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Pierce College students should have the campus police number saved on their phones. It is a simple yet effective way to increase the safety and security of people on campus. By being prepared with this critical information, students can feel more confident and at ease knowing that help is just a phone call away.
According to a statement from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Issac Jorge, several emergencies occur weekly at Pierce. However, he could not provide a precise count as it tends to fluctuate. These emergencies can range from medical incidents to traffic collisions on and off campus and other unforeseen
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circumstances within the campus vicinity. Jorge also shared examples of past incidents where the Sheriff’s Department was called and outlined how each case was handled.
“We get calls daily, from small things to big things,” Jorge said. “When it’s an emergency, we go, we assess the situation, and we get the resources needed, and we resolve it to a conclusion.”
It is recommended that students dial the on-campus Pierce Sheriff’s Office directly at 818-719-6450. This will ensure that the call is immediately directed to the sheriff’s office without delay. In contrast, dialing 911 will route the call to CHP, which will then be redirected to the
Pierce sheriff’s office, wasting time. The Pierce Sheriff’s Station is located on Campus on the right side next to the South Gym and it is open 24 hours a day.
“If there’s an emergency, you believe you’re in danger, give us a call immediately, take cover, try to hide, or whatever you need to do to keep yourself safe, but give us a call, stay on the line so we can get as much information as we can from you,” Jorge said.
Pierce students must proactively prepare for unforeseen emergencies and have the campus police number readily accessible on their mobile devices.
“If people want to get together to vocalize their rights and privileges, then I suppose that’s fine.”
- Gabrielle Pienda- Studio Arts Major
“I think they’re a smart idea. It’s a way of getting your voice out there. I don’t see why a company wouldn’t be ok with that. It’s important for workers to feel heard.”
- Nicholas Hedges -Music MajorFront:
Rabbi Isser Kluwgant says a prayer with student Sian Ashkenazi on the Mall at Pierce in Woodland Hills, Calif., on Oct. 9, 2023. Photo by Emil Rizkalla.
Back:
ASO President Gayane Zazyan (l) tries to hit the pinata as D’arcy Corwin (r) pulls it away during the Latino Heritage Pinata and Paletas event at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., on Oct. 4, 2023.
Photo by Myraneli Fabian.
“Yeah I think they’re good. It’s important that workers can come together and fight for better wages and working conditions”
- Shan Jafri- Business/Economics Major
- Alfredo Fuentes- Film MajorI think what unions accomplish is they settle a lot of conflicts before they rise to a level that’s unproductive. I find it to be a way to not only look after the workforce, but also make the job more efficient and enjoyable.
- Brian Walsh- History Professor
Labor union: an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing its members’ interests in respect to wages, benefits and working conditions.
That’s it. That’s the goal, according to the definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary—to advance the wages, benefits and working conditions for workers. And it’s a goal which provides workers the motive to join, support and strengthen unions—to be a part of the successful change.
Not all unions may last, but their efforts do.
Eight-hour work days?
Resolutions from the National Labor Union— which existed from 1866 to 1873—set in motion a campaign for eight-hour work days, according to the Library of Congress.
Equal pay for women?
An 1883 strike by Western Union Telegraph Company workers demanded “equal pay for equal work” for all employees. Though the strike was not successful, it was among the first public demands for women to receive fair pay, according to a 2015 article in Time Magazine. It would be about 80 more years before the Equal Pay Law came into effect.
Restrictions on child
labor? In the 1830s, New England unions were among the first to stand against child labor, marking the start of a decades-long, unionled fight for child labor regulations, according to a blog by the AFL-CIO. Nearly a century later, in 1938, President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act.
In 2022, a food safety sanitation service provider was found to have employed at least 102 children in hazardous occupations and overnight shifts in meat processing facilities, according to a February 2023 news release by the U.S. Department of Labor, and, in addition to taking steps to ensure future compliance with the law, the employer was fined $15,138—the maximum allowed—per minoraged employee that was employed in violation of this important Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Let this case be a powerful reminder that all workers in the United States are entitled to the protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act and that an employer who violates wage laws will be held accountable,” said Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda in the news release.
In the United States, the union membership rate was 10.1 percent in 2022
and is the lowest on record, according to a news release by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Of the 16 million wage and salary workers represented by a union, 1.7 million of those workers reported no union affiliation but still had jobs which are covered by a union contract, according to the same BLS report.
In te past decades, union membership has steadily declined while income inequality has steadily risen, according to a 2023 article by the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Microeconomics at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Less vacation time, reduced retirement preparation and declining intergenerational mobility are other factors noted in the article that mark the deterioration of middleclass stability. A labor union report released by the Treasury indicates that unions have the potential to raise middle-class wages, improve work environments and promote demographic equality.
Though unions have come and gone, their demands and efforts in the history of the United States have ensured improved workplaces for people today.
How different would workplaces look like today without the path unions have been paving for decades?
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, in one of her first challenges, negotiated with striking teachers of the LAUSD for better wages and working conditions back in March while former employees demanded their jobs back for refusing the COVID mandate. It was just last month the LAUSD Board of Education voted to end its mandate.
However, recent anger toward unions lies not in the employees themselves but their leaders acting in their own interests. There’s nobody who has received more flack and deserved scrutiny than those of the teacher unions.
Most of them oppose the growing new practice of school choice, which provides viable options for children to attend schools even outside of their districts. In such cases, parents aren’t beholden to failing education institutions with terrible records and are given opportunities for quality learning. This competition in the free market drives
individual schools to better their faculty and curriculum.
Of course, this must not imply all faculty members or students in said struggling institutions have the same experience or outcome.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten dismissed such attempts as “polite cousins of segregation,” which begs the question: what is racist for parents of an underprivileged student wanting to get the best education possible for their child?
Should that child, young man or woman, be trapped in an inept institution where life is made more difficult for them?
According to President of the American Federation for Children Nathaniel Cunneen from the New York Post, white-black segregation increased 35% from 1991 to 2020 and insists school choice has beneficial effects for integration.
Another example of how bureaucratic the leaders are happened when the COVID-19 pandemic began. While the blame for the initial lockdowns could
be fairly placed on elected leaders and advisers, it was the insistence of people like Weingarten to keep the schools closed even when public health officials asserted it was safe for students to attend class again in fears of teachers contracting the virus. In 2020, despite her recent whitewashing of history, Weingarten called efforts to reopen schools “cruel” and “reckless” in opposition to the Trump administration. California resisted partly because the union leaders insisted they do so and now parents are realizing the long-term consequences for the children of this state because of the lockdowns. And guess which champion of teacher unions kept the public schools closed while he sent his children to the open private and charter schools in October 2020?
Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Union leadership has mushroomed into a giant octopus with tentacles reaching out. There are many great teachers in unions but their leaders must put their student’s welfare first and must be held accountable by the parents, taxpayers and voters when possible.
Students of Pierce College mourn the loss of people murdered in the weekend terrorist attacks in Israel.
Rabbi Isser Kluwgant began the small group meeting of students at The Mall on Monday afternoon with a prayer from Psalms 20 with a solemn moment to grieve about the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel.
Hamas committed coordinated attacks the morning of Saturday, Oct. 7, across the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip beginning with rocket barrages and infiltrating the border fence. In nearby towns, hundreds of Israelis were killed and an unknown number were taken hostage.
Kluwgant said that students of his nonprofit group Chabadat Pierce have friends and family, or at least know people, who were killed or who have gone missing in the areas of skirmishes.
“They really needed support, so we put this together to do some prayer, to do some study and connect
By Benjamin Hanson Editor-in-ChiefChancellor Francisco Rodriguez released a statement to LACCD students, staff and faculty regarding the attacks made by Hamas on Israel. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that took over Gaza in 2006, orchestrated a surprise attack on Israel before dawn on Saturday, Oct. 7.
“The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) strongly con-
ourselves with the word of God,” Kluwgant said.
The rabbi was joined with his wife Mushka and young daughter Chana to provide sheets of Shema Yisrael Prayer, scripture from the Torah, and slices of kosher pizza for the attending students.
Though the attacks weighed heavily on their minds, the group of Chabadat Pierce proceeded with
demns the devastating terrorist attacks in Israel,” Rodriguez said. “The Los Angeles region has the second largest Jewish population outside of Israel with many of our LACCD family worried about the health and safety of loved ones in Israel.”
Hamas fired thousands of missiles into Israel while armed fighters simultaneously infiltrated by ground, air and sea.
Hundreds of citizens were killed at random and many were taken hostage–includ-
talks about interpretations of creation and analyzing scripture per their weekly routine.
Double major in psychology and quantum physics Sian Ashkenazi, who has family in Israel including his mother, remembers how everything unfolded.
“I hear Israel being bombed quite frequently unfortunately, but I never heard of something this
ing women, elderly and children.
“Attacks like this leave a wake of painful and immense suffering and harm to innocent people” Rodroguez said. “It also undermines efforts to achieve peaceful coexistence and resolution of conflicts no matter where they occur. Our healing thoughts are with the victims and their families, and we hope for a peaceful and just resolution and an end to any activity that disrupts peace and stability.”
a big proponent of peace in the region, but you got to call it all what it is.”
There have been demonstrations throughout the United States and the world from both supporters of Israel and from Free Palestine groups, a few of which have become violent.
Klein is taking the advice of the rabbi and relying on prayer rather than focusing on the negative imagery and military operations.
“I hope everybody is safe from Hamas, not just Israelis but the people of Palestine,” Klein said.
big,” Ashkenazi said. “It’s a lot more complicated than people think. As much as I love Israel, they’re not 100% innocent.”
It was the first meeting American Sign Language major Lior Klein attended.
“The Jewish community, especially the Israeli one, feels devastated and betrayed by a lot of people who are justifying what’s going on,” Klein said. “I’m
Some of the studEnts prayed with the tefillin provided by Kluwgant, which has straps embedded with texts from the Torah in a way to symbolize a tradition handed down from the time of Moses.
Kluwgant said a key takeaway from the meeting was how to turn the student’s anger and grief into something productive rather than direct it on the Israeli Defense Force.
“God runs the world,” Kluwgant said. “Right now, our time is to defend and ensure safety and security. We’ll worry about blaming and whose fault it is later.”
At the Pierce College Academic Senate meeting on Monday, members were impressed that students have saved approximately $1 million in textbook costs this semester.
Under a grant, the goal is for students to have zero textbook cost (ZTC) for general education classes, supporting IGETC and Cal-GETC pathways.
The program has expanded from 240 classes in fall 2022 to 307 for the current semester.
Pierce Technology Librarian and coordinator for the grant programs Clayton Gediman said it’s one less burden the student has to worry about.
“The most important part about it is that it’s saving students money by paying for books like a GE book that they are not going to use again.”
Gediman added that this program also helps the faculty
teach the way they want because they can build the textbook from available sources and customize it to their class.
In other Senate news, for those students that are applying to transfer to an undergraduate college or university, such as a UC or CSU, the application period is open through Nov. 30.
Transfer Center Director Sunday Salter encouraged faculty participation about sharing their educational experiences with Pierce students.
“We all show up talking about our experience, our own journey, what led us through our education and the struggles we’ve had,” Salter said.
Salter said that on Nov. 4 the College/University Transfer Fair and Transfer Application help will be held on the Mall from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Pierce College has two construction projects underway in the Media and Art departments, but there are delays due to budget issues.
The new art department project, called Academic West, is a new building that will feature an architecture lab, an art gallery and a graphic design lab. There are also plans for a new media Arts Building that will feature classrooms with unique equipment, but there are no updates since it is placed on hold for now.
Interim President Ara Aguiar holds weekly meetings with the bond team to review arts and music-building updates.
Aguiar said equipment is delayed, and the school needs to buy more electrical units for specific areas for repair since they are too old. This is a problem since the committee had yet to learn that repairs were needed. It adds to how certain classes are being pushed into the bungalows since instruments are too big in
regular classrooms.
“We have delays because of equipment. We need to buy electrical units for the area to repair because many of them are very old,” Aguilar said.
Photography professor Sean McDonald said that the new media arts building needed help finding funding before the pandemic started. Pierce has been planning on building it, but price increases have delayed progress.
“It’s our second version of the building that we’ve been planning since 2009,” McDonald said.
“Since prices have increased so much since they started planning the media arts building, they can’t build anything yet.”
McDonald said that inevitable funding failures made things for the new Media Arts building go nowhere, and it has caused the teachers to be frustrated. It’s still up in the air when the new Media Building will officially open.
“Lots of hours that everyone dedicated to putting into that project, and we just didn’t go anywhere with it,” McDonald said. “Now we can see similar problems with this, so it’s frustrating.”
Art department chair Melody Cooper has hopes for the new Academic West building opening in 2025. She hopes the new building will allow students to get together and appreciate art in a new way. The art department hopes that students can enjoy art in a new way and take different classes once it opens.
“The hope is it will become a very vibrant center where students can congregate, look at art, go to the Roundup.” Cooper said. “It offers many educational opportunities for students with the various disciplines or events going on will help inspire students to take other classes.”
For now, the music department holds classes in other locations due to insufficient space to put instruments. The new Academic West building will have more classrooms and will accommodate more instruments and house more students. arts.
“They are having some classes in the bungalows. They have some classes in the great hall because the choir needs more space. It’s the only place for large instruments, and they need the large space,” Aguiar said.
By Gerardo Escobar ReporterSeven upright pianos have vanished from campus. It hasn’t been confirmed if they’ve been misplaced or stolen.
The brown Yamaha P22 Upright Pianos, each valued around $1,300, were reported missing to the campus sheriff’s department on Sept. 21, according to Chair of the Music Department Wendy Mazon.
The pianos were being stored in the Automotive Building while the Music Building was under construction. The pianos stored there were going to be used to assist in purchasing new pianos for the music department.
“Steinway came to pick up the pianos that were so old that they had to be trashed,” Mazon said. “They were also going to take the other ones that still had a trade-in value to help us pay for the new pianos.”
For Mazon, the department was lucky that the administration approved the new pianos.
“We are going to become a Steinway school,” Mazon said. “It holds a lot of prestige.”
When Mazon and
representatives from Steinway arrived at the Automotive Building to pick up the pianos, seven out of the eight pianos intended for a trade-in were missing. The pianos were also discovered to have been moved outside of the building and had been there for an unknown amount of time.
“When we looked at the pianos, at that point they had bird droppings all over them,” said Mazon. “That was shocking to have expensive instruments pushed outside like that and treated that way.”
Interim President Ara Aguiar has confirmed that the sheriff is investigating the matter, but it is uncertain what exactly happened. additional information.
“We are still moving forward with the purchase. It is going to cost us a little more money,” said Aguiar. “Once the infrastructure and the rooms are ready, then they will deliver the pianos. They are going to be beautiful. I know that we are getting enough to support the program’s needs.”
ASO hosts an ice cream and candy celebration at the Multicultural Center as another event in the ongoing Latino Heritage Month.
With autumn in full swing, a pumpkin patch has opened on campus where parents and children can enjoy rides, food, a petting zoo and many other attractions. In addition, wheelbarrows are provided in case attendees want to purchase pumpkins.
Attendance and parking is free, but rides require tickets that can be bought near the entrance. The pumpkin patch will remain open daily until Oct. 31 and can be found next to the Equestrian Center.
An East LA sixth generation Latina/Chicana actress and activist, Annie Gonzalez conducted a Q&A with Pierce College students, faculty and staff who gathered in celebration of Chicano/Latino Heritage Month on Thursday in Building 600.
The event was sponsored by Chicano Studies for their 2nd Annual Speaker Series.
Gonzalez spoke about how the people around her have impacted her career, behavior and overall life.
“This illusion of all of society’s limitations that they have put on me, that I did not have on my belt at all.”
Throughout Gonzalez’s life, she has continued to follow her life goals and create the life that she envisioned for herself.
“I think that was my
superpower,” Gonzalez said. “They say ignorance is bliss, and I don’t think it was that I was ignorant. I think it was a choice. It was perspective. I feel like a lot of the time you grow up and there’s so many limitations
put on us by outside forces.”
Interim President Ara Aguiar showed appreciation and admiration for what Gonzalez has done to encourage her community and build strength.
“I think that that comes
also from her background, and the strength and the empowerment that her family gave her,” Aguiar said. “And how she has tapped into that and utilizes it to live her life and make an impact on her community.”
Mecha club President Alyssa Garcia shared how grateful she was for having the opportunity and ability to listen to Gonzalez at the Chicanx/Latinx Heritage Month event.
“It was a great privilege to have Annie come and just talk about her experiences with our culture,” Garcia said. “It’s always good to have people representing us throughout every genre, whether it be the arts, studies or anything else.”
LACCD Chancellor Francisco Rodriguez emphasized the importance of coming together as a community and continuing to educate about continuing traditions and reminding others to continue their legacy.
“It’s an obligation and a responsibility that’s associated with education,” Rodriguez said.
The Meet Your Major Fair on the Mall on Wednesday gave faculty and department chairs of Pierce College the opportunity to showcase their programs and encourage students to explore the majors offered.
Physics Department Chair and professor Travis Orloff expressed enthusiasm about his field.
“Physics is a great field,” Orloff said. “It prepares you to solve problems of all different types.”
Orloff added that it’s great for those who want to get their master’s degree.
The fair also exposed students to the many majors available at Pierce.
Some students who attended had already decided on a specific field, but they were looking to learn more.
Business Administration
major Rajal Lal was encouraged to attend the event by one of his teachers.
“I saw it and wanted to check it out,” Lal said.
Pierce student Rodney Cachigna is interested in aerospace engineering.
“I just want to check out the majors here,” Cachigna said. “They don’t have aerospace engineering, so I’ll just transfer to San Diego or Cal Poly.”
Cachigna added that he is looking for a major he can try out and have fun with.
Other academic services were also present to assist students.
Student Services Assistant
Lupita Narke Vicius was
there to represent the Program for Accelerated College Education (PACE).
PACE helps students graduate in two years by offering compressed eight week quarters instead of 16 week semesters.
“You’re only doing two classes every eight weeks,” Vicius said. “Time management, books, the cost is much better.”
Vicius added that PACE is geared for working adults, but any student can be a PACE student.
There were also nonacademic programs at Meet Your Major.
Future Automotive Service Technicians
(FAST) representatives attracted students by displaying a mint-condition Honda Prelude.
FAST Member Juan Montez said that this program will provide confidence in addition to a career opportunity.
“In case your car breaks down, you won’t be scared of how much it is going to be,’” Montez said. “You could know what the problem is and change it yourself.”
FAST member Kevin Alcaraz said that their program has a variety of opportunities.
“You can become an engineer, you can go work
on cars, you can take apart cars, diagnose different faults and things,” Alcaraz said.
Alcaraz added that they have a lot of agreements with different dealerships.
Another academic program represented was Performing Arts.
Theater Professor Shaheen Vaaz expressed the many benefits of performing.
“I find that acting utilizes all these different parts of the human brain such as your intellect, how you are physically in the world and how you emotionally connect with people,” Vaaz said.
Numerous students from
the program echoed their professor’s feelings.
Vaaz continued to describe the advantages to students of Performing Arts.
“There is a place for them, it’s welcoming and they are going to brush up on some major life skills,” Vaaz said.
For those who may need guidance with choosing or changing a major, Pierce offers assistance through the Academic Counseling office.
Hours of operation for the Counseling Center can be found on the Pierce website.
Giron likes to play the defender position because she gets to be aggressive and she loves sprinting.
Giron is a second generation American whose parents immigrated from Guatemala. She has two brothers, and she is the middle child.
“My little brother gets the most attention, but I don’t mind being the middle child. It’s fun,” Giron said.
Giron’s parents support and understand her desire to play soccer at Pierce. Her father had a soccer team, coaching kids in the park, but he passed it on to her older brother.
By Fabiola Carrizosa Copy/Design EditorIt was the summer of 2023.
Joselyn Giron had no car, but that did not stop her and her friend from taking a 40 minute bus ride to and from the San Fernando Valley to The Getty Villa in Malibu. Even though it was a hot summer day, the two athletes from the valley had a fun time in their adventure.
These days, Giron spends her days in the classroom and on the turf of Shepard stadium, exploring academic and her athletic challenges.
Giron is a defender for the Lady Brahmas soccer team and a prolific athlete who plays five different sports. Born in Van Nuys and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Giron graduated from high school in 2023, and she is a psychology major at Pierce College.
Giron attended Van Nuys high school. There, she played volleyball, soccer, basketball, track and softball.
From all the sports she has played, soccer is her favorite.
“I’ve been playing for a really long time,” Giron said. “My mom used to play basketball, but my whole family is into soccer.”
Giron wants to be a therapist to help people with their problems.
“In basketball, my friend started crying because we lost and I was like, You did your best. You tried and that is the only thing that matters,” sais Giron, as she remembered a time she tried to cheer up her friend.
When she is not playing soccer or in class, Giron likes to explore with her friends. One of her most recent discoveries were the views from the top of Topanga Canyon.
Giron’s friend and teammate forward Meghan Gonzales met Giron on the team this year.
Gonzales described Giron as a very quiet person at first at first
Women’s Soccer tied 1-1 against Ventura College on Oct. 6.
Ventura is ranked in the top 10 of the state, but the Brahmas were able to keep it competitive.
Sophomore Heidi Ricketts made the first goal in only 3 minutes of the game, making it her ninth goal of the season
“It’s something you gotta get used to, if you have much passion for the game you have to find a way to make it work,” Ricketts said.
Two yellow cards were thrown in the 2nd quarter of the game along with Ventura college committing 12 fouls, 2 fouls in the first quarter, and 10 fouls in the second quarter.
Pierce’s goalkeeper Deborah Curiel had 5 saved goals. 3 in the first quarter, and 2 in the second quarter.
Curiel said it can be stressful being the goalkeeper.
“I enjoy the pressure because it makes me stronger and confident in and out the game to play at a better level,” Curiel said.
Head Coach Adolfo Perez said that he is impressed with how the players commit to this team.
“They’re unbelievable,” Perez said.”We are always gonna show up and compete. That is the mentality we have.”
meet.
“Once you get to know her, she can be weird, she can be loud and she talks a lot,” Gonzalez said. “She can be herself around me, so I can also be myself and show my weird side around her. That is how we became close friends.”
While attending a four-year college was not on Giron’s mind prior to attending Pierce, she is now considering transferring.
“I want to go to The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa,” Giron said. “I just want to move out of the state and be alone and do something new.”
“I feel like I’ve got to learn how to be mature,” Giron said. “Right now I don’t feel like I am mature enough, so I just want to grow.”
Giron wants to attend those schools for the psychology classes.
Her friend Katya Tapia attends UC Davis.
“I love her,” said Tapia. “She is so real. She says everything in her mind.”
Tapia said that they hung out mostly because of sports that they would play together.
In high school, they wanted to try each other’s sports.
Tapia said that Giron started playing basketball because she asked her to join her, and to come
to basketball try-outs with her.
“She wasn’t bad. She was actually pretty natural at it,” Tapia said.
Tapia said that throughout the season, she was so good at defense.
“I was actually so proud of her because she came so far at a sport that she had never played,” Tapia said.
Giron said that ever since she met Tapia, she started doing well in school.
“I feel like she’s the reason why I’m here,” Giron said.
Giron drew inspiration from Tapia’s scholarly ways by watching her dedication to her homework and focus.
“In my senior year of high school, I got good grades–mostly all A’s,” Giron said. “I was surprised, but I know it was because of her.”
She decided to come to Pierce for the soccer program after men’s soccer coach Julio Castillo told her to visit.
Giron can be seen at Shepard stadium playing her favorite sport.
“At first I get nervous, but then I just get used to it,” Giron said. “You have to go aggressive, and sometimes it is hard, but it’s nice.”
