Pro-life club threatens activist

BY ROBERT DAVIS STAFF REPORTER RDAVIS @ CCCLARION.COM

The president of the Citrus Students for Life Club recently apologized for using the club’s Instagram to threaten to send a white supremacist group after an activist.

Citrus Students for Life is an antiabortion club at Citrus College that is part of the bigger organization, Students For Life, which helps establish anti-abortion clubs and trains students to be anti-abortion advocates at college campuses across the nation.

The Citrus Students for Life club is not fully recognized by Citrus College as its approval has not been voted on by the Associated Students of Citrus College, but it was approved by the Citrus College Inter Club Council on April 10.

On April 14, the president of the Citrus College chapter of the club, Kayla Garcia, used the Citrus Students for Life Instagram to send a DM to a pro-choice activist who does not attend Citrus College, Derek Torstenson that read “Now I know who doxxed me and babies lives matter! You cannot stop us we don’t care about you! Watch your back cause us far right don’t play.

I’ll send the proudboys after U.”

An article by Encyclopedia Britannica says the Proud Boys are an international neo-fascist and white nationalist organization. They are categorized as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.

Garcia apologized for the direct message in an Instagram story posted to her personal account the next day, writing in part, “I am very sorry to those I affected. I am going through something in my personal life and I will take accountability to say that will never happen! That is not what I am representing.”

The DM was a response to a story Torstenson posted where he reposted a photo that promoted a pro-life protest. Torstenson tagged a group called Resistance Coalition LA, and added a text box reading, “Hey @resistancecoalitonla heads up. Show up and counter these fascists.”

In an interview with the Clarion, Garcia said she planned to attend this protest and helped organize it, so she said she felt threatened by Torstenson’s post.

“He’s basically sending antifa after us. He’s sending people to be violent,” Garcia said.

The founder and facilitator of Resistance Coalition LA, Abby Thomas, wrote in an Instagram direct message to the Clarion that calling the group violent is “continued propaganda coming from dangerous right wing groups. To hear an anti-abortion club say that our organization is violent when there is no evidence to suggest as such would suggest to me that this individual probably is working directly with the Proud Boys or other far right organization

BY ROBERT DAVIS STAFF REPORTER RDAVIS @ CCCLARION.COM

Enrollment at Citrus College dropped during the pandemic but is now finally recovering.

Dean of Enrollment Gerald Sequeira said enrollment of fulltime equivalent students in spring 2023 is up 8.5%, which is about 774 more students than were enrolled in spring 2022.

institution and campus life,” said Jessica Lopez-Jimenez, the director of student support services.

Fullerton representative Christin Johnson knew what information students would need to succeed.

“I think just making sure they’ve looked into the university, researching what programs that the school offers to make sure that the major that the school offers will align with whatever their career goals are,” she said.

Many students found this information and more at the event.

“The people here, all the representatives, have a lot of information about their colleges,” said student Rosa Gutierrez.

Students were overly pleased about the event, stating they would recommend it for everyone.

“I learned some stuff I didn’t even know,” student Martin Flores said.

Flores explained how he planned to go to USC, but the Academy of Arts University changed his mind.

Enrollment for students who aren’t full time has more than doubled since spring 2022 with a 102.2% increase, which is about 182 more students.

Sequeira said although the college is still not above prepandemic enrollment levels, the progress is “a significant improvement.”

Before the pandemic, enrollment at Citrus was already on a downward trend. Sequeira said citrus enrollment numbers had been decreasing for two to three years before the pandemic hit and said that peak enrollment in recent years was around 2017.

This was due to economic factors, which severely impacted enrollment.

Sequiera said usually, when the economy and job market are doing good, people forgo their education and join the workforce since the motivation for higher education is usually to be used as a gateway to good paying jobs. When the economy is doing well already, people have less reason to go to college. The reverse of this is also