Stangs baseball team walks off Feather River in comeback win
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Men’s basketball defeats Siskiyous to advance in NorCal playoffs
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F.Y.I. Dead body found in school lake Important Dates February
is Black History Month
March 1
This is the last day for students to apply for Spring 2023 graduation.
March 7
Saint Mary’s College will be in the Student Union to answer questions.
Passerby made the discovery By ALIYAH RAMIREZ Staff Writer
A dead body was found on the east side of the Los Medanos College lake Monday, Feb. 20 around 1 p.m. while the campus was closed during the four-day President’s Day weekend. A member of the community discovered the body, which appeared to be floating, and contacted the two police officers on duty at that time. The cause of death has not been confirmed but the body appeared to be a 25-year-old male according to district police. When the body was found, there appeared to be no sign of trauma and no evidence of foul play.
An autopsy report will be completed within a few weeks by the Contra Costa County Coroner to confirm further details in the ongoing investigation. The Contra Costa Community College District Police Department assisted in the investigation and confirmed that the person had no connections to the campus. Due to the holiday campus closure, district police were the only people at LMC. However, the lake stays open to the public “from sunup to sundown,” according to Director of Marketing and Media Juliet Casey, comparing the lake to a “public park.” Interim LMC President
Pamela Ralston sent an email to staff and students Monday night about the reported “unfortunate occurrence.” The campus re-opened the day after the incident when Lt. Ryan Huddleston confirmed “no evidence to say there was an ongoing threat.” In a followup email Thursday, Ralston said she understands, “that Mondays events may still be affecting some of us and want to make sure that you are aware of the resources available.” Students can use TimelyCare, a free 24/7 virtual mental and medical resource. Employees can get help through the 4cd Employee Assistance Program.
Ethnic Studies gets senate rep
Mental health movie day The LMC Pittsburg campus Conference Center is the site of the “Movies for Mental Health” event on Feb. 28 from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. Everyone is welcomed to attend the event.
By ALIYAH RAMIREZ
Photo illustration generated by DALL-E
The Experience fed a prompt to an AI program asking for a robot doing student work.
ChatGPT worries teachers By JADEN FORTIER Staff Writer
Shirley Faulkner Davis visiting LMC Musician Shirley Faulkner Davis will visit the LMC Pittsburg campus March 2 from 1:30 p.m to 3:30 p.m in Library Community room. She will talk about her experiences performing worldwide.
for a final vote. However, Simone’s proposal As Los Medanos College was passed after the first readstrives to create an inclusive ing and is set to be in effect and diverse environment, immediately, following the the curriculum has adapted vacancy in the position. to capture all perspectives. “It was really exciting,” said During an Academic Senate Simone. “It showed a nice meeting last Monday, Rep. commitment to the issues Adriana Simone proposed a surrounding ethnic studies larger governing body for the and the fact that we value it independent Ethnic and Social and everything it looks at.” Justice Studies department. A Before California initiated unanimous vote passed the the requirement for students to proposal on Feb. 13 allowing a take an ethnic studies course senator position for to graduate with an that department, associate’s degree making LMC the or transfer to a fouronly college in the year university, district to hold this LMC had degrees Senate represenavailable focused tation. on diverse perspec“Although we tives. Students can reside in a state complete an assowhere disciplines ciate’s degree for such as Ethnic “I think transfer available S t u d i e s , G e n - LMC has with a focus on der Studies, and African American, LGBTQ Studies been Chicano/a, and are beginning to be unique LGBTQ Studies as supported… people Simone describes are being put in because it these disciplines to physical danger,” has always be a connection to said Simone. “This knowledge, “that is why it is more valued was lost or that has important than ever diversity.” been devalued.” to empower them.” “I think LMC has — Adrianna Accor ding to Simone been unique beAcademic Senate cause it has always President Mark valued diversity,” Lewis, creating a change in said Simone. “We have always representative members of housed our ethnic studies, the Senate follows the Senate our multicultural studies, Bylaws. Requiring a two-thirds our LGBTQ studies, and our vote in the Senate quorum to gender studies. So we valued it approve the change. Proposals before it was even institutionare discussed and questioned alized by a state requirement.” during the first read, then A part of many committees members vote to allow the in LMC, Simone graduated proposal to the second read See ETHNIC, page 7 Staff Writer
Celebrate blacks in the food industry Starting March 2 and running for the following three Thursdays from 11 a.m to 1 p.m, the LMC Marketplace and Basic Needs will be celebrating blacks by highlighting their efforts in the food industry as well as giving out food items while supplies last.
Courtesy of Google Earth/Goole Maps
The body was found on the east side of the LMC lake.
The rise in a fairly new artificial intelligence chatbot could potentially cause problems in academics down the line. This new AI is ChatGPT, a chatbot released Nov. 30, 2022 and developed by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research company. The chatbot allows users to have human-like conversations with an AI about a numerous amount of topics and has general knowledge about most things. The chatbot can even be used for things
such as writing poetry, emails and essays, which is where some of the problems with it may arise. If a student inputted their essay topic into the ChatGPT chatbot, it would spit out an entire essay within the matter of a few minutes. If you input the same exact prompt into ChatGPT, the AI is designed to give you a different answer each time, which could bring up major issues regarding cheating and academic honesty. Alexander Sterling, who is a member of the English
department at Los Medanos College, said that they are “definitely concerned” with how ChatGPT and AI as a whole will af fect English classes. “A big worry is that many students will use AI to plagiarize, to produce writing that is not really their own,” said Sterling. Sterling also said how most plagiarism catching tools like Turnitin, which is commonly used by professors to have their students submit their essays on, is not able to detect See CHAT, page 7