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

The Citizen
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Merritt College updates its online resources for undocumented students after The Citizen finds outdated information from 2022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
SEIU 1021 members carry protest signs decrying planned layoffs among Peralta employees. The district recently announced its intent to cut 68 positions across several departments, 44 of which are currently filled.
Proposed layoffs condemned during public comment at 2/11 Peralta trustee meeting
February 20, 2025
(Photo by Li Khan/The Citizen)
PCCD to hold hearing on proposed layoffs
February 10, 2025
Faculty, classified employees, and administrators convened Friday to share ideas for how to repair the district's financial crisis in the long term. The district needs to make at least $11.5 million in cuts next year, but officials say a significant "reimagining" of the district is necessary to sustain the district in the long run.
PCCD is in crisis. Everything is on the table
February 1, 2025
An audience in academic regalia watches a graduation ceremony. One graduation cap reads, "All that I am & hope to be, I owe to those who believed in me[.]" (Photo: Marcus Creel/PCCD)
Gilkerson quells Pell grant fears during federal freeze: “This executive order does NOT impact your financial aid”
January 29, 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
A new space for LGBTQ+ students has popped up on the Laney College campus. The Queer Community center will host events and offer resources to LGBTQ+ members of the Peralta community.
‘We’re here, we’re in school, we have dreams’: New Laney queer center offers safe haven for LGBTQ+ students
November 20, 2024
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
In Director Chelsea Bo's first feature-length film, half-sisters Harper (left, Chelsea Bo) and Georgie (right, Ava Acres), thrown together by circumstance and a weak blood relation, must untie the knots in their relationship. The film won "Jury Prize Feature" at the Alameda International Film Festival last week. (Courtesy: Paxeros)
No Right Way, Chelsea Bo’s hard-hitting emotional rollercoaster about the complexities of sisterhood, shown at Alameda International Film Festival
February 29, 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 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
(Photo: Glen Carrie/Unsplash)
Student elections open today. Has voter information been ‘widespread’?
April 8, 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
Marc Rowland lives in a maroon-colored van in the Laney College parking lot. A student at Merritt college, Rowland is taking sociology and psychology classes. He also takes a weight-training course at Laney. In 2008, Rowland lost his job of 17 years as a stationary engineer with Siemens.

Disparities in food and housing run high 

Thirty percent of Peralta Students homelessness, according to survey
Michelle Snider, Co-Editor • April 9, 2019

In a time when wealthy parents can spend huge sums to get their unqualified children into universities, community college students are struggling for the basic means to survive. Thirty percent of Peralta...

Advocates respond to massive Oakland Homeless camp shut down

admin • February 15, 2019

Article and Photos by Lucky Thomas/Laney Tower Staff Writer The scene at E.12th homeless camp on early Thursday morning, Feb. 7, as Oakland city workers start the long process of clearing...

Oakland homeless encampment scores victory in court

admin • December 21, 2018

The Village residents force City to halt plan to evict them, remove structures by Robert Hinton A tiny home sits in The Village, a homeless encampment in North Oakland, behind a sign advocating for...

Laney hosts homelessness teach-in

admin • November 9, 2018

Students, faculty, and citizens show support for the Oakland’s dispossessed Michelle Snider, Editor-in-Chief Nino Parker, Peter Brown, Roger Porter and Evetta Williams speak to the crowd at the...

Oakland vs advocates for homeless

admin • November 9, 2018

Long-standing battle highlighted by dispute between victim and city official Robert Hinton, Laney Tower Staff Writer Joe DeVries (left) and Nino Parker (far right) square off at Lake Merritt estuary...

Housing unsure, but students keep studying

admin • November 8, 2018

Geremy Lowe, Staff Writer Profile: Prentiss Mayo (Political Science Major), photo by Geremy LowePrentiss Mayo is a political science major at Laney who has suffered the grueling reality of homelessness...

“Mommy, what’s a Tuff Shed?”

admin • November 8, 2018

Peter Brown is a Laney sculpture student and retired instructor. Here he is speaking at the Poor People’s Campaign Teach-in held at the Laney Student Center on Oct. 31.by Peter Brown With over...

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...

Counting the Uncounted

admin • February 16, 2017

By Brian Howey Broken glass scrapes underfoot, glinting in the muddy lamppost light as David Hernandez walks toward a cluster of tumble-down tents huddled under a MacArthur Freeway overpass. It...

The Homelessness issue

admin • February 18, 2016

Bay Area’s BOSS battles widespread displacement Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) was founded in 1971 in Berkeley to help deal with the people forced into the streets by the closing...

Resource fair for homeless promises food, shelter, more

admin • February 18, 2016

The Bay Area is no stranger to homelessness. Many people suffering and in need of services have a hard time getting help to improve their situations. To help remedy the situation a Resource Fair will...

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