The Advocate 11-20

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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW B

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Eminem returns

campus beat X page 4

Latest installment hits hard with past fans

Budget Athletics maintains

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scene X page 9

sports X pages 6-7

Squads prepare

Basketball teams look to improve records

VOL. 101, NO. 11

SINCE 1950 12 PAGES, ONE COPY FREE

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20, 2013 ACCENTADVOCATE.COM

THE STUDENT VOICE OF CONTRA COSTA COLLEGE, SAN PABLO, CALIF.

Essential resource missing

BANDING TOGETHER

Transfer/Career Center cut with no adequate replacement By Jared Amdahl OPINION EDITOR

jamadahl.theadvocate@gmail.com

CHRISTIAN URRUTIA / THE ADVOCATE

Showing concern — Local American Civil Liberties Union chapter Chairperson Antonio Medrano (right) participates in a candlelight vigil and silent march by Lot 7 on Monday. Faculty, staff and students came together to remember Andy Lopez who was shot by a sheriff deputy in Santa Rosa.

AnEVENING of remembrance

La Raza Students Union, Puente program come together to remember Andy Lopez with candlelight vigil By Brian Boyle NEWS EDITOR

bboyle.theadvocate@gmail.com

A crowd of students and faculty held a candlelight vigil Monday outside of the Library for Andy Lopez, the 13-year-old boy who was shot to death by a Santa Rosa Sheriff last month. On Oct. 22, Lopez was playing with a toy replica AK-47 as he walked to a friend’s house in Santa Rosa. Two Sonoma County sheriff deputies pulled their patrol car up behind Lopez and ordered him twice to drop the rifle. One deputy said he believed the rifle was real, and was being turned toward him. The deputies opened fire. Lopez was shot seven times, four times in the back and three in the side. Contra Costa College La Raza studies professor Agustîn Palacios said he heard of the incident on the radio. “When I heard about the shooting, it broke my heart,” Dr. Palacios said. “Rather than feel powerless, I wanted to voice how I felt about this

“We need to teach our children how to survive encounters with police officers.” Dr. J. Vern Cromartie, sociology professor

senseless shooting.” Palacios organized the candlelight vigil for Lopez in the quad next to the Library. Monday, as the sun set over San Pablo, a small crowd of faculty and students gathered in the quad. They began lighting candles and tying white armbands around their arms, in a sign of support for all families affected by gun violence. Palacios started a silent march around the fenced off SA Building. The march consisted of the only eight people in attendance. But as the marchers silently made their way back to their starting point, a crowd of students and faculty holding candles, exponentially larger than those who marched, greeted them.

Palacios gathered everyone into a semi-circle around him as he began addressing the crowd. “Gun violence touches the lives of too many people in the Bay Area,” Palacios said. As he finished speaking, Palacios gave the floor to the La Raza President Esmeralda Frias. Frias spoke about the culture of violence in the country, and how it worries her. Every speaker questioned the training of police officers. And many attendees said Lopez’s race played a large role in his death. Contra Costa College President Denise Noldon said, “I believe the fact that (Lopez) was a minority had everything to do with why he got shot.” Dr. Noldon took the time to address the crowd. She said one thing she loves about the community at CCC is how they band together when faced with injustice. “My heart hurts when I think about Lopez,” Noldon said. “But this small vigil can be a lightning rod for change.” Q SEE VIGIL: Page 3

Contra Costa College student Erick Chivichon met with a counselor before attempting to transfer to the four-year university of his choice — UC Davis. After numerous meetings with counselors during his four years as a CCC student, Chivichon said he was told the 19 units he was registered in for the spring 2013 semester, his last at CCC, would be transferable. He said he was misinformed. While meeting with a Saint Mary’s University counselor to discuss his options as a backup school, it was discovered that he had taken two units that were not transferable. Chivichon was told he would be unable to attend any classes at UC Davis until he earned those final two transferable units. “I was going to UC Davis, I was in, I needed 19 units to make up the 60 units needed to transfer, and when the time came, I couldn’t transfer,” Chivichon said. Chivichon attributes the error to the overworked counseling staff who misinformed him, and the lack of a Transfer/ Career Center on campus “I’ve been very involved in my time on campus,” Chivichon said. “I love this school. I stand up for this school’s name because it has a lot of potential, but (services on campus) do not go above and beyond their duty. Because of those two units I wasn’t able to transfer. CCC needs to live up to its own goal of being a ‘premier college in our backyard.’” The once helpful Transfer/ Career Center has been absent on campus since fall 2011, and there is no estimate as to when an adequate replacement will be installed.

editorial Student body in need of Transfer/Career Center

After two years without the vital resource, college administrators need to act quickly

page 2 College Vice President Tammeil Gilkerson said, “The transfer center is back. It’s there in the same room as CalWORKs and Single-Stop USA. We gave space back to the transfer center awhile ago.” While there is a room dedicated to transfer information, all that is there for curious students are pamphlets they can read about transferring. Students who walk into C C C ’ s Transfer/ “I wasn’t Career Center and able to inquire transfer. about the t r a n s f e r CCC needs process to live up are simply referred to to its own the counselgoal of ing department. being a The duty ‘premier of helping students college in transfer has been our backgiven to yard.’” counselors, an already o v e r b u r - Erick Chivichon, communications d e n e d major resource. The line to see a counselor at CCC can have students waiting for more than a month in order to discuss transferring. Counselor Andrea Phillips is currently in charge of assisting students with the transfer process. Q SEE TRANSFER: Page 3

David retires, leaves behind 20-year legacy By Cody McFarland ASSOCIATE EDITOR

cmcfarland.theadvocate@gmail.com

As the fall semester of 2003 neared its first day, college employees crowded into the Knox Center to discuss and prepare for the year to come. The college president delivered a speech about how it was going to be a bad budget year because the college did not receive as much money from the state as hoped for. For his first year teaching at Contra Costa College, English professor Jeffrey Michels felt disheartened by a speech that could only be described as “gloomy.” That is, until a thin man with an enormous presence and unfaltering optimism said, “I don’t care about money. This place is going to be fabulous.”

“He ran an exceptional drama department on a shoestring budget.” Dr. Jeffrey Michels, English professor

Inspired, Dr. Michels spoke out to his new colleagues. “I don’t know who he is, but I want to be on his team.” That man, who has served CCC and the surrounding community for two decades now, who is responsible for more than 80 student theatrical productions at the Knox Center — 10 of which he personally wrote for the college — and who has given his all to his students, is Clay David. CHRISTIAN URRUTIA / THE ADVOCATE Now retired, David was Fabulous — Former drama department chairperson Clay David now hopes to focus Q SEE DAVID: Page 3 on assisting the theatrical community and further developing his skills as an artist.

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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW B

Drama teacher looks forward to his new life outside of CCC, reflects on body of work

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