Home for new library on hold

Michaia Hernandez/Roundup mhernandez.roundupnews@gmail.com

Completion of the Learning Crossroads building, which will house the library and the food court, has hit a snag following an unexpected revocation of a previously approved surface material system by the Division of the State Architect.

Because of this, it is unclear when the building project will be finished.

A representative from the DSA came this October to inspect the construction premises and determined that pavers supported by pedestals at key exits in the building weren’t attached correctly to the structure, according to Project Deputy Director Ed Cadena.

The DSA wants it anchored to the building, he said.

The problem with this is that certain features of the structure won’t be able to support new changes to the foundation, according to Cadena.

“We’re looking for an alternative solution,” he said.

Because the situation involves an approval process that is out of Cadena’s hands, he says he doesn’t know at this point when everything will be taken care of.

What is unexpected about the entire affair is the fact that the scrutinized system was actually already previously approved by the DSA, according to Cadena.

“It doesn’t look like they made any changes to the code,” he said. “Apparently, someone didn’t look closely enough.”

This seems to be the case, Monica Hassan, public information officer for the Department of General Services, said on behalf of the DSA.

“Upon further review of the approved plan, it was found that the plans were not compliant with the building code and the Field Act; and therefore, the approval was revoked,” said Hassan.

This isn’t the first incident that’s affected completion of the Learning Crossroads building this semester.

Early on, the building was impacted by a water line breaking on site. This caused a an approximate six-week delay in completion, and left estimated substantial occupancy by November, Cadena said.

This was remedied almost immediately, however, because the project team had control over the situation.

The building was slated to be completed by October of this year, according to the original Pierce Project Construction Summary Schedule. “We’re really getting itchy to move in there,” Librarian Paula Paggi said. “Nobody has confirmed [the delays] with her, but if it’s true that’s not good.”

Fighting violence with awareness

Kirsten Quinn/

Strings of T-shirts dressed the Mall in flapping blues, purples, oranges, reds, greens and whites as they caught the wind and painted the southwest end with scrawled messages of pain, anger and hope.

With his back to the clotheslines, Nick Schafer sat straight and still with one hand, half-covered in a white sleeve, touching the curve of his forehead. Running it to the back of his neck or the top of his mouth, only his hand moved for minutes at a time as he stared at a blank, orange shirt.

Schafer painstakingly constructed a letter to a man, his sexual abuser, for the Clothesline Project, a nationwide domestic abuse awareness campaign hosted at Pierce College on Wednesday.

DREAM Act is a pivotal issue

Gonzalo Rey/Roundup grey.roundupnews@gmail.com

With the presidential election rapidly approaching, many controversial topics that could affect Pierce College students are currently in the spotlight, including immigration reform.

Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, and President Barack Obama both hold different views in regards to the topic, possibly making it a critical issue in the race to win the election.

“It definitely will have some impact,” said Kassem Nabulsi, assistant professor of political science. “The magnitude of the impact we cannot predict at this point, but our argument would be that mostly for the Latino community the issue of immigration will be an absolute concern to its constituency. They will make sure that it’s going to be an important issue in the calculation of choosing a president.” undocumented1,545,894 immigrants have been deported during Obamaʼs term according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website.

Kristen Aslanian/ Roundup