Peralta Community College District's Only Student-Run Publication
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.
Beloved coach and Netflix star voiced concerns about campus safety a day before being shot
November 14, 2025
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
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
November 13, 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
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
November 12, 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
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
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
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”
October 6, 2025
Left to right: Gavin Piedra, Arctomy Padilla, and Mariah Pon, organizers of the Student Arts Guild, prepare for a Club Rush event.
Submissions now open for Berkeley City College student-run art show
October 21, 2025
Alexandra Tejeda Rieloff performs with her band at Etcetera Wine Bar in San Francisco, CA., on April 15, 2025.
Alumnus reflects on decades-long performing career: “it really started in Laney College”
September 26, 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
September 24, 2025
Berkeley City College Multimedia Arts student Yunha Kim created the new owl mascot in collaboration with Marcus Creel, the district's graphic design specialist. (Owl and banner design via Yunha Kim and Marcus Creel. Used with permission.)
Berkeley City College arts student helps new mascot take flight
April 16, 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
Graphic made in Canva
Dial Tones and Disengagement: A student election marked by silence
October 16, 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
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
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 19, 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
A CoA counselor was told to cancel an unvetted “class” – then promoted a nearly identical one
A CoA counselor was told to cancel an unvetted “class” – then promoted a nearly identical one
October 29, 2025
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
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
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 13, 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 8, 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 28, 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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