and cold temperatures for holding their food.

As a result of the grade, a reporter from The Union visited the restaurant to find out more information but was told by a manager that if the reporter gave the restaurant “negative press” that she would revoke the 10% ECC student discount that they offer.

Blaming reporters for doing their job doesn’t create solutions. Instead, restaurants should focus on ways to improve their establishments.

Taking away student discounts is extreme.

There are more options including McDonalds, which has a 94% rating according to LACDPH. But they also have a minor violation of not keeping food surfaces clean.

ECC should be more involved with picking eating establishments to host their ASO discount.

The college should be doing its own checks every time an inspection is conducted to ensure that faculty and students are receiving quality food.

ASO Promotion Specialist Lawrence Moreno informed The Union that the process of deciding the discounts for food around campus is based on a survey that he conducts.

After asking students what food would they enjoy discounts on Moreno goes door to door or gets in contact with local restaurants and negotiates discounts.

However, the process does not include following up with restaurants about their grades but this should be a No. 1 priority at all times.

Student discounts are currently offered at 10 eateries so it is important that ASO, along with students and faculty, routinely monitor the health grades.

Otherwise, we’ll be putting our health in our own hands.

ECC should also consider getting more eateries on campus to ensure their students are receiving good quality meals.

Schools like Cerritos and Santa Monica have more food choices on their campus’ and so should ECC. Sure, these solutions will be a lot more work and might even cost a lot more money, but the safety and happiness of the students should outweigh that.

E d i t o r i a l s a re u n s ig n e d a n d a re w r i t t e n a n d v o t e d u p o n b y t h e e d i t o r i a l b o a rd .

Editor’s Thoughts: Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down ASO’s plan to install feminine hygiene dispensers in the Warrior Pantry.

Counseling department changing the time to reserve appointments from midnight to 9 a.m.

Vol. 75, No. 6 Dec. 5, 2019

Contact: eccunion@gmail.com Newsroom: (310) 660-3328 Advertising: (310) 660-3329

Editor-in-Chief...................................... Fernando Haro News Editor, Managing Editor..............Omar Rashad Features Editor,......................................Roseana Martinez Arts Editor............................................. Justin Traylor Sports Editor..........................................Kealoha Noguchi Opinion Editor.......................................Giselle Morales Social Media Editor...............................Anna Podshivalova Photo Editor ..........................................Rosemary Montalvo Assistant Photo Editor............................Jaime Solis Copy Editor............................................Merritt Albin Copy Editor............................................Ryan Farrell Senior Staff Writer.................................David Rondthaler Senior Staff Writer.................................Diamond Brown Senior Staff Writer................................. Jose Tobar Senior Staff Writer..................................Matthew Sandoval Senior Staff Writer..................................Devyn Smith

Center for the Arts will keep students busy over the winter break with events like “The Nutcracker” ballet and the Vicious Circle Dance Company.

ECC Library not opening earlier for students, but hopefully that will change in the future.

Senior Staff Writer..................................Oscar Macias Staff Writer..............................................Cameron Woods Staff Writer..............................................Khalida Jamilah Staff Writer..............................................Juan Miranda Staff Writer..............................................Mikayla Schwartz Staff Writer..............................................Patrick Ezewiro Senior Photographer................................Mari Inagaki Photographer............................................Viridiana Flores Photographer...........................................David Odasanya Photographer...........................................David Alonso Photographer...........................................Eduardo Jimenez Photographer...........................................Monica Crisostomo Photo Adviser..........................................Luis Sinco Advertising Manager...............................Jack Mulkey Adviser....................................................Stefanie Frith

The Union is published on designated Thursdays by Journalism 11 and 14 students at El Camino College, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance, CA 90506, and is free to the student body and staff.

Unsigned editorials and cartoons are the opinion of the editorial board and do not necessarily reflect the views of the student body, staff or administration. Letters to the Editor must be signed and must be received one week prior to publication in the Union office, Humanities Building Room 113.

Letters are subject to editing for space, libel, obscenity and disruption of the educational process. One copy of The Union is free and each additional copy is $1.50.

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OPINION

DEC. 5, 2019

Campus Viewpoints: Traffic and safety in parking structures and lots Oscar Macias

Senior Staff Writer @ECCUnionOscar The Union recently asked students their thoughts on the amount of traffic in the parking lots and structures and if they think they are safe.

Jason Chois, 21, biology major “I think it’s pretty normal, luckily there hasn’t been too much speeding in the parking lot when I’m looking for parking, not too much speeding,” Chois said.

THE UNION 3

MyECC should be revamped Removing dead links and minor glitches would improve the site

Devyn Smith

Senior Staff Writer @ECCUnionDevyn

W

hen I first enrolled at El Camino College in 2016, I attended the freshman orientation in the Marsee Auditorium. There, a panel of students were essentially begging us to learn how to use the MyECC console.

They were talking about how confusing the system could be and that using it as much as possible was the only way to use it effectively.

Because of that panel, my first perception of MyECC was that it was a daunting program that would take forever to master.

But in reality, it’s not the hardest web portal in the world. The panel at the auditorium was making me expect the worst and instead I got something that was pretty decent.

I’ve been around ECC for a few years now and spent more than a fair amount of time in the doldrums of MyECC and there’s a few things about it that I want to see cleaned up.

I don’t want MyECC migrated over to new servers or designing an entirely brand new user interface.

That first suggestion is completely unnecessary and unless that second option was outsourced to

a private team to handle, it would just take too long to do properly.

Plus, there’d be an incoming wave of students who’s first experience with ECC’s online landscape would be a confusing, under-construction mess.

MyECC, from a design perspective, looks like it’s out of the early 2000s. And that’s not totally a bad thing, because for the most part MyECC’s dashboard is effective with what it’s trying to do.

There’s a really fine line to walk, design-wise, when something has as many features as MyECC does.

The goal is to create a layout that does multiple things all at once: give students all the options available to them, makes those options not flood the page in an intimidating way and have the interface be straight-forward enough that all walks of life can navigate it.

But the biggest change I want to see to MyECC is the removal of the dead links scattered throughout the portal.

The “Newsfeed” link at the top of MyECC redirects to a dead page. The “OneDrive” link doesn’t work and neither does “Sites.”

All of these buttons are at the very top right of the portal. I can’t remember a time when any of these worked.

Even if these options are in the midst of being implemented or properly fixed, they should only be publicly visible if they work.

In the meantime, less links floating around MyECC allows the web portal to look more professional and students don’t have to spend as much time in the portal wafting through them.

There’s a “hamburger menu” (a button with three horizontal lines)

that’s right below the MyECC logo that extends out and gives users four options: search via a search bar, “Return Home,” “Help,” and “Student Home.” “Return Home” and “Student Home” are completely redundant.

And right below the hamburger menu is a path navigator that shows the icon of a house, followed by an arrow leading to Student Home.

The hamburger menu and path navigator have four links combined that all do the same thing.

There’s also the “Team Sites” column located in the far left row of MyECC. It’s the column at the very bottom.

In my experience going back to 2016, back before Canvas was fully integrated into the online El Camino College landscape, team sites were used a lot.

But since Canvas was fully integrated with ECC’s online presence, I haven’t had a single class use a team site.

My “Team Sites” portal has been returning an error for a few semesters now.

In an effort to make the portal easier to navigate, the “Team Sites” column should be removed, or at least make it able for us to hide it.

Those are things that should be removed from MyECC, but there’s one thing that should be added.

The hamburger menu should have a few important options in order to make it a relevant part of MyECC. I asked some students what pages they use on MyECC the most and the general consensus was that students use the website to access Canvas, register and pay for classes, check grades, get unofficial transcripts and use Starfish.

Right now, if students don’t have Canvas bookmarked, they have to navigate to the El Camino College website itself and click a link that opens Canvas in a new window.

Registering and paying for classes is available in one of the columns of MyECC, as are grades and unofficial transcripts.

Someone told me Starfish is there somewhere, but I’ve never found it and honestly never knew it existed for the college until this semester.

We should be able to get to these options with as little button clicks as possible and if the MyECC web portal really is in the best interest of us, then these options should be in a menu of some sort at the top of the page.

It makes sense to reuse the redundant hamburger menu for this purpose.

It feels like we’re in a weird limbo with ECC’s online presence.

MyECC still looks like it did at least three years ago (links to dead sites and all), yet the modern Canvas learning management system is almost completely integrated into our online college experience.

Right now, the portal feels neglected. A little housekeeping will go a long way.

Removing those dead links would make the interface less intimidating for students to navigate and would look more professional. Adding just a few quick links to the top of the page would increase our efficiency.

With a revamped MyECC, panels won’t have to beg freshman to get used to the web portal, because instead it’ll be something that’s easy for anyone to jump into and use.

My neighborhood is not a tourist attraction From new businesses to new neighbors, Inglewood isn’t the same anymore Jesus Moreno, 20, music major “I think they’re safe, I think I’m just lucky that I haven’t experienced any crashes in the structures. I think that if they added speed bumps for both structures it would be a lot safer,” Moreno said.

Diamond Brown

Senior Staff Writer @ECCUnionDiamond

Alexander Bermudez, 19, business major “I’ve never really had a problem with the structures, but more with the drivers. I’ve almost been crashed into a few times because of people taking the turns too fast and not checking their sides. I think something as simple as adding speed bumps would make a big difference,” Bermudez said.

What’s your thoughts about the traffic in the parking lots and structures?

Email us your responses to eccunion@gmail.com Students and members of the ECC community can also submit guest columns and Letters to the Editor by emailing us.

It seems like I woke up one day and all I saw were white people walking their dogs and jogging around the neighborhood. Initially I was confused because up until three or four years ago I hadn’t seen any white people in my neighborhood at all.

So once we actually started to have next door neighbors, that’s where I was taken aback and that’s when I started to notice the city was about to change.

I’ve lived in Inglewood for 18 years now, I moved there with my mom and little brother when I was nine years old. Before that I lived in West Los Angeles and did all of my schooling over there.

However, we weren’t able to stay in the area because at the time we were getting Section 8 housing assistance and our landlord changed the rental policy and decided to stop accepting Section 8.

After that, it became a ripple effect and everyone I knew that lived in the area started moving to another city or getting evicted because of new rental policies and

rent increases.

At that time being so young I didn’t really understand what was happening but now that I am an adult I can see it clearly.

It’s happening again, we’re being pushed out and being forced to move to other cities but not just 30 minutes away, this time it’s about an hour to an hour and a half to cities like San Bernardino, Palmdale and Lancaster.

When I say we I’m referring to my people I am referring to black people specifically.

I still live in Inglewood, however my mom just moved to Palmdale last year after her landlord increased the rent four times over a three year period. Not just a small increases either, about $300 rent increases at a time.

“People

that were never interested in this city before are now finding it so great.”

When she left the apartment after 18 years, the rent of our two bedroom one bathroom apartment was $1,640 a month and the landlord was asking for another $300 increase before we left.

The place had never been repainted and the carpet had never

been replaced the whole time we lived there. Apparently the price had gone up so drastically over a short period because of “inflation”.

One by one, each of our neighbors that moved in around the same time we did started moving out or getting evicted because they couldn’t afford the rent anymore.

It’s becoming more rapid now, a lot of original Inglewood residents are being pushed out as a result of the development and gentrification occurring in the city.

As if the Forum being revamped wasn’t enough “development” on Prairie already, the white skeletal eye sore of a football stadium is almost done being built and the new Clippers arena will all be on the same street.

The traffic is about to be 100 times worse than it already is.

While it may look nice visually for the city when it’s completed, I can’t help but think about all of the inconvenience it’s going to create for the residents.

Not only are the residents hurting from the hype of these new developments but so are the local businesses.

Some business owners are selling to new owners and they are raising the rent on certain properties.

One of my favorite affordable furniture stores on Market Street had to move to Lynwood because the rent was getting too high.

So much change is happening in Inglewood so quickly that every time I leave the house I see something new that I’ve never noticed before.

A huge luxury apartment complex is being built on a lot that has been vacant since I can

remember on Florence and La Brea Boulevard as well as a new Metro train station on Florence Avenue too.

The Girl Scouts service center has moved into town, and there are several Starbucks within a two mile radius of each other that were never there before.

I’m glad the road on Century has finally been fixed, for the “new” Inglewood residents, after nearly a decade of it being one of the roughest roads ever to drive on.

People that were never interested in this city before are now finding it so hip and new.

It’s actually starting to become more like a tourist attraction. But, all of these new trendy things are at the expense of the long term residents, many of whom are lowincome residents.

The population of white residents in Inglewood has increased 48% between 2014 and 2018 according to a Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) profile report on Inglewood and the black population has decreased by .24%. The Hispanic population has decreased 2.2% from 2014 to 2018. One can only guess how the numbers will change once this year concludes.

To be quite honest I’m tired of all the change and seeing the walking of the dogs all day, the long lines at Randy’s Donuts because it’s really not that great and the tourist like pictures in front of Roscoe’s.

Please stop trying to make my neighborhood into something it’s not, changing everything, and invading our space. I don’t want to share. You are an unwelcome guest, so act accordingly.

Campus Viewpoints: Lakers or Clippers?

With the arrival of Lebron James and Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers and the addition of Kawhi Leonard to the Clippers, The Union asked students which team is LA’s team.

Logan Tahlier

Special to the Union @ECCUnionLogan

Anthony Godinez, 20, business major “Lakers I just have been a fan of the lakers my whole life bro.

They will always be LA’s team,” Godinez said.

Uialii Coleman, film major “It’s Lakers all day man you already know. Lakers have the best roster balance between defense and offense which wasn’t proven throughout the last five years of dismal performance,” Coleman said.

Jamell Briggs, 23, journalism major “It’s Lakers’ town. We bleed purple and gold. Each fan has their reason to believe it is Lakers’ town but it is because we have more championships than them and have a history,” Briggs said.

James Williams, 28, engineering technology major “I believe it is still a Lakers town since now they still have Anthony Davis. Last season they were complete trash but for sure this season the Western Conference finals will have Lakers vs.

Clippers,” Williams said.

OPINION

THE UNION 4

DEC. 5, 2019

ECC library, please open earlier

For students who don’t own a printer, opening before 8 a.m. would greatly help

Juan Miranda

Staff Writer @ECCUnionJuan

O

n any given school day, there are always a dozen or so students waiting outside El Camino College’s Schauerman Library to open its doors.

The fact that Schauerman Library does not open before 8 a.m. is a burden for those who rely on its resources.

Many students patiently wait to enter the library to either rush in to print in the computer lab downstairs or head into the reading rooms to study and work on their assignments.

Because they are waiting to occupy the printers and photocopiers at the library, students wind up arriving late for classes.

I have been late six times this

semester due to waiting for the library to open so that I could print assignments.

For those who are enrolled in classes that start before 8 a.m., but have the misfortune of not owning a printer at home, having homework, lecture notes and other assignments printed out before class may be difficult.

Full-time jobs and parenthood are some of the priorities that limit students’ availability. These responsibilities often do not allow students to be on campus on days when they are not taking classes.

Programs on campus, including First-Year Experience (FYE), have printers available for students at 7 a.m., however, students may face the difficulty of not being eligible to apply for FYE, as well as the possibility that students may not be aware of these kind of programs.

Practically speaking, students who pay and are enrolled in classes that begin before 8 a.m. should have access to the same open facilities as those who are enrolled in classes that begin later in the day.

Cerritos College, Long Beach City College, and Los Angeles City College all open their libraries

at 7:30 a.m., Monday through Friday, encouraging students who are enrolled in classes with similar start times to access their respective resources.

Los Angeles Southwest College, a gated campus, opens its library doors at 7:45 a.m., giving students more than enough time to use its printers, photocopiers, and other resources.

If a gated campus is able to fulfill the needs of its students, ECC should also be able to provide its student population with more library hours.

If the Schauerman Library’s doors were to open at 7:45 a.m., it would be an improvement for many students.

In spring 2017 semester, Cerritos College was able to obtain extended hours at its main library during the final two weeks of class. Library hours were extended until midnight after being voted in favor by the student government at Cerritos, according to an article from Talon Marks, Cerritos’ student-run newspaper.

The extension of the library hours proved to be a success as students were made aware of the changes and attendance during the

Photo Illustration by Giselle Morales/ The Union

trial run for the extended library hours at Cerritos improved.

The same process was passed by Cerritos’ student government again the following semester, further extending the library hours until 2 a.m during the final couple weeks of the semester.

Director of Library and Learning Resources Crystle Martin said there are currently no plans for Schauerman Library to open before 8 a.m.

Library hours will be extended until midnight, Monday through Thursday, during finals week in collaboration with ASO (Associated Student Organization).

Issues that revolve around campus facilities, especially improving library hours, focus on necessary budget adjustments because of the possibility that more staff and faculty will be needed.

According to an article by The Union, Schauerman Library was affected by budget cuts that forced the library to open at 8 a.m., rather than the previous time of 7:30 a.m. during the fall 2009 semester.

We are in a different time now.

Ten years have passed and new administrators have taken the reins at ECC. It is time for Schauerman Library to once again open its doors before 8 a.m.

Biting into the hype of a social media craze

We all knew the sandwich war between Popeyes and Chick-fil-A was ridiculous, but I still went

Ryan Farrell

Copy Editor @RyanEFarrell Before Baby Yoda, there was the Popeyes chicken sandwich.

Hungry and driving home from class one evening, the sign called out to me, “I’m back,” accompanied by a picture of the infamous chicken sandwich plastered to the side of the restaurant window.

Memories of recent #sandwichwars headlines flashed through my head.

“Popeyes employees fight worker selling chicken sandwich on side,” “Police arrest suspect in fatal stabbing over Popeyes chicken sandwich,” and “Cardi B finally finds a Popeyes still selling the chicken sandwich.”

As the sandwich war raged, it seemed that everyone in Twitterland chimed in to offer their opinions on all things chicken sandwich.

“And @PopeyesChicken y’all ain’t shit for having our people promote this dumb ass, cap ass chicken sandwich this is pandering at its highest degree.

We promoting this bitch harder than the black panther movie!!! Terrible,” Rapper Cyhi The Prynce tweeted.

When the debate spilled over into the college classroom and a professor offered extra credit for a review of the sandwich, I knew that we had hit peak chicken.

It was time to finally try one.

But then, as I entered the restaurant, I was greeted with a poster of the viral sandwich with the words, “Be back soon.”

Hundreds of thousands of hungry patrons, fueled by curiosity and intoxicated on social media hype, had eaten up all the Popeyes chicken sandwiches in America.

The war was on pause.

However, the Popeyes generals were smart. They knew that thousands of people, like me, who missed the first wave of chicken frenzy, would be desperate to not miss the second one.

The famine ended; the war continued.

I stood in line at Popeyes in Hawthorne and glanced over the menu.

There was a dessert called bourbon fudge pie that seemed interesting, and various chicken dishes and sides that I mulled over.

But I wasn’t there for the pie or a bucket of chicken. And nobody else was either.

A longer line began to form. A frenzy was building. Online fever was manifesting in real life before my eyes. Soon, there was not a single empty table in the tiny restaurant.

The workers could not keep up with the demand. Overwhelmed and stressed out, the lone cashier worked tirelessly to balance his responsibilities of placing orders, answering phone calls and tidying up the dining area as customers left.

The demands of his job became so much that something had to give.

Soon the dining area became more filthy. Greasy chicken bits accumulated on the floor. Barbeque sauce containers and used trays were left on tables. A puddle of spilled hot sauce festered in a booth.

When it was my turn to order, I

opted to try both versions, original and spicy. I was doing research after all.

Though I hadn’t really cared about the issue before, I surprised myself about how excited I was to bite into something that the whole country was talking about.

Did somebody really die over this sandwich?

I went for the original first. The bun had a buttery sheen of grease across the top. The chewiness of the bun was followed by a crunchy buttermilk breading of deep-fried chicken filet. It was juicy and savory.

This must have been what Cardi B meant when she said that the bun and the chicken “go together,” on Instagram.

The pickles, curiously at the bottom of the sandwich, accented the flavor of the chicken perfectly.

It was good. It was, perhaps, better than Chick-fil-A’s.

Then I tried the spicy version and knew immediately that I was enjoying a superior sandwich. The spicy mayonnaise boosted the flavor with a punch of heat that complemented the rest of the cajun flavors perfectly.

I wondered if the two guys in the

booth next to me felt the same way, so I leaned over and inquired.

“It’s worth the hype,” Rafael Garcia, 20, said about his spicy sandwich.

“I think it’s pretty good; it’s my first time trying it and it’s not bad,” Julio Muñoz, 24, said.

On whether or not it’s better than Chick-fil-A, both men were not entirely convinced.

“It’s a tie,” Garcia said.

Muñoz added, “it depends on the day.”

Together, we finished our sandwiches, thankful that we were not waiting in the line that was now causing chaos because it was blocking the drink machine.

On the drive home, with a full belly and that sluggish feeling that one only has after a meal of fast food, I reflected on the entirety of the Popeyes chicken sandwich craze.

I was no longer a bystander, I was a participant who succumbed to the hype.

Was it better than Chick-fil-A? Yes. Was it worth the hype? Kind-of. Was it worth the lawsuits, media coverage and murder? No. Not at all.

It was a pretty good chicken sandwich though.

ECC should have a designated smoking area on campus

Students and faculty shouldn’t have to be inconvenienced by the smell of cigarette and vaping products

Mikayla Schwartz Staff Writer @ECCUnionMS

Everyday as students and faculty walk across the El Camino College campus the smell of cigarette smoke fills the air by students smoking or vaping.

Typically there are students smoking by the Humanities Building past the stairwell or behind the Art Building near the

Campus Deli.

It would be nice for students to be able to eat their lunches at the tables in front of the Campus Deli without having to deal with the smell of cigarette smoke.

ECC Police Department Chief Michael Trevis said that there are designated smoking areas on the sidewalks that run along Crenshaw and Manhattan Beach boulevards.

Trevis said that the campus police have contacted smokers and have been “requesting their volunteer compliance”.

However, this is not enough. The best way to solve this problem is to have designated smoking spots on campus Smoking is not good by any means but people should have the right to make those kinds of decisions for themselves.

If ECC had a designated smoking areas on campus, campus police

would be able to enforce the policy better by giving a designated space to direct students if they choose to smoke.

Students who wish to avoid people smoking could do so by avoiding the designated smoking areas.

El Camino College Board Policy 3570, which was passed by the Board of Trustees in February 2016, banned the use of “smokeless tobacco products and the use of unregulated nicotine products” on campus. According to the ECC website, this includes near buildings and all outside areas on campus.

Despite this, the policy is not enforced nor mandated by the state of California.

Assembly Bill 1594 would have helped to firmly enforce this into law statewide but it was ultimately vetoed by former Governor

Jerry Brown, according to the Sacramento Bee. The bill would have prohibited the use of all tobacco products on all California Community Colleges and California State Universities, according to leginfo.ca.gov.

Our current campus policy was passed the same year.

Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Trade Tech College, Los Angeles Mission College, and West Los Angeles College all currently have designated smoking areas according to C.A. Tobacco Free Colleges.

Los Angeles Valley College has had four designated smoking areas since Spring 2013 according to the Los Angeles Valley College 20182019 General Catalog.

Since smoking on college campuses has not been banned at the state level for California Community Colleges, ECC should

have designated smoking areas on campus.

The legal age to buy tobacco products is 21, according to The California Department of Public Health.

The majority of students on campus are considered legal adults by law and should be able to smoke if they choose to do so.

The ECC Fact book states 20-24 age bracket accounts for 39% of the total campus population.

Students who do not smoke should not have to deal with the terrible smell of cigarette smoke from others smoking on campus. It may also help students with health issues including asthma.

This would be a win-win solution for everyone because it provides a separate space for those who smoke and creates a cleaner campus environment for students and faculty alike who don’t.

Letters to the Editor: Oct. 23 to Dec. 3

Kudos to a Union reporter

I am writing this letter to the ECC Union in response to a follow up survey I recently received pertaining to the article, “A professor’s role in the movement that made surfing California’s official sport” by reporter, Jose Tobar.

It was a dark October morning and Jose Tobar was waiting outside my 6 am Body Conditioning class, in the North Gym - PE 51. Still extremely dark outside at 5:55 am, the figure with a notepad asked if I was indeed Professor Peters.

After establishingI was Professor Peters, the reporter spent about 15 minutes with me asking thoughtful questions about one of my other classes, Techniques of Surfboard Riding, PE-250. He was polite, engaged, and prepared for the interview. Afterword, he asked if he could join PE 250 at the beach that Friday morning in order to get more information about the article.

Jose Tobar spent the next five weeks with us at Surf class, Friday mornings from 7-10 am. He was the first person there at 6:45 am each Friday when I would show up to the El Porto/North Manhattan Beach parking lot. Mr. Tobar took video, held interviews with students, even got knee deep in the cold morning water to get photos for his article on the class.

Once he collected enough data Mr. Tobar posted professional pictures and videos on social media platforms about his upcoming article.

PE 250, Techniques of Surfboard Riding takes place mostly off campus. Very few people even know it is a class, let alone what the class is all about.

The final product of the article, which was published November 13, 2019 in the ECC Union was a tasteful and accurate depiction of the class. I am extremely thankful to get to know Mr. Tobar and all of the work he put into the article.

He spent the good part of a month refining the piece, and asked multiple follow up questions to get everything right. It was a pleasure working with Jose Tobar, and I wish him all the best in future endeavors.

--Kurt Peters, Professor of Health Sciences ------

Drug and weapon violation arrests

I just read your article in The Union paper, “Drug abuse, weapon violation arrests increase”. I found your article very interesting and I think it’s very important for us students to know what goes around our school.

It’s scary to see how drug abuse violation arrests increased from only 3 in 2017 to 34 in 2018 and weapon violation arrests went from zero in 2017 to 3 in 2018. Even though it went up drastically, it’s reassuring to know that a lot of this stuff isn’t caused by us students, and that the campus police are doing an amazing job.

--Keanu Agena ------

Catcalling is harassment

I read your article called, “Stop whistling at me”. I agree with your opinion on how catcalling is harassment. I can relate to it because I as a woman have been through that. I could casually be walking to the corner of my house and many older men would either honk or whistle.

Obviously that makes women feel uncomfortable. Parents should be teaching their children at a young age to respect women. They should put themselves in our shoes, to see how it feels to walk down a street.

Usually I hate walking to my destinations because I always get multiple stares. Instead, I just order an Uber to play it safe. Overall, I admire you talking about this ongoing issue that women have to constantly deal with.

-- Esmeralda Pacas

NEWS

DEC. 5, 2019

THE UNION 5

Jaime Solis/The Union Annika Waisanen, health and exercise science major, receives her order from a worker in Café Camino on Tuesday, Dec. 3. The facility was given a 91% on its recent health inspection by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Thursday, Sept. 5 according to its records.

Food safety questioned around community colleges

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health records show varying inspection results Merritt Ryan Albin Copy Editor @merritt_albin

A

s hungry customers enjoy their favorite combo meal at a local burger joint, an army of birds, rodents and insects linger outside of the establishment, waiting for the opportunity to slither, peck and crawl all over the same batch of hamburger patties of which they are consuming.

While cockroaches and rats have the potential to make consumers sick, food holding temperatures and handling procedures, among many other things, can also lead to food borne illnesses.

Food handling and safety procedures in restaurants local to El Camino College are regulated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH). This department works with field inspectors to perform routine inspections of establishments to ensure public safety.

ECC’s campus has four food options available to students and faculty at various times during each school week. All four options fall under the jurisdiction of the LACDPH for health inspections.

The options on campus are: Café Camino near the Humanities building, the Art Deli in the Art Complex, the LA Mobile Catering food truck outside of the now closed Manhattan deli and the newly opened Coastal Coffees food truck located near the old Student Activities Center.

Andy Nasatir, co-chair of the ECC Food Service Committee, told the Union that the food

services on campus are managed independently by Pacific Dining Company.

“Pacific Dining [Company is] responsible for all food services on campus [and] maintains close working relations with LA County Health,” Nasatir said.

“LA County Health knows who we are, where we are and they are in constant contact with Pacific Dining [Company]. Pacific Dining [Company] is also responsible for our two [food] trucks on campus.”

ECC is also located in a unique area which is surrounded by local restaurants where students and faculty typically visit for a quick bite to eat. Most, but not all, of these restaurants have high health inspection ratings according to the LACDPH records.

Other local community colleges also offer an array of options on campus. Pasadena City College has two hot food options plus a coffee cart, other local community colleges including Cerritos College, Santa Monica College and Glendale Community College range from having three to seven options on campus. This is not including vending machines and other services such as small stores.

Similarly, these community colleges are located in highly trafficked areas for food options like ECC. Health inspection results vary The Union gathered information of restaurants near ECC that range from The Pancake Factory to Kentucky Fried Chicken. Most of these restaurants have an A-rating, ranging from 95% to 90% with the exception of The Pancake Factory, The Pancake Factory received a 76% rating during a routine inspection Monday, Oct. 21 during

which the field inspector found 11 violations, a 16% decrease from its previous rating of 92% during an owner-initiated inspection Tuesday, July 2. Among the violations was an 11-point major violation under the “no rodents, insects, birds and animals present” section, implying the presence of multiple vermin in the facility at the time of the inspection.

The Union was unable to receive clarification on what type of animals or insects may have been present during the inspection.

During a visit to The Pancake Factory on Monday, Nov. 18, a reporter from The Union spoke with the manager through an employee’s phone and was told that if the reporter gave the restaurant “negative press” that the 10% student discount for ECC students at the establishment would be revoked. The reporter left the restaurant after the conversation and was not allowed to photograph the establishment’s C-rating which was well-hidden inside of the restaurant next to other documentation and photos near the cash register and front door.

The McDonalds across the street from ECC received a B-rating (83%) during an owner-intitated inspection on Friday, Oct. 11 but has since improved 11% during its routine inspection on Wednesday, April 17 where it received an A-rating of 94%.

Health inspections on campuses show stable numbers The Union made several attempts to make contact with an inspector from the LACDPH but was told by the Division Chief of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Lev Levon, that the department cannot facilitate interviews with the media.

Infographic by Canva Levon added that information is “centralized” and that the department is not an expert with handling information requests over the phone. Information regarding health inspections and grading was obtained from the department’s website.

All of the cafes and food trucks on ECC’s campus have recent inspection records of greater than 90% (A), which is considered to be a superior showmanship of food handling and maintenance according to the LACDPH website.

However, despite the current inspection grade, any full-time restaurant is a “high-risk facility” and must have a “routine inspection

conducted three times per fiscal year,” according to an email sent to The Union by the LACDPH Public Affairs Officer Bernard Tolliver.

During the spring 2019 semester, a reporter from The Union witnessed a cockroach running around the inside of the Café Camino location on campus. The cockroach took shelter underneath one of the soft drink refrigeration units and the reporter alerted the cashier of its presence.

On its most recent health inspection conducted on Thursday, Sept. 5 Café Camino received a score of 91% with six violations recorded. This was a 3% decrease from the inspection on Tuesday,

May 14 where it was given a 94% rating with five violations according to LACDPH health inspection records.

Furthermore, the inspection report didn’t note any violations related to rodents, birds and/or insects present in the facility at the time of the inspection despite the reporter’s eyewitness account.

The Art Deli also received a 93% rating on Thursday, Sept. 5 and the LA Mobile Catering food truck received a 92% rating on Friday, Sept. 27.

When compared to other community colleges in terms of health standards and ratings, ECC [See Food safety, page 7]

Infographic by Canva

NEWS

6 THE UNION

DEC.5, 2019

Police Beat

Omar Rashad

News Editor @omarsrashad

Friday, Nov. 22, at 10:43 a.m.

A student reportedly suffering from mental health issues assured police officers there was no need to be transported to a local hospital.

Friday, Nov. 22, at 4:31 p.m.

In an attempt to prevent a suspected car thief at Alondra Park from going through Parking Lot F, ECCPD officers provided the Torrance Police Department (TPD) with a blockade. The suspect was taken into custody by TPD Saturday, Nov. 23, at 6:13 a.m.

Torrance Police Explorers reported seeing a man with a gun near the Manhattan Beach and Crenshaw boulevards intersection but officers were unable to locate the subject.

Sunday, Nov. 24, at 2:10 a.m.

A person suffering from a severe headache refused to be attended by paramedics and walked away from the Music Building.

Monday, Nov. 25, at 10:30 a.m.

Two students were smoking cigarettes on campus near the Humanities Building. They extinguished their cigarettes when officers told them that smoking on campus is against school policy.

Monday, Nov. 25, at 2:24 p.m.

Officers received a call about an unidentified subject who was standing on the edge of a parking structure. Officers were unable to locate the subject but was later able to contact him. He stated he was OK and refused mental health resources.

Monday, Nov. 25, at 6:42 p.m.

Officers received a phone call about a student who was being “unruly” in a classroom at the Math Business Allied Health Building because her identification card was deactivated. She later calmed down when officers talked with her and she returned to her classroom.

Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 7:50 a.m.

A staff member was choking in Room 248 of the Student Services Building.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department assisted the staff member, who later refused to be transported to a local hospital.

Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 10:19 a.m.

Officers received a welfare check call at the Industrial Technology Education Center.

They found a man sleeping on three couches while holding several plastic bags. Officers did not wake the individual.

Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 10:13 a.m.

A student was having a panic attack at the Student Services Building. The student was taken home by a parent.

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union El Camino College professor of Chinese and Japanese David Shan, center, helps students, left to right, Danielle Boyer, 37, Megan Linn, 19, David and Angela Estrada, 24, with their assignment during their Chinese 2 class Tuesday, Dec. 3. Shan believes in the expanded professional opportunities for students who learn a new language as Mandarin is among the most commonly spoken languages in the world.

The language barrier

Foreign language courses experience decline in enrollment Ryan Farrell

Copy Editor @ryanefarrell

H

e can see into the future. Oftentimes, his day begins at 4:30 a.m., where he can study in silence for his Mandarin exams before his two children wake up for school.

Eden Warner is a 56-year-old UCLA business school graduate, businessperson, former Fandango chief financial officer, technology entrepreneur and El Camino College student.

At 6 a.m., he packs his children’s lunches, makes sure they are out of bed, then takes them to the bus stop.

With the kids safely on their way to school, Warner returns to his Culver City home to check on his mother. He then prepares materials for an afternoon meeting in West LA with a potential investor for his new mobile marketing company, Treever.

But before going to the meeting, where he is hoping to raise $1.5 million for his new venture, he must pass a 10:30 a.m. Mandarin exam at El Camino College.

Despite bilingualism being a highly sought-after skill in the workforce and the increasing popularity of language learning

apps, Warner is part of a shrinking group of Los Angeles area community college students enrolled in foreign language courses.

“I wish I had more time because I am starting a new company, I got two kids, I just moved my mom out a year ago, so I’m taking care of her, so I’m really really busy,” Warner said.

Regardless of his busy schedule, Warner opted to take Mandarin at ECC instead of using an online platform because, “Chinese is tonal” and the various intonations are difficult to understand without human interaction, Warner said.

“When I left my last job I decided that I was going to learn a language; I decided I was going to learn a language that would challenge me,” Warner said.

“I decided that I would choose Mandarin.”

During the spring 2019 semester, 1,136 students enrolled in foreign language courses at ECC, the lowest number in five years.

El Camino is not alone.

Los Angeles area community colleges: Cerritos College, Santa Monica College, Pasadena City College Long Beach City College and El Camino College have all experienced a five-year decline in foreign language enrollment

Wednesday, Nov. 27, at 5:41 p.m.

A woman was reported for loitering inside the Schauerman Library. She was trying to stay the night inside the library due to the cold weather. She complied with officers who told her to leave campus.

Friday, Nov. 29, at 8:11 p.m.

A man was sleeping in the hallway on the first floor of the Communications Building. The man complied with officers who told him to leave campus.

Saturday, Nov. 30, at 7:29 a.m.

A homeless person was reported for sleeping in the breezeway in the Life Sciences Building. The subject listened to officers who told the person to leave campus.

Graphics from Canva

Omar Rashad/The Union Eden Warner listens to his professor during his Chinese 2 class at El Camino College on Thursday, Nov. 21. Warner first began learning Mandarin while working in China. according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Meanwhile, foreign language learning apps like Rosetta Stone, Babbel and Duolingo have steadily gained popularity during the same time.

While Duolingo has amassed a base of almost 30 million monthly users according to its reported figures, its competitor Rosetta Stone expects to add more than 100,000 subscribers in 2019, a 24% increase from the previous year, according to its 2019 secondquarter earnings report.

Out of the five colleges reviewed

by The Union, El Camino had both the steepest decline in foreign language enrollment and was the only college that had zero increases during the last five years.

Santa Monica College has experienced the least overall decline in foreign language enrollment of the five colleges reviewed by The Union. From the fall 2014 semester to the spring 2019 semester, SMC had a foreign language enrollment decline of a half percent out of their total student population, whereas El Camino had a 2.3% decline.

“The Cal States no longer require foreign languages before transfer.” ECC Associate Dean of the Humanities Division, Scott Kushigemachi said. “Before, when

that was a requirement, [taking a foreign language course] was an easy sell to a student.”

ECC transfer counselor Rosie

“They can see into the future.”

David Shan Japanese and Chinese language professor

Miranda tells all her students that the CSU system does not require foreign language credits to transfer, but she doesn’t think the CSU policy explains the recent enrollment decline at El Camino.

“They don’t need to take a foreign language [to transfer to CSU], not at all. They also don’t need a foreign language to graduate from a CSU unless their major is somewhere in the languages,” Miranda said.

Santa Monica College department chairman of the modern languages and culture program Toni Trives has been teaching Spanish for more than 30 years and also does not believe that the CSU policy explains the decline.

“The CSU thing is a rumor. It has not impacted foreign language enrollment at SMC,” Trives said.

Though the University of California system does require foreign languages to transfer, many students can have that requirement waved before they ever set foot on a college campus by scoring well enough on their high school foreign language advanced placement (AP) exam, Miranda said.

That was the case for 20-yearold English major Haely Ortiz, “I am not taking foreign language at El Camino because I have an AP score [Spanish] that waves that requirement for the CSU and UC, so I really don’t need to take that here,” Ortiz said.

Regardless of the CSU and UC policy, Santa Monica College has managed to defy the trend of declining foreign language enrollment.

“We’ve had a robust program for many years and have worked hard by offering clubs to promote languages and collaborated with different disciplines to make students aware of languages across disciplines like childhood education, business, health sciences and communication studies,” Trives said.

[See Foreign Language, page 7]

NEWS

DEC. 5, 2019 [Food safety, from page 5] Furthermore, the inspection report didn’t note any violations related to rodents, birds and/or insects present in the facility at the time of the inspection despite the reporter’s eyewitness account.

The Art Deli also received a 93% rating on Thursday, Sept. 5 and the LA Mobile Catering food truck received a 92% rating on Friday, Sept. 27.

When compared to other community colleges in terms of health standards and ratings, ECC matches up closely.

Santa Monica College’s oncampus options received health inspection ratings ranging from 92% to 94% on Tuesday, May 7 during their routine inspections according to LACDPH records.

Glendale Community College’s on-campus food options received a 90% rating Thursday, Oct. 10 according to LACDPH health inspection records.

On Cerritos College’s campus, the current highest rating was a 96% rating while its lowest was a 91%. These inspections were conduced between Wednesday, July 3 and Thursday, July 25.

Pasadena City College’s campus food options lie under the jurisdiction of the Pasadena Public Health Department Boekelheide told the Union. According to the health inspection records, both restaurants on campus received an A grade ranging from 96% to 100%.

Popularity of on-campus versus off-campus options

During a small survey conducted

by The Union, not all students said that they are willing to stop and eat at the ECC campus food options.

Maria Fuentes, psychology major, said that she rarely eats on campus or at the restaurant across the street.

“I’ll eat here when I have a test,” Fuentes said. “It’s more convenient.”

Leonela Gomez, business major, said that she never eats on campus because the options are [Foreign Language, from page 5]

D

uring the 2019 semester, 1,744 Santa Monica College students were enrolled in a foreign language course out of 28,380 students, 6.1% of the student population. At El Camino College, 1,136 students were enrolled in a foreign language course out of 23,328 students, 4.8% of the student population, according to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office.

Another way that Santa Monica College has been able to retain higher foreign language enrollment compared to their counterparts is through the International and Foreign Language Education Title VI federal education grant they applied for and received in 2016, Trives said.

The Title VI grant is designed to promote foreign language education. It has enabled Santa Monica College to offer study abroad programs focused on language acquisition and to host a speaker series with guests from a variety of professions including: businesspeople, broadcasters, teachers and healthcare professionals, Trivas said.

El Camino College has not

“unattractive” to her.

Gomez added that there is often too many people inside of Café Camino for her to feel the need to wait in line and purchase food from there if she can prepare her own at home.

“There are too many people who come [to Café Camino],” Gomez said.

Gomez also told The Union that if ECC marketed the food options in a more attractive manner she may consider eating there although she rarely ever eats outside of her home.

“If you see something [that looks good] you want to buy it,” Gomez said.

ECC’s website also recommends local restaurants to students in the immediate vicinity of campus which include Supreme Burger Grill, Subway, Chicken Maison, Wasabi Sushiya and others.

Similarly, Pasadena City College recommends an array of different restaurants according to the college’s website. These restaurants are close to the campus, offering students and faculty options that often do not require traveling by car.

Special assistant to the Superintendent/President of PCC Alexander Boekelheide told the Union that all restaurants recommended by the college website are not endorsed by the college. He added that Pasadena City College is in a unique area for food options as the campus lies in the middle of a town.

THE UNION 7

Jaime Solis/The Union The Pancake Factory, located along Crenshaw Boulevard, received a 76% grade from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health during a routine health inspection Monday Oct. 21. The report noted seven violations including three major ones related to rodents, insects, birds or animals in the establishment, which took away its former A-rating. options are also popular among students and faculty. Boekelheide could not comment about whether or not restaurants are recommended on the website based on popularity or vicinity to the campus.

“One of [the Coastal Coffees food

truck]’s focuses is health food, vegan, alternative diets [and] things like that.”

Andy Nasatir

could not get a response from these colleges about the popularity of oncampus options versus off-campus options.

Additionally, The Union made efforts to make contact with Cerritos College but was unable to receive specific information regarding its on-campus food options when contacted by The Union for an interview with its administrative services after a phone call with Cerritos College Public Information Officer Aya Abelon requesting this information.

Plans to expand on-campus options

Boekelheide said that it is common for students to go off campus to eat, but that on-campus

Despite multiple attempts to reach a representative from Glendale Community College and Santa Monica College, The Union

The Board of Trustees at ECC have made a plan to remodel The Manhattan deli building into a “Bookstore Cafe”, but there is currently no construction taking place on the site.

applied for the Title VI grant, Kushigemachi said.

“We’ve done things with a similar intent [to Santa Monica College], but it’s not like we have a full grant dedicated to that kind of activity. I think those kinds of resources would be a big asset,” Kushigemachi said.

ECC Chinese and Japanese professor David Shan said he wants to see more promotion of foreign language at ECC. “I want to see our counselors encourage students to plan for the future in different ways and encourage students to take foreign languages,” Shan said.

“I think we encourage a lot of students to take classes that they may not be comfortable with,” Miranda said. “But at the end of the day, they have the option; they have to decide.”

Another possible explanation for the enrollment decline could be that students who are interested in learning a foreign language are opting to study with software, rather than risk hurting their GPA. ECC Spanish professor Andrés Moina offered The Union his opinion on language learning technologies.

“Babbel, Rosetta Stone, I know those, Duolingo, they are good

but they need a structure because for me, most of those apps are for people who already know, already have a background, and who need a foreign language to travel, survive, and communicate with people, but not the academic setting,” Moina said.

For students interested in language learning that are using software instead of taking classes, Moina said that apps and other programs are not a sufficient substitute to the classroom and human conversation.

“For foreign languages you need a strong program in all the skills, not just writing and reading, which is pretty much what they can do with open resources [software],” Moina said. “You need speaking, you need listening, exposures to the culture.”

Moina, Shan, Miranda and Kushigemachi all said that the workload of a four-unit foreign language course can be intimidating for students.

“It’s a four-unit class, most of the foreign languages, so then when you add three additional classes, they know that class is going to require additional lab and work,” Miranda said.

Instead of being intimidated by the four-unit course, Shan

encourages students to not fear the learning process and to think more broadly about the opportunities that speaking a foreign language can provide in the future.

“You don’t want to only look at your local situation, you want to see the bigger environment,” Shan said. “In the bigger market, foreign language will definitely make the students more marketable.”

It was Warner’s business career and willingness to engage in another culture that originally brought him to China and inspired him to learn Mandarin.

While working in Beijing for the oil company Arco, Warner began to see the value of learning Mandarin, he said.

On exam day at El Camino, the students shuffled into the classroom, exchanging small talk and jokes in Mandarin with their professor, David Shan.

Some of them seemed a little nervous, but not Eden Warner.

He sat in the center row towards the back of the class, reviewing his textbook and handwritten Chinese notes with humble confidence and a wide smile.

Shan said of Warner and his other students dedicated to their foreign language education that, “they can see the future.”

Assistant Director of the Bookstore

CRIME

Nasatir said that some of the proceeds from the Pacific Dining Services facilities on campus are recycled to help fund projects such as the Bookstore Cafe through the ECC Food Service Committee.

“The idea is that the proceeds from food service go back to benefit students’ experience of food service,” Nasatir said.

Nasatir added that the Coastal Coffees food truck plans to expand its health food options for students.

“One of [the Coastal Coffees food truck]’s focuses is health food, vegan, alternative diets [and] things like that,” Nasatir said.

Nasatir said that vegan options, along with Kosher and Halal, are important to the ECC Food Service Committee and will continue to be looked at for future menu improvements to help meet the

diverse demands of students and faculty members. ECC currently does not offer any Kosher or Halal specific options on campus for students or faculty.

Glendale Community College’s website lists a new smoothie and blended drink option coming soon to the campus. This would bring the available food options to four on its campus.

Boekelheide told The Union that Pasadena City College is currently looking into potential new options but he could not give specific examples of what types of food that are being discussed or when these changes would be implemented.

Santa Monica College and Cerritos College could not comment if there will be any new food options for students coming in the near future.

Infographic by Canva

When it happens on or next to campus, we’ll keep you informed.

The Union EL CAMINO COLLEGE

@eccunion @ECCUNION

El CollegeThe Union El Camino Camino College Union

NEWS

8 THE UNION

DEC. 5, 2019

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union After a rainy morning, the water in the Dominguez Channel rushes in a rapid, turbulent stream due to high water levels Wednesday, Dec. 4. The channel is home to homeless residents throughout the year who are often forced to leave by Los Angeles County authorities.

[Rough weather. from page 1] morning hours on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

By the time the storm subsided on Wednesday, residents of the encampment who sleep in the watershed located under Parking Lot F at El Camino College, moved to higher ground as the channel waters began to rise.

They relocated their tents and belongings into the access ramp of the channel, where the Los Angeles County Public Works Department had previously placed large clusters of boulders to deter the residents from setting up camp.

“They don’t care, they don’t care,” a Dominguez Channel resident, who goes by the name Capone, said about city officials’ efforts to address the homeless plight. “They don’t care about nothin’. Aren’t we human just like everybody else? But they don’t see that though, they just care about themselves.”

1047 homeless individuals’ deaths were reported in 2018, according to a report from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical ExaminerCoroner. And between 2013 and 2018, deaths have risen 48.8% with a total of 4,658 homeless individuals’ lives claimed as a result of a various factors including accidental, natural, substance abuse, suicide and homicide.

Accidents are by far the biggest cause of death for reasons ranging from drug overdoses, traffic accidents and drowning, according to Kaiser Health News (KHN).

One third of those who lost their lives passed away in hospitals, but even more died in street alleyways, freeway on-ramps, sidewalks, parking lots and riverbeds, according to the report.

Mourning a loss two years later Every six months the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Department of Public Works have conducted cleanups and forced the removal of the Dominguez Channel residents in an effort to clear the area after local residents have complained about their presence there, according to an article published by The Union in March 2019.

“I don’t think we were really an issue until our friend passed away down there,” Eunice, a Dominguez Channel encampment resident who declined to provide her full name, said. “Everyone called him A.J.,” she said following a long pause. “But that’s a long story—I really don’t want to go into that right now.”

The death involved the accidental drowning of Alming Jason Dakers, 37, in January 2017. Dakers and his girlfriend were swept away by the

35 mph current that surged through the watershed following a downpour similar to the one on Wednesday, Nov. 20, according to the Daily Breeze.

Dakers’ body was discovered floating in the Port of Los Angeles a couple of days later after initial rescue efforts proved unsuccessful. The woman was never identified by name but she survived according to the Los Angeles Times.

Dakers’ death illustrates the dangers that accompany the homeless

“I don’t think we were really an issue

until our friend passed away down there. Everyone called him A.J.” Eunice

Dominguez channel homeless encampment resident population across L.A. County streets, where in recent years they have been dying in record numbers.

Although homicide numbers were tallied at 222, a smaller number compared to accidents, The Union published an article about an August shooting incident in the Dominguez Channel when an unidentified man was shot twice in the leg by an unidentified subject, amplifying the kinds of dangers channel residents face.

Tim Warren, 58, is among the channel’s residents. He became homeless in 2005 despite an engineering degree that he earned from Devry University back in Nebraska where he was born, he said.

For years he held good paying jobs in the information technology industry, but as the companies he worked for relocated or were sold off, he found himself unemployed after being laid off by a company focused on making room for younger hires, he added.

“I felt like a piece of paper floating in the gutter,” Warren said.

While his cat mused about over the boulders near the water’s edge,

Warren recalled an incident in which an assailant set fire to a tent of an encampment on the north side of the Manhattan Beach Boulevard underpass in an effort to burn it down.

In that instance, the sheriff’s department arrested the man and was prohibited from coming near the camp again by the department, he said.

But in general he feels there is a lack of support in the form of protection from the department, he added.

“They want to victimize enough of us, for us to want to give up and leave,” Warren said standing amidst the boulders that now surround the encampment tents. “That’s what their idea is, their strategy. They just want to scatter us to the wind when it’s safer for us to keep together.”

Police Reaction El Camino College Police Department (ECCPD) Chief Michael Trevis said the population of the homeless living at the Dominguez Channel varies, but he roughly estimates there may be anywhere from 15 to 50 people living in the encampment.

Trevis believes conditions in the encampment are not good due to the increasing number of items that are being collected and stored by the encampment such as bicycles, tires and shopping carts.

“I don’t think that’s very sanitary, I don’t think it’s very safe,” Trevis said. “But that’s their method of surviving, of existing.”

Rough weather conditions also impact homeless residents.

Record-setting high temperatures, which set a new single-day high of 92 degrees Fahrenheit in Downtown Los Angeles, affected Southern California and the Greater Los Angeles area Sunday, Nov. 17. Daily high records were also set in Long Beach and the LAX vicinity.

[See Rough weather, page 9]

Jose Tobar/The Union “In The Image,” a 7-foot-tall sculpture by Ed Massey, serves as a reminder of the ongoing homeless crisis in L.A. Omar Rashad/The Union County, California and the United States. The sculpture Over 1,000 homeless died in 2018 and the leading cause of death are accidents, according to the Los Angeles County stands outside the former Savings and Loan Bank Building Department of Medical Examiner/Coroner. Furthermore, homeless deaths have almost doubled in the last six years. located at 2600 Wilshire Boulevard.

NEWS

DEC. 5, 2019

THE UNION 9

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Molly the cat stands on one of the rocks near the entrance of the flooded Dominguez Channel to avoid getting her paws wet Wednesday, Nov. 20. The channel flooded as a result of a storm that impacted the entire Los Angeles County.

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Trash and belongings lay scattered on the ramp leading into the flooded Dominguez Channel on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

Homeless residents who live in the channel moved their items high up on the ramp to evade high water levels.

[Rough weather, from page 8] Wildfire warnings were still being upheld through Monday, Nov. 18, as temperatures continued to hover near the 80s to 90s and wind gusts blew as strong as 30 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Within the same week, rainy weather conditions affected these areas on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The stream running in the Dominguez Channel became a vicious flow of raging water and debris.

The downpour left stagnant water in the channel which attracts mosquitoes and could possibly lead to the spread contagious diseases including the West Nile virus. Trevis also added that the presence of urine and fecal matter in the channel cause very unsanitary conditions.

“It is extremely dangerous, particularly during rainy weather for anybody to be in the channel, in the riverbed, anywhere where water is rushing by,” Trevis said.

The Union reached out six times to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) through emails and phone calls but was unable to reach anyone to comment on the situation.

When asked to comment on an incident in which a homeless person from the encampment was turned away at the ECCPD station after reporting a stolen generator, Trevis was unable to give any information due to a time period of the incident not being provided.

“Anybody that comes into the police station here should be treated with courtesy and respect, whether they’re homeless or not homeless,” Trevis said. “If they’re reporting that something got stolen then we should take the report, if it was stolen in our property.”

Trevis added that the Dominguez Channel is not property of ECC, but rather property of the County of Los Angeles. Therefore, criminal activity near the channel may be relayed to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

“Homelessness is not a police problem. It is a social problem, and I don’t think that the police should be the people that should deal with it,” Trevis said. “We need to be part of the solution, but not the [main] solution.”

Trevis pointed out that when the LASD and other L.A. County social services offer housing and other resources, the homeless from the encampment refuse because of rules that must be followed, such as the use of drugs not being allowed.

“There’s an element that [the homeless] just don’t want help, well that’s not against the law. And it isn’t against the law to be homeless,” Trevis said.

Trevis explained that when cleanups or displacements are scheduled to happen in the channel, a notice is given to the encampment from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.

However, as these scheduled events are taking place, the people from the encampment wait in the neighboring community and head back into the channel once Los Angeles County personnel leave.

“It’s just a cycle of this and it’s very hard to tackle,” Trevis said.

Trevis added that at some point, the community and government must work together to come up with a solution for the homeless, despite there being challenges in providing and accepting help.

“Homeless people are people, they need to be treated with compassion and respect,” Trevis said. “For whatever their reason is, whether they

want to live like that or have no choice but to live like that, we all have to help one another out in some way.”

Community Reaction Anish Maharaj, 38, has lived across the street from Alondra Park since 2005. For the past three years, he has seen the homeless encampments come and go due to public safety concerns. He recalled the night the homeless person drowned in the channel due to flooding from the rain.

“One of them came to my house and tried to borrow a ladder to get their stuff, but I didn’t have one,” Maharaj said.

Over the past few years, packages have been stolen from outside his home, items have been stolen off the boat in his driveway and he found an inflatable Christmas decoration he recently put up to be punctured. This all prompted him to install a doorbell camera.

Maharaj lives in a cul de sac and said that although a car must have a city permit to park in the community, there are individuals that park anyway and walk across the street to hangout. They know that they will not be

“They don’t care about nothin’.

Aren’t we human just like everybody else? But they don’t see that though, they just care about themselves.”

Capone

Dominguez channel homeless encampment resident ticketed due to the hour of the night when they visit the encampment.

“I really hope that they can close this area so people can’t come in,” he said. “It’s easy for them to come and park over here.”

Maharaj said there is a lot of activity at the encampment late at night, but it has decreased since the boulders were put in place. He added that he still sees people riding their bikes up and down his street.

Maharaj is worried about the safety of his wife, kids and mother who is at home all day. He said he doesn’t feel safe on his own driveway.

“It makes the area look bad,” he said. “It’s a nice area and the people hanging out here is not right. Hopefully they find a better place instead of hanging out over here.”

Figures give reminder of snowballing crisis According to the real point-in-time count by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) more people are falling into homelessness for the first time despite a 4% decrease last year, according to KHN. The figures, updated in August 2019, placed the total population of people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County at 58,936, a 12% increase from the previous year. 6,282 of them were scattered across the

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union The numbers on the wall indicate the height of surging water in the Dominguez Channel on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

Weather conditions have posed a serious threat to homeless residents living in the channel.

South Bay. The numbers included men, women and children of diverse ethnic backgrounds for whom homelessness was a reality that continues to be worsened and provoked by the economic factors that have kept wages from keeping up with rental costs, causing the vast numbers of lowincome renters to spend over 50% of their incomes on rent alone, 516,946 new affordable housing units are needed, according to LAHSA. Currently, the lack of affordable housing, a 32% increase in rent cost since 2000 and the 3% decrease in the median renters’ household income are the driving factors leading more people into homelessness each year, according to LAHSA. Despite the rainy weather during Thanksgiving, homeless populations across Los Angeles County continued to sleep through plummeting temperatures in the streets due to LAHSA’s winter shelter program not going into effect until Dec. 1.

For Warren and some of the other homeless residents, the Dominguez Channel is their home and the only place where Warren feels a sense of familiarity. But he is not blind to the potential dangers constantly around him, he said.

“This place is bad,” Warren said, gazing at the gushing waters flowing through the watershed inches away from where his own tent stood. “It brings out the bad in people. Everything’s bad.”

Winter shelters for the homeless recently opened on Sunday, Dec. 1, after the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) winter shelter program faced budget constraints that inhibited shelters from opening sooner, according to the Los Angeles Times.

On Monday, Dec. 2 it was announced that LAHSA Executive Director Peter Lynn resigned from his position as head of the prominent homeless agency.

During Lynn’s five-year tenure as executive director, homelessness in Los Angeles increased by one-third. In his most recent efforts to combat homelessness, Lynn attempted to shift the narrative of the misconceived characteristics of the homeless into systemic aspects such as the lack of access to affordable housing and mental health and substance use treatment.

The Union News Editor Omar Rashad contributed to this report.

NEWS

10 THE UNION [Hygiene products, from page 1] out.”

Women are subject to a tax called the “pink tax” which is imposed on female products ranging from razors to dry cleaning that, on average, cost 13% more than male products, according to a 2015 New York City study.

“There’s something called the “pink tax” which is, basically a tax that goes on feminine hygiene products and that doesn’t apply to condoms,” Kainat said.

More specifically, there is what people refer to as the “tampon tax” in California and 34 other states in the United States, a term used to point out that menstrual products are taxed as luxury items and cost women $150 million per year, according to Period Equity, the nation’s first organization to fight for law and policy in regards to menstrual equity.

The hygiene plan set forth by ASO would provide female students with access to free tampons and sanitary napkins via a feminine hygiene dispenser in the Warrior Food Pantry, Kainat said.

“We want it somewhere that people can easily find and go to— so that’s why we chose Warrior [Food] Pantry,” Kainat said.

The Warrior Food Pantry was an initiative started by ASO in October of 2017, that has served over 4,000 ECC students this semester, Kainat said.

“With us working together, it’ll bring a lot more outreach and promotion to it and that way people are going to know that they have

that access and then seeing the need for it and seeing what to do from there,” Kainat said.

ECC student, Allison Peña, 19, praised the efforts being made by ASO to provide feminine hygiene products through Warrior Food Pantry.

“Students who use Warrior [Food] Pantry probably can’t afford to buy feminine hygiene products, so I think it’s a really great idea; it makes the resource better,” Peña, environmental horticulture major, said.

Anh Thai, 20, an ECC student who said she has dealt with the misfortune of not having menstrual products handy and not knowing if she could access any around campus thinks it’s important for female students to have the option of getting free menstrual products.

“There are times where my time of the month comes unexpectedly and I just don’t have [menstrual products] on hand and I’m left wondering what to do,” business administration major Thai said.

“There should be more options available.”

An ASO committee plans on developing this “hygiene plan” over winter break, but do not have a set date for the installation of the hygiene dispenser and have yet to confirm their budget for this project, Kainat said.

“You should pass [menstrual products] out for women, for their health care — which is something that is by nature,” Kainat said. “It falls under our basic need goals.”

DEC.5, 2019

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union President of El Camino College’s Associated Student Organization, Urwa Kainat uses her laptop before the start of a College Council meeting where she presented updates on student government activities and goals Monday, Dec. 2 in the Schauerman Library. Kainat presented ASO’s new hygiene plan that would provide access to free menstrual products.

Omar Rashad/The Union The expired permit inside of the elevator on the west side of the Humanities Building is displayed on the lower right hand corner. 38 of 40 elevators on campus have permits that indicate elevators are past expiration dates.

[From Elevator permits, page 1] not able to be punished until a state inspector performs their inspection of the elevators in question, Brobst said.

ECC students with disabilities are at a greater risk of being trapped during the event of a mechanical or electrical issue in an elevator because of how often they use them.

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a law that requires establishments to have accessible equipment for people with disabilities, “all equipment and features that enable people

with disabilities to access goods and services must be maintained in good working order.”

Gabriela Hernandez, 32, psychology major, and student who uses a wheelchair said of the expired permits, “For me [it’s] frustrating because, I’m afraid of being in closed areas, so imagine if one of my unlucky days, that could be, not good [for me],” With recent elevator entrapments during the spring 2018 and fall 2019 semesters, the topic of student and faculty safety has been brought into question. A power outage earlier in the fall 2019 semester led to

one entrapment in the Schauerman Library.

Students without mobility issues are also affected by riding in elevators that may indicate an expired permit.

Isabella Villatoro, 21, international student from Guatemala, business administration major told The Union that she has claustrophobia and that the elevators already make her uneasy on a normal day.

“Well, I’m mostly claustrophobic, so, if I know that these elevators are not certified that means that maybe they can fail in one point and that

scares me a lot,” Villatoro said. “I would be dying there, inside.”

“I mostly use the elevators with her [Villatoro] and, like, the little minutes I’m in there with her she gets really excited, so, one day if she gets stuck on one of those, I don’t want to be there to see it.”

Luís Alberto Abreu, an international student from Brazil said. “Just think about being late, for some teachers here at El Camino, you get an absence, so if you get stuck on an elevator, you couldn’t have any more absences, and now you get another one because of the elevator.”

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Gabriela Hernandez, 32, psychology major passes through the new Student Services Building. She is one of many students who depend on elevators to get around campus

NEWS

DEC. 5, 2019

THE UNION 11

Jaime Solis/The Union

El Camino College campus police officer Oscar Castro patrols near Math Business Allied Health Building on Tuesday, Nov. 26. “Our officers, [if] you need us, we come right away,” Police Chief Michael Trevis said.

Crime on campus increases

ACCORDING TO THE ANNUAL REPORT BY THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS AND THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS

Reports showcases of rising criminal offenses at ECC from nonstudents Anna Podshivalova Social Media Editor @ECCUnionAnna

C

riminal offenses have increased on El Camino College’s campus from nonstudents.

While nearly 30% of college students report that they don’t have any safety concerns on campus, another 70% say they worry about a variety of safety-related situations, like excessive drinking, walking alone on campus, theft and more, according to College Statistics Organization.

Most colleges publish annual safety reports that detail specific occurrences and trends for the previous year.

According to the safety reports, in most cases crimes on college campuses aren’t committed by students or faculty. Instead, many instances are initiated by a visitor or nonstudent who are on the college’s property.

ECC, Pasadena City College, Santa Monica City College, LA City College, Riverside City College and Cerritos College are not included in top 100 most dangerous campuses in South California, according to HuffPost in 2017.

However, El Camino College has a high crime status on-campus than the other five community colleges listed, according to the Clery Act. The Clery Act is a consumer protection law that aims to provide transparency around campus crime policies and statistics.

None of these colleges have reported any cases of murder/non-negligent manslaughter or incest on campus in the past three years.

The El Camino College Police Department (ECCPD) reported 54 on-campus criminal offenses between 2015 to 2018, however, SMC reported 29 criminal offenses which is 46% less, according to the annual crime statistics kept under guidelines of the Clery Act. “During 2018 [the police department was] at full

staffing and added additional cameras to [the] security system,” Santa Monica College Police Department (SMCPD) Chief Johnnie Adams said. “Now [we] have over 1,200 cameras on campus.”

Despite this, ECC Vice President of Student Services Ross Miyashiro said that El Camino has a safe campus and that SMC has a larger number of cameras because they have more than one campus.

“You have to take shuttles in-between parts of their campus [because] they have a lot more different parts of the campus,” Miyashiro said. “It’s not like us. We’re just one space. So they need a lot more cameras just to keep track of their disjointed space.”

Santa Monica College’s main campus sits on 38-acres of land while ECC’s total campus size is 26-acres.

ECC’s campus has 300 cameras, 75% less than SMC. There are plans to put in more cameras as the campus starts to build new buildings or remodel old ones, ECCPD Chief Michael Trevis said.

SMC also has 29,760 students, 18% more than ECC which has 24,349 according to the California Community College Chancelor’s Office (CCCCO).

Trevis said that ECC is located in a very urban area near Alondra Park where a lot of homeless people live, which may contribute to some of these crimes that ECC has experienced.

“It’s because it’s non-students that are coming here at night,” Trevis said. “There are restaurants and motels and bars in the area but I am happy to report that [the crimes are] not [from] our students.”

Riverside City College has the same problem with the area around campus. RCC had 44 on-campus criminal offenses, which is 20% lower than ECC over the past three years.

“RCC is located close to downtown [Riverside],” RCC District Police Department Sgt. Tom Shenton said. “We see the same activity you would see in any downtown area.”

ECC also has a high number of drug abuse

violations at 50 instances compared to the other five colleges combined. That is more than CC, SMC, PCC and LACC have together are 24 which is 52% higher.

ECC also has 50 drug abuse violation instances on record which is 52% higher than all five other colleges combined at 24 cases.

None of the violations were from ECC’s students but the ECCPD must report all of them, Trevis said.

“Sometimes homeless people [are] here [on campus] at two or three in the morning,” Trevis said. “Our officers stop them. [Sometimes], we find drugs or maybe a knife or something that they’ve got on them.

So we wind up arresting them because it’s against the law to have drug [or] knifes on a college campus.”

In 2018, drug abuse violations on the ECC campus decreased, according to ECC’s Annual Crime Report.

ECC provides information on drug and alcohol treatment through courses and educational workshops, according to ECC’s Clery Act. “We do provide training for people,” Trevis said.

“We set up our tables when we have events on campus and we’re providing information to the students, faculty, staff [and] visitors.”

Some of the crimes, like stalking, are usually considered relationships, Travis said.

“An ex-boyfriend was following a student to school, that’s considered staking,” Trevis said. “Another one, a former student was in love with a teacher and he was following her around.”

Despite the statistics of crimes at ECC, many students still feel safe on campus.

“I think it’s a really safe and nice place, the campus is good,” ECC student Monica Bernardino said. “It seems like the campus police doing a good job.”

ECCPD headquarters is located at 16007 South Crenshaw Blvd. in Parking Lot K and is open 24 hours.

In an emergency, dial 911 or locate a “Code Blue” emergency phone, located around ECC’s campus.

Izaac Cadez, 21, Undeclared major “Everything seems all right for me. I’m not seeing anyone running around doing crime.

So, the police doing their job right,” Cadez said.

Natashjia Shabazz, 21, Undeclared major “I feel safe. There’s security that’s rolling around patrolling, [and] make sure everyone is cool. I hardly see the police department ride around, but only on Saturdays. It’s majority the security that’s doing their job.”

For more crime stories, visit eccunion.com

ACCORDING TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Sign up at Nixle.com to recieve community information. Compose a text message to: 888777 Text the following message: “ECCPD” to get alerts from ECC.

What do ECC students think about safety on campus?

The Union recently asked ECC students about their thoughts and if they feel safe on campus.

Marco Leyva Sanchez, 21, Undeclared major “I can say I’m fine. But I know there have been times where [police has] sent out emails like, “Careful. Someone’s doing this, someone’s doing that.” So, as long as [police is] aware, I guess they’re doing okay.’

NEWS

12 THE UNION

DEC. 5, 2019

That’s my stop Transit agencies provide discounted fare to community college students Diamond Brown

Staff Reporter @ECCUnionDiamond

S

he gazed into her phone smiling with her dark brown hair in a curly loose bun as she waited for the bus to arrive. Her commute time is about an hour and a half to her East L.A. home on two buses.

Joi Featherstone, 18-yearold philosophy major, walks approximately 14 minutes from her house in the morning to the Metro line 757 for a 45-minute commute and switches buses to the 710 for another 20 minutes or so to El Camino College. She goes back the same way again in the afternoon.

The Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation (LADOT), LA Metro, and several other transit agencies have made efforts over the past five years to make public transportation more affordable for college students.

This August, LADOT launched a one-year pilot program for all LAUSD and LACCD students to ride the DASH bus for free.

A regular DASH fare is $.50 per ride. The only requirement for students is to sign up for the Metro Tap Card, which allows the students to ride for free through LA Metro’s reduced fare program.

Students will also have access to a 30-day pass for a reduced fee of $24. The normal price for the 30day student pass is $43, according to a LADOT press release.

“The reason why we thought this would be a great program for Angelinos is because we want to do what we can to reduce the transportation barriers for thousands of students,” LADOT spokesperson Nora Frost said.

LA Metro launched its Universal Pass (U-Pass) in 2016 for college students to provide discounted fares at a prorated price and increase college transit ridership. Rates vary depending on each college’s fare-subsidy program, according to a Metro U-Pass program fact sheet.

Metro now has more than 21 participating colleges using the U-Pass program and had 1.7 million boardings in 2016 when it launched, Metro Communications Manager Brian Haas said.

The Union reviewed several colleges in the Southern California and found that multiple bus lines provide college students with bus passes at little-to-no extra cost.

Santa Monica College (SMC) had the third most expensive pass on the list. Students have the option to purchase an associated student body (ASB) sticker for $19.50 per semester to ride the Big Blue Bus (BBB) anytime, plus a $13 student I.D. card.

65,000 to 68,000 students sign up for the ASB sticker annually, according to SMC Sustainability Manager Ferris Kawar.

There has been a 43.2% decrease in ridership at Santa Monica College from 2015 to 2018, Kawar said.

No data is available yet for 2019, but Big Blue Bus reported that there has been an increase in ridership this year amongst SMC students, Ferris said.

Beginning in fall 2017, El Camino College partnered with Metro to provide discounted passes for students. The cost of the pass is dependent upon the date of purchase starting at $141.75 at the beginning of the semester in August and $26.25 in February. A $2 processing fee is charged when purchasing the pass.

Students will need a student I.D. with ASB sticker attached to board the bus. ECC also offers reloadable Metro TAP cards for purchase at the book store. The Tap card is $2 plus the amount of money the student wishes to add, Bourlier said.

The regular Metro 30-day pass is $43 for students; 6 months would be $258. Therefore, ECC students are receiving about a $117 discount per semester. The pass can be used on breaks and shorter semesters as well. El Camino was the fourth most expensive pass out of the five colleges.

Compared to the SMC student discount, ECC is $76 more expensive for the fall and spring semesters. The reason El Camino’s pass is higher is that the price of the ASB sticker would have to increase $5 to $10 to provide a free pass, Associated Student Organization (ASO) Student Trustee Lindsay Lee said.

“We would have to raise the prices for the ASO sticker and a lot of students aren’t willing to do that,” Lee said. “We did a study on how many students drove themselves, carpooled and used public transportation and what we discovered was that it was quite a small percentage.”

According to a campus climate survey in 2018 conducted by ECC Research and Planning, 70% of students surveyed drive their own vehicle to school, while 20% take the bus.

24% said that they got a ride from someone else to get to school, while 12% used ride share services.

10% walked and 4% rode a bike or skateboard and 3% rode a train.

The percent exceed 100 because they were asked to select all that apply.

“Part of our vision is actually to make transportation

options safe and affordable to everybody with dignity and to support vibrant and inclusive communities, so that, to us, is fulfilling our vision.”

Nora Frost Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation Spokesperson Students are encouraged to explore the city of Los Angeles and enjoy further education at museums. Frost said. The pass is not only meant to help them be able to get to school but also around town.

“Part of our vision is actually to make transportation options safe and affordable to everybody with dignity and to support vibrant and inclusive communities, so that, to us, is fulfilling our vision,” Frost said.

There has been a 22.8% increase in U-Pass purchases from fall 2017 to summer 2019. 458 students have signed up for the pass so far this semester, according to ECC Book Store Director Julie Bourlier.

Students are able to ride on several bus lines with the pass including the Metro, Metro Express and the Metro Silver Line, as well as GTrans (Gardena bus lines), Torrance Transit, Long Beach Transit, Culver City Bus, LADOT DASH, Big Blue Bus and Norwalk Transit, Boulier said.

“To me it’s [U-Pass] like that’s just another bill for me,” Jesicca Quackenbush, 27, ECC early childhood education major said.

“I’m a single parent and I’m the only one that provides financially for my [2] children, so that’s why I work multiple jobs”.

Featherstone said that if she owned a bus pass she would use the student pass.

“I would use the U-Pass compared to the Tap because it’s for students,” Featherstone said. “I feel like it would be more beneficial.”

Diamond Brown/The Union Joi Featherstone , 18, philosophy major, boards Metro bus line 710, starting her afternoon commute home on Tuseday, Nov. 19. Featherstone’s daily communte is over an hour.

Featherstone’s longest commute in the morning is due to traffic, she added.

Money for the U-Pass is allocated through ASO, Lee said.

Despite efforts to make transportation more affordable, there has still been a steady decline in ridership amongst several bus lines across southern California.

“LA Metro, Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), and the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus— accounted for 88% of the state’s ridership losses between 2010 and 2016. LA Metro alone accounted for 72 % of the state’s losses.

Because LA Metro’s losses are themselves highly concentrated, a dozen routes in LA County account for 38% of all the lost ridership in California. Half of California’s total lost ridership is from 17 LA Metro routes (14 bus and 3 rail lines) and one OCTA route,” according to a 2018 study by the Southern California Association of Governments.

Bus ridership overall is declining sharply and it’s been going on for a while in California, UCLA professor of urban planning Michael Manville said.

“There has been a lot of research about travel patterns of millennials and they seemed to be driving a lot less than other generations,” Manville said.

As the economy has gotten better there has been a rise in millennials starting to drive a lot more, as well as gas prices lowering and purchasing of vehicles being more affordable, Manville said.

Fullerton College and Citrus

College both had the lowest cost to students for bus passes. The passes are included in the required student enrollment fees.

The enrollment fee is $46 plus $3.50 with a valid student I.D. according to Fullerton College.

Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) college pass and college fare I.D. is the system Fullerton College has been using since fall 2019.

A total of 2,583 students at Fullerton College are using the OCTA pass, 78.1% are using the mobile app and 21.9% are using the student ID, according to OCTA data analytics section manager Ryan Maloney.

Students have the option to have the OCTA bus pass activated on the campus photo I.D. card or download the OC Bus app to their mobile smartphone. Students cannot use the pass on express routes or other transit agency buses, according to the OCTA website.

Only one credit unit is required to use the Foothill Transit Class Pass used by Citrus College. Students are automatically enrolled when they pay their student fees. The fee cannot be waived and it was voted for by the student government, Student Life Supervisor Rosario Garcia said.

There has been a 14% decrease in student pass purchases from 2016 to 2019, numbers for 2019 are still counting, Garcia said.

Overall student ridership at Citrus College has also decreased in the last three years by 10%.

Citrus students are also able to ride Foothill Transit Local and Silver Streak lines for free according to the Foothill Public

Transit Agency.

LA City College (LACC) students also use the Metro U-Pass and it is the most expensive bus pass among the schools reviewed

by The Union.

The amount of the pass is dependent upon date of purchase starting from $202.50 at the beginning of the semester to $22.50 at the end. An additional $2 sticker fee will be charged when purchasing the pass.

There has been a 228% increase in pass purchases from the start of fall 2018 to the end of summer 2019, according to data from LACC. Students will need a valid student I.D. card with ASB sticker attached to board the bus. Students can use the pass on Long Beach Transit, Torrance Transit and Gardena Transit and other participating transit lines. The Metro U-Pass is not valid on Metrolink, according to the LA Metro website.

Just about every transit agency in America has seen a decline in ridership, the decline is not unique to Metro, Haas said.

“We want people to ride Metro,” Haas said. “We have an interest in helping to develop a love for transit in people when they’re younger; if somebody has fond memories and enjoys taking transit as a kid or student they might be more likely to take it when they get older as well.”

Note: The Union reached out to LA Metro several times by phone and email over the course of a month and a half and was not able to receive U-Pass ridership data for ECC or LACC.

FEATURES

DEC. 5, 2019

THE UNION 13

Wildfire statistics in California

From Jan. 1 through Nov. 24. there have been 5,641 wildfires in California.

As a result of the wildfires, 128, 831 acres of land have been burned.

During the same time interval in 2018, there were 6,060 wildfires in California that burned through 789,062 acres.

In 2017, the national average was 2.3 deaths and 9.3 injuries per 1,000 wildfires in California.

David Rondthaler/The Union Fire Academy trainee Brendan Block uses a saw to breach doors with metal rivets during a forcible entry drill Wednesday, Oct. 23, at El Camino College’s training center in Inglewood. The 16 week course meets four to five times a week throughout the semester.

Feeling the heat

Firefighter trainees endure long hours, demanding tasks during semester

David Rondthaler

Senior Staff Writer @ECCUnionDavidR

H

is first class began at 7 a.m. but Kyle Ebersole was up hours before the crack of dawn, preparing for another demanding day at the El Camino College Fire Academy.

Upon arriving at school, Ebersole would make sure the American flag was waving proudly in the sky and then proceeded to line up for inspection where his instructors made sure he was up to code.

After the morning routine, he would be sent to work on his physical fitness followed by a classroom session where they taught him skills, including throwing ladders, how to put on firefighter gear and how to pull and load a fire hose.

During lab time, he participated in live training where he put everything he learned to the test until 5 p.m.

“You are running around, your legs are tired,” Ebersole, 20, said.

“You put on the soaking wet gear

on all the time because you get wet from sweat or the water so it’s always wet.”

But before he could do any of that, Ebersole first had to be accepted into the academy.

The ECC Fire Academy, formerly known as the South Bay Fire Academy, is a program at ECC that has trained firefighters in the area for the last 50 years.

Meeting four to five times a week for 16 weeks, the class takes place off-campus in Inglewood from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Jeffrey Baumunk, director of Public Safety Education Programs, said that for students to apply for the academy, they must first take fire technology 1,3,5 and 6, which covers topics like the history of fires, laws regarding firefighting, fire prevention and building structures.

After completing those courses, students are required to get their Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification or be apart of the national registry, as well as pass the Biddle Test or Candidate Physical Ability Test.

“Everything we teach prepares [the students] for the job,” Baumunk said. “It is ever-changing, so we can’t teach them everything but we get you started.”

That’s why students applying for the academy are given a pretest that determines how fit and in shape they truly are, Josh Boies, the director of the fire academy, said.

“We want to see them pass because it’s a demanding class,” Boies said. “[But] if you aren’t in shape then your body will always be recovering and that’s a problem.”

In the fire academy, there is a lecture and lab, but often lab time outweighs lecture time, Boeis said.

Instructors are career firefighters who are either serving or retired and most of them are from the program. They are also from all different departments and teach different perspectives Baumunk said.

“The instructors are really good, they understood how our minds work. [They] knew that we needed more hands-on and less time in the classroom,” Jared Kuwae, 21, who graduated from the fire academy

two semesters ago, said. “They were really supportive but also strict when needed.”

During lab time, students do live training, often about things discussed in the classroom like how to use the equipment, fire simulation and what to do when a person is down in a building.

Jack Matsunaga, 24, applied for the academy and was accepted this year.

“The process for applying was straightforward. Some background info on the application, then a physical check, then they invited me to the physical test,” Matsunaga said. “When I learned I got in it was exciting.”

Matsunaga said he enjoys going to class every day while bonding with his fellow colleagues.

“Everyday is a blast, it’s hard work but we learn a lot every day,” Matsunaga said. “It’s fun to have a cool team to have to go through with it, they are a good group of guys.”

However, while some students may find life at the academy exciting, others like Sam Waters

have had problems adjusting.

When applying, Waters was inspired when he was first accepted.

“I didn’t know how it would go but I was motivated to be selected,” Waters said. “I wanted to go to the gym more, have better-eating habits and read more.”

But Waters faced some mental challenges while getting adjusted to life in the fire academy.

“One of the difficulties was waking up at 4:30 a.m. Monday through Friday,” Waters said.

“Another one was crawling through a 16-inch tube and jumping from the fourth story of a building.”

But he made it through and graduated last semester.

The reason why the academy pushes students to train and practice so hard is because safety is of the utmost importance, Boies said.

“Everything you learn in this class stacks on top of each other,” Boies said. “You have to use all the puzzle pieces to come together so you can step off the truck and put the fire out.”

Between 1990 and 2019, 186 firefighters were killed in the line of duty fighting wildfires.

As of Monday, Nov. 25, there are two wildfires burning across California.

Wildfires in October led to the evacuation of over 200,000 people and the declaration of a state of emergency.

One of the most recent wildfires to affect the Los Angeles area was the Getty Fire.

With 80 mph wind gusts the National Weather Service issuing an Extreme Red Flag Warning.

During the wildfire, over 7,000 residents were evacuated.

The Camp Fire, Woolsey Fire and Hill Fire caused more than $9 billion in damages in 2018 while killing 88 people and destroying 20,000 structures.

As of 2017, 2 million homes in California were identified as facing high or extreme risk of being affected by a wildfire.

90% of wildfires are caused by human activity.

Source: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, U.S. Fire Administration, Insurance Information Institute and the Sacramento Bee.

Taking it one page at a time Multi-talented writer utilizes English as a form of catharsis to dispell stigmas Paul Rodriguez

Special to The Union @ECCUnionpaul She believes everyone’s life is an adventure novel.

As you live, you’re writing your own story with every thought, action, and decision.

Some days your chapter has a flare for the dramatic. Some days your chapter seems downright spiritless.

In your teenage years the chapters of your life are the most vivid and poignant. Teenagers have an innate sensory perception of the world unencumbered by the calloused socio-cultural, political,

and economic lens through which adults view the world.

Yet, society looks at teenagers and discredits their analysis of the world as being naive or uninformed, which couldn’t be further from the truth. The provincial attitude towards the opinions of the youth are changing as they begin to show society what they are capable of and how they see the world.

This is the driving idea and motivation for artist Rebecca Bloch when creating poetry, short stories and photographs.

“In high school I remember having an English teacher who inspired me to look at creative writing as fun, not as a boring

assignment” Bloch said while recollecting the beginning of her creative journey.

“I am an open

book, I love to tell my story.”

Rebecca Bloch

Communication studies major Bloch is a 19-year-old communication studies major at

El Camino College who has self -published a book titled “People Watching: For the Hurt, the Loved, and Everything in Between” when she was 17 years old.

“I had no idea she was an author,” Bloch’s friend, Mario Lopez, 19, criminal justice and sociology major, said.

The young artist is not one to boast about her accolades. Much like the title of her book alludes to, she enjoys observing the natural behavior of people within her surroundings and reflecting on how we are all so unique, but so similar.

[See Open book, page 15]

Paul Rodriguez/Special to The Union Rebecca Bloch, 19, communication studies major is a selfpublished author with a book titled “People Watching: For the Hurt, the Loved, and Everything.”

FEATURES

14 THE UNION

DEC. 5, 2019

Hollywood lights and sold-out arenas Musician hopes to ‘successfully’ record original songs Arielle Chacon

Special to The Union @ECCUnionarielle

A

s his hands quickly set along the strings, he strummed his acoustic guitar sweetly and hauntingly with the tree leaves brushing and chattering in the wind.

In his down time, Michael Nicoli Ferrey, 32, music major, likes to play his guitar and sometimes sing along at his regular playing spot in between the Math Business Allied Health and Music Buildings at El Camino College.

“Currently, my goals consist of recording my music successfully finally, because it’s been a long process that I haven’t accomplished yet,” Ferrey said. “I’m trying to make something sublime; I just want it to sound the way it’s supposed to be and feel the way it’s supposed to be.”

Ferrey is a multi-instrumentalist musician, who is currently learning more about reading sheet music at ECC. “Recently I started to get reading music which has been a huge struggle for me,” Ferry said. “Even though I knew my instrument very well in feeling, I didn’t know it very well in the theoretical sense.

I started connecting the dots with reading and playing music.”

Ferrey can play piano, guitar, bass and he’s been practicing both the violin and viola recently, but his favorite is drums when playing with others.

“My favorite to play along with people are drums,” Ferrey said.

“I’m a good listener I like to think, so I’ll usually just listen and follow along accordingly, appropriately to what they are playing.”

Ferrey is a drummer at the Roman Catholic Latin Church and is currently teaching eight students from the Heavenly Vision Church of God. “My neighbor goes to this church

Arielle Chacon/The Union Michael Nicoli Ferrey, 32, music major, plays his guitar at his usual spot between El Camino College’s Math Business Allied Health Building and Music Building on Monday, Oct. 14. Ferrey can play multiple instruments, including the piano and drums. that doesn’t have a choir or a band, or a worship group. He asked me if they could pay me to teach the youth there how to play musical instruments,” Ferrey said. “There’s two to every instrument, guitar, drums, bass and piano.”

One of Ferrey’s proudest moments musically was when he played guitar after getting better at reading sheet music at the Applied Music Program at the ECC Robert Haag Recital Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

“She showed up, we set up and just started playing. That was my last Applied performance,” Ferrey said. “Everything I had been practicing basically was coming together a little bit without me thinking about anything, plus my parents were there.”

Applied Music is a program in which students have to apply and audition to be accepted according to the Applied Music Program page on the ECC website. Ferrey showed

up ready for his first audition but was not registered.

“Are you

determined? Find your feel.”

Michael Nicoli Ferrey Music major “I didn’t know you had to preregister. I was the first one to show up and I’m like, ‘Hey I’m here for my audition,”’ Ferrey said laughing. “I auditioned for guitar,

but the guitar teacher knew that I played drums so he asked if I would like to audition for drums as well. I got in.”

In addition to getting a degree, Ferrey also had other goals he wanted to reach when deciding to come to ECC. “I’m going to get my AA,” Ferrey said. “My goals when I came here were to meet other people and build connections; it was more about learning music in the educational sense and forming a band.”

Ferrey reflected on what it was like not having a regular group to perform with before creating the connections he currently has at ECC. “I didn’t have a band, I wasn’t interacting with any other musicians. I had been in a bunch of one-night-stands I call them, where you find people, you guys practice, you play the gig and you never hear from them again,” Ferrey said.

Ferry has now organized a band

called “Evicted Melody” with people he met at ECC. “We’re all friends and we all get along really well. We understand each other really well. We’re more like brothers than friends actually,” Ferrey said.

One of Ferrey’s bandmates, an 18-year-old music major and the band’s bass player Jesse Eads, touched on the diversity in music Ferrey has the band play along with other occasional jazz musicians.

“We do covers, we do a lot of originals of his. It’s interesting because we work with a lot of jazz guys but his riffs are more diverse than jazz,” Eads said. “We’ll be with really hardcore jazz players and he has them play really fun rock tunes, sort of popish tunes but he has his own style.”

Another one of Ferrey’s bandmates, a 21-year-old music major and pianist Daunier Thompson described watching Ferrey’s personal growth as a

Crossword Puzzle: Entertainment crazes of 2019

musician over the last two years.

“He has grown exponentially.

He was pretty good back then but he’s way better now,” Thompson said. “He’s doing great in his musical studies and learning the jazz language. I can’t wait to see how much more he grows down the line.”

To Ferrey, the importance of music is in the feeling he gets when playing it.

“What it makes me feel, it makes me feel alive, I guess,” Ferrey said.

“It brings me joy.”

Ferrey also shared some musical advice along with a self-evaluating question for any aspiring musicians who want to go down the music career pathway.

“You can practice for an hour and not have any productivity,” Ferry said. “Let’s say it took you an hour to get it right one time, then you have to practice it right a bunch of other times for it to be valid. Are you determined? Find your feel.”

Across: 1. This fast food chain’s chicken sandwich resulted in brawls and one casualty.

4. This contestant appeared on the “First We Feast” YouTube channel and had a coughing fit after eating hot wings.

6. A social media platform that is known for replacing Vine.

7. Fans were disappointed with the ending of this long-running HBO series.

9. Name of a viral Facebook event promoting the raid of a Nevada Air Force base.

10. Stars in a viral video saying “look at us” while eating and also plays Ant-Man. 11. This company’s new streaming platform was hacked leading to customers’ information being released onto the dark web.

13. This blue hedgehog’s 3D model was recreated following backlash from fans on Twitter.

Down:

2. This song broke the record for consecutive number of weeks as No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.

3. The younger form of this beloved Star Wars character made waves after the release of “The Mandolorian.”

5. This HBO show portrays teenage advertisites in a different light.

8. Karen: You said you’d meet the deadline. the Cat: No, I said I’d eat the dead mice.

10. This Pokémon was Ash Ketchum’s first starter and became a meme that reflects being shocked.

12. Following the release of this film, the High Bridge Steps in Brookyln, New York became a popular tourist destination.

FEATURES

DEC. 5, 2019

THE UNION 15

Homelessness in Los Angeles County

As of Jan. 23, there are over 58,000 homeless residents in Los Angeles County.

Roughly, 44,000 homeless residents find themselves unsheltered in Los Angeles County.

More than 41,000 homeless residents are 25 or older while 5,280 are under 18 years old.

3,878 Veterans are homeless in Los Angeles County.

About 1,000 have shelter.

There are over 3,000 homeless due to fleeing domestic abuse, violent relationships.

As of 2019, there are 93 homeless residents around the Alondra Park and El Camino College area.

43% of homeless residents surrounding El Camino College live on the streets while 15% sleep in a car.

16% of homeless residents around El Camino College live in a tent.

About 13% of students at El Camino College are affected by housing insecurity, according to a Student Campus Climate Survey.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) resources for anyone who is or have recently become homeless.

LAHSA connects victims with agencies that can help with housing, general health, domestic abuse and mental health services among several more.

Source: Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Jazmin Anderson, left, 20, biotechnology major and China Oseguera, right, 19, public health major, started their Instagram page on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, to bring awareness to their community on the rising issue of homelessness.

Helpful Homegirls

Humanitarians fight against homelessness by providing basic needs Roseana Martinez

Features Editor @ECCUnionRoseana

I

t started with a drive down Skid Row. Tents were seen lined down the sidewalk with trash stacked up on the side of the curb.

Some people looked through trash hoping to find something to eat for the day, while others sat by their tents looking out as if they were waiting for another day to just pass by.

Looking out their car window, they realized if the homeless issue was going to improve, change had to start

with them.

China Oseguera, 19, public health major and Jazmin Anderson, 20, biotechnology major, at Southwest College and the California State University of Northridge, are students who bring awareness to their school campuses on the rising issue of homelessness.

Growing up in South Los Angeles, they were surrounded by a community of middle class to low-income minorities, where there was a lack of hope for success. Applying to colleges, let alone going to college was never something many students would imagine themselves doing, Oseguera said.

This led to the start of their

[Open book, from page 13] “I really would like to publish my own book one day, maybe I get some advice from Rebecca on how to do that,” said Peter Abina, an 18 year old business major.

Bloch spends hours joyfully in her free time creating works of literature and photography dispelling these stigmas.

“Sometimes my work has a social justice message, and sometimes it highlights the beauty of a given subject and their story [person],” Bloch said.

She views her life analogous to the journey of the characters in her myriad short stories. She utilizes her writing as a healing form of catharsis when she feels particularly stressed out.

“I tend to write more when I’m going through shit,” Bloch said when discussing her writing process.

Some of her portrait photos contain muted and melancholy tones, some of her photos contain vibrant green foliage, wispy hair, with inquisitive looks from the models gazing into the camera that ask, do you really see me?

“I feel like I can let loose when I’m shooting with Rebecca” Ashley Smith, photographer and Bloch’s friend, said regarding their photoshoots.

It takes a high empathetic and socially astute person to deliver an impactful photo that tells a meaningful story. Most instagram feeds are nothing but vapid and borderline pornographic images that only serve the user’s self adulation. In an Instagram feed full of riske’ appendages, Bloch breaks up the feed with salient stories.

Her journey has been quite successful so far as she is currently writing her life story with intentions of working in the film industry, specifically for A24 Films.

“I am an open book, I love to tell my story,” Bloch said. “The stories of others because many of us are going through similar highs and lows.”

Paul Rodriguez/Special to The Union El Camino College student Rebecca Bloch, 19, sits on a blanket while studying. “I am an open book, I love to tell my story,” Bloch said.

Paul Rodriguez/Special to The Union Rebecca Bloch, communication studies major at El Camino College brainstorms more ideas for future projects to follow up on the success of her first book.

organization on Monday, Oct. 22, 2018, when they wanted to bring awareness to others about those less fortunate and the opportunities offered to them.

At the start of their organization, the first plan was to bring awareness to schools, but one idea led to another and they decided to start their Instagram account:@TheHelpfulHomegirls, Anderson said.

“I always knew I wanted to do something in the community, I just didn’t know how to start or what I should do, but I always enjoy volunteering so it was cool to start our own thing,” Anderson said.

The name idea initially came from The Helpful Honda Crew, however,

Oseguera said that with it being such a big corporation it doesn’t have a family feel to it, so they made theirs more personal.

“The helpful homegirl is more like ‘Oh let me call my homegirl’, so we wanted it to feel more personal with the people, instead of being just another organization that comes in and out,” Oseguera said.

Now known as the Helpful Homegirls, Anderson, and Oseguera are using their Instagram platform for people donate socks and snacks for this year’s Second Annual Sock and Snack Drive on Saturday, Dec. 21 on Sixth Street and Wall Street at 9:30 a.m.

For the full story, visit eccunion.com.

ARTS

16 THE UNION

DEC. 5, 2019

Justin Traylor/ The Union Robert Mack and Natalie Chinn rehearses their duet for “The Nutcracker” on Saturday, Nov 23, at Lauridsen Ballet Centre. First performed in 1892 at St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre, “The Nutcracker” has had a yearly venue at El Camino College for the last 25 years.

LANDINGONPOINT South Bay Ballet will perform ‘The Nutcracker’ for the 25th consecutive year

Giselle Morales

Opinion Editor @ECCUnionGiselle

I

n the spirit of the holidays, “The Nutcracker’” ballet which will feature the original score of composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky will be presented by South Bay Ballet on Dec. 21 and 22 at 2 p.m. in the Marsee Auditorium.

“The Nutcracker” has been presented at El Camino College every year for the past 25 years, Rick Christophersen, director of the Center for the Arts at ECC said.

The two-act ballet that is being co-directed by Diane Lauridsen and Elijah S. Pressman, was first performed in 1892.

“I’ve seen this production in years past, it’s very well done. I think South Bay Ballet, [puts] on a terrific performance, they have some very young dancers and some very seasoned professionals in company,” Christophersen said.

Lauridsen, who has been directing for 41 years, said that the ballet has something for everybody and its going to be an entertaining two hours.

“A lot of people come to it because it’s Christmas.

It’s very entertaining for children and adults who are often surprised that they really enjoy it. It is also a dance member’s dream because it has a lot of technical stuff in it,” Lauridsen said.

The ballet tells the story of Grandmother Clara as she recounts the story of a young girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina, according to the ECC website.

Jaymee Boyd, 17, who has been performing for nine years, said that it was her dream to play the Sugarplum Fairy.

“Sugarplum is my dream role. You get to wear a pink tutu, it’s fun,” Boyd said.

In addition to the show being fun and beautiful to watch, Boyd said that the show also had a Christmas element to it.

Along with the music, the ballet is very colorful and has a wide variety of costumes, Lauridsen said.

“There’s a lot of drama as well, there’s happy and there’s frightening and there’s just all kinds of things, there’s funny stuff, it’s just a big variety of emotion packed within two hours,” Lauridsen said.

Christophersen said that he had seen the ballet from years past and thought that the production was very well done.

“There’s beautiful lighting, the scenes are very well set, the costumes are top-notch. It looks great and it’s a wonderful way of getting into the holiday mood,” Christophersen said.

Lauridsen also recounted the first time she saw the ballet and remembered being focused on the dancing.

“I saw it when I was a student and for me it was totally about the ballet and the dancing that the people did. For dancers it’s about one thing and for the public, it’s about another generally,” Lauridsen said.

UPCOMING EVENTS ON CAMPUS Choreography Showcase

Messiah Sing-Along

Showcase features choreographic works from ECC students

The annual Messiah Sing-Along features, orchestra and

participating in Choreography Classes.

professional soloists with the audience as the chorus.

@ Campus Theatre

Thursday, Dec. 5

Prices:

@ 1 p.m. @ 7 p.m.

@ Campus Theatre

Friday, Dec. 6

@ 7:30 p.m.

Prices:

Student $10

Free

General Public $10

South Bay Children’s Choir @ Marsee Auditorium

South Bay Children’s Choir’s present seasonal music, as well as time-proven classics

Sunday, Dec. 8

Prices:

@ 4 p.m.

Vicious Circle Dance Company @ Campus Theatre

ECC Concert Band @ Marsee Auditorium

Musicians from high school to retirees perform the finest traditional and contemporary music.

Saturday, Dec. 7

@ 8 p.m.

Prices: Student

$10

General Public

$10

Kristi Lobitz & Susan Greenberg @ Campus Theatre

Chromotherapy Club uses dance to explore the use of

This concert presents a cosmopolitan’s sampling of music

chromotherapy (color therapy) and the effects that color

from around the world.

has on the body.

Saturday, Jan. 25 @ 8 p.m.

Prices:

Tuesday, Jan. 28 @ 8 p.m.

Prices:

Student $18

Student

$10

Student

$10

General Public $18

General Public

$21

General Public

$21

SPORTS SPORTS

NOV. 5, 14,2019 2019 DEC.

17THETHEUNION UNION9

Women’s volleyball team move on to state championships Warriors win 10th straight South Coast Conference title, third under current coach Logan Tahlier

Special to The Union @LTahlier

Rosemary Montalvo/The Union Orange Coast College men’s soccer team forward Takumi Taniguchi attempts to keep possession of the ball away from El Camino College defender Ricardo Martin during the match Tuesday, Nov. 26, at Murdock Stadium. The Warriors lost to Mt. San Antonio College 1-0 to end their season on Saturday, Nov. 30.

Men’s soccer team season ends Warriors fall one game short of state championships Rosemary Montalvo Photo Editor @eccunionrose

F

ive minutes into the second half and El Camino College men’s soccer team leading Orange Coast College, ECC midfielder Alvin Perez took a corner kick and centered the ball into the penalty box.

5-foot-5-inch ECC forward Melvyn Perez-Cortez out-jumped the OCC defense and sent a header into the back of the net to give the Warriors a 3-1 lead in the 40th minute of the match.

“At halftime we had a speech with the coach and he said to ‘come out strong’ and that’s what we did and it benefited us a lot and [the game] went in our favor,” PerezCortez said.

Seven minutes later, ECC

forward Kalyl Silva stole the ball from a Pirates player and juked two other defenders at midfield.

Silva glanced up to find OCC’s goalkeeper standing outside of the penalty box and floated the ball over the goalie from 45-yards out that slowly rolled into the back of the net.

“It felt amazing,” Silva said. “I had a chance just like that against Mt. Sac and I missed it, so it felt good to get this one.”

The ECC men’s soccer team scored four unanswered goals to beat OCC in the second round of the California Community College Athletic Association SoCal Regional playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 26, at Murdock Stadium.

The No. 4 seed Warriors moved on to play Mt. San Antonio College in the next round of the SoCal Regional playoffs on Saturday, Nov. 30, with a chance to go to state playoffs.

“It doesn’t matter who we play,” Warriors’ coach Mike Jacobson said. “I like our way of doing things.”

OCC struck first as midfielder Julian Madrigal gave the No. 5 seed Pirates the early lead in the 21st minute. The Warriors responded with a goal by midfielder Oliver Diaz that sent them to half time tied.

“You got to keep grinding things out,” Jacobson said. “That’s what we talk about to the guys, is grinding things out.”

Diaz struck again in the second minute of the second half before Perez-Cortez and Silva’s goals put the game out of reach.

“If we can get one goal, lets go get the next goal and if we can get the next goal after that,” Jacobson said. “[We can] never let off the pedal, just keep it going until the game is over.”

It was a physical game from start

to finish with both teams shoving and tripping each other and the referee calling a total of 29 fouls as well as handing out four yellow cards, one of those being to the entire ECC men’s soccer team.

ECC held position of the ball throughout most of the game and were able to create opportunities to have nine shots on goal compared to the four shots on goal that OCC had.

“It’s about making plays on the defensive side, its about making plays on the attacking side and these guys made plays and our football and our way was good enough,” Jacobson said. “And when you add making plays and finishing your opportunities, you get a scoreline like that.”

ECC fell to Mt. SAC 1-0 after a goal from Mounties’ forward Angel Santoyo in the 26th minute, ending their season.

For the third time in four seasons, the El Camino College women’s volleyball team advanced to the California Community College Athletics Association Women’s Volleyball State Championships after defeating Moorpark College on Saturday, Nov. 30, in the ECC South Gym. “As a freshman playing in the state tournament, it’s amazing and shows the hard work throughout the season pays off,” Warriors’ middle blocker Ginia Goods said.

The Warriors (23-5) will be the No. 3 seed for their respective bracket in the state championships.

They will play No. 2 seed Fresno City College (30-2) in the state quarterfinals Friday, Dec. 6, at 4 p.m. at Chula Vista’s Southwestern College.

The No. 1 seed in the bracket is Feather River College (31-2) as they play No. 4 seed Mira Costa College (21-5). The winner of that game will await the winner of the game between ECC and Fresno City College.

The Warriors and Raiders split the first two sets with ECC winning the first 26-24 followed by a Moorpark win 25-17.

Caitlin Donatucci had 38 assists and 11 digs, pushing her season total of assists to 1,070. Donatucci is now 54 assists away from tying former player Samantha Taylor’s record for most assists in a single season that was set in 2008, according to sports information

specialist Rafael Guerrero.

ECC went on to win both the third and fourth sets by the same score, 25-23, securing their spot to play for the state title.

“We want to make sure we don’t give up runs,” Warriors’ coach Liz Hazell said. “If we make an error [we need to make sure] the team doesn’t stack them on each other.”

Warriors’ outside hitter Mikayla Clark led the Warriors with 19 kills and 17 digs while opposite hitter Jocelyn Lacroix had 11 kills. The Warriors’ defensive specialist Kelly Donatucci led the defense with 26 digs while outside hitter Cassidy Crosby and opposite hitter Jessica Villasenor had 13 digs a piece.

The two brackets for the state championships consists of eight total teams, four from the SoCal regional playoffs and four from the NorCal regional playoffs.

Each bracket conists of four teams, two from SoCal and two from NorCal. The winners of each brakcet will meet and play for the state title on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 2 p.m.

The teams in the other bracket are the undefeated, No. 1 seed Irvine Valley College (25-0) as they play No. 4 seed American River College (24-7) and No. seed 2 Grossmont College (26-3) plays Cabrillo College (23-5).

“It is my second year in a row going [to state championships] and I hope we get farther in the tournament this year,” Lacroix said.

“I feel like we played the way we wanted to play today and improved on the mistakes that troubled us in the previous playoff games.”

2019 Team Stats

(Rank among all California community colleges)

Kills - 1286 (7th in state) Assists - 1204 (5th in state) Digs - 1859 (8th in state) Points - 1664.5 (12th in state) Total Attempts - 3941 (4th in state)

Source: cccaasports.org

Making an impact beyond the game Warriors football player’s goals go further than the sport Dior Anderson

Special to The Union @eccuniondior “I’m a champion.”

Three words Julian Lewis tells himself everyday as he looks in the mirror and starts his day off.

Lewis, business administration major, is a sophomore linebacker for the El Camino College men’s Football team. He wears No. 47 because his dad wore it in junior college.

“He makes such a positive impact and he is one of our most valuable players,” Warriors’ football head coach Gifford Lindheim said.

In 11 games played this season, Lewis recorded 24 total tackles.

“He’s a big factor and big voice on defense. He keeps the team together and makes sure that all of us know what’s going on,” Simon Jr. said.

Football has always been in his family as one of his uncles made it to the National Football League, Lewis said. He calls his uncle fulfilling the dream “inspiring.”

Even though Lewis does not to wish to go to the NFL, he hopes to continue the “Lewis Legacy” by staying in contact with the sport.

“He’s original because there’s no

one like him, he’s one of a kind,” Teammate Terence Simon Jr. said. “He’s dependable because if I needed something I can rely on him and he’s hilarious, his facial expressions will always have you laughing.”

own boss and bossing other people around,” Lewis said.

Lewis played baseball, basketball, soccer and tennis growing up but he always had a special and unconditional love for football.

“In 10 years I see

myself somewhere with my feet kicked up in a penthouse with a beautiful view, chilling doing what I want to do.”

Julian Lewis

El Camino College football linebacker Lewis believes he is playing in his last season and hopes to go out with a “bang” as well as have fun for the remainder of the season.

He aspires to be an entrepreneur, a coach or general manager for a football team in the future.

“In 10 years I see myself somewhere with my feet kicked up in a penthouse with a beautiful view, chilling doing what I want to do, waking up and being my

He’s been playing football since he was six years old.

Lewis attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City. They won the City Section Open Division football title during his senior year.

“I don’t mean to sound biased or anything, but I feel like football teaches you life lessons. It teaches accountability, how to work with other people, and how to overcome adversity,” Lewis said.

Dior Anderson/The Union Julian Lewis, business administration major and linebacker for the El Camino College football team, was inspired by his uncle to play football at a young age. Despite not having any aims for the National Football League himself, he continuously strives to make an impact in the sport.

SPORTS SPORTS

NOV. 2019 18 THE14,UNION

THE DEC.UNION 5, 20199

Mari Inagaki/The Union The El Camino College men’s baseball team stands solemnly during the national anthem before their game against Mt. San Antonio College, Friday, March 1, at Warrior Field. The Warriors won more games than of any California Community College in 2019.

Unfinished business in Fresno

Warriors look to build on successful 2019 40-win season with new group of players David Rondthaler

Senior Staff Writer @ECCUnionDavidR

T

he El Camino College baseball team is coming off a 2019 season in which it won the most games out of any other California community college as they fell one game short of the state championship.

The Warriors were led by a pitching staff that features their two returning aces. Starting pitchers Jimmy Galicia and Aaron Orozco were named 2020 preseason AllAmericans on Monday, Oct. 21.

“We have experienced players with Aaron [Orozco] and Jimmy [Galicia] getting us through game by game,” Warriors’ infielder Diego Alarcon said. “Coach [Nate] Fernley makes sure we do the little things rights.”

ECC finished atop the South Coast Conference (SCC) and was the only team in California to mount the 40 win plateau and won a conference-best 17 games during conference play.

The Warriors’ pitching staff led the SCC in runs allowed (134), strikeouts (349) and earned run average (ERA) of 2.36. They were second in hits allowed (355), walks allowed (128) and homeruns given

Kealoha Noguchi/The Union El Camino College baseball pitcher and infielder Julian Diaz delivers a pitch to a Pasadena City College hitter in seventh inning during the game on Saturday, March 16 at Warrior Field. Diaz finished the 2019 season going 3-for-8, including a double and walk at the plate while striking out 10 batters and walking five in 22 2/3 innings.

Kealoha Noguchi

Sports Editor @eccunionkealoha

up (9).

Galicia and Orozco found themselves among conference leaders in several individual pitching statistical categories.

Galicia was No. 1 in the SCC in ERA (1.92), wins (13) and third in strikeouts (83).

“We have a deeper staff, more guys who can go deep into games and keep the lead for the team,” Orozco said. “We have the pieces to win, we just have to play as a team and build team chemistry like we did last year.”

Orozco was the only pitcher in the conference to surpass 100 strikeouts, finishing with 114. He was second in ERA (2.10) and wins (12) while finishing sixth in runs batted in, RBI, (36) being a designated hitter.

Orozco and Galicia have raved about new pitcher Julian Aguiar.

He’s talented, throws hard and believe he will play a huge role on the team this season.

“This team has a lot of young guys so we have a chance to be special on the mound,” Warriors’ coach Grant Palmer said.

ECC committed the fewest errors as a team (42) in the SCC. The team led the conference in

RBI’s (277) and walks (222). They finished second in runs scored (306), doubles (86), home runs (21) and third in hits (457).

The goal for the team every year is to win the conference and win the championship but the team has to “take it one day at a time,” Palmer said.

ECC is losing players from last season’s team to four-year colleges.

The Warriors will be without five regulars from last season’s starting lineup.

Warriors’ top hitter and first baseman Spencer Palmer has transferred to Virginia Tech.

Outfielder Joseph Borges has transferred to California State University of Dominguez Hills, while fellow outfielder Ty Conrad has transferred to the University of St. Mary’s.

Shortstop Taishi Nakawake has transferred to the University of California Irvine. Nakawake won the second American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Gold Glove Award in the ECC baseball program history.

Second baseman and pitcher Spencer Long, who led the team in saves, has transferred to San Jose State University.

“I don’t think it is going to matter which guys we lost,” Warriors’ infielder and pitcher Julian Diaz

said. “We know we will win a lot of ballgames because of our pitching and defense.”

Diaz appeared in the most games (15 appearances) among all returning pitchers on staff besides Galicia and Orozco.

“I can improve my all around game by just staying patient and not letting the big moment get to me,” Diaz said. “On the mound, I just got to keep throwing strikes and keep the ball down.”

Alarcon is returning after a 2019 sabbatical season in which he did not play. In 2018, he had a .328 batting average, 13 doubles, five home runs and finished fifth in the SCC with 37 RBI’s.

“After being gone for a while, I have had to focus on my timing and rhythm to get back to where I was,” Alarcon said. “Anyone on the team is as good as the next guy.”

Alarcon won a gold glove at second base in 2018, being the first player in ECC baseball program history, even though he was playing out of position and filling a need for the team. “[Moving to third base is] nothing too different for me,” Alarcon said.

“We have a great team, you can’t focus on any one guy because we have a deep roster.”

2019 Season Team Stat Leaders

Hitting (min 100 at-bats)

Name Spencer Long

AB AVG H HR RBI R 191 .215 41 3 35 29

Ty Conrad

190 .242 46

2

25 25

Joseph Borges

189 .339 64

4

45

Spencer Palmer

175 .331

58

3

41 44

Matt Beserra

168 .256

43

4

29 27

Taishi Nakawake

168 .298

50

1

23 34

Aaron Orozco

157 .318

50

2

36 30

Logan Young

102 .304

31

0

Name Jimmy Galicia

APP IP W K SV 18 122 13 83 1

Pitching

39

9

18

Aaron Orozco

17

111.2 12 114

Spencer Long

16

34.1

2

40

11

Julian Diaz

15

22.2

3

10

2

Max Pappas

13

84.2

7

61

0

Garrett Spicuzza

12

24.1

2

17

0

Nathan Draves

9

19.1

1

10

0

Joseph Brazil

5

5

0

2

0

Zach Findlay

5

5

0

5

0

Source: eccwarriors.com

0