Students and employees lost access to LinkedIn Learning on Aug. 29 because of diversity, equity and inclusion training courses on the platform, which are banned under Senate Bill 17.
The loss of access happened when it was brought to light that LinkedIn Learning included a l ibrary of DEI trainings. As soon as the college found out about the trainings, they took it down in com-
pliance with the state law. Antonio Allen, TCC general counsel, said the training was not provided intentionally.
“So, this was the only way that we could ensure that we were going to be in compliance with the law,”
Allen said.
Senate Bill 17, which was signed into law last year by Gov. Greg Abbott, bans mandatory diversity training, hiring practices and activities on college campuses.
“It was actually brought to our attention by a staff member who asked us to go out and take a look at it,” Allen said. “And so then, when we looked at it, we realized that, yeah, we had an issue of potential violation of SB 17, and that we needed to act to fix it.”
Staff members were confused when they couldn’t access their accounts.
“We’ve already had calls yes-
terday evening from a couple of faculty members who have, for a few semesters now, used LinkedIn Learning content for their courses,” NE library manager James Ponder said.
The abrupt shutdown of access left employees looking for alternative resources to use.
Ponder said students and staff have access to the Learning Express Library, an online database covering material from technology, courses, exam prep and career training.
Allen said TCC had conversations with LinkedIn Learning about possibly having a separate library, but LinkedIn Learning could not accommodate this. TCC is looking for alternative platforms for students and employees to use, he said.
“When we sent the initial notice out, the employees and faculty received a notice basically asking
Hitting the ground running
New SE President Andrew Bowne said he’s spent these past two months familiarizing himself with the communities around SE Campus.
Andy Bowne, the new SE Campus president, is ready to make an impact.
Bowne was previously the president of Johnson County Community College in Kansas. He said he moved to TCC due to the tremendous opportunity he sees in the Arlington and Mansfield area.
Bowne said he wants to help students make the best career choices that they can. He is most interested in supporting student success.
“From a faculty and staff standpoint, we’re thinking about, how do we make the best possible experience for you? And how do we help increase the likelihood that you master the content in your courses?” he said. ”That’s where my head is each and every day.”
SE Campus is currently undergoing construction. There will be a new building dedicated to Culinary Arts, Dietetics and Hospitality Management. The library is also being transformed into a new building, the learning commons, which is a one-stop resource center for students. Students will be able to access all academic learning resources in one location.
Bowne said the learning commons is going to become the toprated resource on campus. The aim is for it to be completed in 2026.
them to contact their deans and their vice presidents and their campus leadership to assist and replacing any contact, give guidance,” Provost Shelley Pearson said. “We have other platforms that are still available to students and making sure that we are talking about LinkedIn Learning specifically, and not LinkedIn.”
Radio/TV/Film student Consuelo Palacio benefited from LinkedIn Learning in the past.
“It’s a building block because I took Premier Pro for the first time and then I rushed right into an accelerated class,” Palacio said. “I didn’t have the foundations that I needed … and so having access to the LinkedIn Learning provided me with some basic foundations that teachers now expect for you to have readily come out of school, and I’m older, I’m an older person so I really need that extra instruction.”
DISTRICT
Mental Health Coordinator Michelle Burris said the last time she used LinkedIn Learning was 2022 and received certifications in different areas. She took courses in critical thinking, judgment and decision making, writing principles, some marketing foundations and event planning.
“It was helpful to me at the time,” she said.
Emily Mains, student development associate at NE Career Services, said she used LinkedIn Learning at her job to help students with professional development.
“I do hope that we can find something as soon as possible that can fill the same purposes that LinkedIn Learning did serve since that was our main online professional development platform,” she said.
Huda Qureshi and Lauren Harper contributed to this report.
Frustrated students, employees struggle with FAFSA headache
FAFSA delays have complicated course registration for students and staff as the semester kicked off.
Students struggling to pay for classes were directed to financial aid, starting with filling out the FAFSA forms online. The process left some students to scramble and find other means of paying for college. Ongoing issues with the timely release and ease of use of the application have made it difficult.
Kade Koiner, who was trying to register for classes on NE, was left to sit out this semester because of technical difficulties with the parental signature, which would not go through the system. Koiner, a dependent, said the application process and communication with the U.S. Department of Education and TCC financial aid were long and drawn out.
Some students did not receive their FAFSA authorization or award letter until after the tuition deadline, causing lines at financial aid offices. One student had to take out loans to pay for living expenses and educational equipment.
“You know, normally it’s seven to 10 days to receive your financial aid,” said NE student Amy McIntyre. “I didn’t actually get it until maybe just a couple of days before classes started, and you know, I had to communicate with not just one department, financial aid, business services office, separate and then together, I actually brought them in together on an email.”
They didn’t process the complaint until way after the deadline. That doesn’t help me.
Kade Koiner NE student
He said coming into the construction as a new president was a bit of a challenge, but ultimately it will create a better experience for students.
Andy Bowne SE president
“It’s about understanding the nuances of what’s yet to come,” he said. “Because for all of us, it’s behind that wall, and I see pictures and have weekly meetings about how it’s going.”
Bowne was introduced by the board during the Aug. 22 meeting.
“We all look forward to hearing more about the wonderful work that you’ll be doing with our students at TCC,” Teresa Ayala, board president, said. Mark Hamill, board member at
“[The goal is] to create a space on campus that, in essence, creates a front door to the college where you can go as an incoming student, or anywhere along your journey, and you can get everything you need in one place,” he said.
Johnson County Community College, said Bowne was an asset to the college, during his time there.
“I’ve appreciated your commitment to the college and your family’s commitment to the college, and your love for the students, faculty and staff is very apparent,” he said.
Bowne has settled in Tarrant County. He said he wanted to live within the community he serves.
“We only looked in Tarrant County. It’s my firm belief that in this role, I need to be making the same investment that taxpayers are making. So for me to live outside of Tarrant County, I don’t think it would be the right thing to do,” he said.
In his free time, he enjoys following sports, including coaching individuals in the Special Olympics. Bowne’s son has Down syndrome and has found the Special Olympics to be a supportive environment.
“I’ve seen the transformation that happens for folks in Special Olympics, and it’s not just the athlete. It’s the family. It’s the volunteers,” he said.
Before working in education, Bowne was in manufacturing. He applied to Grand Rapid Community College on the recommendation of a friend and said his life has never been the same since he started working for community colleges.
“I just, I fell in love with it,” he said. “We jokingly refer to it as the community college bug.”
“I spoke. I waited on hold with FAFSA for like, 30 minutes to speak to a real person,” Koiner said. “And all she could tell me was that I needed to talk to the school and that there was really nothing she could do about it, and that I needed to either delete my whole entire FAFSA form and start completely over or wait until it got processed and there’s no way to delete my FAFSA form.”
Koiner continued to call officials for three months, eventually filing a complaint.
“They didn’t process the complaint until way after the deadline,” Koiner said. “That doesn’t help me because I can’t put in my FAFSA.”
She shared that the financial aid process caused significant emotional and mental stress. The delay in opening the applications to students was not a surprise. But what caught the financial aid department off guard was that once it was available, the application was not ready for students to complete.
Alex Hoben/The Collegian Chancellor Elva LeBlanc talks about the different resource available for students to help pay for school.
FAFSA
(continued from page 1)
“It still needed an entire rewrite of our entire system,” district financial aid director Samantha Stalnaker said. “So here, we’re getting incomplete information, wrong information, we’re rewriting our whole system, and we’re trying to get everything out. So yes, it has been extremely frustrating for students and for us to not be able to tell students because we’re used to saying, ‘Hey, we can fix that for you.’”
Stalnaker said even with all the problems with FAFSA, more financial aid has been given out to students this year than ever before.
Scholarships are awarded in conjunction with financial aid, with some scholarships having need-based components. The application process, integrated with financial aid, explains that students automatically enter the scholarship pool by filling out the FAFSA.
District officials said they are working to improve communication and accuracy in the FAFSA process and that students should reach out to their financial aid offices for help.
CAMPUS VOICES
The scholarship application opens on March 1, 2025, and the application closes on May 1.
Matthew Reeves South Campus
Mariana Pozos
Nathaniel Smith NW Campus
Peter Saengchan NW Campus
Alex Hoben/The Collegian Chancellor Elva LeBlanc and Provost Shelley Pearson discuss FAFSA challenges and student resources.
Education should be accessible to us all
The right to an affordable education should be a smooth process, however it is anything but. Undocumented students or those with undocumented parents face obstacles.
The cost of attending college is a struggle for many Americans. According to the Education Data Initiative almost 90% of first year undergraduate students depend on financial aid to attend college. A good chunk of that aid is federal, which is unavailable to undocumented students.
This group of students is limited to state aid, school aid, or private scholarships. These forms of aid vary from state to state and tend to have many restrictions.
The American Immigration Council cites that approximately 1 in 50 students are undocumented.
Undocumented students are just as capable as their peers of creating a lasting impact on American society and should be treated as such by the government. The American Immigration Council states that three out of four undocumented students came to the U.S. at a young age.
These students have lived most of their life in America and are denied support when pursuing education to contribute to their communities.
A thriving society is an educated society. The more people with access to an education the more opportunities there are for collective growth. A country needs to be continuously investing in education if it aims to be successful.
In 2022 25-34-year-olds who had full times jobs and attained higher education had higher earning rate versus those workers who did not.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “The median earnings of those with a master’s or higher degree ($80,200) were 20 percent higher than the earnings of those with a bachelor’s degree ($66,600). In the same year,
The Collegian is a weekly student publication serving the Tarrant County College District. Editorial statements and advertisements do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the TCC administration.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Fousia Abdullahi
MANAGING EDITOR
Huda Qureshi
ILLUSTRATOR TJ Favela
DESIGNERS
Jerry Swinney
Elliot McWilliams
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Dominic Martinez
DIGITAL EDITOR
Alex Hoben
CAMPUS EDITORS
Fred Nguyen Ash Petrie
Cheyenne Shawn
the median earnings of those with a bachelor’s degree were 59 percent higher than the earnings of those who completed high school ($41,800).”
If industry and the States are putting an emphasis on workforce readiness, the area to start making sure that we are educating everyone and increasing the median income of citizens. The best way to do this is through education and promoting higher wages which go hand in hand.
VIEWPOINTS
Office:
Many students who are full of potential and looking for better opportunities are being turned away due to hurdles in getting education funding or DEI bans. Private businesses comply with DEI and want to hire a diverse workforce to have a dynamic group of people with different views. This is why students take humanities courses in college to obtain a wellrounded starting point that helps them interact with their community and workforce.
The children of undocumented students won’t be able to do this if FAFSA and The State of Texas continues to put roadblocks in their path. They make it harder for historically marginalized people like women, people of color and undocumented students to further their education and close the gap between them and those who traditionally have had no problem getting education. Students that are struggling to pay for tuition should reach out
early and often to the financial aid department about how to get their FAFSA documents filled out and submitted. There are multiple avenues of funding available in the way of scholarships from TCC and outside scholarships. The government needs to do a better job of helping students navigate the challenges of getting an affordable education. The process should be as uncomplicated as possible, regardless of citizenship status.
Algorithms are biased, but you don’t have to be
Apps track what we click, watch, like and follow.
The data gathered from past behaviors is utilized to filter content and generate a feed geared to our preferences.
What do you like? Cat or dog videos? True crime or history podcasts? Fútbol or football highlights?
The algorithm knows how to capture our attention and keep us occupied. So, how is this bad? If I don’t care about car videos, I am glad my app removes them. Apps programming for algorithms is ideal for entertainment but regrettably also functions as a tool to refine educational media too.
If a feed is created to display content one prefers, then any
source of information gathered should be viewed as confirmation bias.
In a way, our timelines keep us trapped in single-minded thinking and eliminate our freedom of
thought. Each topic, ranging from political ideologies to celebrity scandals, is served to us on a golden platter.
Social media has provided a platform to share knowledge that prior to its existence was unknown. But when we are forced to consume only one opinion it becomes impossible to reason with others who have different beliefs.
Undeniably, we can recognize society is reluctant to listen to opposing arguments. Apps allow one to swipe past, dislike and even inform the algorithm to stop publicizing similar media. So, what do we do? Succumb to doom scrolling or change our way of thinking?
Reframing an algorithm developed from years of past data takes time and surrendering to the echo chamber seems easier. Instead of perceiving the algorithm as the problem, turn it upon yourself.
Habitually we discern content as truth. Modify this practice by researching the information presented to you. Documents, research papers and articles are available for you to read and form ideas.
Challenging our own beliefs is the avenue to discover potential compromise with others. When talking to real people and having healthy debates, you begin to realize everyone has a common ground. And that is a hope for the world to get better.
Texas highway driving causes stress, anxiety
Tarrant County needs to improve its infrastructure to keep up with population growth.
As we become more reliant on our cars, it’s clear that our transportation infrastructure wasn’t built to accommodate the increasing number of cars. This manifests in how dangerous it has become to drive.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area is especially infamous for its hazardous highways. There were more than 29,000 motor-vehicle accidents and 215 fatalities reported in Tarrant County last year. That’s 3.4 incidents every hour.
We now live in a time where news of deadly crashes and multicar pileups no longer shocks. Instead, we regard it as a tragedy and while legislature does nothing to fix it. Any even find humor in the situation
I remember my first time getting on Interstate 820 and being immediately tailgated by what seemed to be a pair of floating lights which, in actuality, was a tall truck’s high beams. The driver was agitated by
FRED NGUYEN campus editor collegian.editor@tccd.edu
the traffic and chose me to angrily honk at. Thankfully, I didn’t turn into another statistic that day. This story is not a unique one.
Many drivers can relate to the feeling of being stressed and overwhelmed while on the road. Some drivers, myself included, even go out of their way to avoid getting on the highway at the cost of extra time.
The roads are now associated with inconvenience. For students, it is a source of anxiety as they try and fail to predict traffic will ruin their schedule. This is why we need to focus
on improving transportation. Students need to have reliable access to their campuses without trading precious time.
One way TCC is addressing this issue is the EasyRide program, which offers free passes to eligible students for all public transportation. This doesn’t just benefit students who rely on these services. Even if a student chooses to drive, they can be reassured that there is always an alternative. While this is good news, this is just a Band-Aid on what is more like an open wound. Our public transportation is not sufficient and will get worse with time. The hottest days of the summer have done numbers on the shaky system.
The Trinity Metro TEXRail has reduced maximum track speeds several times during heat waves as the hot tracks create more potential hazards for trains. As this avenue is affected, users overflow to buses. Even then, problems arise. The 2021 American Society of
Civil Engineers assessment found that 40% of the roads in the nation are now in poor or mediocre condition. These deteriorating roads can lead to more accidents and breakdowns as they buckle under the sun.
Expanding our current public transportation is an important step, but it is not enough to just upgrade our buses and trains if it is built on an outdated infrastructure. We need to look ahead. DallasFort Worth is predicted to be the biggest metro area in the country by 2100 and we need to think ahead. Sure, more lanes and tollways will help traffic problems short-term but eventually, just like it had decades ago, these lanes will be filled up again. There needs to be a more permanent and drastic change. Tarrant County leaders are currently seeking funding and support for a high-speed rail system linking Fort Worth, Arlington and Dallas. If this kind of change is encouraged, it would ease students’ worries and make their commute both easier and safer.
TJ Favela/The Collegian
Professor shares language of love
Williams built community among French students on NE
For more than 45 years, Mary Williams used French to engage students in a meaningful learning environment.
Williams recently retired as the world language department chair at TCC. Strong connections with students and faculty marked her time at TCC.
For her Friday night class, Williams went across the street to Walmart to grab snacks. She knew many of the students would be coming straight from work.
“After that first class, the students started bringing food.” Williams said. “We had a big round table in the back of the classroom, and people would just bring things for everyone to snack on, and that was delightful.”
Humberto Rodriguez, who succeeded Williams as department chair, was her student in that Friday night class.
“Friday nights after work, somebody would come up, show up tired from the work week and whatnot, or just having gotten off, fighting through traffic to make it there,” Rodriguez said. “But you would get to class, and you’d see this pile of snacks that everyone contributed, and you just felt at ease. … It was just a very warm environment, the ideal language learning environment.”
She started teaching French when a professor asked Williams to teach a couple of classes while she was on medical leave. Williams was completing her masters in linguistics at the time and had not thought about teaching. She said she didn’t realize how fun it was going to be.
“The diversity of people, of goals, backgrounds, they all brought something wonderful to the classroom,” she said.
Marsha Hall, who works in the world language department, said Williams is a quiet leader with a lot of wisdom. Williams even walked Hall through a legal issue when Hall was considering quitting teaching.
“She encouraged me to not give
up, but to look at the positive and to keep in there,” Hall said. “And years later, I look back, and that was wise advice. In a job, anybody can get discouraged and you feel like quitting. And she was my person to say, ‘No, we’re gonna keep going. We’re gonna continue.’”
Former student Matena Bootz said the learning environment created in Williams’ classroom was supportive, open and allowed room for discussion.
“She taught me what a professor should be like, that a professor should be willing to help you,” Bootz said. “She showed me that with the right professor, you can get through a class, no matter how much you suck at it.”
Williams values friendship and family. She considers herself to be a
good listener.
“If I have any really good skills, I think one of them would be that I’m a good sounding board,” she said. “I feel like I can listen to people and not be judgmental.”
Former student Bijoux Furaha said she was very welcoming as a professor.
“She’s patient, and she’s there to help people or a student to improve, no matter your French level and no matter your background,” Furaha said. “She’s a caring person. She’s open and happy all the time.”
In one of her classes, two students from parts of the world that are in political conflict found common ground.
“Somehow that managed to get smoothed out over the course of the first few weeks of class,” Wil-
liams said.
She struggles with an autoimmune disease called scleroderma but said it’s not as difficult to navigate due to the support around her.
“My life has not been as hard for me as I think this thing, the same condition, is for many other people,” Williams said. “I think many other people struggle a lot more because they just don’t have the support: emotional, family, friends.”
Throughout her career, Williams has taught many types of students. She found her experiences valuable.
“TCC students are amazing,” Williams said. “I’ve never had a TCC student that was unpleasant. Just great students, great people. I’ve learned a lot from my students.”
She’s patient, and she’s there to help people or a student to improve, no matter your French level and no matter your background. She’s a caring person. She’s open and happy all the time.
Bijoux Furaha Student
Photos by Alex Hoben/The Collegian
Professor Mary Williams, who is now retiring, has taught students the French language on NE Campus since 1978.
Williams has contributed to the TCC community by guiding students and faculty as both a teacher and a department chair, a colleague said.
