ELECTION2020 WRAP-UP
City Times
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Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
Volume 75, Issue 1 | November 20, 2020
B Y G AB RI E L SCH NE I D E R Managing Editor
T
he 2020 elections r esults have been r eceived. Joe Biden is now pr esident-elect with Kamala Har r is as his vice pr esident. This year has come with challenges including the COVI D -19 pandemic and pr otests against r acial injustices acr oss Amer ica. Thr ough it all, San Diego City College students made their voices hear d and voted. Once the polls closed, five students r esponded to questions on the impor tance of voting and their exper ience.
Paul H er r mann Paul Her r mann, a 42-yearold wor king on his Alcohol and Other Dr ug Studies cer tificate, said he has never missed voting on an election since he was 18. ?I see it as a civic r esponsibility, the same as ser ving on jur y duty or anything else,? Her r mann said. ?I t is cr itical to vote because if you leave your voice out you?r e letting other people make the decisions.? When going over battling disinfor mation, Her r mann said make sur e you ar e infor med and have those tough conver sations with family and fr iends.
D uke Shr ader Duke Shr ader, a student pur suing envir onmental studies, voted for his fir st time this year. Ther e wer e sever al options in this election to send in your ballot. ?I picked dr op-off because I felt like it was safer than waiting in a line with a lot of people with COVI D -19 this year,? Shr ader said. ?I wanted the satisfaction of my fir st time to actually dr op it off myself.?
Students sharetheir voiceson theelection Shr ader said he was unfamiliar with the voting pr ocess but all the r esear ch he did was beneficial in the final decision he made on his ballot.
L udovica Fadini L udovica Fadini, a for eign
exchange student who has lived her e for near ly two year s while wor king as an au pair, said ther e ar e significant differ ences between elections in Amer ica and I taly. ?We ar e not used to people r evolting and we ar e not used to people ar guing,? Fadini
City College students (fr om top) Paul Her r man, Duke Shr ader , Ludovica Fadinin, Anne Par nell, and Ian Rebber t expr essed their opinions about the 2020 election. Gr aphic by Br andon Manus
said. ?We ar e not used to just two (pr esidential) choices.? Fadini expr essed her worr ies on immigr ation policy and has been paying attention to what is happening in this election. ?I t?s kinda har d for me because basically (Pr esident
- In side t h is edit ion -
Donald Tr ump) alr eady shows a r eally bad idea about immigr ants,? Fadini said. ?He alr eady tr ied to delay my visa. A lot of people who tr ied to apply for my visa got denied in December.? See ELECTION, page 3
CITYNEWS
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sdcitytimes.com| November 20, 2020
ELECTION2020 RESULTS GONZALEZ RETURNING TO80TH B Y M ARL E NA H ARVE Y News Editor or ena Gonzalez was r eelected to the Califor nia State Assembly to r epr esent the 80th distr ict after the November 3 election. She has r epr esented this distr ict since she was elected in 2013. Gonzalez, the pr ojected winner, tweeted she was ?pleased with the r esults.? Gonzalez is a Democr atic politician who was bor n and r aised in San Diego. Gonzalez was a huge suppor ter of # NoOn22, which was par t of her platfor m to fight cor por ate gr eed. Gonzalez?s message to her distr ict was that it was her mission to help the wor king and middle class. She was the fir st L atina in California histor y to Chair the Assembly Appr opr iations Committee. Gonzalez cur r ently r esides in the City Heights neighbor hood of San Diego with her husband and childr en.
L
PROP25 FAILSTOPASS D escr ipt ion: Replacing cash bail with Risk Assessments Refer endum What it means: Cash bail would be kept in place for detained suspects who ar e waiting for tr ail Next st eps: L ex Steppling?s or ganization, Dignity and Power Now, their next plan is to impr ove the jail system fr om the gr ound up. His gr oup plans on pushing the Pr eser ving the Pr esumption of I nnocence plan. Quot able: ?We made pr ogr ess towar ds collective liber ation, but this is only the beginning.? ? No on 25 statement ? Rachel de la Torre
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San Diego Communit y College Chancellor Const ance Car r oll will r et ir e aft er 17 year s . SDCCD phot o
ONECHANCELLOROUT, ONECHANCELLORIN B Y E K ATE RI NA P E CH E NK I NA Staff Writer
T
he San Diego Community College Distr ict Boar d of Tr ustees has star ted a national sear ch for a r eplacement for Chancellor Constance Car r oll. Car r oll who has ser ved as chancellor of the San Diego Community College Distr ict since 2004, announced in Januar y that she will be r etir ing in June 2021. Car r oll has over seen impor tant changes within the San Diego Community College Distr ict, the second lar gest in the state. As Car r oll embar ks on her last year befor e r etir ement, she has mixed feelings. ?On the one hand, I do think it?s time for me to make a change, and for the distr ict to have new leader ship, on the other hand I am going to miss a gr eat deal, par ticular ly seeing all of you, the gr eat faculty of our institutions,? she said in the vir tual convocation at the star t of the fall 2020 ter m. She also addr essed the difficulties of r emote instr uctions dur ing the pandemic. Volume75, Issue1| November 20, 2020 PublishedasTheJay Sees(1945-1949), Fortknightly (1949-1978), City Times(1978-present). Incorporatingnewspapers Tecolote, Knight Owl &Flicks. District policy statement: Thispublication isproducedasalearningexperienceunder SanDiegoCity College?s Digital Journalismprogram. All materials, includingopinions expressed herein, arethesole responsibilityof thestudentsandshould not be interpretedtobethoseof thecollegedistrict, itsofficersor employees.
?The pandemic has changed the face of ever ything we do - the faculty had to r amp up immediately to tur n the r est of our classes online," she said. "This was no easy task.? Accor ding to the latest data available, the tr ansfer r ate fr om SDCCD to four-year univer sities has incr eased. The r epor t found that ther e wer e 854 mor e tr ansfer s fr om SDCCD to a four-year institution in 2017-18 than in 2013-14. Most of the tr ansfer r ing students chose one of the Cal State Univer sity campuses. SDSU appear s to be the pr efer r ed univer sity, with 30 per cent of SDCCD tr ansfer students ending up at SDSU in 2017-18, while Cal State San Mar cos takes thir d place with 3.7 per cent tr ansfer s after UC San Diego with mor e than 9 per cent.
CSU select s new chancellor Changes ar e coming to the CSU as Joseph Castr o has been selected to lead the biggest four-year public univer sity system in the countr y. He will be the fir st Califor nian and the fir st Mexican Amer ican to hold the position. Duringthefall 2020 semester, CityTimeswill publish onlineregularly, or asnewsbreaks, onsdcitytimes.com asof Monday, Aug. 17throughMonday, Dec. 14. Studentsareworkingremotely duringthepandemic. CityTimes andLegendmagazinewill publishas digital editionsfor in thefall 2020 term. Signed opinionsarethoseof theindividual writersand donot necessarily represent thoseof theentire newspaper staff, City Collegeadministration, faculty andstaff or theSanDiegoCommunity CollegeDistrict Board of Trustees.
The new chancellor will be leading a univer sity system with 23 campuses acr oss a diver se state of Califor nia dur ing the cor onavir us pandemic. Castr o?s gr andpar ents wer e far mwor ker s fr om Mexico and r aised him along with his mother, who wor ked as a beautician. Castr o was a student at UC Ber keley thr ough a pr ogr am for L atino students fr om far ming communities and was the fir st in his family to gr aduate fr om a univer sity. I n 2013, he was the fir st Califor nia native to become the pr esident of Fr esno State, wher e he is known as an advocate for equity. Castr o?s academic and life exper iences will r esemble that of many of the students enr olled at Cal State univer sities, wher e over 40% of students identify as Hispanic/L atinx. ?I ?m hopeful that being a Califor nian with 30 year s of exper ience in public higher education and being educated all my life in Califor nia will give me some insights that per haps other s have not had in the past,? Castr o said dur ing an inter view with Ber keley News. Howtoreachus: CityTimes SanDiegoCityCollege 1313 Park Blvd. | San Diego, CA92101 Newsroom: L-117 E-mail: citytimes@gmail.com Memberships: JournalismAssociationof Community Colleges CaliforniaCollegeMediaAssociation Associated CollegiatePress CaliforniaNewspaper Publishers Association
CITYTIMESSTAFF Lucas Barreto, Devon Doane, Joel Garcia, AlexGomez, Paris Hickson, RyanHoeffs, LuzJaimes, Assad Khalilzadeh, Chris LeFall, Jesus Lopez, KyleOvenshire, Tyler Perches, Susana Serrano, Zach Wilson.
Letters totheeditor: Letters totheeditor arewelcome, 350 wordsor less. Thestaff reservestheright toedit for grammar, spelling, punctuationandlength.
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CITYNEWS
sdcitytimes.com| November 20, 2020
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scal ing up
District 9 winner Elo-Riveravowsto continueadvocatingfor local youth B Y CH RI STI NA PAI NTON Staff Writer
whose distr ict cover s the neighbor hoods of City Heights, College Ar ea, Kensington and Mountain View, all ver his car eer, Sean Elo-River a has made lar gely populated by City College and San Diego State Uniadvocating for stuver sity students. dents a pr ior ity. Elo-River a?s wor k has I t has been his mission to lar gely focused on pr oviding help cr eate oppor tunities for oppor tunities for students students whose focus is split whose basic needs ar e not between school and life met, like housing and food cir cumstances. insecur ity. His wor k at Youth Will, a While homelessness is a youth advocacy gr oup that major issue for the entir e diswor ks to end youth violence and pover ty, has allowed him tr ict, not just the county, it is to speak with college and high one that is especially meaningful to Elo-River a. school students about their ?I battled homeless as a law ideal wor ld. student," said Elo-River a, who And since 2018, he has ser ved on the five-per son San completed his under gr aduate degr ee at Chapman UniverDiego Community College Boar d of Tr ustees, continuing sity in Or ange County. "I n San Diego, my fir st semester of to wor k for students exper ilaw school, I spent a month encing homelessness and living in my car. That was r ehousing instability. ally impactful for my ability to But now, as the winner of lear n. the seat on the San Diego ?I know what it meant to City Council for Distr ict 9, me as a young per son when Elo-River a has big plans for solving homelessness all over my family was str uggling with housing instability and again, San Diego. that r eally impacted my ability ?Ther e?s r eally an incr edito lear n and achieve my poble oppor tunity to r eshape a tential as a student.? society in a r eally positive The new Distr ict 9 council way, but you gotta show up member has since used his and vote,? said Elo-River a,
O
Sean Elo-River a cont inues t o help college st udent s as he gr ows in his car eer . seanelor iver a.com scr eenshot
legal education to ensur e that students do not have to wor r y about anything other than their school wor k while attending classes. ?I bel i eve t hat vot i ng i s about power,? E l o-Ri ver a sai d, ?and for young peopl e, i t ?s about young peopl e fl exi ng t hei r power t o m ake t he wor l d m or e l i ke t hey want i t t o be.? Elo-River a will now fill the seat that will be left open by
Sean Elo-River a t hanked suppor t er s on his websit e aft er t he elect ion. seanelor iver a.com scr eenshot
br eaking voter tur nout in this election. Parnell said that the inContinued frompage1 cr ease of voter s was due to Social injustices in Amer ica the awar eness spr ead have been a hot topic in this thr ough social media and year ?s pr esidential election many of the events that ocfor Fadini. cur r ed thr oughout the year. ?(These) types of injustice ?I think the countr y is so ar e ever ywher e in the wor ld,? polar ized r ight now,? Par nell Fadini said. ?I feel like in the said. ?I think both par ties United States it is a little wer e super effective at getstr onger just because you ting their bases to vote.? have a lot mor e diver sity in Parnell shar ed that some the countr y.? of the pr opositions wer e confusing so she r eached to peoAnne Par nell ple she knows and r esear ched infor mation. Anne Par nell is a histor y ?I asked a lot of my fr iends major student, she descr ibed at UCSD what they thought why ther e was a r ecor d-
Election
about it and r ead some opeds,? Par nell said.
I an Rebber t I an Rebber t is a veter an who is studying business administr ation and voted in the past two elections. ?I just did r egular mail, but made sur e to do it ear ly enough and they have the ballot tr ack websites,? Rebber t said. ?I think it was after a week or so, I went online and made sur e they r eceived it and it was counted.? Rebber t voted while in the Mar ine Cor ps and had to fill out an absentee ballot, which he said was similar to what he
city council pr esident Georgette Gomez. The r ace to r eplace Gomez was chaotic as Elo-River a?s
But he plans to use his new seat to closely par tner with the distr ict to continue ser ving the needs of students. ?We see vot i ng as a t ool t o cr eat e t he wor l d t hat we want ,? E l o-Ri ver a sai d. ?T he wor l d t hat young peopl e want i s i ncr edi bl y i nspi r i ng t o m e. "Ther e?s never selfish demands put for war d about one individual?s desir es. I t?s about making sur e that ever yone is taken car e of, because that is what young people think is r ight. I n a City College postelection for um, Pr esident Ricky Shabbazz congr atulated Elo-River a on his city council win. ?I know he?ll be and continues to be an advocate for community college students and the challenges that students face,? Shabazz said.
opponent and ear ly fr ont r unner Kelvin Bar r ios was investigated after admitting to misusing campaign funds for personal spending. Soon after, Bar r ios suspended his campaign. Despite Bar r ios?name r emaining on the ballot, EloRiver a secur ed 64% of the vote over Bar r ios?37%. Elo-River a sent a thank you to his opponent in a tweet on Nov. 4 after Bar r ios texted his congr atulations. With Elo-River a?s win, he says he will step down fr om the SDCCD Boar d of Tr ustees Newscene multimedia as r equir ed by law ? a per son journalist Noelle Mortensen can?t hold two elected posicontributed to this report. tions at once. filled out this year. This election has seen record breaking voter turnout in many states all over Amer ica. ?I hope people do pay at-
tention and we get mor e voter tur nout because that?s exactly what we need people par ticipating (in elections),? Rebber t said. ?I t is up to us.?
SHARE YOUR VOICE Cit y Times want s t o hear your voice. We ar e looking for our community ? fellow students, faculty, staff and alumni ? to shar e per spectives on the elections. You can send your thoughts in wr iting by email or shar e them on social media, including @sdcitytimes and # cityspeaks. You can also leave us a voice r ecor ding at speakpipe.com/sdcit yt imes.
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CITYNEWS
sdcitytimes.com| November 20, 2020
VOTERTURNOUTBREAKSRECORD MoreAmericansexercisedtheir right tovoteonthis2020 election
Pr esident -Elect Joe Biden and Vice Pr esident -Elect Kamala Har r is encour age suppor t er s t o wear masks. Facebook phot o
B Y E K ATE RI NA P E CH E NK I NA Staff Writer
Biden expr essed his gr atitude to Black voter s for their suppor t, mentioning that ith mor e than 79.3 he got votes fr om "br oadest million votes cast, and most diver se coalition in Pr esident-Elect Joe Amer ican histor y. Biden, 78, br oke Biden?s r unning mate, Sen. for mer Pr esident Bar ack Kamala Har r is of Obama?s r ecor d for most Califor nia, 56, will be the votes ever counted in the fir st woman, fir st woman of United States pr esidential color and fir st election. vice-pr esident of South Obama held the pr evious Asian descent to lead the r ecor d for most votes when countr y that is mor e he r eceived 69,456,897 votes r acially diver se than ever in the 2008 pr esidential befor e. election. sdcit yt im es.com / elect ion ?While I may be the fir st The two final states wer e woman in this office, I will called on Nov. 13, with Biden other age gr oups, accor ding to not be the last,? Har r is said to winning Geor gia and the latest exit polls. a cheer ing audience at the San Diego City College same Delawar e event. Pr esident Donald Tr ump taking Nor th Car olina. Biden Political Science pr ofessor Biden and Har r is called for r eceived 306 Elector al College Nicolas Boushee was clear unity. about the impor tance of voting votes to Tr ump's 232. Awar e of the challenge to Biden?s r ecor d-setting by 18-24 year-olds. br ing the nation together, ?They ar e the sleeping Pr esident-Elect said, "I pledge number of votes is most likely giants,? Boushee said at the to be a pr esident who seeks a r esult of a histor ically high 2020 Rock the Vote vir tual not to divide but unify, who voter tur nout. event in the days leading to doesn't see r ed states and blue ?We won with the most votes ever cast in the histor y the election. states, only sees the United Biden also r eceived States.? of our nation," Biden said in his victor y speech on Nov. 7 in over whelming suppor t fr om young people of color, as 89% Wilmington, Delawar e. I n San Diego County, 60.23% of Black young voter s cast Staff writer Deserie Larios of voter s chose Joe Biden for their ballots for the for mer contributed to this report. vice pr esident.
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pr esident, accor ding to the local Registr ar of Voter s. Nationwide, young people ages 18-29 made up 60% of all voter s and chose Biden to be their next pr esident at a gr eater r ate compar ed to
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