Volume 59, Issue 1 — May 14, 2024

Students walk out for Gaza

De Anza students walk out in support of Palestine on May 9.

By Xitlaly Martinez and Allan Galeana

LA VOZ STAFF

Around 60 protesters gathered in De Anza College’s main quad on May 9 for a “Walkout & Art Build for Palestine” event.

The group held Palestinian flags, keffiyehs – traditional Palestinian headdresses – and signs calling for the end of the United States’ aid

to Israel.

“I think that the diversity in this walkout is beautiful and I think it’s a show of humanity, empathy and acknowledging a humanitarian cause,” a speaker from the Muslim Student Association said to those who gathered. Protests on college campuses across America are calling for divestments of weapons manufacturers and a ceasefire in Gaza. This

event aimed to pressure the administration to speak about Palestine, said Xitlaly, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation who declined to give their last name.

“We are demanding that De Anza pass a ceasefire resolution, as we know they have spoken about Ukraine, so we know they can say something about Palestine,” the Xitlaly said.

The De Anza Student Government issued a statement condemning violations of international law in regards to the war in Ukraine, previously. Since March 2, 2022, De Anza’s website links resources to extend humanitarian aid for people in the Ukraine.

Continued on page 2

District reallocates $20 million from De Anza Events Center to Foothill Dental Hygiene Clinic

By Shreya Rallabandi LA VOZ STAFF

Of $75 million designated for a De Anza Event Center to replace the Flint Center, $20 million has been allocated to Foothill College’s dental clinic. The decision was made during the May 6 FoothillDe Anza Community College Board of Trustees meeting.

The remaining $55 million, taken from the

Measure G fund, was allocated for De Anza priorities.

The decision includes an understanding that the district has the right to reallocate $200 million designated to employee and student affordable housing to additional infrastructure needs “if and when the need arises,” Board President Peter Landsberger said.

Continued on page 2

Part-time faculty treated as second-class citizens

By Leila Salam LA VOZ STAFF

When students take a class, many of them don’t stop to think about whether their instructor is part-time or full-time. However, though the quality of the professor isn’t necessarily different, the way parttime faculty are treated varies wildly from their full-time counterparts.

“We have one group of faculty who are paid pretty well and have a lot of prestige and a lot of tenure protections and then we have part-time faculty who do not (have those things),” said John Fox, a former De Anza part-time faculty member and current Foothill fulltime sociology instructor.

“I don’t think the students really know about the inequities (part-time faculty experience).”

In the Foothill-De Anza district, and in higher education across the country, part-time faculty currently make up the majority of faculty, part-time anthropology and gender studies professor Daniel Solomon said. The stated goal in California, as part of Assembly Bill 1725, passed in 1989, is for 75% of instruction to be covered by full-time faculty and 25% by part-timers. At FHDA, part-time faculty make up 63% of all faculty, according to data from Faculty Association office manager Susanne Elwell. The Faculty Association is FHDA’s faculty union. As far as instruction, part-time faculty teach just over 50% of credit courses, chief FA negotiator Kathy Perino said.

Continued on page 3

PHOTO BY LION KIM PARK

Students and faculty from Foothill’s dental hygiene and dental assistance programs wear purple masks to the board meeting.

PHOTO BY ANN PENALOSA

2 NEWS

MAY 14, 2024

Walkout continued from page 1.

Protesterss were centered in the designated free speech area of campus in front of the fountain that speakers used as a stage. Spectators could be seen in the shaded areas of the nearby buildings and under the trees of the Student Center.

Dan Gotesdyner, 19, a computer science major, had been a spectator and referenced posters that were more sturdily made, suggesting that they do not come from De Anza.

“Outside agitation is a big factor in these protests across the country”, said Gotesdyner. “So these are outside people.”

In collaboration with Stanford University’s pro-Palestine protest, the “Walkout and Art Build for Palestine” pledged to create signs for their cause after the conclusion of the speeches.

Henry Bernard, 19, graphic design was viewing the protest and expressed interest in people’s perspectives and how many had shown up.

“I think it’s good for people to take a stance because it opens up dialogue,” says Bernard. “So they might figure out, hey Palestinians, they’re not so different from you and me.”

Organizer Lia Washington, 19, political science major, had stated the significance of this protest since it was one of the first times the Black Student Union, International Relations Advocacy Club and MSU collaborated for a protest.

She goes on to say the main focus of this protest was to find comfort in

District continued from page 1.

Joel Cadiz, executive director of facilities and operations for the district, presented on the current Measure G fund distribution. As of April 22, 1% of the allocated funds had been spent on administrative costs and feasibility studies for the proposed projects. Cadiz said the original funds lose value daily because of inflation.

During the May 6 meeting, more than 25 people including local dentists and dental patients, students and faculty of the dental program, community advocates and community college alumni, voiced their opinions on reallocating the Measure G funds to Foothill’s dental hygiene clinic, De Anza’s priorities or elsewhere.

Those pushing for funds to be allocated to Foothill’s dental hygiene clinic said the existing clinic is important for equipping students with practical experience and provides affordable care to the surrounding community. It is currently inadequate as it allows for sensitive patient information to be overheard because of its cramped size, reducing students’ effectiveness not being able to store certain equipment. The clinic is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act as well.

Elizabeth Robertson, a part-time instructor in the dental assistance program, said she began teaching on Saturdays because the small clinic size does not allow for balancing the needs of patients and students.

“Members of the local community who voted on Measure G are treated at this clinic, and I believe that updating the space is a way to demonstrate that the district is committed to bettering the experience of its students and residents alike which could promote further financial support in the future,”

Lydia Zertuche, a first-year student in the dental hygiene program, said.

Commenters advocating for funds allocated to De Anza’s arts and infrastructure petitioned the board to consider the recommendation of the Measure G Task Force, a group of students, faculty and classified professionals created in 2022 to factor community input into a comprehensive plan. They pushed

one another and to try to heal.

“With everything going on in the world and seeing the atrocities and

things that are happening, it’s really important for us not just to stand together in solidarity but also to be able

to find closure. Seeing a lot of the gruesome things that happen, it can callous us and desensitize how we’re

for a flexible event space at De Anza in place of the Flint Center. She also said De Anza students had been speaking at board meetings on this topic for the past two years.

“The Task Force’s initial recommendation was received very warmly by the board,” Isabel Caballero-Texiera, De Anza student and member of the Measure G Task Force, said in an interview with La Voz. “There was a lack of communication in terms of the funds being reallocated. We were never told it was going to happen — that wasn’t by the board, that was by our administration — but while there was no vote, there was a community consensus that (De Anza) had the money because there were never any talks of reallocation until recently.”

As the board deliberated, trustees disagreed upon whether or not De Anza was promised the $75 million, with trustees Casas and Landsberger saying that no formal commitments

were made and student trustee Gomez Tagle maintaining otherwise.

Erik Woodbury, president of De Anza’s Academic Senate, told the board that it had changed its mind and chose to deny the Measure G task force’s “good faith negotiation” — the task force’s understanding that their allocation plan would be implemented by the district.

Woodbury also noted that, of the distribution going to De Anza in the motion on the table, $30 million would be overseen by facilities on the district level and $20 million would go to a flexible space addendum: De Anza would not have a say in the spending.

“Speaking as the president of the Academic Senate, if you’re wondering why we can’t have more people from De Anza here, it’s because they were here over the last two years and they have lost faith,” Woodbury said. “They don’t believe you’ll listen to them. Because they’ve

done that already. This isn’t just about me. This is about fairness. I ask you to consider the number of De Anza community members that you’ve seen in this chamber as they ran that marathon in comparison to the people sprinting here today,” referring to the people advocating for Foothill’s dental hygienist and assistance programs.

Woodbury shared the Measure G Task Force’s statement asking the board to consider as much of the proposed Measure G plan as possible, which had garnered around 75 to 80 signatures.

Trustees Laura Casas, Pearl Cheng, Gilbert Wong, Landsberger and De Anza Student Trustee Javier Gomez Tagle voted in favor of this motion. Trustee Patrick Ahrens and Foothill Student Trustee Nicole Nguyen voted against it.

In addition to allocating funds, the Measure G decision also made the $200 million designated to affordable housing — a designation that had

feeling. It’s important to heal together and also be able to then be able to come together.,” Washington said.

been made clear in the ballot measure district voters voted on, community member Rhoda Fry said — is vulnerable to future infrastructure spending.

In an interview with La Voz after the board meeting, Landsberger, who proposed to expose the $200 million, shared that the board’s decision is a priority readjustment.

“If we end up in a situation where we have networking equipment that’s underwater and therefore out of commission, and no money to address that, that’s as bad as anything. We’ve admitted, essentially, that some of these long-ignored infrastructure issues may need to push out some of our ability to address what we think is the other important priority of housing,” Landsberger said. “That’s all we decided. We just acknowledged that it’s vulnerable, too, just like everything else.”

On the item of building student and employee housing, the board approved the staff recommendation of student housing near De Anza’s campus and district employee housing on Foothill’s campus.

The board also approved the De Anza Student Government and ASFC budgets, two new gender-neutral bathrooms at Foothill and a new Vice Chancellor for Organizational Effectiveness and Engagement position. The meeting was the last for Javier Gomez Tagle, the De Anza student trustee, and Nicole Nguyen, the Foothill student trustee, and both were recognized by the board.

Trustees also voiced concerns that both colleges were feeling pitted against one another and stressed the urgency of finalizing a decision.

“There’s a second portion to a lot of the public comment which is not being heard that I want to make sure everyone is aware of. You’re asking us to fund your programs, but you’re asking us to cut somewhere else. We need to be intellectually honest with these decisions,” Ahrens said. “Whatever decision the board ultimately makes is not because we don’t support the arts or we don’t support the dental hygienist program. We support all of our students and we’re trying to do the most with very limited resources.”

Students take part in a walkout protest held in the library quad, calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel amid the ongoing siege in Gaza on May 9.

PHOTO BY FRANK MAYERS

Isabel Caballero Teixeira, 27, a biology major, reminds the board of De Anza’s arts program’s infrastructure needs during public comment on May 6.

PHOTO BY ANN PENALOSA

Auto Tech Car Show roars to life, continuing its 10-year tradition

Corvettes, Mazdas and other exotic cars line Lot E

By Danielius Maslovskis LA VOZ STAFF

If you were awake from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on April 20, you may have been fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of polished bonnets and tires, or hear the roar of souped-up engines as the Auto Tech Club and local car enthusiasts set up for the annual car show in Lot E on the De Anza campus.

Continuing the near decade-long tradition of car shows held by the Auto Tech Club, this year’s turnout was nothing to scoff at. From famous historic racing cars to street cult classics to the new generation of supercars, this car show had something for everyone.

Many of the cars shown at the event were personal cars of Auto Tech Club members, but it wasn’t always like this.

Dre Scardina, a recent graduate of the Auto Tech program and now a lab assistant, said that this year was different compared to car shows in recent years, which saw smaller

Part-time faculty continued from page 1.

Part-time political science professor Ishmael Tarikh said that part-time faculty are the “workhorses” of the community college system. This is because they carry a significant amount of the instructional work, though the benefits and pay they receive don’t necessarily match that, Tarikh said.

“The system comes to a screeching halt as far as instruction is concerned if we don’t work,” Tarikh said.

Rather than having adjuncts be a supplement to full-time faculty, they have become a replacement for fulltime faculty, Solomon said.

“It makes more sense if your bottom line is how much productivity (you’re getting from the) money you’re spending. Part-timers are really productive,” Solomon said. “With that logic in mind, the trend, since at least the 1980s, has been to not hire full-timers. And then in order to make up the teaching, they’ll hire a parttimer, (which is) a bargain. The trend has been to emphasize productivity, de-emphasize service to students and de-emphasize having faculty who can give students the attention and care that they need.”

Part-time faculty are considered a “bargain” is because they are paid less and receive less benefits from the district: part-time faculty are paid around 85% of what their peers with similar education and experience receive per class, Solomon said.

“There is no less quality of instruction for a part-time faculty member than a full-time faculty member,” Tarikh said. “But the pay is not in parity.”

In the early 2000s, California required districts to negotiate and define what they consider to be parity — or equality — of pay between full-timers and part-timers, Perino said. FHDA and FA negotiated a goal of 87.5% pay for part-timers compared to fulltimers and has since progressed closer to that goal — at 85%, having started at 70% in 2006. Additionally, FA has negotiated for increased opportunities for part-time faculty to get raises, as they have eight years — or eight “steps” — where they can get raises. Full-timers have 13 years where they are eligible for raises.

“We have a part-time salary issue as part of every yearly proposal,” Perino said.

Solomon, who is also an assistant negotiator for FA, said the negotiations process is delicate and union negotia-

turnouts than pre-COVID.

“Before COVID it was like we had lost our way,” Scardina said. “But since then we’ve seen more and more students show up.”

One of the first things one might have noticed upon entering is the lineup of three impressive-looking cars: a purple Dodge Dart sporting drag radials, a red Datsun 510 built for autocross and a Mercedes-Benz 190e built to look like a factory race car, all sporting De Anza auto tech livery.

Another aspect of the show is that most of these cars are ready for students to race.

Bill Wishert, an instructor at the auto tech program, personally owns one of these track-ready cars and was willing to share some info regarding who gets to race the Dart and 510 in their respective events.

Wishert mentioned that a group of 14 first and second year students from the auto tech program are chosen when they decide to take these cars out.

Although the 190e is currently experiencing a few issues in the engine

tors have to be conservative with what they ask for, as heavy demands may actually end up stunting progress. Negotiations are also limited by budget constraints from both the governor’s budget and the state chancellor.

Part-time faculty are allowed to work up to 67% of a full-time faculty load per district per year, according to the FA webpage.

Because of the cap on the number of classes a part-timer can teach in one district, many part-time faculty do what is referred to as “freeway flying” — they teach in multiple districts at once, flying across freeways to different districts so they can “cobble together a living,” Solomon said.

The actual freeway flying has been reduced to some degree post-COVID for those who have started to teach online, because of higher demand for online classes, Solomon said.

Solomon teaches at both De Anza and Cabrillo colleges in order to afford living in the Bay Area. He said he teaches 67% of a full-time load at De Anza and 40% of a full-time load at Cabrillo.

Solomon said the overwhelming class load makes it difficult to pay attention to students and be accessible as a professor.

Some part-time faculty teach in order to supplement other income. For example, Tarikh is primarily an attorney, but he is also an instructor.

Tarikh said that not being primarily a professor allows him to be a louder voice against injustices part-time faculty face, because he is less concerned about retaliation than his colleagues who are hoping for a full-time position.

Though colleges depend on parttime faculty, they are given little job security as they are only hired term by term — from one quarter to another. Part-timers may not know whether or not they will have classes to instruct, and additionally, when there are budget crises and layoffs, part-time faculty are the first to go, Fox said.

These impacts to part-time faculty are looming because of the current declining enrollment trend, which is being caused by a number of economic factors discouraging people from going to college, Tarikh said. This lack of job security gives parttimers less power to complain about their circumstances because they are considered easily replaceable, Tarikh said.

“We’re (viewed as) interchangeable parts. There’s always going to be

bay, the Auto Tech Club has plans on fixing it up and using it for racing events. This comes as a surprise for many auto tech students considering the 190e had been a showpiece inside the garage.

The car show has become a staple for Auto Tech members, both current

and past, and is a place where different generations can come and bond over a common interest.

Chris Tkach, a 2019 graduate of the Auto Tech program, came back this year with SakeBomb Garage and was able to advertise the business during the car show. They brought

Part-time faculty make up the majority of faculty in the Foothill-De Anza district, according to data from Faculty Association office manager Susanne Elwell.

someone vying for the job you may complain about,” Tarikh said.

Foothill-De Anza is “one of the nicer districts to work in as a part-time faculty member,” Solomon said. Parttime faculty in other states have even poorer conditions, with about a quarter of part-time faculty members living in poverty, according to a study by the American Federation of Teachers.

Solomon said one thing that makes life difficult as a career part-time professor is having fewer benefits such as less coverage for health insurance premiums — typically around 60% to 80% covered by the district for those who qualify, meaning those who teach at least four classes per year — whereas full-time faculty have 85% of their health insurance premiums covered in addition to dental and eyecare. Parttime faculty are not covered for dental care, Solomon said.

Part-time faculty are also not eligible to go on sabbatical, which is paid time off to do research or professional development work — work that helps many faculty advance in their career, Solomon said. Full-time faculty are eligible for sabbatical after assuming the role for six years, Solomon said.

Solomon said this becomes a vicious loop where part-time faculty continuously work and crank out classes, but are not able to advance in their career because they are not given time to cultivate the skills they would need to do so.

Solomon said this lack of time also impacts his ability to update lectures

and labs for some of his online classes, which presents a negative impact for his students.

“Just not having a place to talk privately with students is a huge deal,” Fox said. “For part-time faculty, that’s harder to do.”

There is a part-time faculty office on the De Anza campus in what used to be the wine cellar, below the financial aid office. However, this office space came as the result of part-time faculty’s complaints for years, Tarikh said.

Fox said that instances such as this give part-time faculty the message they do not belong, which impacts students as well.

“Students will stay and succeed if they feel like they belong at the institution. If we could get everybody feeling like they belong, then they’ll stay, they’ll persist, they’ll succeed,” Fox said. “But if part-time faculty are always getting the message that they don’t belong, how are they going to deliver that message to the students?”

There are several proposed solutions to part-time faculty’s current experiences and treatment, Fox said.

One solution, Tarikh said, is for shared governance to properly include part-time faculty.

Tarikh said another solution is for the FA and other unions across the state to express stronger support for part-timers.

“I’m rather convinced that the FA union does not properly prioritize the interest of part-time faculty, even

along many cult classics and timeless pieces of history, including Mazda Rx-7s, Honda S2000s, Mazda MX-5 Miatas and even one of the first Mazdas fitted with a Mazda Wenkel rotary engine, the Cosmo.

The show will continue next year for more car enthusiasts to enjoy.

though part-time faculty are approximately 60% of the faculty in the district,” Tarikh said.

Another priority issue Tarikh said is in need of more union support is to increase the 67% unit cap for part-time faculty.

“Part-time faculty don’t like that across the board,” Tarikh said. “It’s been overwhelming support to raise that cap to 80%.”

There have been two times in recent years that a bill to raise the unit cap to 85% has made it through the California state assembly and state senate, only to be vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom both times, Tarikh said.

“I am convinced that he would not feel comfortable to do (that) if organized labor (the unions) were more robust in fighting for that very important issue for part-time faculty,” Tarikh said.

A broad solution Fox has been working on with the Faculty Association of California Community Colleges is establishing what is called the “one-tier” system — part-time and full-time faculty would have the same pay grades and benefits, only with different contracts depending on how many classes they teach, Fox said.

Under the one-tier model, all faculty would be hired the same way, they would all go through the tenure process and they would all be expected to do service to the college through shared governance work, Fox said.

The FACCC board has recently voted in support of a one-tier model, following the California Federation of Teachers which is another one of the dominant unions in California that represent community college faculty, Fox said.

Actually implementing this solution will be a long process, Fox said — the district that initially implemented this model, Vancouver community college district, took 20 years to do so.

Even though implementing a one-tier system will likely be a long process, Fox said he thinks it is possible.

“It can be done and if we have the will, it will be done,” Fox said. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but everybody really benefits if we do; students, faculty. We have nothing to lose for the world to win.”

A line of supercars drive through the Auto Tech Show on April 20.

PHOTO BY GRAYSON KUNZ

INFOGRAPHIC BY LEILA SALAM

A western honeybee drinks nectar from a coyote mint flower in the Cheeseman Environmental Studies Area at De Anza College on May 8.

HIDDEN OASIS

Cheeseman Environmental Studies Area reopens its gates to students

A monarch butterfly stops for a meal on a showy milkweed plant. Butterfly waystations are spread throughout California, containing native plants to help support the migration of endangered monarch butterflies.

By Frank Mayers LA VOZ STAFF

Nestled at the south end of campus, spread across 1.5 acres, next to the Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies, the Cheeseman Environmental Studies Area offers an oasis of greenery for students and wildlife.

The arboretum has reopened to students following a refurbishment project undertaken by De Anza environmental studies students. The project spanned over nine months, leading to the reopening of the area at the start of the spring quarter of 2024.

The garden was revived with over 400 varieties of plants native to California and divided into 12 distinct biomes from throughout the state, offering students a unique hands-on and on-site field for research.

Thanks to its array of native flowering plants, pollinators such as honeybees, hummingbirds and endangered monarch butterflies benefit as well.

The Cheeseman ESA is open to all students from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Fridays.

“Some 400 species of plants representing 12 California natural communities.”

De Anza ESA webpage

Resting in the leaves, a baseball now resides in the ESA after escaping the baseball diamond as a foul ball.

The gates to the Cheeseman ESA sit open, welcoming students in following a prolonged refurbishment project.

As a part of the 12 biomes represented, a waterfall and stream run through the ESA, supplying trees, plants and animals with fresh, running water.

Perched near the desert biome, an Anna's hummingbird takes a rest.

Track & Field team prepare for 3C2A State Championships

By Anthony Politi LA VOZ STAFF

The De Anza men’s track and field team recently captured its first NorCal Championship in school history, while the women’s track and field placed third at the event. The accomplishments have the athletes excited for their next competition.

According to the De Anza College Athletics website, there were three student Day 1 NorCal champions, including Liam Brennan (discus), Kai Burich (hammer throw) and Joselin Joya Camacho (10k).

The Day 2 NorCal champions included Antoine Moret (steeplechase) and Brennan (shot put).

The De Anza men’s track and field team finished with a score of 112 points, maintaining first place and beating Modesto Junior College with 104 points. The De Anza women’s track and field team finished with a score of 77 points, capturing third place, according to the college’s website.

The athletes are looking forward to competing at the 3C2A State Championships, which is a competition under the California Community College Athletic Association and it will take place on Friday, May 17 and Saturday, May 18 at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo.

Other students who have qualified for the 3C2A championships include Jeff O’Brien (discus and javelin), Amariah Davidson (long jump, 400 and 4x100 relay team), Antoine Moret (10k, 5k and steeplechase), Ningning O’Brien

(discus and hammer throw), Daniel Chen (110HH), Sam Betz (javelin), James Estrella (steeplechase), Mia Tarkington (800), Jacky Velasquez (steeplechase), Felicity Alvarado (4x100 relay team), Marissa Windham (4x100 relay team) and K’Jada Cayetano (4x100 relay team).

Ningning O’Brien, 18, a psychology major who will be competing in the 3C2A championships for discus and hammer throw, said her game took

off this season.

“My personal favorite moment would be hitting my personal record,” O’Brien said. “It just gave me a lot hope for the rest of the season.”

O’Brien is the women’s track and field discus champion, and placed sixth in hammer throw at the 2024 Coast Conference. She recently announced on Instagram that she is committing to UC Riverside.

Eion Daley, 21, a kinesiology major and track runner, said one of

Coach Profile: Joseph Berticevich

By Daniel Maslovskis LA VOZ STAFF

It's not easy to leave when you're at the top of your game. But for De Anza's incoming men's basketball coach Joseph Berticevich, it seemed like an easy decision to make.

Coming from a 30-year tenure as a varsity men’s basketball coach at Pioneer High School in San Jose, Berticevich took the school to the CIF-Central Coast Section qualifiers 25 out of 27 years, advancing to the semifinals five of those years.

Berticevich said he has a lot of history with the De Anza community. Growing up in Cupertino, he attended Prospect High School in Saratoga, where he played basketball, and during the summer he would attend sports camps held by De Anza’s previous basketball

coach, Frank Nunez.

While playing basketball for West Valley College, Berticevich would be pitted against Coach Nunez’s squad until his graduation. They would later become colleagues when Berticevich began his coaching career in 1993 as a junior varsity basketball coach for Los Gatos High School. Later in 1997, he took up the mantle of varsity coach for Pioneer.

After making the switch from coaching at the high school level, Berticevich said he immediately noticed that community college athletes are quicker, faster and more physically and mentally mature.

“It’s just going to be fun,” Berticevich said.

Although Berticevich stepped down from the position as Pioneer’s varsity basketball coach, he retains

his teaching duties at the school. He plans to achieve his lifelong aspiration of coaching at De Anza.

“It had to be a special situation, and De Anza fits that.”

Joeseph Berticevich

“It had to be a special situation,” Berticevich said. “and De Anza fits that.”

Berticevich plans to recruit and train with his new team until their season starts again in September,

his mentality is his biggest obstacle.

“Having to perform at such a high level and really only having one opportunity,” Betz said. “I think that is the biggest obstacle in the way.”

Betz said his main goal is to win a state title.

“If I win a state title, it would obviously be a big deal. That’s the goal,” Betz said. “At this point, I’m just preparing and doing my best to get to that point.”

Mari Davidson, 21, a psychology major and hurdle runner – who will be competing in the 3C2A championships in the long jump, 400 and 4x100 relay team – has been challenged with different obstacles throughout the season, including an injury.

“I actually injured my hamstring in the first meet of the season,” Davidson said. “So really, I was my own biggest obstacle because I sort of got in my own head about it.”

Mateo Garcia, 18, history major and thrower, said the biggest difficulty with school and sports is mental health.

the ways he keeps his teammates and himself motivated is by having fun.

“It’s a tough environment at times, but it’s a lot tougher if you make it tough on yourself by taking things too seriously,” Daley said. “I’m not saying don’t take things seriously, but there’s a time to joke around and there’s a time to have fun too.”

Sam Betz, 20, a business administration major who will be competing in the 3C2A championships for javelin, feels that

“Just trying to find time to like decompress mentally after a day is difficult at times cause I’m always pretty cooked,” Garcia said.

K’Jada Cayetano, 22, a criminal justice major who will be competing in the 3C2A championships in 4x100 relay team, said she will continue the same path of preparation that got her to compete at the NorCal.

“Pretty much doing what I got to do, listening to my coaches, focusing on my form in whatever events I do,” Cayetano said. “Because I do a lot of them (events).”

with their first game on Nov. 7.

“I’ve only been on this job for about a month so we’re still recruiting hard,” Berticevich said. “We’re getting to bring in a lot of people and a lot of potential Mountain Lions in the summer and then competition.”

Some members of Pioneer’s varsity team decided to follow their lauded coach to De Anza to play under his leadership a little longer.

Current students throughout De Anza have also been talking about his recent arrival.

Cesar Ordaz, 20, a business and administration major and member of the De Anza soccer team was happy that there is such an experienced addition to the athletics department.

“It’s good that he decided to transfer here, sounds like he’s very good,” Ordaz said.

Coach Berticevich fires up the basketball team before practice on May 9.

Mylinh Tang, 19, cognitive science major and Liam Brennan, 18, business management major practice discus before a meet on April 25.

PHOTO BY XITLALY MARTINEZ

PHOTO BY LION KIM PARK

Coach Berticevich in his office before practice on May 9.

PHOTO BY LION KIM PARK

A night of comedy to celebrate who?

By Ebony Campbell

There are people fighting for their lives in the Palestine-Israel war, as politicians and journalists share a night filled with laughs, with no support to either side.

The White House Correspondents Dinner is always filled with comedy. However, President Joe Biden is a politician and real world issues should always be his primary concern. The dinner failed to mention any real issues the world is facing. Biden’s speech at the dinner was filled with clever roasts and insensitive jokes.

In light of International Workers Day being on May 1, Biden made a crack about jobs. He talked about how he’s had eight comedians play him on “Saturday Night Live” and said, “who the hell says I'm not a real job creator.”

In a time when people are struggling to find and keep jobs that don’t pay enough to sustain their families, it’s no time to make a mockery of this.

According to an NBC News article by J.J. McCorvey, people are struggling to find work.

He mentioned that if former President Donald Trump wins the election again this year, he will become a dictator as soon as his presidency begins.

“Eight years ago you could have written it off as just Trump talk, But no longer not after January 6,” Biden said. “I'm sincerely not asking of you to take sides but asking but asking (you) to rise up to the seriousness of the moment.”

He isn’t asking anyone to pick a side between him and Trump. He asked that everyone stay away from distractions that “sensationalize our politics.”

Biden’s comedic routine was targeted to the 1% as well as

By Ann Penalosa

LA VOZ STAFF

people who don't see any areas of improvement for the United States. He had no mention of the Palestine-Israel war.

Colin Jost. a comedian and writer for “Saturday Night Live,” ended the dinner, actually addressing real issues. He lightly touched upon the recession and the crashing economy, saying Biden is doing his best.

“Obama got us out of a recession, Biden got us out of a pandemic,” Jost said.

He also briefly mentioned abortion laws.

“The candidate who is a famous New York City playboy took abortion rights away,” Jost said. “And the guy who is trying to give you your abortion rights back is an 80-year-old Catholic.”

Although it was a joke, Jost made it known people's concerns were actually being heard.

However, Jost made a joke about his “Weekend Update” co-anchor Michael Che and told him to say, “in solidarity with President Biden, I decided to lose all my Black support.”

As a black woman, I found it very distasteful and did not enjoy the joke. It seemed like he hid behind Che and It put Black Americans in a category apart from the rest of America.

Jost made another joke mentioning the war in Gaza, by calling Columbia University a “dangerous hotspot,” in regards to the pro-Palestine encampment.

He said, “the Correspondents Association provides scholarships to promising young journalism students who may one day be sent off to cover dangerous geological hotspots like Columbia University.”

Gaza was mentioned only a couple of times throughout the dinner, but none of the speakers sent out support to either side.

According to the U.S. department of state website, “Americans and Israelis are united by our shared commitment to democracy, economic prosperity, and regional security. The unbreakable bond between our two countries has never been stronger.”

The U.S. Department of State website also states, “The Major Non-NATO Ally designation is a powerful symbol of the close relationship the United States shares with those countries and demonstrates our deep respect for the friendship for the countries to which it is extended.”

Tens of thousands of Americans are protesting pro-Palestine. Our governors and entertainers are refusing to show their stance because of the major non-NATO alliance between America and Israel.

COLUMBIA CLASH

There’s a saying in journalism — “If one source says it’s raining and the other source says it isn’t, it’s not a journalist’s responsibility to quote them both. It’s their responsibility to look out the window and report the truth.”

And the truth is that it is raining hard. Israel, with the United States’s full blessing, is raining bombs, missiles and bullets on the people of Palestine, especially the people of Gaza.

This is as clear-cut of a genocide as it gets, yet the Associated Press and most institutions — including De Anza College, Foothill College and the Foothill-De Anza District leadership — refuse to acknowledge it as such.

What’s worse is that on top of this, higher education institutions are outright funding Israel through their investments and partnerships.

According to a resolution from the De Anza Student Government, the Foothill-De Anza district in particular holds ties with Israel, from its long-standing partnership with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise — which provides surveillance technology to Israel, which then uses it to conduct mass surveillance and policing of Palestinians — to Lockheed Martin, which manufactures the very planes and bombs that Israel uses to conduct its airstrikes and level entire city blocks in Gaza.

The De Anza Student Government has already called these ties out in 2017 and 2021, with resolutions calling for divestment and standing with the people of Palestine — which administration and district leadership have conveniently ignored.

Additionally, the district manages its assets and investments through the Vanguard Group — an investment firm with large stakes in Israel’s stateowned holding company, as well as weapons manufacturers like Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics — and there is no clear disclosure as to where its money is going or what it holds stakes in.

The student movement — whether it comes in the form of encampments, people’s universities or mass rallies — aims to call attention to ties such as these, as well as calling out those who ignore the genocide but are in an uproar over the protests.

After all, if those people can ignore the genocide of Palestinians in real time for half a year, they can also ignore the encampments and the student movement in solidarity with Palestine. When the student movement bothers people more than the genocide that the student movement is meant to call attention to, those people don’t want peace — they want silence.

The movement has faced police repression and

violence, from tear gas and misleadingly named “rubber bullets” to assault and battery with batons, mace and tasers — yet the encampments stand.

Zionists argue that these actions inherently threaten the safety of Jewish students on campus, despite Jewish students with organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow taking part in encampments across the nation and hosting seder dinners over the first two nights of Passover, from Yale to Berkeley.

Meanwhile, our colleagues in Gaza — students, workers, educators, doctors, journalists — are either lying dead or awaiting the massacre in Rafah, and it seems to not bother them at all since there is an underground Hamas base under the entire Gaza strip, and that somehow justifies Israel’s policy of poisoning the ground with saltwater by flooding tunnels, bombing the strip into rubble and shooting everything that moves — including the very hostages that Israel is using as justification to prolong the genocide, despite Hamas agreeing to several conditions to ceasefire.

As Israel moves into Rafah with bombs and on foot, there is nowhere for the 1.4 million Palestinians trapped in the city to go.

After all, what good is an evacuation order when there is literally nowhere to evacuate to, after Israel has bombed everything else into rubble? Calling for a ceasefire and calling what’s happening right now what it is — a genocide — is the bare minimum.

Our district has shown it can divest, like it did from fossil fuel corporations in 2013. Students at University of California, Riverside and California State University, Sacramento have shown that they have the collective power to make demands of their administration; it’s time for De Anza and Foothill’s students to demand that the district and administration call the Palestinian genocide what it is, then divest from corporations that directly arm and fund it.

Encampments at Columbia University endanger Jewish students

By Amit Cohen LA VOZ STAFF

The safety of Jewish students has been compromised ever since Columbia University President Minouche Shafik spoke at an April 17 congressional hearing about antisemitism at campus. Since then, protests at the university, as well as across the nation have flamed up. Recently at Yale University, Sahar Tarak, the editorin-chief at The Yale Free Press, was stabbed in the eye by a Palestinian flag, according to the New York Post. Similar to Yale, tensions at Columbia flamed up, led by Columbia’s Students for Justice for Palestine, an organization that “stands in full solidarity” in regard to the attacks on Oct. 7 by Hamas, which is a designated terrorist organization in the United States.

In an Oct. 8, 2023 opinion article on Electronic Intifada, an online Chicago-based publication covering the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, tenured Columbia professor Joseph Massad used words including ”astonishing, astounding, awesome and incredible” to describe the Oct. 7 attacks. Massad described the massacre at Nova, the butchering in the Kibbutzim, the raping of women, the murder of the elderly, the kidnapping of those like Noa Argamani and Shlomo Mansour and the body of Shani Louk as “incredible.”

According to an April 30 New York Post article, protesters at Columbia University blocked students that weren’t pro-Palestine from entering their dining halls and classes. It draws parallels to when students in Nazi-occupied Vienna blocked entry for Jews into Vienna University.

With phrases such as “We are Hamas,” “Never forget (Oct. 7). That will happen not once… but 10,000 times” and praise for the Al-Qassam Brigades — the military wing of Hamas — at Columbia, can these protests really be called peaceful? The answer lies within the school’s policy.

Columbia’s school policy says, ”Columbia has an unfaltering commitment to ensuring the safety of our students and other community members at all times, including during protests and demonstrations.”

When Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the exodus story of Jews going to the promised land, came around, a campus rabbi told Jewish students to go remote as the university couldn’t guarantee their safety, according to an April 21 NBC news article on the topic. This shows that these protests violate Columbia’s own rules and policy about how an opinion may be expressed — the encampments jeopardize the safety of Jewish students at Columbia University

These actions received many reactions — from condemnations by New York Rep. Elise Stafanik and CEO of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, to condonement by Ayatollah, or Supreme Leader, of Iran Ali Khamenei, praising the students for using the flag of Hezbollah, an organization that has been launching rockets into the north of Israel since Oct 8.

How do the encampments and protests promote peaceful ideologies when they bear the flags of terrorist organizations that murder, kidnap and rape innocent civilians. The encampments are supported by a leader who turned his country backward by murdering women in cold blood for having their hair out and hanging those that want to speak freely off of cranes.

If one wants to protest the war, then that is their right, but not when they bear flags of terrorist organizations, chant slogans that are antisemitic and delegitimize the existence of the only Jewish state in the world.

The encampments don’t help anyone. They only worsen our society and put strain on the ability for us to humanize with one another and sit at the table for discussions. If you want society to be able to have a dialogue and understand each other, you must denounce these encampments and demand for open communication with authentic speakers from opposing viewpoints and not just token voices.

ILLUSTRATION BY GORDON YANG

Illustration of Colin Jost, comedian and writer on “Saturday Night Live,” and President Joe Biden.

Illustration of students protesting in tents outside Columbia University.

ILLUSTRATION BY GORDON YANG

Solidarity with the student intifada

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Vincent Scrivens

Managing Editor

Ann Penalosa

A&E and Feature Editor

Ingrid Lu

Opinion Editor

Sonny La

Multimedia Editor

Nello Puelles

Social Media Editor

Katrina Bui

Copy Editors

Leila Salam

Claire Mao

Joshua Hascall

Staff members

Ebony Campbell

Allan Galeana

Daniel Maslovskis

Marissa Rentschler

Alex Stoev

Anthony Politi

Xitlaly Martinez

Timothe Vachellerie

Freelancers

Marcela Letica Borges

Shreya Rallabandi

Sabrina Kulieva

Sarah Atito

Frank Mayers

Amit Cohen

Grayson Kunz

Gordon Yang

Brooklyn Coyle

Faculty Adviser

Farideh Dada

Office Managers

Ashley Love Djunaedi

Arushi Nirmal

About us

La Voz News has been written, edited and published by De Anza College students since 1967.

La Voz News is partially funded by the De Anza Student Government and is printed by the Folger Graphics Company.

Staff editorials reflect the opinions of the majority of the editorial board and not necessarily the views of the entire La Voz Staff.

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Traditional media must be upheld

In the face of bots and fake news, journalists remain truth’s most earnest defender

By La Voz Editorial Board

The rise of “fake news” has caused fears and concerns to permeate the realm of discourse, politics and culture for years now. Deliberate and malevolent misinformation has become a common practice online and continues to challenge truth.

With the decentralization of information, there is a return to form: in 1983, 90% of all media was controlled by 50 companies, now, only six companies control that same share.

This monopolistic overtaking of mass media is a problem within itself, but in the advent of social media, it led to a massive overcorrection that has exposed a significant vulnerability in the medium of journalism. While social media can be used to empower free speech, it can just as easily be used for malicious purposes because of its massive reach, low bar of entry and the lack of fact-checking needed to report and spread information.

On social media sites such as X, misinformation is 70% more likely to be shared than real news, according to MIT. X, in particular, allows users to be “verified” for $22 a month, which allows for longer posts and videos, and prioritization with replies.

This also allows people to abuse the blue-check mark status — a symbol once used to identify trustworthy and notable people — to spread misinformation and boost their platform.

Half of American adults get their news from social media, according to a 2023 report by the Pew Research Center.

This means that half of the United States’ voting population is exposed to this unfiltered source of information that informs their understanding of the world and influences their voting habits.

A study by NewsGuard found that almost three-fourths of users spreading incorrect information about the Israeli siege on Gaza were “verified users” on X.

Bots and AI generated content also flood these sites. Grok, X’s AI chatbot, has become infamous for generating false information which has misled people online, and according to ABC news, three-quarters of X’s traffic is fake.

Bots and unverified sources continue to harness and cultivate the attention of viewers; and when proven wrong, it is possible their audience will never hear of it and there will be no repercussions for their potentially

libelous and harmful actions.

These problems accentuate the vital importance of honest, qualified journalists who search for and provide indiscriminate truth.

All media suffers from the pitfalls of partisanship, bias and mistakes. These are an inevitability, but the motives of reporters and organizations with faces, names and public donation records can be easily discerned, and they can also be held accountable for the harm they may incur or inflict.

News from social media sites suffers the same flaws, though its intentions are far more easily veiled and it can often get away with their actions scot-free.

Journalism, be it commercial or student, must be uplifted in the face of misinformation.

This can be done even on social media by seeking out reputable sources of news, instead of only relying on X’s algorithm for information.

As discussed in La Voz’s previous editorial, local news organizations are dying, and traditional media outlets like them are some of the last footholds people have in acquiring reliable news and information.

If the value that traditional media provides is ignored and social media reporting continues to dominate the market, access to the truth will continue to dwindle.

Traditional media, run by actual people with real, discernIble ideas and motivations, must be upheld. There must be a cultural push to

forgo the easy access of news media curated by social media in favor of traditional, verified sources who stand for truth and authenticity.

The Power Cup collab experience

DASG, ICC, M@DA drinks review featuring a new fifth drink

By Ann Penalosa

For the spring quarter, Power Cup Coffee partnered with De Anza Student Government, the Inter-Club Council and Mentors at De Anza to push out four custom drinks; three bobas and one latte. While Power Cup took the drinks off their written menu on April 23, students can still order them by name as secret menu items, along with a fifth drink — Ted’s Windex — and more on their way. Roary’s Surprise

The only thing that surprised me about Roary’s Surprise was that our mascot has a name and that this drink was how I learned about it.

This drink tasted as amazing as it looked — it feels like something off of a cruise ship — the crystal jelly blended perfectly with the raspberry and pineapple.

DASG advertised this drink as “inspired by De Anza’s warm colors;” while De Anza doesn’t have the warmest of colors, this drink certainly does with its vibrant pink (in stark contrast to the school’s deep maroon).

As someone who’s used to chugging my drinks in half a minute between classes, my only complaint with the fizzy drink is that it took a lot longer to drink than the others.

Rating: 4.9/5

Price: $4.75

All-Nighter Boost

This mocha caramel latte is the least customized specialty drink and also the most expensive. As the only non-boba specialty drink on the menu, the All-Nighter Boost is an experience more consistent with the rest of Power Cup.

The drink isn’t anything new; it’s an espresso built for turning in work at 11:59 p.m. and powering through sleep deprivation. Nothing exceptional but great nonetheless.

This drink is accurate to the DASG experience, from powering through late night budget deliberation sessions to juggling committee responsibilities with class workloads.

Rating: 4.5/5

Price: $5.75

Sweet Citrus Splash

The Sweet Citrus Splash lives up to its name; it’s sweet, tangy and soothing. Neither the honey nor lemon overpowers the other and the strawberry popping boba gives the drink a unique texture, setting it apart from lemonade and boba.

Despite its amazing texture, the drink falls short of a lemon iced tea; it tastes exactly like a diluted honey lemon cough drop. That isn’t a bad thing — honey lemon cough drops taste amazing — but the drink doesn’t exactly stand out when it’s a weaker version of a taste I would associate with a sore throat.

I didn’t expect this drink to water down as quickly as it did; after leaving it alone for a few minutes, I got less “cough drop” and more “flavored water.” Chugging this drink gives its taste the best chance of staying intact.

Rating: 3.5/5

Price: $5.25

Peachy Sunrise

M@DA picked out an amazing base drink — the peach and passion fruit tea work amazingly together and form a very refreshing duo. As the cheapest of the collab drinks, I thought this drink would take the top spot.

Then, the reality that brown sugar boba doesn’t work with everything hit me like a truck; the two taste profiles clash like instant ramen and hot chocolate powder.

The brown sugar boba comes off way too sweet and makes the peach and passion fruit tea taste bitter by comparison; I wish M@DA chose a different topping to go with their drink, like strawberry popping boba or even regular boba, as either option would have complemented the drink’s taste profile much better.

Rating: 2.5/5

Price: $4.50

“Ted’s Windex”

“I swear the drink is my magnum opus,” Naung said about his drink. “It’s life changing but if you ever order it, please tip the baristas well.”

While Ted’s Windex certainly looks the part, its taste is closer to that of laundry detergent, with vanilla and coconut slightly overpowering the other flavors — still, the drink comes together as good as Roary’s does. The order is complex and hard to repeat every time, but when Power Cup formally adds it to their menu, I can see myself alternating between Ted’s Windex and Roary’s Surprise.

Rating: 4.8/5

Price: $4.75

‘Challengers’ overshadowed by explicit content

‘Sports romance drama’ suffers from excessive romance, and lack of sports

By Alexander Stoev

“Challengers” is a romantic sports drama film directed by Luca Guadagnino and produced by Guadagnino, Rachel O’Connor, Amy Pascal and one of the actresses starring in the movie, Zendaya. There were some bright spots in the movie with high-flying tennis scenes, but the excessive amount of explicit scenes overshadowed a lot of the format.

The movie’s stars are Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist.

As of May 1, the movie has already grossed just over $29 million. The film is R-rated and has a running time of 131 minutes.

Even though this is a “romance sports drama,” there is definitely more romance than sports in the movie, although the first bit of the movie is all about tennis.

The romance is a bit overshadowed by the nudity that was shown during the movie. Yes, that may be part of romance but excessive nudity in a movie may be too much for some.

If you are only into romance, this movie may not be your first choice, but it is still a good option.

Throughout the movie, the setting

An illustration of the main characters of the film “Challengers” playing on a tennis court.

shifts between the early days of 2006, when Art Donaldson (Faist) and Patrick Zweig (O’Connor) were best friends and tennis teammates, and 2019, where they are battling each other in a tennis match and are no longer on friendly terms.

This is an R-rated film for good reason. There are a lot of sexual scenes and nudity, therefore children should not be seeing it. Now if you are not really mature, then maybe you shouldn’t watch this movie either. There are some very cool tennis

scenes that fans of the sport will enjoy. The director, cinematographers and producers did an amazing job with the shots that were taken during the match. Both O’Connor and Faist showcased amazing acting during the match as well, it made me think I was

watching an actual tennis match.

The match being played between Art and Patrick cuts back and forth throughout the film. The match is like a heavyweight fight where both players refuse to lose.

The cinematography was good during this movie, although there was a lack of music during some scenes. It was a missed opportunity to spice up these scenes. For example, when the movie cuts back into the match in 2019, there is a lack of music before each serve during the set. Having music before serves during the scene can give the viewer some anticipation as to what’s going to happen next.

Between the 13 year span of time that the movie shifts between, Tashi (Zendaya) has relationships with both Art and Patrick. Tashi’s relationship with Patrick starts in college, then years later she starts dating Art.

The movie does shift a lot between 2019 and 2006, showing events that have happened between the three characters that leads up to a final match between Art and Patrick. If you are accustomed to this type of format then this will not affect you; you may even enjoy it.

There was way too much nudity for me in this film, much more than I anticipated. If the viewers are like me then I suspect this might bring the viewership down.

If you want to go watch this movie right now, it is currently only showing on the big screens, but I would personally recommend that viewers wait for the movie to hit streaming services to watch it.

Overall rating: 3/5

ILLUSTRATION BY KATRINA BUI

LA VOZ STAFF

Crafted by DASG Elections Commissioner Ted Naung, the drink is a watermelon, blue raspberry, lavender, coconut and vanilla Italian soda with crystal boba.