Puyallup campus President bids farewell
President Marty Cavalluzzi addresses the audience at his goodbye event in the Arts and Allied Health Building on Jan. 22. In his speech, Cavalluzzi called Pierce College Puyallup, “a class act,” saying it was “an absolute honor” to be the president. His last day at Pierce was Jan. 31. See pages 8-9 for the story.
Net neutrality: Student leader hopes to make free What the repeal means, feminine hygiene products state law how it impacts Pierce
Nyadeng Mal & Daniel Pollock
Reporter and Editor-in-Chief The internet was frenzied. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai became a voodoo doll for concerned social media users. He popped up in social media feeds, dressed like Santa Claus and described as Hitler or eating popcorn with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Celebrities urged their fans to contact state officials and Twitter users bid Ajit Pai farewell to followers. The internet was dying—or so some thought. Pai released his plan to repeal Obama-era net neutrality regulations in late November and birthed a seeming internet revolution. The FCC voted 3-2 Dec. 14 to dismantle the roles regulating online content. Youtuber PewDiePie released a video about the repeal, describing Pai as “the most hated man on the internet.” Tweets poured
forth—Pai responded to some in a “mean tweets” sketch from the Independent Journal Review— and citizens volunteered for service in the “battle for the net.” But much of the protest has stemmed from misconceptions, according to the FCC. For many, net neutrality is a complex topic to understand. Pierce College Chief Information Officer Mike Stocke jokingly said the depth of the topic “made his head hurt.” The FCC released a fact vs. myth sheet, hoping to calm fears. A common phrase seen around the internet in the days following the vote said the rollbacks would cause “the end of the internet as we know it.” In reality, the repeal is returning internet regulations to those put in place during the Clinton administration. Net neutrality was first enacted under the Obama administration in 2015. A 313-page document listing the rules was publicly released two weeks after the FCC had passed it into law. Pai released his proposal three weeks Continued on page 13
Nyadeng Mal Reporter The Office of Student Life has formulated a plan on how to make feminine hygiene free and readily available for Pierce College students. During the process, Nathalie Nabass, student government legislative senator, thought it would be a better idea to make feminine hygiene free for all Washington state community college students. Pierce College Puyallup currently provides free feminine hygiene products for students, but Nabass saw a flaw within the system: No one knows where they are. She says access is inconvenient. “A lot of students actually don’t even know that we provide free feminine hygiene,” Nabass said. Some places to access tampons and pads are in the women’s restroom where there are dispensers. But the feminine hygiene products provided in the gender neutral restrooms, cost 25 cents. Nabass says the dispensers in the restrooms aren’t convenient.
Student leader Nathalie Nabass poses in front of the food pantry in the College Center. Beside free food, the pantry also provides free feminine hygiene products, such as tampons. Nyadeng Mal photo. “Who carries change? No one,” Nabass said. The college has two locations where students have access to free feminine hygiene products. Those locations are in the food pantry in the Connections
Café and the Campus Safety office in the Gaspard Administration Building. Nabass is concerned that these locations are also inconvenient for students. If a fundContinued on page 4