By Luis Rivas

Without an extension of temporary tax in-creases, California community colleges will face $900 million in state general

fund cuts. AFT endorsed candidates for the LACCD Board

of Trustees, Scott Svonkin and Mona Field came to campus for a Candidates Forum on Monday.

"Elected officials work for the voters and we need to remember that, Svonkin said. "Our customers are the students, but we work for voters."

.Prop. O, Prop. M. and Measure Amendment L will affect the lives of students in Los Angeles.

Prop. M would implement a tax on medical mari-juana collectives in Los Angeles with the revenue go-ing to general municipal services.

Measure Amendment L would increase public funding to librar-ies in Los Angeles, Prop. O would implement a tax on oil producing businesses in the city with the rev-enue going into general municipal services.

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed bud-get seeks a balanced approach of making $12.5 billion in spending cuts in the interim and asking the voters to extend temporary tax in-

creases totaling $12 billion for five years. LACCD faces cuts of $34 million under the gov-

ernor’s budget proposal and $76 million if an all-cuts budget were to be opted instead.

According to reports from the chancellor and col-lege presidents, “Californians locally elected commu-nity college trustees, standing with their faculty, staff and students, are best able to decide where budget re-ductions can be absorbed while minimizing the impact on their communities.”

“Targeted” cuts at specific curriculum that costs the colleges the accumulated funding required to pre-serve the necessary courses for students in transfer and career preparation programs.

Every draft proposed requires districts to reduce enrollment in higher-cost programs, such as ad-vanced technology and nursing could mitigate state cuts and main-tain General Education instruction and services.

Though the LACCD collective-ly supports student fee revenue in-creases to soften the blow, it follows that the apportionment increase need not be the primary solution to district-wide problems, if local communities are able to ap-prove parcel taxes to provide funds to imminent state general fund revenues.

Board of Trustees member Mona Field says that she was ambivalent about her decision to run again.

“But then a lot of people said please, please and so I said well, OK. I put myself back in this mess and so here I am, I think that you guys are sophisticated enough to know that our state is facing a very severe time, that very soon after our [LACCD] primary we are going to know whether there’s gonna be that ballot measure in June.” Field cautioned,

“If we don’t have that ballot measure, oh--my goodness, its gonna take a lot of experienced people who know our district and our people and everything to make sure we survive it.”

Volume 164, Number 2 Wednesday, March 2, 2011

INDEX: Opinion Page 2 News Page 3 Sports Page 4

L.A. CITY

LAW

Heritage see page 3

EX

TR

A

Hundreds of veterans on campus face unique challenges, but rally for support.By Mario Mariscal and Emanuel Bergmann

Men and woman who serve their country are an important

part of LACC’s diverse campus community. Many veterans come here to further their education, however, the transition from sol-dier to student can be a difficult one.

With the current economic climate, unemployment can be-come a significant hurdle veter-ans need to overcome as they re-turn from duty. Education can be a significant advantage.

Veterans have been trained to be highly skilled and disci-plined people, but many suffer from trauma, which can pose unique challenges. Overcrowd-ed classrooms, for example, can be one of the many triggers for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

The Army’s first study of the mental health of troops who fought in Iraq found that about one in eight reported symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disor-der, the Associated Press report-

ed.On campus, there are many

resources available for student veterans. The Veteran’s Club meets in front of Tully’s Cafe ev-ery Wednesday at noon. Student veterans are strongly encouraged to attend.

“Think of it as reporting for duty,” said Reed Sand, 30, presi-dent of the Veteran’s Club. The club was founded to help address the issues that the roughly 600 student veterans at LACC might face.

“A lot of veterans, especially

ones who recently returned from duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, have a hard time adjusting to student life,” said Ken Yamazaki, 33, a business major who served with the United States Navy from 2002 until 2007.

In addition to the Veteran’s Club, student veterans can ap-proach Veteran Affairs, located in the Office for Special Services. VA Representative Melody Mel-drum is available from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Fri-

Student Vets Report for DutyStudents Get Out the Vote, or Will they?

Veterans see page 3

By Whitney Shepard

Compton, California’s Voices of Des-tiny Choir (VOD) of Greater Zion Church Family, lead by Reverend

Dr. Michael J. Fisher, took the stage with a pro-nounced presence. The assembly opened with the song “You Don’t Have To Have A PhD” which paid homage to the gospel that African slaves would sing while working in the fields, which also served as a means to give informa-tion that was important to their community with-out being detected by their slave masters who did not allow such communication to take place among slaves.

Students and faculty of a wide array were in attendance last Thursday in the Camino Theatre for the African American Heritage Committee’s (AAHC) presentation “Standing on the Shoul-ders of Giants: The Life, Service, and Legacy”, in honor of Black History Month.

Master of Ceremony, Corey Rodgers, who is the Associate Dean of the EOP&S program at Los Angeles City College (LACC), officially be-gan the assembly with a welcome to the Honor-able Diane Watson who is an alumni of LACC and to the keynote speaker, actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph best known for her portrayal of stepmother Dee on the television series Moesha.

President of the AAHC, Dr. Thelma James Day gave an introduction of endearment to Ralph, who approached the stage amid standing

applause from the au-dience.

Ralph who gradu-ated from Rutgers University at the age of 19, the youngest in the history of the uni-versity, belted out the gospel lyrics “I’ve got a feeling everything is going to be alright.” Ralph said, “Some-times that was all that we had as comfort.”

Painting a vivid and dark picture of

what it was to be an Af-rican slave coming to

America in the 1800s Ralph said, “… In landing

‘Standing on Shoulders ofGiants’

Sheryl Lee Ralph

The Veterans Club attracts new members during Club Rush in front of the Learning Resource Center last week as Juan Olmedo, an LACC stu-dent, signs up to become a member. Olmedo is enlisted in the Air Force National Guard and said he will deploy to Afghanistan in August.

Photo by Abimael Rivera/ Collegian

By Luis Rivas

Student voters will have the chance to vote in members of the Board

of Trustees for the Los Angeles Community College District on March 8. The only problem is: will students get out and vote?

Emily Schwartzler, English major at CSUN and Supplemen-tal Instruction Mentor at LACC, will not be voting for this elec-tion. According to Schwartzler, voting does not have an effect.

People are generally unaware of the upcoming election, accord-ing to Schwartzler. She has been a registered voter since 2006 but has not voted in any election.

“In high school you take po-litical science [and] they tell you that every vote counts - they lie to you,” Schwartzler said. “My vote still doesn’t count because I don’t hold any [government] of-fice...”

Primary Nominating and Consolidated Election for Los Angeles is March 8 with several measures and propositions on the ballot that will affect funding for city services and taxes.

Three of the 10 different mea-sures on the ballot are as follows. First, Proposition O will tax oil

.By Abimael Rivera

Former men’s basketball coach and Athletic Director of

producing business in Los An-geles with the generated revenue additionally used to fund gen-eral municipal services. Second, Proposition M will put a city tax on medical marijuana collectives with generated revenue used to fund general municipal services. Finally, Charter Amendment L is a measure that will increase fund-ing to public libraries.

Discrimination Case Begins: Michael Miller v. Los Angeles City Col-lege Et. Al.

LACC, Michael Miller, returned to court last week in a lawsuit against campus President, Jamil-lah Moore, who he says dis-criminated against him for being white and over 40.

Miller also claims he was terminated for whistle-blowing.

The proceeding took place at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.

The trial continues after the Los Angeles Community Col-lege District repeatedly attempt-ed to stall or stop the lawsuit brought by Miller.

Attorney Rupert A. Byrd-song of Ivie, McNeill & Wyatt is representing Miller. Represent-ing the defendants is attorney Lester Jones.

It is estimated that court proceedings will last up to three weeks.

An administrative law hear-ing will take place March 14 regarding Miller’s termination at the Office of Administrative Hearings in Los Angeles.

Miller will attempt to be reinstated with the help of Attor-ney Lawrence Rosenzweig, who is representing him on behalf of the American Federation of Teachers local.

Judge Daniel J. Buckley said a trial date would take place March 30.

“Let’s touch base on March 25. Pick a jury on the first,” Buckley said.

CommemorativeOscar MicheauxThe 33rd stamp in the Black Heritage series features pioneering filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, whose entrepreneurial spirit and independent vision continue to inspire filmmakers and artist today.

Photo by Luca Loffredo/ CollegianRosalind Goddard, Bibliographic Instruction and Reference Librarian, lectures on her United States Postal Service Stamps collection after the presentation.

“The importance of the Black Heritage Series is that it brings to the attention of children, adults [and] teenagers; figures who have contributed to the progress of this country both socially, cul-turally and historically. They help preserve history … because the stamps themselves have focused on people like Martin Luther King, Jr. [and] events in Civil Rights history.”

- Professor Rosalind Goddard

Commemorative

Negro Leagues BaseballThe Negro Leagues Baseball stamps pay tribute to the all-black professional baseball leagues that operated from 1920 until about 1960.

Vote or Pay

Mona Field

Scott Svonkin

The Bond Secret; Licensed to Waste

OpiniOn

Media Arts Department, Learning Resource Center 201

Los Angeles City College855 N. Vermont Ave.,

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EDITOR-IN CHIEF:

ART DIRECTORLuca Loffredo

SECTION EDITORS: FOOD:

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Mende SmithSPORTS:

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Tanya FlowersDISTRIBUTION MANAGER:

Collegian Staff

ADVERTISING: Tercius BufeteGRAPHICS:

Luca Loffredo, Mende Smith, Gegham Khekoyan

REPORTERS:

Kalifa Madden,Whitney Shepard, Luis Rivas

Mario Mariscal,Emanuel Bergmann,

Brent Pearson, Tanya Flowers, Luis Ponce, Curtis Strain,

Rosio Maya

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Luca Loffredo,

Russ Mutuc, Jorge Ponce, Pe-dro Dias, Reuben E. Reynoso, Abimael j. Rivera, Luis Rivas

ILLUSTARTORS: , Edgar A.

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ONLINE MEDIA: Russ Mutuc

FACULTY ADVISER: Rhonda Guess

Email:losangeles.collegian@gmail.

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The college newspaper is published as a learning experience, offered under the college journalism instructional program. The editorial and advertising materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, are the responsibility of the student newspaper staff.

Under appropriate state and federal court decisions, these materials are free from prior restraint by virtue of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Accordingly, materials published herein, including any opinions expressed, should not be interpreted as the position of the Los Angeles Community College District, Los Angeles City College, or any officer or employee thereof.

© 2003 Collegian. No material may be reprinted without the express written permission of the Collegian.

NEXT ISSUE:

March 9 2011

Editorial deadline:March 2

For all submissions including letters to the editor and publicity

releases.

Advertising deadline:February 23

Send materials to Collegian office: LRC 201

LOs AngeLes COLLegiAnWednesday, March 2, 20112

LACC Guide to Public Protest

By Brent Paul Pearson

Los Angeles City Attor-ney Carmen Trutanich’s aggressive new stance against public demonstra-tors threatens them with “up to a year in county jail” for minor infractions. He says he will be coming down hard on protestors.

His reasoning, when talking about the Wilshire Boulevard protest last year, was that recent demonstra-tions, “conducted without

permits, had cost the city thousands of dollars for po-lice response and disrupted traffic.”

Those people on Wilshire Boulevard that day, most-ly students, were showing their outrage at Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s new law. Her law is now being referred to as the toughest immigration legislation in our nation’s history.

In Arizona it is now man-datory for everyone to car-ry immigration documents at all times or possibly face police arrest. In other words, if you look Hispanic and feel like going for a stroll in the park, you better bring your papers.

This might sound familiar to you if you were living in Nazi Germany during World War II.

“What she is doing can be compared to the Sa-lem witch trials or the Holo-caust,” said Louisa B. Cau-cia of the L.A. Times. Except now, the scapegoat has become jobless Mexican

immigrants. Many agree that it puts an innocent group of American citi-zens in danger, giving new meaning to the question, “Can I see your ID card?

The men and women who were outraged at this decided to lie down to-gether in the middle of the street, handcuffed to one another and block traffic for hours holding signs.

Obviously, legislation this severe would cause some serious public reac-tion. After all, protesters stand together whenever human rights are being vio-lated.

In this case, even Presi-dent Barack Obama agreed that Gov. Jan Brewer’s new laws were too extreme. He said, "Although I understand the frustration of the people of Arizona when it comes to the inflow of illegal immigrants. I don't think this is the right way to do it.”

What if he is right? What if the protesters are right?

These people aren’t crimi-nals; they are voices of public opinion that even our nation’s president un-derstands. For Trutanich to then threaten them with jail time seems inappropriate.

What do we do then with an unjust law? In Amer-ica, there are three law-ful ways that have been handed down to us from the progressive movement in the early 20th century. They are Initiative, Referen-dum, and Recall.

These laws provide the means for a voter to enact legislation, get rid of hor-rible laws, or even get rid of a politician.

But what happens when a group feels they have no choice but to take it to the streets? In the law, you do have the right to peace-ful assembly under the First Amendment to the Consti-tution.

In 1875, the Supreme Court held that "the right of the people peaceably to assemble for the purpose of

petitioning Congress for a redress of grievances, or for anything else connected with the powers or duties of the national government, is an attribute of national citizenship, and, as such, under protection of, and guaranteed by, the United States." Unfortunately this clause has always been in-terpreted differently at dif-ferent times.

This is the law that pro-testors need to know. It can be very confusing and cru-el if it is not understood. This is how you make yourself heard.

Public protest is getting more dangerous. It is much safer to first follow the laws, to learn the established ways of sharing your voice. If you honestly try that first and you still aren’t being heard, then you can con-sider finding out where your local city attorney lives (Carmen Trutanich) and kindly suggest he recon-sider.

Immigrants and Protesters Beware

EDITORIAL

Millions of dollars wasted, nepotism, secrets, lies, oth-

er people’ s money – these are the elements for a great screenplay.

This past Sunday, I was expecting the front page of the Los Angeles Times to be primarily concerned with the Oscars and the great films and artists nominated for the 83rd Academy Awards. But instead, I saw an exposé on the misuse of bond dollars in the endless remodeling saga of the Los Angeles Commu-nity College District.

I immediately grabbed the paper from the newsstand.

The Collegian has been following this issue for more than a year, despite the ad-ministration’s and the con-tractor’s lack of transparency and unwillingness to commu-nicate hard truths.

I devoured the pages. I felt betrayed, discouraged and hopeless.

I was born and raised in Naples, Italy, where corrup-tion and nepotism is rampant. When I moved to California, I learned about transparency in the workplace and public af-fairs. I was proud to become a Californian.

Then, I realized that his-tory keeps repeating itself.

When are we going to ap-preciate our community? This tremendous waste of funds will impact the future of many talented and promising stu-dents, individuals who might one day make us proud and continue our legacy of excel-lence in the arts, in business, science and literature – a proud heritage at California’ s community colleges for al-most a century.

I ask myself: Why are you trying destroy to our inspira-tion?

I am sure that the public will be enraged about this scandal involving taxpayer money.

Too many scandals have come to our attention lately. We will soon find out how this story continues to develop. What will happen in the fu-ture?

I hope, that one day this story of intrigue and politics will be turned into a feature film written and produced by Los Angeles Community Col-lege District students, and not by some overpaid relative of an administration employee – or a Swedish photographer.

By Luca Loffredo

By Megan Wood

Last semester, I had multiple class-es that took me through the free

speech zone and, with time permitting, I would engage the people campaigning.

One day, I saw a group

with a picture of Obama su-perimposed with a Hitler mus-tache that intrigued me. When I asked them why they had the picture, one of the supporters just responded with another question. After a few rounds of that, I finally began to get information on what their ide-als are.

They were part of La-Rouche Youth Movement, fronted by Lyndon LaRouche, and believe in progress and population growth to stimu-late the economy. By prog-ress they meant more dams and building an aqueduct from Alaska to divert glacial run off “not being used,” just melting into the ocean. When I asked about the environmen-

tal impact of such “solutions” (like how the salmon popula-tions are declining because of dams), he did not care about those things; humans are the human concern.

I proposed that perhaps that fresh glacial water melt-ing into the ocean creates a specific environment in which certain life is dependent on, that in turn our lives depend on.

His response only proved his ignorance: “We don’t even know what’s really going on in those ecosystems!” He in-creasingly became heated and impossible to converse with, leaving me no choice but to simply walk away.

When I got home I read

the literature they had given me and found nothing po-litical or practical for solving anything; instead it was just a bunch of tangents shooting off from each other targeting emotions. After reading both papers, I continued my re-search online and let me tell you the findings were juicy.

The movements of La-Rouche have a history of vio-lence, harassment and are often referred to as a political cult, using psychological tac-tics on recruits to brainwash them. Furthermore, LaRouche was indicted for credit card fraud and obstruction of jus-tice and later convicted of attempted mail fraud involv-ing more than $30 million;

mail fraud involving almost $300,000 and conspiracy to defraud the IRS.

Even more amusing is that he attempted to run for presi-dent from jail. When the ad-vocates returned another day to the free speech zone, with fresh faces, they tried to reel me in, but I happened to be late to class. So when I said ‘no thank you, I’m late, no I don’t agree with your move-ment, no I wouldn’t like any lit-erature,’ and continued walk-ing, he yelled at me, “I guess you just hate the truth!” The irony is I love “truth” and hear-ing other points of view, but I don’t enjoy being harassed by uninformed people who rely on intimidation and ma-

LaRouchebags

Billions to Blowand What We Know

Promises of new build-ings were sold to those who voted for a slew of proposi-tions that passed in 2001.

As a result, the alloca-tion of funds sponsored by a series of bonds was designed to give much needed support and fund renovations for all nine col-leges of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD).

To the horror of eager students, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted by massive amounts of irresponsible spending under the not-so watchful-eye of the LACCD Board of Trustee members.

On Monday, following an American Federation of Teachers sponsored candi-dates forum, Scott Svonkin, who is campaigning for a seat on the Board of Trust-ees said it best “ I believe that we need to completely audit the district and un-cover any fraud, waste and abuse.”

The reprehensible spending and misuse of funds is not news to the Collegian. Covering the story in the March 24, 2010 issue in a piece entitled "LACCD Acknowledges Misuse of Bond Dollars,"

Bond Counsel from the Ful-bright & Jaworski law firm, Lisa Ann Wells commented on improperly spent district funds.

Wells stated that funds were being spent, “On mat-ters not directly related to campus construction, such as travel and public rela-tions.”

Our campus boasts a new Library, Dental Tech-nology Facility, and a Sci-ence-Technology Building.

Although these were renovations that students need and utilize, they still wasted vast resources be-cause of poor planning and deals made in metaphori-cal “smoke filled rooms”.

As students, we should have the right to know where the funds are going and what elected board of-ficers do with money that should be spent on student facilities.

Instead of hiring a $250 per hour Feng Shui consul-tant, building listing towers and the commissioning of a video biography of head of construction program, Lar-ry Eisenberg, taxpayers, as well as students, deserve a more transparent way of tracking funds allocated for our campuses.

By Matthew Ali

Two Hollywood names: Tony Plana and Esai Morales of “Ugly Betty” and “La Bamba” respectively, are set to grace the stage of the El Camino Theatre this weekend.

Plana and Morales are both slated to perform a staged read-ing benefit performance to help raise money for the academy’s scholarship program.

Plana played Ignacio Suarez in the hit TV series "Ugly Betty" and Morales played Bob Valen-zuela in the biopic, “La Bamba.” Both star in the first offering of the Theatre Academy’s spring se-mester presentation “Death of A Salesman,” by Arthur Miller.

The list of talented stars goes on. Also co-starring is Elizabeth Pena, an actress who has ap-

peared in many TV shows and movies such as "Ghost Whisper-er", "NCIS" and "Tortilla Soup."

Another Hollywood standout who will appear in the produc-tion this weekend is Danny Pino, who is a screen and stage actor

best known for taking on the role of Desi Arnaz in CBS's “Lucy: The Lucille Ball Story.”

The production is not a tra-ditional play like some students are used to seeing, but a more relaxed piece performed with no scenery and in generic costumes that fit the time period.

“The actors will appear on stage in more like a rehearsal set-ting, rather than a fully produced scenic environment,” said Kevin Morrissey, theatre department chair. “We’re putting this show together in a very short period of time. It’s real common, sort of like the production of ‘Love Letters’ that’s been done or the ‘Vagina Monologues’ it’s got the high sort of content to it in terms of talent but not all the produc-tion value.”

This star-studded cast from

all over the entertainment indus-try is set to perform the play on Saturday, March 5 at 8 p.m. and on Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m. The play is being directed by Dr. Al Rossi who also directed "Dog Sees God" early in the 2010 fall semester.

“Tony and Dr. AL Rossi are good friends and all of the cast members who’ve accepted are all former cast-mates from different projects,” Morrissey said. “They have been incredibly generous, and we’re nothing but grateful.”

Theatre Academy students seem excited about the upcom-ing performance. Some students know what this performance will mean for them and their depart-ment.

“I think it will help,” said Kyle Durack, a theatre major. “It will help bring money to the

school and a little attention to the academy.”

The caliber of the talent ac-tors who will participate in the

weekend presentation has given a lift to students and others in-

volved with the play. The addi-tion of such talent into an LACC production is going to bring a lot of attention to the school and the faculty members have high hopes that students will reap the rewards of this rare opportunity

“Sort of like playing tennis,” Morrissey said. “You always play with someone who’s better than you, so it builds your skills and this will certainly be an ex-ample of that.”

Tickets can be purchased online at www.theatreacademy.lacitycollege.edu. Proceeds are to go to the program’s scholar-ship fund.

V.I.P. tickets are $50, Regu-lar seating is $25 and student tickets are only $12. For more information contact the theatre department at (323)-953-4000, ext. 2990.

newsLOs AngeLes COLLegiAnWednesday, March 2, 2011 3

African-American Heritage Assembly Brings Audience To Its Feet

Giants from page 1

days for questions of all kinds, from paperwork to financial aid to the psychological counseling available through the Student Health Center.

In order to receive the best education possible, it is recom-mended that veterans decide in a timely manner on the classes they wish to attend. If veterans don’t get into classes, they risk losing the educational benefits that they are entitled to.

It is important to remember that student veterans are eligible to receive different kinds of gov-ernment assistance.

For example, the Post-9/11 GI Bill provides financial sup-port for education and housing to individuals with at least 90 days

of aggregate service on or after Sept. 11, 2001, or individuals dis-charged with a service-connected disability after 30 days, accord-ing to the United States Depart-ment of Veteran Affairs.

This month, President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden will be-gin a campaign designed to help not just the veterans but also their families.

The campaign is set to help veteran and their families and promote volunteering for simple everyday tasks.

The campaign ranges from helping the family cope with de-ployments to helping the Ameri-can people appreciate the service and commitment of the returning

soldiers. It also sets out to better the psychological health of the family, helps with military chil-dren's education and child care services for those in the Armed Forces, the White House web site reports.

But not all veterans are here to stay.

Some student veterans are still on active duty.

“In August, I’m going over-seas to Afghanistan,”, said Juan Olmedo, 21, a member of the Air Force National Guard. “My friends told me it sucks over there. If you can help, do what-ever you can.”

By Thomas Pumphrey

Student Senator Jaden Ledkins hosted a workshop for homeless LACC students at the Faculty and Staff Center on Feb. 17. He hopes to implement a plan to help home-less students. He said his plan is es-sentially a three-step pyramid. First is to act as a support group for each other. Second is to obtain faculty and administrative support. Third is to de-velop community involvement.

“I created this campaign to help out with students who are homeless,” Jaden said. “I want to create aware-ness. I know a lot of students are homeless or on the verge of it. I talk to students who say they are homeless and then they know other students who are homeless. I can’t just stand by and do nothing, I hear the stories everyday and I’m shattered by it.”

“This campaign is not for them alone it is also for myself,” Jaden said. “I am a homeless student. I couch hop.”

When asked how long he had been doing this he responded, “Off and on for two years. I was doing pret-ty well then the economy hit and I lost everything. I’m just a student trying

to help. But, I’m a homeless student with power. I have a strong voice. But If I have students rallying behind me, I have a much stronger voice.”

Jaden said it will be a student run homeless campaign and that the iden-tities of the homeless students will re-main confidential.

“This isn’t a topic that people talk about with each other,” he said. He asked the Collegian not to publish any of the students’ names.

One of the homeless students stated that he had been homeless for over three years and said, “I live on the beach. It’s pretty crazy at night time. There’s some sick stuff going on out there. People try to mug you. I got a bike. They tried to take it from me. There’s always three or four of them. I fought them off, but next time I might not be able to. I don’t know how many of them there is going to be that’s the thing.”

One female student said she en-rolled at LACC when she was staying at a shelter. “I was so glad to have a shelter and be able to study,” she said. But soon she was kicked out. “It is so bad there. I had to drop some classes.” She wants to become an interpreter then continue her education to be a

teacher. “That’s why I enrolled in this college, so I wouldn’t fall into this hole,” she said.

Jaden wants to link homeless stu-dents with services to stabilize their lives. He said he feels it is important to stabilize them so they can concen-trate on their studies.

“We want to help students to stay in school. My idea is lockers that you keep for the entire semester. Home-less students could store their stuff in them. There are also showers in the old gym. People can get clean,” he said.

The homeless students who at-tended the workshop were given hy-giene products, which came from last semester’s club drive. They were originally going to be sent to shelters but Jaden felt the products should go to students. “The clubs are all about students helping students,” he said.

Jaden said he is planning to hold biweekly meetings on Tuesday after-noons. Students who are interested in attending should look for the fliers on the campus kiosks. The workshops can help with financial aid, student loans, work-study, social services, support groups, and study groups.

Jaden Ledkins, a senator of Associated Students Organization speaks of his workshop regarding City College students who are homeless, during Club Rush last week. Ledkins wants to begin a campaign to provide services to these students, such as lockers that they can keep for an entire semester.

Student Senator Helps Homeless LACC Students

in a strange place of a people who look noth-ing like me, who then stripped me of my cloth-ing, had me stand bare as if I were an animal when at times I had been somebody’s daughter. I had been loved as somebody’s wife. I had been respected in my community and to now stand stripped naked, treated as if I was worth nothing and to be sold to folks who look noth-ing like me, and then 300 years later people wonder ‘why are you so mad?’ After all that peo-ple still say ‘why can’t they just let it go’.”

Day along with President of LACC, Dr. Jamillah Moore pre-sented Congresswom-an Watson, one of the first African-American women elected to the California state senate, with a plaque from the AAHC in honor of her service and legacy. Wat-son’s career of 36 years includes being U.S. Ambassador to Micro-nesia, California Rep-

resentative to the U.S. Congress, California State Senator and serv-ing on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education, influencing legislation that would improve health care, consumer protection and the qual-ity of life for men and

women.“My mother’s en-

rollment number was 1003, she was the third student to enroll at Los Angeles City College,” Watson said, “For me this is truly my home-

coming and Dr. Jamil-lah Moore was my in-tern, my student and now she is President of the college that graduat-ed three in my family.”

The ceremony was closed with another performance by the VOD, who are credited with being crowned as

“Best Church Choir in America” and will be performing at the Stellar Awards, the 2011 Gos-pel Superbowl Celebra-tion. Audience members stood on their feet and danced in front of their

seats while VOD put on a contagiously energetic show.

“I thought it was an incredible perfor-mance,” LACC Busi-ness Department faculty Katherine Morales said, “It’s important for ev-eryone to think about each other and our his-tory and culture. Events like this help us because they bring us all togeth-er. It was very informa-tive and gave everyone a lot to think about…we can all learn from each other…so we can all get along better.”

A catered luncheon was held in the Quad for those who attended the assembly. Students, faculty and members of VOD gathered and ate chicken, potato salad, bread and desserts.

“They were real good, I liked them. They were kind of like Glee,” Tiffany Johnson who is a nursing student said of the performance by VOD. Johnson also thought that the assem-bly was engaging.

AdvAnce your educAtion, AdvAnce Your cAreer

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Learn How at our March 12 Open House in Los AngelesReceive detailed information about our many programs and find the answers to all your education questions in one place.

At the open house, you can: • Speak with faculty and admissions staff

• Tour our Los Angeles campus

• Learn about financial aid options available

Our Los Angeles campus offers programs in: • Media and Communication

• Business and Management

• Education

• Engineering and Technology

• Health and Human Services

• Letters and Sciences

Application fee will be waived for attendees.

A Nonprofit University Accredited by WASCAn Affiliate of the National University System

Saturday, March 12, 10 a.m.Los Angeles Campus, 5245 Pacific Concourse Drive, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90045

rSvP today or learn more at:

www.nu.edu/openhouses or call 800.nAt.univ (6 2 8 . 8 6 4 8)

Voices of Destiny Choir brings audience to its feet with their energetic performance.

Photo by Luca Loffredo/ Collegian

Returning Vets Seek Education Veterans from page 1

Tony Plana

Hollywood Actors Lend Star Power to Theatre Academy

Photo by Abimael Rivera/ Collegian

spOrts LOs AngeLes COLLegiAnWednesday, March 2, 20114

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SoccerCancelled

Badminton Cancelled

FootballCancelled

GolfCancelled

Sports Calendar

2010 LA Marathon at mile 9. This race attracts thousands

of athletes from all around the world every year.

Students and staff here at Los Angeles City College are lacing up their run-ning shoes to compete in the upcom-

ing LA Marathon. It is set to take place on Sun-day, March 20.

The route is something that draws people to Los Angeles from all around the world. The race starts at Dodger Stadium and ends at the Santa Monica Pier, hitting a lot of the hot tour-ists spots in Los Angeles, including the Sun-set Strip, Rodeo Drive and Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

The race is expected to sell out for the sec-ond year in a row, with last year’s race sell-ing out at 26,054 registrants, a record number

for the marathon. Registration was closed nine days prior to the event.

Students and faculty alike are participating in this year’s race. Some of them are running for the first time and others are veterans.

“The LA Marathon is on my bucket list of things to do,” said Melissa DeBlieck, a first time participant and student here at LACC, “I feel like I’m very fit at this time of my life, so it couldn’t be a better time to do it,” she said.

Melissa, along with Professor Salazar, from the math department, and others from Los An-geles City College will be looking for students and staff along the route to cheer them on all the way to the finish line!

The program will provide students and faculty members with the opportunity to partici-pate in both men’s and women’s basketball as well as co-ed volley-ball with clear-cut rules and regulations for all who take part in the program.

The program is intended to provide the students with something that they can participate in other than academics.

“It is a stress reliever,” said Rufus Adams, a business major and a former professional baseball player. “To have a sports program of some kind at LACC, is definitely a positive thing.”

Adams is so excited about the whole program, that he is looking to help out with coaching a basketball team in order to stay connected with the game he loves.

Sean Tuber informs any student or fac-ulty member who missed the prior meet-ings and would like to take part in the program; March 11 will be the last day to register. Anyone interested must sign-up at the Office of Student Life (OSL), locat-ed in the CUB Center, before playing their first game.

Also, LACC students must be enrolled in at least one unit, present their LACC ID card and pay a one-time fee of $10, which will cover the entire season. Once a student is registered in the program, he or she will receive a form with all the rules and regu-lations of the program to abide by.

Once the program kicks off, there will be weekly basketball and volleyball games held at the Women’s Gym at a time and day yet to be confirmed. According to Tuber, the season should run about six to eight games, including playoff games.

Like several students, Tuber is very op-timistic about the program having a posi-tive breakthrough.

“We want students to enjoy their time on campus and play the games they like to play.”

L.A. Marathon Just Around the Corner

By Heather Biesemeier

Last Friday and Monday, many students attended a meeting at the Women’s Gym to determine the function of the Intramural Sports Program which begins in the middle of this month.

Intramural Sports Programto Begin Mid-March

By Luis Ponce

Return of Sports? Lady Cubs mixed it up in conference play in 2004. (Inset) Rufus Adams former pro-baseball player, currently business major, tells sports reporter, Luis Ponce about the intramural sports program.

Write to us with your sports stories, news, opinions or thoughts.

LosAngeles.Collegian@Gmail.comAttn.: Editor in Chief

Photo by Luca Loffredo/ Collegian