ASO boosts morale through social media Senators show their daily lives in quarantine on Instagram

BY GISELLE ORMENO

With campus closed to the public due to the Safer at Home order, the Associated Students Organization (ASO) and Pierce students are physically disconnected.

To reconnect with the student body, ASO senators are using the ASO Instagram story to vlog about their day while quarantining.

Club Council President Nicole Alfaro said in an email interview that she came up with the idea of having the Senate take over their Instagram, showing students that they are not alone during the transition to online classes.

“We have all been staying home, keeping up with our studies and just trying to stay positive during this time,” Alfaro said. “Our purpose was to give students a glimpse into our personal lives and provide them with different activities that they can try at home to take their mind off of things.”

She said that when she vlogged about her day, she shared some healthy facts about the açaí berry, taught how to make an açaí bowl, attempted to do yoga with her younger brother and ended her day by baking.

“I got a lot of responses during the yoga session with laughing emojis and comments on how funny we were, so I was happy to hear that people were enjoying the story and interacting with us,” Alfaro said.

Hackers threaten online classes

ASO Senator Roberto Moron said in an email interview that boosting the morale of students is important, and is one of the reasons why they started the takeovers.

“As senators, it is our responsibility to serve our students’ needs, and we will continue to do that to the best of our abilities,” Moron said. Moron also said that he had a great time taking over the ASO’s Instagram because he was able to connect with students in a light-hearted way. While he vlogged, he created a trivia contest and gave the winner a shoutout.

“I also had fun sharing more about myself, which I think was great for the students as they got the opportunity to know about who represents them,” Moron said. “Overall, the experience was very rewarding.”

ASO President Vivian Yee said in an email interview that by being able to take over their Instagram page for a day, she hopes that students will feel that they are not alone. She said she understands how difficult it can be to stay productive and healthy during this quarantine, so if the ASO can give a little inspiration to students, then they are doing their jobs correctly.

“By showing students our lifestyles, the importance of staying in if possible, we hope to give students a little hope in these dark times,” Yee said.

BY TALEEN KEUROGHLIAN

As face-to-face classes transition to online instruction, disruptions are more common.

In the recent weeks of remote learning, Zoom lectures have been interrupted by people who aren’t enrolled in those courses, known as “Zoombombers.”

Media Arts Professor Shonna Kline wrote in an email that she did not expect her class to be targeted.

“Unfortunately, my first Zoom class went so well that I was naive about taking precautions against ‘bombers’ for my second class,” Kline wrote.

Professors and students alike believe their Zoom sessions are secured by a login ID but a simple code is easy to crack for a professional hacker.

According to Kline, Zoombombers intentionally join meetings to cause disruptions with inappropriate behavior.

“The offenders clearly had experience with drop-in bombing, as they would leave inflammatory comments in the chat and leave immediately, giving me no chance to boot them,” Kline wrote.

Kline said her encounter with a “Zoombomber” was when an editor from the reality TV show “The Bachelor” was answering questions as a guest speaker in her cinema class. While the intrusion was unexpected, the session went on as planned.

“The bomber launched a few choice comments, covering everything from sexual orientation to racial slurs to foul language,” Kline wrote. “Each one showed up in the chat. My guest was a pro, though, and said ‘I can tell what is what’ and forged ahead.”

Sarah Howard, a Moorpark Community College student, also dealt with a “Zoombomber,” but wrote in an email that she had a much different experience.

“During class a little while ago someone tried to bomb it and they were commenting racist remarks in the chat,” Howard wrote. “My professor honestly didn’t know what to do or how to get them out so he just ended the session.”

Howard wrote that her professor ended up changing the Zoom ID as a plan to keep them out.

Professors across many schools are experiencing these bombings, but with new threats come new solutions.

Kline wrote that she began using the waiting room feature to monitor students who enter or leave the Zoom meeting, as well as setting up the meeting directly through Canvas. These precautions have proven successful.

“I actually stopped someone named ‘Revenge’ from joining my class today when we were chatting with an editor of ‘Stranger Things,’” Kline wrote. “I was pretty happy about that.”

Howard wrote that she is simply going to ignore the person in the chat and focus on her instructor.

“It’s definitely annoying,” Howard wrote. “I hope it doesn’t happen again but it’s not that big of a deal, so if it does, I don’t think the class should end.”

Communications professor Robert Loy wrote in an email that he prevents Zoombombing by setting up a “waiting room” during Zoom sessions so he can identify students first and let them into the meeting.

“Overall, students are aware that zoom bombing can happen in our class and that I won’t tolerate it,” Loy wrote. “It’s important as a public speaking professor to take a stance against potential hate speech in a diverse classroom setting.”