Richland Chronicle November 30, 2021 Issue

CHRONICLE Richland

Vol. XLVIII Issue 8, November 30, 2021

College merger not without its problems Pg. 2

• Mental health resources available Pg. 3 • Student activists celebrate Arbor Day Pg. 4 RichlandStudentMedia.com

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@RLCStudentMedia

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2 CAMPUS

November 30, 2021

The Dallas College merger: gains and growing pains Fiona Forney and Ryan Bingham Duff

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Staff Writer and Online/Special Projects Dallas College Chancellor Joe May wrote to faculty and employees on Nov. 3, announcing that “After an immense amount of effort, I am pleased to share that our collegewide reorganization process is complete!”

In 2020, Dallas College actively began consolidating and restructuring its organization from seven separately accredited colleges into one. In the spring of 2020, Richland College students and staff left campus halfway through the semester due to the rapidly changing spread of COVID-19. The world grappled with the evolving circumstances of the pandemic while the district planned its reorganization. Despite these additional logistical challenges, the district continued the transition forward. “While we have learned a lot through the transition, ultimately we would not change the timing in which it took place or the way that it did,” said Alex Lyda, senior director of communications for Dallas College. “Failing to change would have adversely impacted our students and our graduates.”

In the case of the Dallas County Community College District, the announcement of the merger came on the tail of administrative discovery of a structural flaw in the district that posed issues for students seeking degrees.

“The catalyst for this change was the discovery that our previous decentralized system was beginning to delay students in completing their degrees,” said Lyda, “The dilemma was not tolerable, even in the short-run.” Students who took classes in different colleges within the district, at times, would be unable to graduate since they had not taken enough credit classes at any one college.

In an effort to eliminate this problem and in the hopes of expanding the services available at the various colleges, the district forged ahead with its merger amid the complications of a global pandemic. The seven colleges joined into a newly accredited Dallas College, thus streamlining the services and credentialing available to the community.

As the consolidation was being done to complete the merger, many employees were let go throughout the campuses. Dr. Justin Lonon, executive vice chancellor, said these layoffs were due to the previous structure of DCCCD and the consolidation efforts of the structure of staff.

“There were some areas in the previous structure where there was duplication of efforts and so clearly in the consolidation, there was a reduction in some of those numbers,” said Lonon.

Questions remain, however, about how current employees will deal with the loss of institutional identity, potentially increased workloads and the sense of uncertainty about their future.

Former employee Evelyn Johnson began working at Richland College in 1984 as an administrative assistant. When Johnson was laid off in March, she was working to improve the accessibility of online courses through transcript creation and closed captioning services.

Johnson has since submitted her paperwork for retirement.

Johnson said she believes that the need for accessibility will only increase and that the work that she was doing will continue. She said that by eliminating legacy staff members, the opportunities for chaos increase.

“The people who will ultimately suffer are the students,” said Johnson. “The ones that know what to do, they’re not here. … They’re all just bungling around [to] try to figure things out. That is at the cost of students.”

Johnson characterized the staffing changes at Richland as a “mass exit.”

“I feel that they are ridding the Dallas College of older people and just bringing in the younger generation,” Johnson said.

According to Lyda, “The total number of employees affected is approximately 570.

No full or part-time faculty members were impacted, or ‘cut’ in the process.” Likewise, Lyda said there was an increase of roles in the areas of advising and student services. “Of those, we have filled almost 1,000 of those revamped roles through our internal talent pool process.”

“I think that we all recognize that there are growing pains... And our challenge, and certainly what I will be focusing on a lot, is to ensure that those growing pains don’t get institutionalized to become the norm.”

– Dr. Justin Lonon

May met with reporters and advisers from the student media sites across Dallas College on Nov. 10. When asked about how eliminating duplicated positions might affect students, May said, “Hopefully the goal is just the opposite, and we shared this with the board yesterday. While we have streamlined in some areas, it’s actually been to shift resources for more students facing positions,” he said “We were looking at how do we shift dollars where possible to better support students and meet the needs.”

May explained that personnel changes have increased the student-to-adviser ratio from 1,200:1 to 350:1. May acknowledged that he has no doubt in some cases mistakes were made and that there may have been overestimation of certain needs, then mentioned that

Students studying in Sabine Hall.

the process to work out all the bugs out may take years.

Jeanetta Burnham has been a librarian for almost 18 years and has been in the Richland library since 2006. Burnham recalled the announcement of the “Learning Commons Model” to be implemented at libraries throughout Dallas College campuses.

This model is part of the district-wide reorganization and would serve to combine testing, tutoring and library services under the umbrella of the Learning Commons.

Burnham said that as part of the reorganization, current employees were required to reapply for their jobs.

“Back in May, I considered that I had hope and a desire to possibly remain. As time moved on, I did come to a decision that I did not want to remain with the structure as it was because I did not feel motivated to help them rebuild something that was torn down that I did not feel was broken,” said Burnham.

“It’s not the Richland Library anymore, it’s the Richland Learning Commons, and the library is just a part of that. We, for many years, operated and tried to position the library to be the heart of the campus, and that was really our goal in everything that we did in our outreach,” Burnham said.

Burnham believes that the Learning Commons model does not especially support the library as an integral part of the Learning Commons, or ultimately as a fixture of the educational institution. This position would place the libraries within Dallas College at odds with their long-established role in intellectual society, said Burnham Chancellor May said that the historical value of libraries could exist side by side with new developments that enhance the learning experience.

“Obviously, historically, libraries have been incredibly valuable and frankly a resource that we wanted to protect,” said May. “It is a scarce, valuable resource, and that’s not changed. But, frankly, technology has also taken care of a lot of things.” May said there’s a vision of the evolving role of the library in the digital world.

“If you can access the materials digitally and remotely, then let’s provide more hands-on in person support, but that’s different than the traditional library staff in some cases.”

Lonon added that he has engaged in conversation with Provost Shawnda Floyd regarding the shifts and changes within Learning Commons and tutoring services. Lonon said

Photo courtesy Dallas College via Instagram

the college has a commitment to tutoring but said that the specifics of services are still being re-evaluated.

May said that the administration aims to make tutoring services more generally accessible, and that the issue of tutor support is recurring. May said Richland had made more significant investment into tutoring service infrastructure, however, access to tutoring services was uneven district-wide. “We see supporting students as a universal priority, and so we are really looking at how we do this.”

Whether these services will be resurrected in the Learning Commons is unclear.

Dr. John Ewing teaches Intro to World Religion at the Richland Campus. Ewing described his experience of the conversion to one college as unsettling, citing the rapidity of the endeavor compounding the uncertainty of the unfolding pandemic. Ewing said the process has left him and others questioning how they fit into the new configuration.

When asked about his sense of job security, Ewing responded, “Ultimately nobody’s irreplaceable,” but reflected that he feels his department has support throughout the college.

“There are a lot of unknowns always going forward as far as the conversion, and I think that eventually things will settle down, but it’s been a real process over the past year and a half. ... The one thing that I would tell myself is that Richland College as an institution doesn’t exist anymore.

“We’re Dallas College now, and you have to see yourselves as part of a new entity, in a sense, with a legacy, but definitely we’re a different institution.”

Executive vice chancellor Lonon said he has been communicating lately with employees to hear about their thoughts and issues that may arise.

“I’ve been participating in some small group sessions at each of the campuses with crossfunctional groups of employees just to have a dialogue on what issues do they see, what perceptions do they have about the transition or the changing nature of work coming out of the pandemic,” said Lonon.

Continued on www.richlandstudentmedia. com Editor-in-Chief Barbara Gandica Martinez and Managing Editor Alex Ortuno contributed to this story.

November 30, 2021

CAMPUS 3

Resources for stressed out students Managing Editor As the end of the year approaches, many students will be dealing with assignments, tests or projects that will become pivotal in determining their final grade for a class for the semester. This can put a lot of stress on students who may be dealing with other situations such as family, food insecurity or other issues that may interfere with their studies.

Karen Cuttill, professional counselor for Dallas College Richland Campus, offers a variety of services that may assist students who need something specific.

“We have a food bank on campus and so we can help students with some of those things so they can not worry about that and maybe even housing,” said Cuttill.

Lakeside Resource Center in El Paso Hall offers counseling services for students who may feel stressed out from their studies or life in general.

Counseling from Lakeside Resource Center in Richland Campus is free as it is paid by tuition costs.

Sometimes, however, students may need a method to decompress themselves from the stress. Cuttill said counseling can teach people to be reflective and calm. The first part begins with the person beginning to understand how they are feeling physically from how they feel

Build a Bolder Future

about their posture and even how they are touching items.

“We help people to be mindful of the moment. For rather than thinking on the stressful thought, you become the center of focus to their physical body. ‘So how do they feel sitting in the chair? How does their clothes feel on them? How do their feet feel touching the floor? Or are they touching the floor? How do your shoes feel on your feet?’

So it’s really beginning to notice how your body feels physically in the space it’s sitting in, not outside, but it’s really how your body feels touching whatever it’s touching,” said Cuttill.

Movements such as wringing their wrists, tapping with their feet or fingers or squeezing can be done for people to focus on their physical self during a stressful situation.

Next, students are taught to take deep breaths once they feel they are balanced.

“Once they’re grounded there, then we teach deep breathing where you breathe in and breathe out. There’s a pause but we don’t teach when they’re really stressed out, we don’t want them holding their breath because when they hold their breath, they drop in oxygen, makes them dizzy, [and] could make them pass out,” Cuttill said.

Other negative impacts can be felt if one holds in their breath for too long, according to Cuttill.

“If the body thinks or the mind thinks that

there’s not enough oxygen, it might dump a whole bunch more cortisol and adrenaline in the body. And if that’s the case, they’re going to get a whole bunch more anxiety, because those are the fight or flight hormones that our body naturally produces in stressful or in dangerous situations,” Cuttill said.

Meditation is one of the ways to relax but it is not as complicated as one may think.

“If you practice mindful meditation, which sounds really like a big deal, it’s really not. It can be simply walking outside and listening to birds,” Cuttill said.

While physical exercise such as walking may be helpful, hobbies are another way to relax and destress.

“Any type of thing that you enjoy, let’s say you enjoy hobbies, maybe you enjoy drawing [or] music, these can be [relaxing] things too,” said Cuttill.

As we near the end of the semester, Cuttill suggests that any student who feels overwhelmed to reach out to counseling.

While in-person counseling at Lakeside Resource Center is an option but has a limited time, students can also reach out for virtual counseling.

“However, remote counseling is amazing but it opens you up to all of the open schedules for all of the campuses. So it’s, you know, it’s a good option. And we’re all licensed and we’re all very experienced,” Cuttill said.

Lakeside Resource Center is located in El Paso Hall E082. Dallas College has a webpage about counseling for students. For more information, visit https://www.dallascollege. edu/resources/counseling/pages/default.aspx.

For other resources students may need, more information can be found at https://www. dallascollege.edu/resources/pages/default.aspx.

Resources at Richland Counseling and Psychological Services Offer short-term therapy, as well as provide workshops focused on mental health. To make an appointment contact the counseling services through: - Phone number: 972-669-6400 - Email: counseling@dcccd.edu Military-Connected Services Offers resources for current military members, veterans and dependents attending Richland Campus - Phone number: 972-238-3778 - Email: DCveterans@dcccd.edu Food Pantry Supply meals and products for students without charge, as well as run fresh produce drives with the North Texas Food Bank.

- Located at E030 -The food pantry can be contacted through email at connections@dcccd.edu

with a degree from Texas Woman’s

Join us at Pioneer Preview Day Saturday, Dec. 4 8 A.M.-12 P.M., in Denton Learn about: • Admissions • Financial Aid • Scholarships

Tour the campus — Families welcome!

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Alex Ortuno

4 CAMPUS/SPORTS

November 30, 2021

Arbor Day sparks activism in students CHRONICLE Richland

Staff Photo Kendra Bailey

Volunteers plant a tree on Arbor Day Celebration at Richland Campus on Nov. 13.

Kendra Bailey Staff Writer

The Arbor Day Celebration for Dallas College Richland Campus on Nov. 13 marked an eventful wave of activism amongst students.

Arbor Day is a national holiday dedicated to commemorating trees, typically held in spring.

It is celebrated in all 50 states and at many college campuses around the country.

The celebration at Richland involved students getting down and dirty, sticking their hands in the soil and planting trees. The event was informative and instructive, teaching students more about the economic, health and

environmental benefits to trees.

The event began with several passionate speeches from members of the Texas Trees Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is passionate about saving the trees and working with local communities to inform them.

Rachel McGregor, an Urban Forest Manager with TTF, is enthusiastic about working with a “passionate” group of students and giving them the information needed to make a positive impact on their environments.

“The biggest disconnect we see is that people just don’t know what trees actually do for them,” she said. “We want people to know that they can be involved too. They can have

an impact on a city level, even in their own backyard.”

“I have more knowledge about trees than I did before,” said Jasmin Arriaga, a member of The Richland Green Team, about the effect that the Arbor Day Celebration had on her.

“It’s changed my perspective in many ways.”

Namirah Fyrooz, president of the Richland Green Team, encourages those who are passionate about making a difference in their local environments to join the Green Team or volunteer at the various environmental activities the Green Team will have in the future. “I want to keep doing things like this,” Fyrooz said. ”We’re just trying to make everybody aware.”

Another member of the Green Team, Azucena Madrigal, wants the student population to know that their activism spreads everywhere. “The student Green Team is more than just trees, that’s a misconception, Madrigal said.” The Green Team will be participating in cleanups, volunteer shelter work and many other activities that seek to change their local communities for the better.

Those interested in environmental or community activism are encouraged to join the Richland Green Team on Fridays at noon in P-Hall. “Come join us. Come get involved,” said Tara Urbanski, geology and environmental science professor at Dallas College. She is confident in her belief that The Green Team is a part of a wave of passionate, young individuals who are bound to make a positive change in the world. “You can tell they really want to make a difference in their community and the environment as well … it gives me a lot of hope for the future,” she said.

For more information about the Arbor Day celebration or how to get involved, visit the Texas Tree Foundation’s website at https:// www.texastrees.org/txu-energy-urban-tree-farmand-education-center/ or search Dallas Urban Masterplan.

STUDENT MEDIA LEADERS

Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor Photo Editor Design Editor Entertainment Editor Online/Special Projects Online/Special Projects

Barbara Gandica Martinez Alex Ortuno Trang Nguyen Barbara Gandica Martinez Ricky Miller Ryan Bingham Duff Damon Craig

ON THE COVER Illustration: Barbara Gandica Martinez

BACK COVER Staff Illustration: Angelo Diaz

COVER AND FONTS Certain cover fonts are provided by the following www.nymfont.com – www.bvfonts.com

STUDENT MEDIA STAFF Meshack Mashua Fiona Forney Davis Oyola Jason Ryer Angelo Diaz Victor London David Acosta Noah Holt Aidan Biddle Jerry Weiss Yessi Lipscomb Grey Schessler Haley Aguayo

Ryan Bingham Duff Damon Craig Alexis Rodriguez Saint Garcia Barbara Gandica Martinez Alex Ortuno Kendra Bailey Kimberly M. Gabino Adam Koch Trang Nguyen Eden Belete Shakir Acrey Lizbeth Nava

STUDENT MEDIA ADVISERS Erica Edwards

Tim Jones Larry Ratliff

ISSUE DATES December 7

STUDENT MEDIA AWARDS Student Organization Community Service Award, 2019 Student Organization of the Year, 2019 CMA Pinnacle Two-Year TV Station Award, 2018 CMA Two-Year Radio Station Award, 2018 ACP Newspaper Pacemaker Winner Award, 2016 ACP Best of Show Award, 2015 ACP Photo Excellence Award, 2015 CMA Newspaper of the Year Finalist, 2014 1st Place – TCCJA Overall General Excellence, 2014 2nd Place – Pinnacle College Media Award, 2014 1st Place – TIPA Sweepstakes, 2005 3rd Place – TIPA Online, 2005 & 2006 Over 270 Texas college journalism awards since 2000

CONTACT INFORMATION El Paso Hall, Room E020, 12800 Abrams Rd., Dallas 75243 Newsroom: 972-238-6079; richlandchronicle@gmail.com Advertising: 972-238-6068 Email: Advertise@dcccd.edu

Robert Zanir kicks the ball.

T-Ducks win national title again

Richland Campus Thunderducks celebrate their victory on Nov. 14.

Photos Courtesy NCJAA

For the fourth time in a row, the Richland Campus men's soccer team has won the NJCAA Division III national title, beating Herkimer College 2-0 in the final game.

Staff meetings: Monday and Wednesday at 2 p.m. in E020 Letter Policy Letters to the editor may be edited for space. They will be edited for spelling, grammar and malicious or libelous statements.

Letters must be the work of the writer and must be signed. For identification and verification purposes, letters also must include the writer’s classification (grade level), full name, address and telephone number, although address and telephone number will not be published.

Editorial Policy The Chronicle is the official student-produced newspaper of Dallas College Richland Campus. Editorials, cartoons, columns and letters are the opinions of individual students and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of other individual student writers, editors, advisers or the college administration. © Richland Chronicle 2021

November 30, 2021

COLUMN/INTERNATIONAL 5

‘The Owl House’ cut short by Disney Grey Schessler Staff Writer

On Jan. 10, 2020 we were introduced to the Disney animated series “The Owl House” and its titular character Luz Noceda, her mentor Edalyn Clawthrone and her companion King.

From Episode 1 “The Owl House” distinguished itself as one of a kind in so many ways from the setting, humor, message and characters.

It’s one of the few shows that establishes its identity from the get-go. So, it was no surprise when the fantasy adventure series blew up in popularity. However, to the heartbreak of many fans, the show has not been picked for a full Season 3. Instead, “The Owl House” has only been given three 45-minute specials in place of Season 3.

Despite the show’s popularity and milestones in representation, it seems as though every opportunity Disney has had to make the show flourish, they have either let it go or purposely sabotaged it. But it’s also no surprise that part of the reason Disney decided to cancel the show is because the show “did not fit their brand,” according to Dana Terrace, creator of the show, on Reddit. Now many have been quick to jump on the bandwagon that Disney chose to sabotage the show due to its immense role in representation. And, admittedly, initially I wasn’t exempt from this opinion. I am still not, although I don’t think it’s the only thing that played into the show cancellation. However, many moving parts played a role in the cancellation of “The Owl House,” a lot which could have been prevented on Disney’s end.

I want to discuss what “did not fit their brand” in its full context means. After “The Owl House” cancellation was made public, Terrance went to Reddit to clarify why the show was canceled. In her post she specified

when the decision was made, when she was informed and to her knowledge why the show was canceled.

“So, it was the ratings. That argument doesn’t hold water either. Our ratings were GOOD (for a show during the streaming wars lmao) but they were also incomplete. This decision was made, to my knowledge, before ‘Agony of a Witch’ premiered and WELL before we were on Disney+,” said Terrance.

“Also, how are you gonna judge ratings when you don’t rerun the show you’re trying to measure?”

Later in her post she also talked about other reasons the network gave her for the cancellation, “At the end of the day, there are a few business people who oversee what fits into the Disney brand and one day one of those guys decided ‘The Owl House’ didn’t fit that ‘brand.’ The story is serialized (BARELY compared to any average anime lmao), our audience skews older, and that just didn’t fit this one guy’s tastes.”

Naturally, after this was made public many people were angry and quick to call out Disney and question them about what they meant when they said, “The Owl House” did not fit their “brand.” Disney never responded to this (at least not directly) and while most people are still upset about this, most of the heat surrounding this has gone down.

Despite many feeling that the implications that the show doesn’t fit the Disney brand due is to its LGBT+ representation, and is why the show was canceled. However, upon further digging about Disney, their multiple channels, demographics and the type of content they strive to make. This gave me more insight about what the actual Disney “brand” is.

Disney has more than one channel on cable and each of those channels that Disney has is different from one another in its age demographic and the type of content created. In

total channels related toward content aimed toward a younger audience Disney has six channels: Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, Radio Disney, Disney TV Animation and Disney Channels Worldwide.

The channel that airs “The Owl House” is the main Disney Channel and Disney TV Animation (or Disney TVA), as well as Disney Channels Worldwide for international audiences. These channels are all essentially parts of Disney channel. The exception, of course, is Disney TVA which animates series for different channels for the Disney brand in general. When I found out all this, I ended up finding out that the Disney Channels age demographics are actually from ages 6 to 14 and Disney XD a variation of Disney channel that’s marketed for older children and preteens age demographics are 6 to 11.

I was caught off guard when I found out about this, because Disney has always made it seem like Disney XD is exclusively for older kids. And I’m not alone in this. When people found out part of the cancellation was due to the audience skewing older, I saw people left and right asking why Disney wouldn’t just

move the show over to Disney XD. But based on their demographics Disney was right not to move it as it would’ve just lowered audience engagement since the audience age pool would be smaller.

All of this left me mad because this ultimately brings me back to one main issue where this all branched out from. “The Owl House” wasn’t originally made for children. It was made for teenagers, which is part of the reason the audience skews older. And despite making Terrance change the protagonist from 16 to 14, changing more of the darker undertones of the show to lighter tones to appeal to a younger audience and interfering with the show’s production in any way they can, the show managed to retain most if not almost all the qualities that were wanted for the show when it was first pitched. If Disney had simply taken the time to listen to the creator of the show, a lot of the problems they created could’ve been avoided had they simply not ignored her or made her do changes that wouldn’t have had to focus on marketing the show toward children and instead marketing it toward teenagers and young adults.

Photo Illustration Courtesy Anna Shvets

New variant of COVID-19 raises concerns and restrictions Managing Editor A new strain of COVID-19 that has

been identified by South African scientists was announced on Nov. 26. The World Health Organization said the variant is now designated as a “variant of concern” and

People wait in an Italian Red Cross vaccination hub, in Rome, Nov. 29.

Photo The Associated Press

named it omicron.

After assembling a group of experts to assess the data of the new variant, a spokesperson for the health agency said “Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant,” in comparison to other variants.

WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove noted in a video from the health agency that there are a lot of mutations spotted in the newly found variant and it may take weeks to find out if scientists can assess its possible effects on vaccines.

On Nov. 29, WHO said that there are “considerable uncertainties” about the variant but preliminary data raises the possibility that the mutations can help evade an immunesystem response and boost its ability to transmit from one person to another.

“Depending on these characteristics, there could be future surges of COVID-19, which could have severe consequences, depending on a number of factors, including where surges may take place,” the agency added. “The overall global risk … is assessed as very high.”

Cases of the new variant have been confirmed in Hong Kong, Europe, Asia, Canada, Australia and Botswana at press time. Several countries have began placing restrictions on people arriving from South Africa and nations near it such as the United States, Canada, the European Union, United Kingdom, Morocco, Japan and Russia.

Stocks in the United States fell by more than 1,000 points on Nov. 26, according to the Associated Press.

“It seems to spread rapidly,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in a meeting with reporters, only a day after Thanksgiving when travel and gatherings for the holiday involved millions of Americans. In announcing the new travel restrictions due to the variant, he told reporters, “I’ve decided to be cautious.” On Nov. 29, Biden urged more mask wearing and vaccinations.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, urges everyone 18 and older to get booster shots because “strong immunity will likely prevent serious illness.”

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Alex Ortuno

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November 30, 2021

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mythology, spooky stories and folk lore

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