Editorial
Flint should be student housing
QUAN BACH
La Voz News Editorial Board
Cupertino residents’ needs come before students' to the Foothill-De Anza Board of Trustees The plan to create a new events space instead of student housing shows disregard for students. The Flint Center, currently being called the “De Anza Event Center” by the board, was once considered as the site of affordable student housing on campus. But during the Jan. 13 meeting, Chancellor Judy Miner pitched several ideas on what kind of events will be held inside the new event space and hoped to host prolific speaker events, musical performances, and even a chance of landing a Cinequest film
festival there. Miner said the board wants to follow the direction that will lead to the highest use of the center, and that is precisely what the community wants and desires to see in the future. This is a stark contrast to what she and the rest of the board heard from students in several meetings in the preceding months. On June 10, 2019, a large group of students and community members gathered at the Board of Trustees meeting to advocate for student housing
> SEE: FLINT, P. 4 & 9
Timeline of the Flint Center’s future Feb. 2019: The Flint Center closes because of structural safety concerns.
June 10, 2019: At the Board of Trustees meeting, dozens of students advocate for the Flint Center to become affordable student housing on campus.
Measure G and H: Two measures on the March 3 California primary ballot that would provide an estimated $898 million to the district if voters pass the bond and parcel tax.
January 13: Miner announces that the Flint Center has been renamed theDeAnzaEventCenter.
$200-300
million allocated to student housing
Source: FHDA website
News page 3
New student housing approach
Opinions page 10 Celebrities in politics
Impulse page 7 Women’s art exhibit
Sports page 11
Men’s basketball update
Public intellectual Cornel West at Foothill College Kathleen Quinn CAMPUS BEAT EDITOR
At an event hosted by the Foothill-De Anza foundation, speaker Cornel West spoke to community members and students about race, reparations, poverty, protest, religion and rhythm and blues on Jan 17, Friday. The event allowed students to come upstage and ask questions at Foothill College’s Smithwick Theatre. Andre Meggerson, enrollment services specialist said, “I loved the format, free speech and actually having the students come up.” West was dynamic in his speaking. He pointed, swiveled and leaned as he spoke to the audience about his experience in Charlottesville, Virginia counterprotesting, his disappointment with Obama not addressing class inequality, and the watering down of affirmative action which he called “deodorizing the funk.” “I’ve heard that he participated in the Matrix series, he’s a philosopher, and that’s pretty much it,” Kataryna Honcharuk, 22, photography and business administration said before the event, adding she hoped to be encouraged by West. Four out of the five students invited to speak with West on stage were members of the Umoja Community at Foothill, a program that teaches students about the cultures of Africa and the African American diaspora. The fifth was president of the Puente Program at Foothill College, which seeks to increase education among underserved students. “I look forward to having more conversations like this in these types of settings, so we can expose those that may not know to some different ideologies and create space for these conversations,” Meggerson said. Emmanuel Nevarez, 23, sociology, said Bernie Sanders was the reason why he came to this event. “I’m a staunch Bernie supporter. I cannot vote at all because I’m DACA, so any vote I get for Bernie by other people is more than enough for me,” Nevarez said. West said he “sandwiched” Foothill College between trips to Iowa to support Sanders and Oregon where he was speaking at a similar event the next day. Referring to other prestigious colleges in the Bay Area, West said he doesn’t use the word ‘prestigious’ as a way of talking about money and status. “I’m talking about the care for students who are willing to come and flower and flourish,” said West. “So, for me, I’m at a prestigious place, I’m blessed to be here.”