Call It What It Is
Universities across the country are failing to accurately label violence toward Black students as hate crimes. Chennel Jazzy Rowe, a Black woman, began college at University of Hartford this fall, experienced chronic health issues and was harassed by her roommate. After a month and a...
California Perpetuates Water Injustice
California currently fails to provide over 250 communities reliant on groundwater with clean, safe drinking water, leaving thousands of residents at risk of severe health issues. This isn’t from a lack of resources or ability — but negligence by the state. The long-overdue solution finally...
Weeks later, Puerto Rico Faces Slow Recovery
Millions of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens are using dim candlelight to maneuver through their storm-stricken homes. Sometimes water drips from their bathroom and kitchen faucets, but it’s often too contaminated to use or drink safely. Category 5 Hurricane Maria produced the biggest and longest blackout...
Profiting Off of Trauma
Jennye Pagoada López was about two months pregnant when she approached Customs and Border Protections (CPB) agents at the San Ysidro border, seeking asylum from a gang-afflicted life in El Salvador. CPB placed her in detention for five days, during which time she slept on...
Courts Must Hold Oil Companies Accountable
For decades, oil companies have tainted waterways through fracking, spilled hundreds of millions of gallons of unrefined crude oil in the ocean and, most damningly, driven climate change. Oil companies continually push climate-denying agendas and fail to assume any responsibility for the damages they cause,...
Religious Attack on Body Rights
The Trump administration has slashed Affordable Care Act (ACA) regulations on contraceptive access, creating economic, political and social barriers to health care for hundreds of thousands of people. As of Oct. 6, employers or insurers may choose not to cover contraceptives if doing so conflicts...
Title IX Guidance Favors the Accused
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos rescinded the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter and 2014 Question and Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence, threatening thousands of sexual assault survivors with longer, more difficult paths to justice. Even before DeVos’ changes, announced on Sept 22, Title IX...
Support DACA Emergency Fundraiser for UCSC Students
President Donald Trump upended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last week, leaving 800,000 DACA recipients across the country facing a future of uncertainty. In the days following, 16 state attorneys general, including California’s Xavier Becerra, sued the Trump administration over its decision,...
California Leaves Trump in the Dust
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord was a selfish and destructive choice. The U.S. should not back out of a climate agreement that carries global, domestic, economic and environmental implications. California is leading an alliance of more than...
Deportation is Not a Solution
More than 40,000 people living in the U.S. have been arrested by federal agents since President Donald Trump signed the executive order on immigration in January. This is a 38 percent increase since this time last year. The executive order prioritized more than 8 million...