Long Beach City College sent an email saying that an LBCC student reported graffiti in a women’s restroom at the Liberal Arts Campus that included the word “shooting” and a date.
The Long Beach Police Department has determined the threat to be non-credible but is continuing to investigate, according to the email.
Additional visible police patrol will be deployed around both campuses throughout the week.
According to Lieutenant Omar Martinez, the graffiti has been removed to not create additional concern.
The email was sent at 2:04 p.m. by The Office of the Superintendent-President.
The Viking News will update this story as more information becomes available.
With the city of Long Beach in 19th pace in California for households that receive CalFresh assistance, Long Beach City College should accept SNAP benefits, which are benefits for students who receive government assistance.
These benefits are put on an electronic benefits transfer or “EBT” card and can be used at any grocery store or restaurant that accepts it as payment for food items.
Allowing and advocating for merchants on our campus to accept these services will be advantageous for all students whose only source of food is through government welfare.
CalFresh is a government program that accepts applicants throughout the year that are homeless, disabled, or have no income or financial support.
For students that use EBT cards it is imperative to have access to restaurants or stores that accept them.
Having this service on campus prevents students from traveling distances in between classes for a snack or quick lunch especially students that don’t have the time.
According to the Statistical Atlas, food stamp usage in Long Beach yields 19.4k households that receive SNAP benefits. Considering this volume of government assistance recipients, it is only logical that LBCC make an effort to participate in the restaurant program to be able to accept students in this community who buy their food with CalFresh benefits.
David McDonald, Viking West Coast Grill manager, explained the process of applying and advocating for the use of EBT, as a restaurant owner.
LBCC is on the waitlist and it’s complicated trying to figure out how many students on campus actually utilize EBT.
McDonald showed concern about the unfortunate subject but there isn’t much left to do but wait.
More support and persistence from the campus community and board of trustees can help move this proposal forward.
EBT should have a place at LBCC and any amount of low income, needy, homeless, or underprivileged students at Long Beach is enough reason to consider and advocate for these resources.
Forwards Brittany Caudillo and Nathaly Silva both scored twice to help Long Beach City College ease to a 5-1 win over Compton College on Tuesday afternoon.
The Vikings dominated in possession and chances, but didn’t get on the scoreboard until the eight minute mark when midfielder Yessenia Hernandez beat the keeper for an easy tap in to make it 1-0
Caudillo added a classy second for the Vikings right before half-time. Five minutes later Caudillo would change the score with another goal.
The Vikings fourth goal of the afternoon came through Silva, Comptons reaction came with a focus to play more in the midfield.
Compton College’s midfielder Yuliana Estrada put the score 4-1. The Vikings reacted by sending forward Allison Veloz to help her teammates.
Veloz was one of the players who did not appear on the scoreboard but made a huge impact on her teammates.
“I think we played really good today. Compton is a great team. They provoked us to make a lot of mistakes in the first-half. The first goal came when we needed it the most,” Veloz said.
“We were worried about Compton because they tied against Cerritos the other day. We lost against Cerritos a few days ago so we knew they would be tough.”
With the conclusion of a new victory for the Vikings the head coach Eduardo Nunes cheered his players.
“It is a new win for us. We need to be more consistent on the field. We are preparing for the playoffs so we have to work harder,” Nunes said.
Assistant coach Traci Dominguez added, “I feel proud of my girls. They are showing what we practice every week. I am so happy for them, I hope we continue winning more games.”
The Vikings face Rio Hondo next on Oct. 22 at Veterans Stadium at 2 p.m.
As future leaders pursuing our education it’s important to be aware of our role in continuing a vicious albeit subtle cycle of mocking the diverse identities of our peers and community, even when getting dressed in costume.
Too many Halloween costumes can perpetuate played out and harmful stereotypes of disenfranchised groups such as women, people of color and people with disabilities.
Long Beach City College recently sent out a message titled Halloween Costumes – Impact vs. Intent.
The message read as followed:
As Halloween approaches please be mindful that costumes that may incite fear, create panic, heighten anxiety, or trigger trauma and distress, should not be worn to campus. Additionally, as an educational community committed to civility, we ask that all students be mindful of costumes that may be deemed culturally insensitive. Thank you in advance for your cooperation!
Don’t get me wrong, fake weapons and scary masks can cause a stir.
The prop gun a film professor brought onto the PCC campus last semester led to a lockdown on campus which caused students and employees to brace themselves for a possible school shooting.
It’s important to be aware of the things that may elicit fear or offend our peers.
Costumes or props that are meant to be weapons are obvious displays of a possible threat to others. But there are also costumes that can have an insidious affect even if it’s ‘just’ a sombrero.
The bastardization of a hula girl in a coconut bra further enables others to believe in a caricature of indigenous people that are systematically disenfranchised to this day.
Halloween stores are filled with bags of Indian or Native American costumes that include red face paint and feathers.
Yet many of us may not be aware that the feather headdress they are going to wear is culturally significant across indigenous tribes.
Tribes of people who still continue to face an erasure of their culture every day.
Photo by Sabriyya Ghanizada. At most Halloween stores it is almost common place to see traditional Native American clothing such as headdresses and beaded jewelry. These pieces have cultural value to different tribes and are typically gifted to individuals during ceremonies.
Pop culture sweetheart or bad girl (depending on how you look at it) Lindsay Lohan said it best as her character Cady Heron in Mean Girls, “In girl world, Halloween is the one night a year where girls get to dress as a total slut and no other girl can say anything about it.”
“A sexy mouse? Fine! A sexy native woman? WOMP.”
A lot of people credit being sensitive to other people’s feelings as “snowflake culture” or censorship.
So, it comes as no surprise that people would take offense to others being offended when their culture is mocked during a holiday that is meant for fun.
But let’s face it, most costumes make a mockery of other cultures. And tend to be sexist. When mixed together, you now have a list of popular costumes that beg the question, why?
It is important to exercise awareness when dressing for Halloween because your need for fun may completely undermine a person’s entire identity.
Inanimate objects like food or even a port-a-potty are always safe (and hilarious) choices.
Celebrities and characters from pop culture can still be evoked without having to darken your skin with face paint by focusing on the details of the costume or props.
Claiming ignorance does not save you either. It’s important to ask the right questions and do your research.
Before getting dressed up for Halloween this year, ask yourself if it may offend someone.
If you feel you have to defend your use of any part of your costume, there probably is not any fun in that.
Use your education to create a clever costume or, get this, don’t get dressed up at all.
We are ‘adults’ afterall and can exercise our playful and spooky sides in a plethora of ways.
Geishas, rastafarians, warriors, gypsies, sugar skulls and even ninjas are all costumes that can mock or belittle an entire population. Keep that in mind when deciding on what you want to dress up as this halloween.
We are all collectively gearing up to head into 2020. Let’s do our part as future leaders to show generations before and after us that some costumes, along with their stereotypes, need to just die as we finish out this decade and turn a new page.
Students and staff continue to complain about the amount of available parking at the Liberal Arts Campus, but limited stalls are not the problem, we as a collective body are the issue.
Long Beach City College currently offers 20 parking lots in total at LAC, seven of which are designated only for staff, and the rest are available spots for students and staff.
The number of staff and student parking spaces are assessed by the college every few years.
If a few spots happen to get displaced due to construction or other circumstances, LBCC will compensate for the loss and divide the amount of lost spaces equally between the staff and students.
When evaluating the overall number of lots, it is almost bizarre to believe that anyone is frustrated with the amount of parking spaces at the college.
The real ‘problem’ with parking is that students and staff that come later in the afternoon are accustomed to parking in a certain area based off of where their class or office is.
Take the T and V buildings for example.
A bulk of general education classes such as psychology, political science, history, communications and math all take place in the T and V buildings, which happen to be in the same area as the parking structure.
Since many students are enrolled in at least one general education course, it can result in the parking structure constantly being full.
Convenience is never a bad thing, but realistically you can’t expect the college to accommodate for everyone’s parking preferences.
If finding an open parking spot close to your class is an issue, try to make your own accommodations, such as leaving a few minutes earlier than usual.
The morning and the afternoon are the busiest times of the day in terms of parking. When you know you have a class in the morning, give yourself about 30 minutes to get to school and find a spot, that way you can comfortably park and make it to class on time.
Although it may be out of the way, the Veterans Stadium always has plenty of available parking spaces. So when you happen to be running late and feel like there won’t be a close spot, use that time to walk from the stadium to your class instead of pointlessly driving in circles hoping to catch someone leaving.
For those that don’t care to get their steps in, LBCC also offers you the option to park at the stadium, where a shuttle can take you to your class building every 10 minutes.
The shuttle also transports students every 30 minutes from PCC to LAC, so if you have classes at both campuses you don’t have to worry about finding another spot.
Another option is for students who have class around or at the same time as a friend can carpool with them. Two cars now turn into one, allowing more space for other students or staff when their spots are all full.
If finding a somewhat close and open spot is still a pressing issue, students and staff can opt out of driving by using public transportation like the Long Beach Transit or even bringing out that old bike that’s probably collecting dust.
Parking is only an issue when we make it an issue. The college tries it’s best to provide its students and staff with enough parking stalls and alternatives for everyone to fit.
It’s up to us as a whole to consider other options given and utilize them, instead of just making the blanket statement that ‘parking sucks.’
Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act which may force the NCAA to change their policy and could possibly create an unfair balance of the student population within NCAA certified schools.
The new California bill will take effect on January 1, 2023, and will cover all colleges in California, except for community colleges.
By signing the Fair Pay to Play Act, California has become the first state in the United States that allows student athletes to profit off their name and gain endorsement deals.
The Fair Pay to Play Act contradicts the NCAA Amateurism Rules, which outlaws student athletes from profiting off their talents through endorsement deals.
The lives of student athletes can be intense.
Along with games, practices, and injuries, these athletes are meant to continue to pursue an education through their college.
Student athletes shouldn’t get paid for playing sports because they’re playing them voluntarily.
To be fair, they are risking their health and well-being, just to entertain others and do what they love, but students in clubs don’t get paid to be in a club or for partaking in social events.
This bill could potentially cause many issues from different programs and clubs from the school for inequality.
One of the real possible outcomes of the Fair Pay to Play Act is that all universities in California may become banned from participating in any NCAA tournaments.
If California universities were to get banned from NCAA tournaments, then schools like UCLA, USC, and Stanford wouldn’t be able to add to their long history of sports accolades.
California legalizing student athletes to profit off of their name and get endorsements may create a competitive imbalance.
In 2023, from an athletic perspective, it would seem more desirable to attend a college in California, where you could get make money for endorsements and jersey sales, rather than going to a college where the prospect wouldn’t get paid anything to do what they love, just as it is now.
The Fair Pay to Play Act would not only create a higher demand to get into a California university, but it would create an unfair balance of students at universities in other states.
Though this won’t affect the student athletes at LBCC, in 2023, this could affect the current student athletes who plan to transfer over to a university, after their tenure at LBCC.
The Student Health Services department took over the LAC quad with Wellness Fest with activities like Yoga to encourage exercising for students and hosted a wide range of local health and wellness providers.
This is the second year Long Beach City College is hosting the Wellness Fest, an event on campus that connects students to a variety of resources from mental health services, support groups and even information to help students with substance abuse.
“This is one of our favorite events on campus, we enjoy connecting students to resources on and off campus and sharing tools to help you destress,” Director of student health Deborah Miller Calvert stated.
A Power 106 booth was in partnership with LBCC’s mental health department and strove to promote awareness about the issues of mental health.
In the past, Power 106 has teamed up with the mental health department to host an art gallery where they provided music and entertainment.
The radio station also brought a “What is your why” board to campus where students could write what motivates them on it.
Power 106 employee Jessica Rios said that Power 106 wanted to spread an accumulation of positivity.
During the Wellness Fest, Power 106 came to support by providing music and the “What is your why” sign, for students to write their motivation. Photo by Nate Eniegra.
LBCC student Daja Dauer attended the event to explore LBCC’s resources and activities.
“My motivation to wake up in the morning is my kids and my husband,” Dauer said.
A wellness group called Mental Health America of Los Angeles is a peer support group that helps young individuals with mental health needs. Their services include housing services, mental health services and linkage to substance abuse services.
LBCC staff members also made it a key point to highlight other events going on around campus.
The wellness fest hosted a “Movies for mental health” event, located in building T. Three to four movies were shown and all films featured characters experiencing different mental illnesses.
Two to three mental health experts were present to answer questions students may have had about mental health.
Students were able to eat for free with the “Better Breakfast Day” event where food was provided by the Healthy Viking Initiative. They gave out healthy food in an effort to promote healthier eating toward students as well as provide free food for low income students.
For more information about mental health, the LBCC Mental Health Services department can be reached at (562) 938-3987.
Philosophy professor Corine Sutherland was originally misdiagnosed with a UTI but it wasn’t until she went in for a second opinion where she discovered she was already on stage four Endometrial cancer.
Sutherland’s first diagnosis was provided by two doctors that concluded her condition may have been cancer along but received no follow up. The philosophy professor went under four CT scans in a period of four months and was later informed that she was diagnosed with a UTI.
A CT scan, a Computed Tomography that takes X-ray measurements and a UTI being a urinary tract infection.
Sutherland suspected that she might have had cancer, but was told otherwise.
She switched her insurance to Kaiser Permanente and received a phone call to go in for a doctor’s visit.
From January through to July in 2018, Kaiser found that Sutherland was diagnosed with stage four endometrial cancer. She was placed in full surgery and went into chemotherapy.
“After being in chemotherapy for six months, that seemed to help but seven months later I seemed to have symptoms again, I knew they hadn’t gotten everything out but at least with the chemotherapy I thought it would have lasted a little longer,” Sutherland said.
During those seven months of remission, Sutherland started to feel familiar symptoms of her diagnosis and was re-diagnosed in June 2019. Soon after, she began immunotherapy and twenty rounds of radiation.
Sutherland has been teaching despite battling stage four Endometrial Cancer in the last few months. Photo by Yeovanna Sandoval.
Sutherland still attends immunotherapy but has finished her radiation treatment.
When Sutherland returned for chemotherapy, the sessions would depend on what chemicals were utilized during treatment. The length of each chemotherapy session would also vary or the treatment would be too detrimental.
Unfortunately, the treatment was too much for Sutherland and burned one of her veins in her arm. Physicians were able to continue chemo by inserting the tube in an opening on the side of her chest.
“I call it my gas tank,” Sutherland said.
In Suntherland’s case, the process normally takes four hours.
It wasn’t until the other day the philosophy professor noticed that she was being transferred into a nicer room that accommodated patients for eight hour treatment sessions.
“It was a real shocker, I didn’t think they will treat me for eight hours, so you can imagine it’s an all day thing, but I used to laugh because we also had televisions which I think all of us in there like Westerns because at two o’clock I would hear Bonanza,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland’s main support system were family, friends, and the Kaiser Permanente team.
“I think everybody panicked at first until they just realized there’s nothing you can do and just go through the treatments,” Sutherland said.
As a professor, the experience following her cancer diagnosis affected her emotionally, physically, and mentally.
“It does change you, you realize you’re not the powerhouse you thought you were to control the world,” Sutherland explained.
Sutherland said she intends to keep teaching as she goes through her cancer treatments. Photo by Yeovanna Sandoval.
Sutherland always made sure her students knew about her case and online teaching was also a great help to her. Students would email her about their own family members who were diagnosed with cancer as well. This made Sutherland feel less alone.
“I think it’s pretty cool that she is still teaching even though she still has a big battle ahead of her right now, but she still comes in and teaches and gives a lively vibe,” one of Sutherland’s philosophy student’s Alyssa Guerro said.
Robert Magania, another philosophy student from her class said, “She shows determination and her willingness to fight through it and at the same time still comes in to teach our class, I applaud her.”
Besides her teaching profession, Sutherland loves to escape from it all.
“I do plan to keep teaching and continue to write, which I would like to explore onto that and I also just go whale watching to see the whales and dolphins, so I find it relaxing.
Sutherland is still fighting this battle, but through it all she has remained strong and is surviving and will soon become a survivor.
Every semester, Long Beach City College hosts a job fair for students and members of the Long Beach community.
With over 50 employers in attendance, the crowd for potential employees only grew larger as time passed.
Long Beach Harbor Patrol officer Tyree Jones expressed his appreciation for the attendees at this years 2019 job fair.
“Yeah, we actually got a lot of people coming to our booth and we’re only what, an hour in?” Jones said.
Officer Jones is a recruiter for Long Beach Harbor Patrol and explained that this job fair was very successful, even in its starting moments.
Employers remained open and held extensive conversations despite the growing crowd.
On the spot interviews were held for the Starbucks booth where Terrance Peace, a member of a nearby community shared his experience.
The job fair, which took place at Veteran’s Stadium, provided a convenient space for employers to seek new hires. Photo by Taiya Adams.
“I just did an interview for Starbucks… Yeah I got the job, easy money now,” Peace said.
Dylan Sprankle, another recipient of an on the spot interview, expresses his opinion on the job fair.
“It gave me a chance to look for jobs I’m interested in … The employers gave lot of information … I did get an on the spot interview with Buffalo Wild Wings,” Sprankle said.
This year, the job fair proved to be a success with people packed almost shoulder to shoulder.
The job fair takes place every semester at the Long Beach City College Veterans stadium.
Correction: A paragraph was added to represent the numbers for 2019 so far.
A Trump plaque adorned up on the wall, a pin of George W. Bush from 2004, and a poster of Ronald Reagan. Business professor Nick Carbonaro’s office may be a shrine to Republican presidents but it is also something out of place in a sea of liberalism at Long Beach City College.
Five days after the 2016 presidential election, Carbonaro donated money to Donald Trump. Since then, he is one of two full time professors at LBCC listed as a donor for a Republican cause, according to the Federal Election Commission.
“It’s not surprising at all,” Carbonaro said. “You should’ve seen the November after the 2016 election, it was like a ghost town here, everybody was depressed, all this stupid stuff.”
Listed alongside Carbonaro as donors for Republican causes are a full time math professor and a full time classified employee at LBCC.
Currently 96.5% of political donors who have listed LBCC as their employer, have donated to Democratic candidates/causes, these numbers do not include all of the faculty, administrators, or employees at LBCC.
In the 2016 presidential election year, LBCC employees, donated $5,185.00 to ActBlue, a nonprofit organization that enables Democrats to raise money on the internet.
For Republican causes, $288.84 was donated to Donald J. Trump for President Inc., and $250.00 for Marco Rubio for President.
To see the full list for 2016, see the graph below.
Graphic by Abel Reyes
In 2019 so far, the most money donated goes to ActBlue again, with $4,437.57 in total.
In total in 2019, $8,216.52 has been given to Democratic causes so far. No employee at LBCC has given to any Republican causes this year.
To see the full list for 2019, see the graph below.
Graphic by Abel Reyes
Because of such a Liberal environment at Long Beach City College, as well as colleges and universities across the U.S., concerns have risen over recent years on the impact it may have on students in and outside the classroom.
However, more concerns arise about such political leaning in colleges when specifically narrowing down in subject matters such as political science, economics, law, journalism, philosophy, history, and psychology.
In 2017, five professors gathered at Chapman University to discuss the appropriateness of discussing politics in the classroom.
During the discussion, the five professors, who all had various political leanings, challenged each others opinion on keeping political talk in or outside the classroom.
“Is it really free thinking if 97% of your professors think one way and they teach it that way,” Carbonaro said. “Are you really making a free choice?”
A 2016 study on faculty voter registration at 40 leading U.S. universities done by Econ Journal Watch, included 7,243 professors and found 3,623 to be registered Democratic and 314 Republican, for an overall D:R ratio of 11.5:1
“People interested in ideological diversity or concerned about the errors of leftist outlooks—including students, parents, donors, and taxpayers—might find our results deeply troubling.,” the study stated.
“Faculty Voter Registration in Economics, History, Journalism, Law, and Psychology,” written by Mitchell Langbert, associate professor of business at Brooklyn College, Anthony J. Quain, a health economics solutions developer, and Daniel Klein, professor of economics at George Mason University and editor of Econ Journal Watch.
All authors described themselves in the paper as a dying academic class of “classical liberals,” generally opposed to “governmentalization.”
They refer to both the Democratic and Republican parties as “horrible,” but say that, when pushed, they usually favor a Republican political candidate over a Democrat.
“Students are made to agree,” Klein told the Viking. “I am not concerned with students understanding political sides. Professors misrepresent both sides.”
Last year at Cal State Long Beach, Turning Point USA held a seminar with founder and executive director Charlie Kirk. The event brought students on all sides of the political spectrum.
Long Beach Antifa launched a movement, “Unwelcome on Campus,” and called for others to oppose the Turning Point event.
Former president of Turning Point U.S.A. LBCC chapter, Daniel McCullough, told the Viking last year that, “They have every right to protest but it’s a little annoying if they’re trying to just disrupt the whole thing.”
McCullough, who is open about his political beliefs, hasn’t experienced any real uncomfortably during a class at LBCC but has witnessed former members of the LBCC chapter be harassed because of their political beliefs.
“When we brought Charlie Kirk to Cal State Long Beach, one of the people in my club, got confronted after asking some guy where the event was. He went and screamed at her face, called her a nazi and just started getting up in her face,” McCullough said.
“Eventually you get so used to it, being a conservative in any liberal area, you just learn to laugh it off.”
Turning point USA currently runs a website named Professor Watchlist, a website that exposes and documents college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.
In 2017, college Republicans said their request for a resolution reaffirming freedom of speech was turned down by Cal State Fullerton student government.
A year before the TPUSA event at CSULB, Hillary Clinton held a rally at Long Beach City College. In 2019, Bernie Sanders also held a rally at LBCC.
“I would never want the college to institute political diversity,” Carbonaro said.
Nick Carbonaro is one of two full time professors at Long Beach City College to have donated to a Republican cause. So far in 2019, no one has donated to any Republican cause. Photo by Abel Reyes.
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