Virtual Visits Zooming in the dark

Health Center provides remote services

BY TRISHA

A new portal has launched for students to access services provided by the Student Health Center (SHC), such as virtual consultations for mental health assistance.

Some of the other services that are offered through the SHC include nutrition counseling, STI testing, birth control refills, and community referrals.

Beth Benne, the Director of the SHC, said in an interview on Zoom that COVID-19 has put some limitations to in-person services but the health center is doing the best it can virtually.

“We can’t do hands-on physicals, but we are now doing STD testing, we’re doing family planning, we’re doing labs,” Benne said. “We can do it as far as we can without handson treatment. At some point, yes, we have to refer out.”

Students can make appointments by calling the center and by accessing the Student Health Portal. To access the portal, students will need to use their Los Angeles Community College District login information.

The portal–which was implemented during the summer session this year–allows students to view the consent forms needed for consultations and their medical information online. It features accessibility to lab results, immunization records, appointment history and a chat log with SHC’s medical providers.

Prior to the first appointment, students will need to complete health and consent forms online. Students will also need to pay either a $16 or $19 student health fee to gain access to the center’s services. “You have access to free mental health counseling,” Benne said. “You could join a free group, you get access to free medical consultations.”

Benne said that the center has created an interface with Quest Diagnostics, a company that performs the labs at discounted rates to work around virtual consultations.

Students can order the required labs through the college’s bookstore website. Shortly after, they’ll be sent an email with the receipts and the locations of nearby Quest locations where they can receive the labs.

Benne also said that though the labs aren’t free, the cost of the labs is incredibly low and the consultations are free.

Students not required to turn on cameras

BY ZOE ANNE RAMIREZ

The center is also offering nutrition counseling, STI testing, birth control refills, community referrals and mental help assistance on Zoom through oneon-one or group therapy sessions.

According to Loralyn Frederick, a SHC assistant, the counseling clinic has been busier since the start of the stay-at-home safety measures.

“We want them [the students] to know that if they have any type of concerns, physically, mentally, that we are available,” Frederick said in an interview on Zoom. “We are here.”

Bonnie Zahavi, another SHC assistant, said in an interview on Zoom that the staff is still trying to figure out how to navigate the new system, following their online training of it during the summer.

With the campus closed, staff must work remotely from their homes.

Although it’s a learning experience, the portal allows both staff and students to adapt to previous COVID-19 restrictions.

“It’s something new for all of us here at the Health Center and for the students, but the program is very intuitive and I think it came in at a great time because we are working remotely,” Frederick said.

The SHC is open Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The center’s phone number is (818)710-4270. More information about the center can be found on the SHC’s website.

Toprotect student privacy rights, professors that conduct online meetings cannot require a camera to be turned on, which has varied opinions among many Pierce professors and students.

“It’s a violation of student privacy, which I disagree with,” said political science professor Anthony Gabrielli. “I think we as faculty -- if there’s a reason why a student can’t have a camera on -- we can make that decision one on one.”

Gabrielli is a political science professor at Pierce who teaches American government, political theory, and research methods.

As a professor who uses Zoom to communicate with his class, he states that having a camera on allows him to engage with his students better and identify who’s participating and who isn’t.

In his opinion, professors should be able to require a camera on and excuse the rule for a select number of people due to a certain situation.

“Leave it up to the faculty. We’re professionals,” Gabrielli said. “I think a general statement would be due to certain circumstances. I’ve made a few exceptions for a few people. They’ve explained to me why they can’t have a camera on, and I’ve used my judgment to do that.”

However, this idea doesn’t seem to appease the Office of Academic Affairs.

A statement released by Ryan Cornner, the Vice Chancellor, and Angela Echeverri, President of the District Academic Senate, declared that professors couldn’t demand a student’s webcam to be on due to a student’s privacy.

One point the statement makes is that some students are not comfortable sharing their personal

“I could get why a teacher would say that, just to check if you’re actually paying attention

... But at the same time, you don’t know a student’s situation.”

Farah Yousuf Psychology major

spaces with faculty, staff, or other students. The OAA believes verbal responses should be enough to gauge student participation.

The statement explains that displaying a webcam may expose other individuals in a student’s household who may be sharing their learning space, which can cause sensitivity for many people.

On the contrary, Gabrielli says that turning on a webcam enhances the distant-learning experience. It allows him to collaborate better with his students and see the reactions students have to the things he says.

“You know, I deal with political science. I deal with a lot of controversial issues,” Gabrielli said. “It’s hard for us to know, A, if they are understanding, B, if we are offending students, and C, if students are engaged and listening just like they would be in the classroom.”

Farah Yousuf, a sophomore majoring in psychology at Pierce, seems to agree with the Office of Academic Affairs statements. Yousuf usually doesn’t turn on her camera during a Zoom meeting and says that the choice of turning on a camera or not should lay in the hands of the students.

“Personally, I just get too self-conscious,” Yousuf stated.

“What if a student isn’t home and they still need to attend class? They don’t necessarily want to show where they are.”

As students are working from home, Yousuf believes that students could potentially be put in certain conditions where turning on a camera may seem too personal or uncomfortable.

“I could get why a teacher would say that, just to check if you’re actually paying attention,” Yousuf stated. “But at the same time, you don’t know a student’s situation.”

Erin Hayes, another professor who teaches at Pierce, states that she agrees with the rules placed by the Office of Academic Affairs.

Hayes teaches Anthropology, and having used Zoom in the past, she entirely agrees with the rules concerning a student’s right to leave their camera off.

“You should not require a camera,” Hayes said. “I attend a lot of the Zoom meetings, and a lot of times, I don’t turn on my camera.”

Hayes discusses that in the past, she’s had students who were unable to find a proper learning space to work and that if she were to require a camera on, many students may find that unsettling or too private to share with others.

“If it were a whole class and I required them to be on camera, there’s individuals who can’t find