thecollegian
Issue 11 • Friday, April 20, 2018 • deltacollegian.net
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REDUCING THE LOSS Trump attacks Syria, again
Delta College saves taxpayers $20 million in early payoff of Measure L bond By Victoria Franco News Editor
On April 5, Delta College announced a more affordable and effective plan to pay off the Measure L Bond taken out in early 2004. The Measure L Bond was a way for Delta to obtain a loan sufficient enough to improve facilities at the main Stockton campus as well as the Mountain House location. “In 2004 Delta asked all property owners for approval on a $250 million bond. This is how colleges usually get money to improve facilities on campus. We needed money so we had to go out to voters, and we wanted them to see the value in our students,” said Public Information Coordinator Alex Breitler. San Joaquin County voters passed the measure with 57.7 percent of the vote. The Measure L Bond brought improvements and renovations to campus. It included the building of the DeRicco Student Services Center and the Science and Mathematics Center. It also included the renovation of the Goleman Library and an expansion of the Shima building.
By Killian Barnhart Managing Editor
The renovations helped students by providing quality facilities that can ensure quality learning. Money from the bond went to tasks as simple as repainting buildings or performing maintenance on the elevators to more complex tasks like building new state of the art buildings and fixing the pathways on campus to avoid any safety hazards. “It helped students because by providing the best facilities they can take advantage of state of the art technology. DeRicco was a way to centralize all the student information, so students don’t have to walk all around campus getting information,” said Breitler. Fourteen years after the bond approval, Delta is now able to develop a quicker way to pay off the money, saving taxpayers $20 million in interest. Instead of finishing payments in 2042, the Measure L Bond will give its last payment in 2039. In the old plan the debt service would have cost $62 million, but with the new faster pay off the debt comes out to around $42 million. “We want the people to know that we are trying to save their money, for example, paying off the loan earlier than expected,” said Breitler. Buildings on campus built with the help of the Measure L Bond. PHOTO BY MIKAEL HONZELL
On March 13, President Donald J. Trump ordered a single-night strike on research, storage and strategic assets of the Syrian Government in order to punish Bashar Al-Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons against his own people in the Syrian town of Douma. The attack itself hasn’t been thoroughly investigated. There are doubts as to whether Assad had any hand to play in the attack. “If that is the case, then maybe there’s enough reason to go in. But if it wasn’t Trump should rethink what he did and the effects it had on everybody there,” said Delta Student Mariah Diego. The American end of the strikes consisted of Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from Navy ships off the coast and missiles launched from B-1 Bombers. The strike was joined by the United States’ major European allies, the United Kingdom and France. The strike itself was twice as large as the previous one and struck two more targets than the last. The event soured relations between the United States and Russia further as the Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov promised there would be repercussions for the attack and the Kremlin denounced Washington, London and Paris. The strikes led to Trump being criticized by numerous Democrats, namely House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Republicans alike, noting one strike isn’t a substitute for a concrete Syrian strategy. Trump was among the most vocal voices against further involvement into Syria even before he had become a political entity. The strike stoked fears of a potential conflict with Russia, another nuclear-powered state that has intervened in the Syrian civil war on the behalf of the Assad regime. “We should stay away. Russia is basically on the Syrian side too, so you don’t want to start anything with Russia as well. That would be a big mess up,” said Delta Student Jose Landa. Trump warned of a potential attack the day before on Twitter prodding Russia to “get ready” as the missiles would be coming. Landa was surprised Trump followed through. The strike also brought up whether the United States has an actual role to play in Syria and whether or not the country should simply leave the country in Russia’s care. Support for humanitarian efforts are still present, but with the multi-sided war more confusing now more than ever, support for military intervention has given way to Russian intervention.
Students learn techniques for stellar resumes By Kayla Brown Staff Writer
Delta College hosted a free resume writing workshop on Thursday, April 12. It was sponsored by the Career Technical Education Workforce Development Center at Delta College, in collaboration with the San Joaquin County WorkNet center. Belinda Petate-Chan, employment training supervisor at WorkNet, said this is the first time the organization has done this workshop in collaboration with Delta. “It’s a great workshop for them, it helps them a lot
especially when they are looking for work. A lot of people are not familiar on how to put a resume together, so this kind of workshop helps them get prepared and be job ready,” said Petate-Chan, in reference to clients in her 23-year experience. There are WorkNet centers all over San Joaquin County. The organization works with clients in depth to assess specific needs, and with employers to find out what they’re looking for in job candidates. During the workshop, Employment Training Specialist Linda Stirm of America’s Job Center of California in Lodi, spoke about tailoring a resume to a
WorkNet and Delta College comes together to help stu-
See RESUME, page 8 dents create resumes. PHOTO BY ALICIA NORTON
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