New Interim Director and Student Staff Propel El Centro Into Remote Year
Established in 1995, El Centro serves as a home away from home for Chicanx and Latinx students, providing professional development and emotional support. This year, student staff and new Interim Director Valeria Vasquez are working to move El Centro’s programming online. She worked as the…
Pumpkin Patches Provide Alternative for Safe Fall Fun
Halloween 2020 will be different from any other Halloween we’ve experienced before. Come Oct. 31, streets once filled with candy-seeking children dressed up as ghosts and superheroes will be empty. While trick-or-treating is highly discouraged, there are still ways to have safe fall fun while…
New Chapter of Underground Scholars Initiative Supports Students Impacted By Incarceration
Starting at UC Berkeley in 2013, the Underground Scholars Initiative (USI) has swept across the UCs, creating a support system for previously incarcerated and system impacted students. The UC Santa Cruz chapter, the Underground Scholars Program (USP), began operations this fall. A UC systemwide initiative,…
Santa Cruz County Sees Surge in Poll Station Volunteers
With the November election less than two weeks away, Santa Cruz County has received 1,717 applications for the 430 available poll worker positions, according to Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin. “We’re usually begging [for poll workers],” Pellerin said. “It’s now cool to be working…
Change the Conversation About Prop. 25
“Yes” or “no.” These are the choices we get when we vote. If only the issues the proposed policy changes attempt to tackle were so simple. If only justice was a question to which we could just say “yes.” If you make it to the…
Wildfires Force Removal of Hazardous Waste
After burning for 38 days and covering 86,500 acres in San Mateo and Santa Cruz county, the effects of the CZU Lightning Complex fire continue to linger, due to the potential for toxic exposure from hazardous substances in its aftermath. The state of California and…
On The Inside: Life Inside the UCSC Bubble
Arriving at UC Santa Cruz for the first time in September 2019, I still remember my university starter pack from move-in: an academic advising folder with my schedule of events, a UCSC key chain I still use today, and a blue UCSC tote bag for…