Unpacking the myth of the ‘good cop’
By Robert Clinton, Opinion Editor
September 28, 2016
Filed under Opinion
For as long as police misconduct has been reported, whether prosecuted or not, the same narrative gets repeated — there are just a few bad cops ruining the reputation of the many who put their lives on the line to keep us safe. To be perfectly clear, there is no shortage of bad cops in America. Althou...
Restrictions bury dream
By The Advocate, Editorial Board
September 28, 2016
Filed under Opinion
Financial aid restrictions on undocumented students who do not meet certain criteria are counterproductive for an institution funded by its enrollment. But that is exactly what is happening here at Contra Costa College and statewide. CCC Counseling Office assistant Leticia Mendoza said, “When (some) un...
Financial aid adds limits
By The Advocate, Editorial Board
September 21, 2016
Filed under Opinion
Adding a 2.0 GPA minimum requirement to a statewide financial aid program does increase the incentive for community college students to do well academically. But it also puts more pressure on academic institutions throughout the state to develop programs that help students who fall below this requirement...
Menstrual taboo paved by social ignorance
By Marci Suela, Art Director
September 21, 2016
Filed under Opinion
Menstruation is often described using different expressions including “it,” “the thing” and “the red monster.” The cycle takes the form of an actual being as a result of these nicknames, as if menstruation were an attacker who plagues each woman with hormonal threats of when it will strik...
Let there be greed
By The Advocate, Editorial Board
September 16, 2016
Filed under Opinion
While many argue that the suspension of UC Berkeley’s $3 billion Global Research Campus Project (GC) in Richmond is just a hiccup in the master plan to inject a research industry into the city, others insist it is the end of a vision. The decision made by UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, due ...
Film fuels discussion, relays historic story
By Xavier Johnson, Scene Editor
September 16, 2016
Filed under Opinion
Director Nate Parker’s film “The Birth of a Nation” based on the Nat Turner-led slave rebellion in 1831 will be released Oct. 7 amid a storm of consternation and dispute. The film received national acclaim after its debut at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, held annually in Park City, Utah. I...
Participation in athletic programs reflects apathy
By Robert Clinton, Opinion Editor
September 16, 2016
Filed under Opinion
For the second season in a row the Comet women’s soccer program will forfeit all of its scheduled games and the strange thing is, nobody seems to care. It’s easy to point out sociological reasons as to why participation rests at an exaggerated lull. But these factors only blame student-athletes. T...
Repairing our ‘weak link’
By The Advocate, Editorial Board
September 1, 2016
Filed under Opinion
About $6,500 in property was stolen from campus in four separate incidents over the summer. Roughly $4,600 was Contra Costa College’s property while $1,900 belonged to Lathrop Construction Inc., the company that worked on the Campus Center and Classroom Building Project. The Contra Costa Community...
America obsessed with mass consumption
By Denis Perez, Assistant Photo Editor
September 1, 2016
Filed under Opinion
People of sound mind can agree that American social values and our extreme focus on materialism have ignored the sovereignty of other nations as well as that of its own citizens. The way this generation is being brought up on pop culture, with an emphasis on money, is sending our society into a deat...
Remodeling education
By The Advocate, Editorial Board
August 26, 2016
Filed under Opinion
Canvas, the online learning platform recently approved for all 113 of California’s community colleges, will change higher education in the next 10 years more than any new buildings could. Do not be mistaken. All it takes is one glimpse at the heart of the Contra Costa College campus to know it is...
Spreading knowledge is an art, not a job
By Benjamin Bassham, News Editor
August 26, 2016
Filed under Opinion
I'm really not comfortable with people, and that’s something of a failure in a journalist. Talking to new people is always uncomfortable, even when I’m not trying to extract information from them, so why did I get into this stressful field? It wasn't until the first day of my fourth semester tha...
Media excludes Asian culture’s social identity
By Marci Suela, Art Director
May 18, 2016
Filed under Opinion
When I was 6 years old, my idol was figure skater Michelle Kwan simply because she looked like my then image of sleek black hair, pale skin and dark brown eyes. As I grew older, I started to worry about finding a career because of the occupations my family members had. Kwan was the exception, who was...