Vol. 162, Issue 5 | October 19–November 1, 2016 | City College of San Francisco | Since 1935 | FREE
Zeena Schreck advocates free City College The artist evaluates how Prop. W improves the student condition By Bethaney Lee blee@theguardsman.com
Renowned multimedia artist and spiritual guide Zeena Schreck credits City College as being a key life factor for her in 1979, when the college still offered San Franciscans the free enrollment Proposition W strives to reclaim. “Had CCSF not been a free college when I attended, there would have been absolutely no way for me to attend,” Schreck said. Like many college students today, Schreck had a past that desperately needed an education and alternative choice to what she calls a stifling, dysfunctional family life. She became a mother at the age of 14. Just two weeks after delivering her son, she was forced to move with no financial support from her parents or her child’s father. “I was desperate to find a way out of what seemed a hopeless situation,” Schreck said. At 15, she took the high school equivalency test, which at the time would allow her to leave high school, work legally and enroll at a college. Passing the test at 16, she started working and immediately enrolled at City College. Able to take drama and gymnastics classes at no cost, Schreck recognized the pivotal role the college played for her. “Had I not been given the chance to have the tuition-free arts education at CCSF that I did at that crucial junction in my life, I would have missed out on a very important link in my artistic development,” Schreck said. “As a society we have really let down people who are in their 20s, and even people into their 30s and 40s,” said Tim Killikelly, the president of City College’s faculty union, the American Federation of Teachers 2121. He added, “Like the single mom who is going to school, who we should provide with the right resources so she can get out of school sooner, get a job and spend time with her family.”
City College nearly qualifies as Hispanic Serving Institution By Robert Jalon rjalon@theguardsman.com
In a ritual of magic and sound, Zeena recently performed at the Berghain nightclub in Berlin on Feb. 26, 2016. (Photo courtesy of Zeena Schreck)
Zeena Schreck is pictured in 1979, five years before college students like herself would no longer have access to a free education at City College. (Photo courtesy of Zeena Schreck)
Though Schreck has gained much fame and success since her enrollment, she remains well-rehearsed in the realities faced by the youth of San Francisco. “I know that there are many other young people who also experience such discouragements and hindrances,” Schreck said. “In instances where families fail young creative people and there are no state-supported educational possibilities like CCSF was to me, then I fear that that is a recipe for disaster.” Voters will get to choose whether to raise
taxes on real estate over $5 million to make City College tuition-free for all San Francisco residents. The proposition is expected to generate an average of $44 million in revenue should it pass. “I hear their stories,” Killikelly said. “Making college free for students would be an incredible boon to society for all of us, but especially to the ones already struggling. Prop. W is
City College is approaching its second semester of 25 percent Latino enrollment required to join the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) and apply for federal funds under Title V of the Higher Education Act. The association was the driving force behind Congress formally recognizing campuses with high Hispanic enrollment as federally designated Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Such colleges can receive institutional funding from the HACU, which in 2016 gave out over $100 million. “We have been trying to do this for about two decades,” said professor Edgar Torres, department chair of Latin American and Latino/Latina Studies. ”We’ve been attending HACU conferences, and little by little we were creeping up and we knew that it was going to happen eventually.” Becoming an HSI continues on page 3
Art is the wave that teaches the Raising awareness against violence with Project Survive Island’s culture Zeena Schreck continues on page 3
By Gardenia Zuniga-Haro gzunigaharo@theguardsman.com
By Karen Sanchez
City College’s Project Survive is hosting its annual Domestic Violence Awareness Month events throughout October by providing workshops on violence prevention and raising awareness on trauma. “We have a unique program here at City College, because with Project Survive we can involve the community with peer education and help anyone heal from any trauma they have,” said Maggie Harrison, department chair for Women's Studies and member of Project Survive. A community ritual called Living Room Project Survive continues on page 3
Special to The Guardsman
From some of the first inhabited places on Earth to the walls of an art gallery, Pacific Islanders have shaped their history and culture into works of art shown at San Francisco State University's (SFSU) Associated Art Gallery. The exhibition “Being Pacific” shares the works of 13 Pacific Islander artists, who created a representational showcase for their Participants share their thoughts during the “Living Room: A Ritual for Healing from Historical and Individual Trauma” event at the Student Union on Oct. 11, 2016. (Photo by John Ortilla/ The Guardsman)
RamCamp takes nature in stride CULTURE – PAGE 4
Rams pounce panthers SPORTS – PAGE 8
Documenting young Central Americans CULTURE – PAGE 5
Pacific exhibit continues on page 5