Protests originally forming in Minneapolis over the death of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin have quickly spread nationwide, as many organized protests continue to take place across Los Angeles county and neighboring cities. Los Angeles protests sparked as early as May 28 and public officials have since called for police and military intervention.

In light of the recent death of George Floyd, multiple petitions surfaced on the internet in order to call for charges against Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who had killed Floyd. Other petitions regarding deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and other deaths from police brutality are being widely spread through social media, reaching over a million signatures each. Petitions are nothing new and are one of the founding rights that Americans have used to induce social change.

A protest sparked in Santa Monica, Calif. in response to police brutality and racial injustice on Sunday, following multiple demonstrations taking place throughout the country in the last few days. These protests started in Minneapolis on May 26, the day after the killing of George Floyd by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25. Protests have occurred in Los Angeles since May 27, taking place in downtown Los Angeles (L.A.) and Beverly Hills and turning violent in some areas.

When socio-political issues come in the form of a tragedy, such as the evolving Ahmaud Arbery case, colleges and universities often provide a breathing ground for expression and discussion.

California Community Colleges (CCC) filed a federal lawsuit this past Monday against the Department of Education and Secretary of Education Betsy Devos over the eligibility requirements of receiving emergency funds provided to educational institutions through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The board members of Associated Students (AS) unanimously approved and sponsored the “Expressing Solidarity for Jewish Students at Santa Monica College” resolution at their Zoom-hosted board meeting on Monday. This approval comes after a week’s worth of impassioned criticism and support of the resolution from Santa Monica College (SMC) students and members of the public.

As of 5 p.m. on March 31, Santa Monica College (SMC) announced to its faculty via email that all instructor-initiated dropped courses taking place on or after March 4 through the “Guaranteed Withdrawal deadline” will be recoded, in which the W will be removed from transcripts. SMC will perform a “catch-up batch job” today, April 1, to take care of any outstanding W’s on student transcripts resulting from student or instructor-initiated drops, according to the announcement.

The results for the 2020 Associated Students (A.S.) election were posted at 12 PM on Wednesday, March 27 on the A.S. Election page on the Santa Monica College website. There is yet to be an official announcement from the A.S. board.

The total voter turnout was 490 students. There was a 79% drop in voter turnout from the 2019 election cycle, in which there were 2,327 total votes.

Tues., March 10 was supposed to be a scheduled staff development Flex Day, but instead, it was changed to accomodate an evolving COVID-19 preparedness effort. To prepare for the possibility that Santa Monica College (SMC) may close its campus and move classes online, faculty members were invited to participate in both hands-on and webinar-based classes to learn about internet education. This comes amidst a smattering of statewide school closures to decrease campus-wide risk of contracting coronavirus.

Prior to the start of the Spring semester, the International Education Center (IEC) of Santa Monica College (SMC) received approximately 169 emails from Chinese students whose recent travels to China inhibited them from returning in time for their classes.

On Tuesday, March 3, voters in Santa Monica waited approximately two and a half hours outside Santa Monica College’s (SMC) poll center, hosted in the SMC Foundation building. Patrons stepped outside of line to sneak a look inside the voting center: a meek, half empty room, with only four volunteer workers attending to the masses, and stepped back in line.

The first time I watched "Breakfast at Tiffany’s", I thought it was a bore apart from Audrey Hepburn's performance as Holly Golightly. And the cat. The second time I watched it, I got it.

The Santa Monica College (SMC) Film Club members, friends, and family blended together in a pizza-eating, film-loving crowd outside the Center for Media and Design (CMD) campus this past Thursday night. At 7 p.m., the CMD quad turned into a box office lobby for the SMC Film Festival with an auditorium awaiting the audience inside.

As the hosts of the event, Film Club presented a total of nine original productions of both its members and Film 33 students. As the crowd watched the films one by one, Professor Kanin and Professor Flood judged the films for the later presented awards. Film Club has long hosted the SMC Film Festival, but now sees an “all-time high” membership this year with over 150 members, according to club president Carlos Flores Jr.

Bikes, skateboards, and rollerblades cruised the shut-down streets of Downtown Santa Monica in celebration of the annual COAST Festival on Sunday, Sept. 15. The city closed sections of Ocean Avenue, Colorado Esplanade, and Main Street from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. to provide a car-free space for people to ride freely.

On what seemed like just another weekend in Miracle Mile, a small neighborhood encompassing Los Angeles’ Museum Row, pedestrians entered the La Brea Tar Pits expecting an ordinary visit. Walking in further, various dancers, DJs, and artists filled the grassy field just outside the museum. This was no random gathering; It was the 17th annual installation of Tarfest.

From psychology students and film majors to parents, the Science Complex (SCI) 140 lecture hall overflowed with an audience eager to view the mental health documentary “Lift the Mask” on Sep. 5, days away from National Suicide Prevention Week.