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Peralta Community College District's Only Student-Run Publication
Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

The Citizen

Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

The Citizen

Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

The Citizen

Longtime head coach for the Laney College Eagles, John Beam, retired in 2024 from coaching, but stayed on as the Director of Athletics.
Laney College Athletic Director John Beam, dead at 66
Beam was fatally shot Thursday at the Laney College Fieldhouse. Over his coaching career, Beam worked with more than 2,500 students, coached over 500 games, and sent more than 30 student athletes to the NFL.
Romi Bales, Copy Editor • November 14, 2025

John Edward Beam, 66, has died at Highland Hospital in Oakland, CA., following a gunshot wound sustained at Laney College campus Thursday. The...

Police tape blocks the entry to the Laney College Fieldhouse parking lot in Oakland, CA. on Friday, November 14, 2025.
Additional charges for former Laney student linked to shooting of Laney Athletic Director
District Attorney announces plan to reinstate mandatory minimum sentencing for gun offenses in the city, following campus shootings at Laney and Skyline
Ivan Saravia and Eliot Faine November 17, 2025
Longtime head coach for the Laney College Eagles, John Beam, retired in 2024 from coaching, but stayed on as the Director of Athletics.
Beloved coach and Netflix star voiced concerns about campus safety a day before being shot
John Beam was particularly uneasy about security at the Laney College field house, where he was fatally shot Thursday.
Erik Bracken, Desmond Meagley, David Sjostedt, Kevin Truong, Ezra Wallach, George Kelly, Michael McLaughlin, and Garrett Leahy November 14, 2025
Police officers gather outside the Laney College Fieldhouse following a report of an "active shooter" on campus in Oakland, CA on Nov. 13, 2025. One person was confirmed injured.
[UPDATED] John Beam hospitalized after Laney College Fieldhouse shooting
A warning from the Peralta Community College District reported an “active shooter” at the Laney Fieldhouse at 12:17 p.m Thursday, triggering a campus-wide lockdown. Laney was closed for the rest of the day following the shooting.
Citizen Staff November 13, 2025
Isela González Santana burns incense over an ofrenda at Merritt College in Oakland, CA on Oct 29, 2025.
Puente celebrates Día de los Muertos at Merritt College
For nearly 20 years, the college's Puente program has organized an on-campus celebration of the traditional Mexican holiday.
Ariunzayat Yunren, Staff Writer • November 12, 2025
Graphic made in Canva
Meet Peralta’s new security teams
November 8, 2025
Anjru Jaezon de Leon, back, comforted his grandmother, Amelia Bulauan, during her emotional comments about the death of her son, Melvin Bulauan, at a Board of Supervisors committee hearing November 6.
GEO Group faces tough questions at SF supervisors hearing over reentry facility
November 7, 2025
Illustration by Eliot Faine
SPJ honors The Citizen with Excellence in Journalism award
November 1, 2025
College and district leaders, alongside representatives from Noll & Tam Architects and Thompson Builders, break ground on the new library and learning center at Laney College in Oakland, CA on October 28, 2025.
Laney College breaks ground on new construction
October 30, 2025
Calder Storm waves a trans flag over a crowd of counterprotestors at a rally for trans youth outside of a Kaiser Permanente clinic in San Francisco on July 25, 2025.
Trans youth and families face hard choices after Bay Area clinics pause gender affirming care
October 30, 2025
Jeff Sanceri addresses the Peralta Board of Trustees during the public comment portion of their Oct. 14 meeting. (via PCCD TV)
Statewide basic needs survey results and facilities updates at Oct. 14 Board of Trustees meeting
The board reviewed survey data results on food and housing insecurity among California community college students and approved multiple facilities projects at the meeting.
Erik Bracken, Staff Writer • October 29, 2025
Laney counselor Philip Jucaban rests on a bench at Laney College in Oakland, CA on Oct. 29, 2025. Jucaban says he grounds his counseling work in the Filipino cultural value of bayanihan: “I’m just one counselor, but I like to bring a village together for each student,” Jucaban said.
Philip Jucaban brings bayanihan into counseling Laney students
Dustin Chu, Staff Writer • October 29, 2025
Mooncakes in a variety of colors and flavors sit in a display at Berkeley City College on Oct. 8, 2025. API LEAD students traded mooncakes for trivia to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival with the BCC community
BCC students celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival with mooncakes and community
Dustin Chu, Staff Writer • October 28, 2025
A pair competes in the Potato Dance contest, where two people hold a potato between their foreheads and dance around the arena at the NAHC Powwow at Merritt College in Oakland, CA., on September 27, 2025.
‘Laughter is Medicine’, Annual Powwow highlights Native American healthcare
Eliot Faine, Multimedia Editor • October 13, 2025
Trellis and sign stand at the entrance to the Urban Community Gardening class plot at the Lakeside Park Garden Center in Oakland, CA., on September 23, 2025. 
Merritt College urban garden class sows “practical skills”
Eliot Faine, Multimedia Editor • October 6, 2025
Yunomi by Ian Bassett is one of the featured works at the new exhibition. STOKED highlights the unique texture and color of wood-fired ceramics.
National art exhibition ‘STOKED’ showcases wood-fired possibilities for Laney ceramics program
Erik Bracken, Staff Writer • September 24, 2025
Graphic of a student journalist, using a rolled up newspaper to break the ribbon of silence.
The Citizen will not “take down” the truth
Eliot Faine, Multimedia Editor • October 4, 2025
Incumbent Area 2 Trustee Paulina Gonzalez-Brito, pictured here in The Citizen's newsroom, has what it takes to stay on the Peralta board for another four years.
EDITORIAL: Keep Paulina Gonzalez-Brito on the Peralta board
The Citizen Editorial Board September 25, 2024
An athlete looks down the dark stairwell towards the locker rooms. Illustration by Eliot Faine
The Locker Room Stall: 47 years of Title IX allegations at Laney College
March 31, 2025

Laney sophomore and shooting guard Adrienne Blackwell says she never uses her college’s locker rooms to change or shower. Neither do her teammates...

The American Straight A Academy helped students in China receive transfer degrees from the Peralta Community College District without paying international tuition or setting foot in California. The for-profit company, registered in Dallas, Texas, has not disclosed how much students pay for the experience.
Investigation: A look at the for-profit Chinese business that sold Peralta classes overseas
October 30, 2024
A private company sold access to California public education for an undisclosed price.
Investigation: Over half of PCCD conflict of interest disclosures nowhere to be found
Investigation: Over half of PCCD conflict of interest disclosures nowhere to be found
September 17, 2024
We asked PCCD for five years of conflict of interest disclosures, but only got half. Here's why an ethics expert is concerned.
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