Vol. 85 No. 10-Nov. 4, 2016

Page 1

Art honors the dead

‘Major’event held at LMC Stangs dominate Napa

The Day of the Dead art show is now on display at the Los Medanos College Art Gallery — page 4

Representatives from each LMC department tabled at the Majors Fair Wednesday, Oct. 26 — page 4

V O L .

8 5 ,

N O .

F.Y.I. Important Dates October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month Nov. 11

Veteran’s Day: College is closed

Nov. 18

Last day to withdraw from full-term classes with a “W”

LMC students talk success

As a part of the Innovation and Speaker series, LMC will hold “An Evening of Cultural Conversations” event Tuesday, Nov. 15 in L-109 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Five students will discuss their personal experiences and educational journeys at the TED Talks-inspired event. The entire LMC community is invited to attend.

1 0

F R I D A Y ,

N O V .

4 ,

2 0 1 6

The Los Medanos College Women’s soccer team picked up another win with a final score of 9-0 — page 5

L M C E X P E R I E N C E . C O M

Poll lets students be heard 2016 election choices surveyed

By CASSIE DICKMAN

cdickman@lmcexperience.com

Based on a political sur vey about the election conducted by the Los Medanos College Experience over the past few weeks, the verdict is clear — students aren’t happy with their choices. This attitude coincides with the overall theme of how most millennials have been reported to view this election nationwide since Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump officially became their respective party’s nominee in July. “Either option is horrible,” said one student in the survey, who was not planning to register to vote in the upcoming November election. “It’s choosing between cancer and death.” Other survey respondents, who

also said they were not planning to register, cited the major-party candidates as the reason for their dismay as well. “Either candidate will make America shitty,” observed another student. Other respondents commented: “The candidates, to me, do not represent my values,” “I hate our candidates,” and “There is no right choice for these elections.” These comments represent the dominant theme of most of the responses given by the 115 LMC students surveyed between Oct. 10 and Nov. 2, most of whom fell in the millennial age range — 89 said they were younger than 26, 16 were between the age of 26 and 50, and 1 fell in the 50-64 age group.

Election 2016

Of those surveyed, 79 students said they were registered to vote, with 10 indicating they were planning to register in time to vote this November. Seventy-seven said they were actually planning to cast their ballots by Election Tuesday, with one maybe and two saying they would not be heading out to the polls. And while Clinton was the leader, with 36 of those who were planning to vote saying she was their intended presidential pick, none seemed too enthusiastic about the choice. Mia Warren, who volunteered to giver her name in the otherwise anonymous survey, said she was voting for Clinton, “though I really wanted Bernie.” But Warren wasn’t the only one to express they felt some See POLL, page 6

Who is most trustworthy? Of the 115 students surveyed, 69 answered this question regarding presidential nominees’ trustworthiness.

Hillary Clinton

32%

Donald Trump

13%

Third-party candidate

3%

Bernie Sanders

5%

“Funny question”

1%

Harambe

1%

Experience Graphic • Lissette Urbina

Celebrating the Panthers Faculty talks decor

Email brings up diversity

AMSA needs your help AMSA’s team Caduceus is raising money for the Light the Night Walk in Walnut Creek Saturday, Nov. 5. For additional information visit amsalosmedanoscollege.weebly. com/ or donate at pages. lightthenight.org/gba/ EastBay16/Caduceus

By ADRIA WATSON

awatson@lmcexperience.com

LMC offering a safe space Every first Thurday of the month, Student Life will hold “A Place to Talk” where students can express their thoughts and feelings about topics concerning today’s society. This month’s topic was the 2016 elections. the meetings are open to the whole LMC community and will be held in the Student Life Office. For more information contact lmc.studentlife@gmail. com.

Experience • Beatriz Hernandez

Original Black Panther Party members William Calhoun, Tairka Lewis and Saturu Ned (not pictured) answered questions presented by Instructor Tess Caldwell to celebrate the party’s 50th anniversary Thursday, Oct. 27 in L-109. Panelists discussed the history of the party and the experiences that originally lead them to join it.

Death penalty back on ballot By BEATRIZ HERNANDEZ

bhernandez@lmcexperience.com

Blood Drive on campus Student Life & Blood Centers of the Pacific will host another blood drive on campus Wednesday, Nov. 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in L-109. For more information contact the Office of Student Life at 473-7554 or to schedule your donation appointment visit www.bloodheroes.com and enter sponsor code losMC.

45%

Neither

A hot topic often discussed in class, the death penalty, is back on the ballot with two propositions. The first of the two, Prop 62, focuses on repealing the death penalty meanwhile a yes vote on Prop 66 looks to change the death penalty procedures to speed up the appeals process. However, this is not the first time it’s ever been discussed. In 1972, the CA Supreme Court ruled capital punishment as a violation of the constitution due to cruel and unusual punishment, causing others who may have been on death row

prior to the ruling to be commuted to life without parole. Some of these inmates include Charles Manson and Robert Kennedy’s assassin, Sirhan Sirhan. Following this ruling, Proposition 17 was enacted reinstating the death penalty in California. In subsequent years, it has been an issue heavily discussed on and off. “I am glad that Californians are revisiting this issue and I do hope that this elections will resolve the ambivalence surrounding the application of the death penalty in this state,” said Political Science teacher Milton Clark. At Los Medanos College some

professors such as Clark are open to discussing this issue in class. “I regularly have the discussion in my classes [about the death penalty], particularly during the study of civil liberties,” said Clark. “I never cease to be astonished by the number of young people willing to put someone to death, especially for crimes not as severe as murder.” As much as students are willing to talk about this topic however, teachers don’t always find it relevant or necessary to discuss in class. “I’m not surprised that it’s on the

See PROP, page 6

The Halloween spirit that had livened up the Student Service Building came to a halt just prior to the actual holiday, following a mandate from Senior Dean of Student Ser vices Gail Newman instructing the departments inside the building, including Admissions and Records, to be culturally sensitive about decorations. The action came after a suggestion from child development instructor Janice Townsend was made to Newman regarding a lack of cultural inclusion. After a meeting regarding Townsend’s suggestion, the majority of the Halloween decorations deemed divisive were removed from areas that were visible to students by the middle of the month. “I didn’t want them taken down,” said Townsend as she referenced cultural inclusivity. “I wanted an ‘and.’” “In the email I sent to the dean, I said there were two choices,” she added. “I suggested that she connect with the students, ask student life or the student government to help do the ‘and’ piece cause I don’t think it’s just the employees that should be doing it.” President Bob Kratochvil said people were not told to take down their decorations but to be sensitive. Townsend rejects the implication that her suggestions are about political correctness. She explained it’s about hav-

See DECOR, page 6

Debate team talks Prop 58 LMC students argue bilingual curriculum model By TYLER MORTIMORE

tmortimore@lmcexperience.com

Library Room L-109 was transformed into a debate hall Wednesday night as the Los Medanos debate team set out to argue the pros and cons of California’s Proposition 58, a ballot initiative that would repeal the 18 year-old Proposition 228 and allow schools to adopt bilingual curriculum models. “There are a lot of propositions on the ballot ... it gets very confusing, very fast,”

said debate coach Marie Arcidiacono in her introduction. “This is something that happens in bureaucracy, there is that vagueness of language and then we wonder later — what happened?” The debate was held in the British Parliamentary style, which has two teams of four competing against each other, with each Experience • Adria Watson team taking turns making their argument and refuting the opposition’s. Arianna Berumen gives her point of information as See TEAM, page 6

Randy Utz makes his opposing argument.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.