Con: No pets for students

BY WALTER ORELLANA Reporter

Going to college can be a stressful and daunting task for any student attending full time, working and living on a ramen budget. Being a student comes with a lot of responsibilities, including getting to class on time, spending long hours on research and staying up late to tackle last minute homework assignments.

Attending college is not for the faint of heart, and to add a pet to the equation can easily become overwhelming when any amount of free time for friends and family is as valuable as gold.

Having a domestic pet is a major responsibility and can be costly. Unlike a house plant that can be left alone for a week without care or water a pet needs constant attention, care and food; not to mention if they get sick or need to visit a veterinary hospital the medical bills can quickly pile up.

According to Caring Pets, “Having a pet means you have to bathe them, clean up after them, get them exercised, and feed them. This is the kind of responsibility some people might not be ready for in college, particularly if you have a full-time class schedule.”

While there may be benefits to having a pet in college, the fact that a student’s social life is limited due to full time classes, assignments and saving money for school tuition, owning a pet can socially and financially set a student back.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, “Owning a pet while in college can pose several problems. These include sanctions from universities for having pets on campus and difficulties securing affordable, petfriendly housing off-campus.”

Owning a pet doesn’t end when a school semester ends. Most pets can live well past 15 years so a long term commitment is needed as well as making sure that while a student is away at school or working a pet sitter is available to watch the domestic animal.

According to Medium, “Animal shelters located near colleges find that some students may abandon their pets when their pets are no longer convenient, especially during the end of semester. If you are not willing to make the commitment, the best option is not to adopt a dog in the first place.” College life is meant to be filled with learning experiences, making new friendships and networking to create future opportunities. Being restricted to pursue such avenues due to caring after a pet can potentially create missed opportunities and a better future after college life. worellana.roundupnews@gmail.com

Omnipresent racism in America Library hosts its fifth One Book, One Campus panel discussion

BY ANASTASIYA OREL Reporter

Students are taught how systemic racism and racist ideologies are prevalent throughout history. But they are not only issues of the past. They are also problems of the present.

These topics remained a central focus as the Pierce College Library continued its One Book, One Campus series on Nov. 19, following Ibram X. Kendi’s book “Stamped from the Beginning,” and they discussed how racism was and still is invisible.

Assistant professor of History Christopher Strickland began the discussion with a brief history and progression of northern racism. He introduced the Pequot War in New England as the first major war between colonists and America’s indigenous people. Other conflicts that demonstrated progression of racism in the northern parts of America included the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 and the Wilmot Proviso in 1846. Strickland said these advancements had created the notion that California and Oregon were free territory and anti-slavery but also antiBlack.

“It’s interesting when we take a look at the invisibility of northern racism,” Strickland said. “The prejudice of race appears to be stronger in the states that have abolished slavery than of those where servitude has never been known.”

In the 1800s, there was an increase of discrimination and violence toward African Americans and their communities. Employment, housing, and the legal political system impacted Black life in racist ways.

Strickland said racism was invisible and omnipresent through the framing of what was deemed racism and what was not, having a lot to do with slvaery and control in dehumanizing actions. An increase in European immigration both compounded and challenged existing racism.

“Where one sees racism, another may see ‘a social solution to a social problem’,” Strickland said. “Virtually every sector and institution of society was deemed off limits to Btlack people in the north in the 1800s.”

Instructor of Life Sciences

Shannon Devaney discussed the scientific justification of northern racism in the 1800s. She introduced American physician and scientist Samuel G. Morton’s work of collecting skulls and studying the differences among races.

“When we look at what he actually did, it’s just rife with mistakes, with bias, and with all sorts of inappropriate interpretations,” DeVaney said. “This science was hugely influential and so to me, this is an example of cross pollination of racist ideas and it feeding further advancement and justification of racist policies.”

Devaney said that only within recent years has this history been discussed. She said that as a scientist, it is important to have conversations such as the

Stamped from the Beginning series is important to have and needs to be reckoned with.

Instructor of Arts Beth Abel said that gentrification is a current problem as much as it was in the past.

“That desire to demolish neighborhoods by putting in infrastructure, that is urban renewal and that is our history,” Abel said. “You look at freeways like the 105, which ran through low-

To campus or not to campus?