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Merritt College updates its online resources for undocumented students after The Citizen finds outdated information from 2022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
Tea with Tamara: Mark Rauzon, biogeographer and Laney Instructor

Tea with Tamara: Mark Rauzon, biogeographer and Laney Instructor

Tamara Copes, Columnist • December 11, 2023
Biogeographer Mark Rauzon, armed with a cup of tea, sits down with me to chat from his home in Oakland, CA.
District Academic Senate president Matthew Goldstein addressed the board with concerns about Peralta's participatory governance processes. (Source: Screenshot of Zoom meeting)

First reading of proposed budget raises serious concerns among ‘major stakeholders’ and trustees

PCCD Trustees set to vote on budget tonight
Lylah Schmedel-Permanna and Ivan Saravia • September 26, 2023

Tonight, trustees at the Peralta Community College District (PCCD) will vote on the district’s 2023-24 budget, which does not have the support of the district’s Participatory Governance Council, the...

From The Ground Up inside of the Berkeley City College Atrium. (Photo by Emily Tenorio Molina/The Citizen)

BCC Art instructor Juana Alicia honored by the San Francisco Art Commission

Emily Tenorio Molina, Staff Writer • September 21, 2023

Berkeley City College Art instructor and Bay Area muralist Juana Alicia Araiza was celebrated for her decades-long contribution to the arts by the San Francisco Art Commission (SFAC) “Dreaming in Color”'...

Joya Chavarin is committed to growing BCC’s Teacher Preparation Program

Joya Chavarin is committed to growing BCC’s Teacher Preparation Program

Tamara Copes, Staff Writer • July 11, 2023

Through holding a multitude of positions in Education, leading socially focused community organizations, and raising a family, Joya Chavarin will bring over 25 years of moxie to Berkeley City College’s...

Laney Professor Eleni Gastis Recognized for Achievement in Journalism Education

Laney Professor Eleni Gastis Recognized for Achievement in Journalism Education

Timothy Lane, Staff Writer • March 9, 2023

Eleni Economides Gastis, Chair of Laney College’s Journalism Department, has been awarded the James Madison Freedom of Information Beverly Kees Educator Award by the Society of Professional Journalists...

Return to campus begins smoothly, despite omicron concerns and rumors of sickout

Return to campus begins smoothly, despite omicron concerns and rumors of sickout

Luke Wrin Piper, Consulting Editor • January 27, 2022

With the Omicron surge still in full effect and daily new cases in Alameda County being reported in the tens of thousands for the first time ever, a movement within the Peralta Community College District...

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The Lavender Project hosts first event since pandemic began

Ulysses Smith, Staff Writer • November 2, 2021

Elves, horses, lions, and lavender. The LGBTQ+ oriented support group, The Lavender Project, came together for a Halloween themed costume brunch. The coalition of LGBTQ+ faculty, administrators, staff...

A view of Laney College. (Gabe Johnson/The Citizen)

Fraudulent students and their bots plague Peralta College District 

Laney and Merritt in Oakland are among the California colleges being impacted by scammers trying to steal financial aid. Such cases have increased during the pandemic.
Pamela Rudd, Editor • September 17, 2021

The shift from in-person to remote learning has led to an invasion of bots and “phantom students” who are taking advantage of Peralta Community College District’s enrollment system to fraudulently...

A Bridge in the Hills

A Bridge in the Hills

Isela Santana and the Merritt Community
Gabe Johnson, Staff Writer • April 22, 2021

Image by (Leticia Luna/The Citizen) It takes a committed educator to ensure that community college students develop the tools needed to recognize their potential and reach their higher education...

Peralta district agrees to restore FAS listserv by May 31 

Peralta district agrees to restore FAS listserv by May 31 

Settlement with Peralta Federation of Teachers reverses controversial decision by previous Chancellor
David Rowe, Associate Editor • March 22, 2021

Jennifer Shanoski, President of the Peralta Federation of Teachers (PFT), sent an email to the Peralta faculty on March 19 advising them that a settlement has been reached with the Peralta district...

A glimmer of hope for part-time faculty

admin • November 29, 2016

Governor Jerry Brown signed two bills into law Sept. 30 that will bring a measure of job security to part-time faculty at California’s community colleges. The bills are AB 1690, carried by former...

Part-time faculty feel full-time pain

admin • May 19, 2016

Peralta adjunct faculty endure concerns over job security One in four community college professors receives some form of public assistance such as food stamps or Medicaid, according to a recent study...

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