Protest against Pierce

understand that.”

Mendoza said the Queer Brahma Collective members decided to protest during the Film Club’s movie screening event only because it was the upcoming ASO-sponsored event. Blah said they appreciate the Film Club’s understanding.

“I’m pleasantly surprised with the turnout, I was surprised to see administration who have been neglecting us present, and I was really happy to see the Film club stand in solidarity with us despite that this may have inconvenienced their event,” Mendoza said.

Film Club President Andrew Shaktah said that Ken Windrum, the club adviser, called him after receiving an email from the Queer Brahma Collective explaining the plans and intentions of the demonstration.

“That’s all we really knew, and invalidated students with special needs.

Macias said he saw faculty and administration taking notes during the protest. He said he thought that the administration was actively listening to the students’ concerns.

“It’s always good to voice this out because we need to remind administration that students are still struggling here on campus, and maybe the pace in which they are seeing improvements is not fast enough,” Macias said. “Most faculty care about the well being of students. Not every faculty member is well equipped to handle the struggles of students, but in general, I feel like we try to teach ourselves and train ourselves how to better help our students.”

Astorga said that administration needs student response to gage how well it is doing.

“One of the most amazing recommendations that they had that resonated for me was having the students be a part of the decisionmaking to develop a climate survey for students,” Astorga said. “What are we doing right, what do we need to do better, and how can we do it better?”

Tarifa said her position on campus exposed her to another side of administration that students are not aware of because they aren’t a part of senate.

List of demands provided by the Queer Brahma Collective

I was a little worried that maybe it might get in the way of our event. But when I read their emails to me, I appreciated how respectful they were. I understand their motives, and I fully support them,” Shaktah said.

Though he agrees with their stance, Shaktah said he wanted to give them the opportunity to speak for themselves and be heard.

“I wanted to step aside and support them and let them know it is being heard,” Shaktah said. “In the end, I really do think it should be their voices. I’m really honored to stand next to them, but I’m not going to stand for them.”

As part of their list of demands, the Queer Brahman Collective asked for mandatory LGBTQ safe zone training for faculty because some students said they have been disrespected. They said some faculty were unresponsive to their calls and emails, and administrators

“Being a part of student government, I learned a lot of the insider parts to bureaucracy, especially the administration here on campus,” Tarifa said. “A lot of our faculty members are not paid enough, and they’re not staffed properly. That is an issue that has to do with our board and our district.” newsroom.roundupnews@gmail.com

Tarifa said the burden falls on the Board of Trustees and the district, and they need to support the school.

“It is up to the board. It is them. They are the ones that are able to allocate the proper funds to make sure what is passed and what resources we need on campus are available to us,” Tarifa said.

Astorga said that students decided that their needs were not met, and they decided to organize.

“They found themselves facing certain levels of bureaucracy, and they felt compelled to say, ‘Enough is enough. We want to be heard.’ I think they have every right to say that,” Astorga said.

Queer Brahma Collective, on behalf of and in solidarity with the students of Pierce College, hereby present the administration with a list of concerns and demands in regards to student success, extracurricular support, and enrichment of academic life. We feel that key structural elements of how ASO and other forms of student engagement function do not effectively allow students or Pierce College to flourish.

Issues such as low retention rate, high student turnover, and a majority demographic of parttime students are contributing factors which affect fostering a campus community. However, students at Pierce deserve the same access to academia, healthy student life, and a safe, engaging work environment that any 4-year college student should receive. We have drafted this document in hopes to enlighten administration to students’ needs in hopes to cultivate a better Pierce.

-Better training for clubs/fundraising

-Mandatory LGBTQ safe zone training for ALL faculty

-Feelings of disrespect felt between faculty and students

-Faculty inaccessible and unresponsive to emails, phone calls, or meetings

-Higher levels of transparency between students, clubs, and administration

-More expansive research/data in regards to students

-Feedback on student satisfaction

-Needs based assessments and surveys that align with student needs

-Internship opportunities for students in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness in order to prioritize student voices when administering these assessments

-Support staff positions created to facilitate restructuring the framework of how administration interacts with students

-Administrators invalidating students with special needs (Hearing/Audio/ASL) Background noise in classrooms prevents translators from providing effective service.

-Staff, faculty, administration garners praise off students’ achievements and efforts

-When told about a problem or issue, the response is “join ASO senate” or “next year we can…”

-Organization in which students can participate in enacting change in regards to assessments, feedback, surveys, student satisfaction etc.

-CopyTech not able to print copies, Library ink printers not readable, wifi almost unusable