News, Protest Aleah Antonio & Michael Goldsmith News, Protest Aleah Antonio & Michael Goldsmith

A Week of Nationwide Protests Continue in Los Angeles

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.

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News Aleah Antonio & James Shippy News Aleah Antonio & James Shippy

How Petitions Work

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.

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Protest, News Johan Rosdahl Protest, News Johan Rosdahl

Sunday Protests Pop Up in Santa Monica

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.

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News Aleah Antonio News Aleah Antonio

California Community Colleges File Lawsuit Over CARES Act Aid

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.

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News Aleah Antonio and Tatiana Louder News Aleah Antonio and Tatiana Louder

Associated Students pass resolution “in solidarity” with Jewish students after criticism

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.

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News Aleah Antonio News Aleah Antonio

SMC Extends Withdrawal deadline; Transcript adjustments available for instructor-initiated drops

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.

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ASelection Aleah Antonio ASelection Aleah Antonio

2020 Associated Students Election Results

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.

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News, Coronavirus Aleah Antonio and Jack Hughes News, Coronavirus Aleah Antonio and Jack Hughes

Administration Prepares for Possible Coronavirus-related Campus Closure

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.

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News, Presidential Election Aleah Antonio News, Presidential Election Aleah Antonio

SMC hosts electronic voting center on Super Tuesday

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.

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Opinion Tatiana Louder Opinion Tatiana Louder

Straightwashing: An Epidemic

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.

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Culture, Entertainment Aleah Antonio Culture, Entertainment Aleah Antonio

SMC Film Club Takes Over CMD for Annual Film Festival

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.

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Culture, Entertainment Aleah Antonio Culture, Entertainment Aleah Antonio

"Tarfest" Celebrates Los Angeles Culture at the La Brea Tar Pits

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.

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