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

The Citizen
A neon sign on the Laney College Tower building lights up at dusk. The Tower houses the offices of administrators, counselors, and other Laney employees.
Besikof Leaves Laney
March 19, 2025
The Board of Trustees listens intently as public comments are under way.
Peralta’s Board of Trustees vote to lay off 68 positions at 02/25 trustee meeting
March 15, 2025
On Jan. 30, 2025, the Trump Administration issued two executive orders focusing on restricting trans and non-binary people from accessing gender affirming care and spaces. These executive actions have raised questions within the LGBTQ+ community at Peralta about what the colleges are doing to protect their students.
LGBTQ+ students are feeling “fear and hesitation” under Trump. What’s Peralta doing about it?
March 14, 2025
Abdul Pridgen sits down for a chat with The Citizen regarding public safety, how Peralta's security model currently works, and his plans for a new model.
Interview and security updates with Peralta’s Interim Executive Director of Public Safety Abdul Pridgen
March 1, 2025
A sign reading 'No human is illegal' in the R-building at Merritt College. As of Jan. 21, ICE agents are now permitted on college campuses.
Merritt College updates its online resources for undocumented students after The Citizen finds outdated information from 2022
February 20, 2025
The pieces shown in Clay, Paper, Wood are crafted by advanced Laney students across many mediums. The gallery offers a tranquil space in the center of Laney College’s campus.
Laney Art students get crafty in new gallery show
March 10, 2025
New CoA President wants to be a role model for students
New CoA President wants to be a role model for students
December 12, 2024
Laney's student body president, Frida Veliz, wants to help connect students to the resources she didn't have access to when she first started college.
New ASLC President Builds Community
December 11, 2024
Cheryl Lew has been an instructor in the Culinary Arts department since 2012 and was tenured in 2015. Her focus is on baking and pastries.
Multi-layered, highly decorated pastry chef Cheryl Lew brings culture and chemistry to Laney’s culinary department
December 11, 2024
Laney Engineering Department Chair Mallory Barkdull tallies points as her students pit their soccer-playing robots against each other. The friendly tournament challenges contestants to learn design and coding skills through play.
Robot soccer teaches students nuts and bolts of engineering
November 26, 2024
The pieces shown in Clay, Paper, Wood are crafted by advanced Laney students across many mediums. The gallery offers a tranquil space in the center of Laney College’s campus.
Laney Art students get crafty in new gallery show
March 10, 2025
Native American photographer Dugan Aguilar spent decades documenting the lives of Indigenous Californians through his camera lens. His collection of work is on display now at the Oakland Museum of Califoria. (Shown: “Mimi Mullen (Madiu) Grand Marshall,” 1997 Greenville Gold Digger Days Parade)
This Indigenous art exhibition is free for Laney students
January 27, 2025
A seven-year relationship ends in a tumultuous fight in Jeffrey Lo's "A Kind of Sad Love Story," performed live at the Laney Theater last month. Shown: Maya Wooten, Jesse Savoey
‘It started with an argument about bags’: Laney Theater performs A Kind of Sad Love Story
December 8, 2024
Merritt Librarian reimagines 'alebrijes' sculptor’s life in new picture book
Merritt Librarian reimagines ‘alebrijes’ sculptor’s life in new picture book
May 30, 2024
College of Alameda jazz professor Glen Pearson demonstrates his musical talent on his classroom piano. He's one of the newest members of the Count Basie Orchestra, a historic 18-piece jazz ensemble that took home a Grammy this year.
The humble Grammy-winning pianist leading CoA’s music program
March 4, 2024
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
September 25, 2024
Staff Writer Desmond Meagley stands in the very spot where a security guard confronted him last month: the doorway of the men’s restroom in the Laney College Library. Meagley, who is transgender, tried to report the incident, but reached a dead end when an administrator told him he would need the security guard’s name.
The Catch-22 in AP 3435, Peralta’s Harassment Protocol
May 20, 2024
Social Media Editor Isabelly Sabô stands in front of the door to The Citizen's newsroom. Sabô is an international student from Brazil.
We’re not just ‘rich kids on vacation’: The journey of an international student
May 5, 2024
(Photo: Glen Carrie/Unsplash)
Student elections open today. Has voter information been ‘widespread’?
April 9, 2024
The state flag of California flies underneath the American flag on the west side of the Laney College campus. Behind, the Tribune Tower, which once housed Oakland's daily print newspaper, sits in the city skyline. Both California and the United States have open government laws that establish the public's right to information, but the Peralta Community College District consistently lags behind in comprehensively fulfilling requests for public information made by student journalists at The Citizen. (Photo: Li Khan/The Citizen)
We sued our district over public records and won. Here’s what we learned
February 22, 2024
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
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
The Citizen Investigates: International Travel
The Citizen Investigates: International Travel
July 25, 2024
Sunshine Week 2024: Spotlighting public records
Sunshine Week 2024: Spotlighting public records
March 17, 2024
The UC Berkeley chapter of End Overdose at Sproul Plaza in Berkeley on Jan. 23, 2024. The organization passes out free fentanyl test strips to students, and gives other organizations training on Narcan usage. (Photo: Juliana Yamada/CalMatters)
Narcan at California colleges: Are students getting overdose medication?
March 8, 2024
Peralta Community College District's only student-run publication.

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

The Citizen
Ehren Tool throws a cup during a demonstration at Laney College Ceramics studio on May 8. Tools renowned work cannot be bought, only give. Photo by Alice Robinson.

Gulf War veteran depicts the horrors of conflict 

UC Berkeley ceramics mechanician molds cups into visceral anti-war message
Alice Robinson, Staff Writer • May 16, 2019

Ehren Tool, a ceramics mechanician and self-described “kiln bitch” at UC Berkeley, came to the Laney College ceramics lab May 8 to talk about his personal odyssey. Joining the marines led him to serve...

Sarah Backes-Diaz facilitates counseling career mapping with a rainbow metaphor in Laney’s Survey of Mass Media Class.

Overwhelmed but planning for the future 

Laney counselors focus on student graduation goals
Sydney Toth, Staff Writer • May 16, 2019

What’s your major? What school are you transferring to? What are your goals post-graduation? Questions like these torment college students. For many students, college is a whirlwind. It’s easy...

Manuel Delgado, one of the TWLF leaders, and other march through Sather Gate at UC Berkeley in an event that led to the creation of Ethnic Studies. Photo courtesy of UC Berkeley ethnics studies library.

Community defends UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies 

Bay Area residents organize to protect and improve the longstanding program
Geremy Lowe, Staff Writer • May 14, 2019

The demands of the 1969 Third World Liberation Front Strike at the University of California, Berkeley, raised emotions and sparked intense conversation on April 24–27 of this year. Commemorating the...

Tower Staff Writer Isis Piccillo

Got $$$? We got the college

 Admissions scandal: a new outrage but old news
Isis Piccillo, Staff Writer • April 9, 2019

The overwhelming response I’ve observed from the recent college admissions scandal is that many are appalled, but few are surprised. Of course rich people are bribing and cheating the system. This...

Forum seeks ways to make Laney a safer place

admin • September 29, 2018

By Saskia Hatvany A discussion about campus safety prompted many Peralta staff members, faculty and student government to gather in the Laney Forum on Sept. 19. Of the four Peralta campuses, Laney’s...

Get your club on

admin • September 29, 2018

By Michelle Snider Club Rush convened with an array of clubs tabling on the Laney quad Sept. 18, inviting students to broaden their knowledge, rapport, skills and interests. ASLC President Dag Sabhat,...

A’s donate $100,000 for scholarships

admin • September 29, 2018

Baseball team’s largesse will assist Peralta students’ educational goals By Eva Hannan The Oakland A’s presented the Peralta Colleges Foundation (PCF) with annual funding for new scholarships...

Campus still under construction

admin • September 8, 2018

By Michelle Snider Construction blockades of yellow tape and chain link fences greeted students and faculty alike as the fall semester opened. The construction began in the first week of summer and...

Why students should care about the assault on labor

admin • March 29, 2018

by Jennifer Shanoski Right-wing groups have taken swings at organized labor for decades, promoting anti-worker narratives and limiting workplace protections through legislation and lawsuits. And now,...

Field Report: Health

admin • February 8, 2018

Two major Bay Area community college newspapers — City College of San Francisco’s The Guardsman, and the Peralta Colleges’ Laney Tower — have joined together to compare and contrast different...

Field Reports: HARTS

admin • February 8, 2018

Two major Bay Area community college newspapers — City College of San Francisco’s The Guardsman, and the Peralta Colleges’ Laney Tower — have joined together to compare and contrast different...

NO STADIUM AT LANEY

admin • February 8, 2018

A COMMUNITY DECIDES ITS FUTURE The Peralta Community College District is out of the game. At an emergency closed-session meeting Dec. 5, the Peralta Board of Trustees announced it had instructed Peralta...

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