NEWS

NEWS BRIEFS

Spring Break:

Campus will be closed April 11 through the 17th in observance of spring break.

Mental health workshops:

Feeling burnt out with balancing your school and work schedule?

Student Health and Psychological Services of RCC will be hosting a virtual seminar discussing with students the importance of managing work and school life in a healthy manner Monday April. 4.

Job Fair:

Looking for career guidance or want to make connections with future employers?

The Career Center, Academic Support Department and others will be connecting with students’ career goals by hosting a virtual info-session seminar Tuesday April. 5.

Postponed: Guest speaker Dolores Huerta

United Farm Workers Association(UFWA) President and Co-founder Dolores Huerta was set to be the guest speaker in celebration of Cesar Chavez Day hosted virtually March 20 by the Association of Latinx for Student Success at Riverside City College.

Huerta, who co-founded the UFWA alongside Chavez, was unable to speak due to technical difficulties. RCC’s Associate Professor of Sociology, Eduardo Perez, announced at the brief zoom meeting that the event will be postponed for a later date.

Students can still visit the Salvatore G. Rotella library at RCC to visit the display of books and resources about the labor movement and Chavez’s work curated by the librarians.

All of these dates are subjected to change due to possible regulations to come involving the containment of the coronavirus.

To stay up to date on upcoming campus events, visit the Viewpoints calendar listed at viewpointsonline.org.

If you have events happening on campus that you want featured on the calendar, send information about the event to viewpoints.news@gmail.com

Editor: Jennipher Vasquez | viewpoints.news@gmail.com

Pollinator population plummets

Farmers for Monarchs educates local farmers

SAMANTHA ASHLEY STAFF REPORTER

Pollinators, animals that aid in plant reproduction in ecosystems, are dying at unsustainable rates worldwide due to habitat loss, environmental changes and diseases.

Locals and farms across Riverside County, however, are adapting to help endangered native pollinators.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, scientists estimate that one out of every three bites of food we eat exists because of animal pollinators such as bees, butterfies, moths, birds, bats and beetles.

Among the top global pollinators, butterfies, honey bees and bats are the most effective and at-risk pollinators.

“Estimates indicate that almost 90% of wildflower plants and 75% of food crops around the world depend on pollination for successful seed and fruit production,” according to the National Park Service. “Pollinators are vital to our food security, economy, and overall environmental health.”

So what is the current state of pollinators?

Fewer than 2,000 monarch butterflies are left as of the year 2020. The Center for Biological Diversity, a non-proft organization, states this number is far below the extinction threshold and must be drastically increased soon to begin saving the species.

The honey bee population is declining at a rate of 40% each year since 2018, according to Cornell University.

The United States Geological Survey notes that diseases, particularly White Nose Syndrome, has killed 90% of native bat populations in North America.

The continued urbanization of cities, like Riverside, dwindles the number of native plants that produce nectar and pollen for pollinators. According to the USDA habitat loss, disease, parasites and environmental contaminants have contributed to the declining numbers of pollinators.

Local farms in Riverside County have started to adapt and incorporate ways to help native pollinators.

Liberty Naud, a member of Sunsets and Citrus at Narwhal Family Farm in Riverside, has attracted pollinators by planting milkweed, lavender and vibrant roses meant for pollinators across 1.5 acres of land.

According to Naud, hundreds of monarch butterfies visited the Narwhal farm last season but says she has yet to see a decline in pollinators and mentions that the location and abundance of plants and fowers are likely the cause of this.

She recommends catering to pollinators and being pesticide, herbicide and fungicide free and to be conscious when interacting and providing for pollinators.

“Just let nature be nature,” Naud said.

Jillian Bottini, a geologist major at Cal State San Bernardino, believes humans should plant fowers for pollinators and also recommends being conscious of our personal impact on nature.

As a former RCC student, Bottini believes the college is making an effort to be more ecological and environmentally friendly but has concerns about the declining number of pollinators and worries about how this will affect the planet.

“We need bees not just for flowers but for us to survive,” Bottini said.

Mariela Buenrostro, a member of Raul & Family Farm, also in Riverside, sees a noticeable decline in pollinators over the years.

Buenrostro mentions that although they do not have plants dedicated for pollinators, planting them would be advantageous to all.

“If we were a bigger farm we would have a plot for pollinators that would obviously beneft us,” she said.

Farming organizations like Farmers for Monarchs devote time to working with and educating farmers on how to grow more sustainably. Farmers for Monarchs encourages planting of milkweed — the lifeline for the monarch butterfy.

The loss of native plants such as milkweed and nectar producing fowers has brought the population of the monarch butterfly to the brink of extinction.

The milkweed plant is the only plant on which the monarch will lay eggs, hatch and consume until forming a chrysalis to become a butterfly. Without this plant, the most vital frst stages of this pollinator lifecycle cannot be enacted.

To aid the strife that pollinators now face worldwide, locals and farmers in Riverside County are willing to make changes and adapt better ways to farm, plant and interact with the environment to assist native pollinators.

JENNIPHER VASQUEZ | VIEWPOINTS A yellow Canadian tiger swallowtail butterfy feeding in a bush of fowers.

STEPHEN DAY | VIEWPOINTS Left: A bee searches for pollen among fowering plants. Bees rely on pollen as their primary source of protein and in return spread pollen that attaches to their bodies from one fower to another.

Bottom: A butterfy fits between fowers searching for nectar to drink.

STEPHEN DAY | VIEWPOINTS

From court to courthouse, questions abound

TITLE IX from page 1

women’s basketball team’s hours.

“When it comes to the weight room itself, I don’t handle the scheduling,” he said. “But I tried to make sure that people who would have better connections to (scheduling) or would know how to get better connections to that were aware of the situation.”

Access to the weight room is class-driven and is determined through the kinesiology department, according to Williams.

Steve Sigloch, RCC’s kinesiology chair, declined to comment on Berber or her team due to an unspecified ongoing litigation.

The women’s basketball team alleged it experienced another form of inequality at the RCC men’s basketball playoff game against Copper Mountain March 3.

The game was held in RCC’s gymnasium, but Berber and her players had to pay admission to see their counterparts in the same building where they practice and have games.

The incident did not sit well with the team, and the players turned to social media to voice their displeasure, according to Berber.

There was an error in communication between the state policy for playoff games for those who have unique passes, according to Williams.

According to the California Community College Athletic Association’s (CCCAA) 20212022 Constitution and Bylaws, coaches who have up-to-date memberships with the association are honored with complimentary passes for playoff games. Williams claims the issue was resolved and assured it “won’t happen again.”

“The mere fact of asking them to pay when they’re already in the gym, (and) sending them to the door to pay is enough to make me want to throw up,” Berber said. “I don’t care if it was a mistake. I’m tired of the mistakes. Enough is enough.”

RCC President Gregory Anderson and others are in communication with Berber and her team regarding issues surrounding inequality.

“It is the commitment of the entire college leadership and the district leadership to use resources in such a way they are addressing concerns as they arise,” Anderson said. “We’ll spend money or put people in place — we’ll do what it takes to make sure that we are upholding the mission of the college to deliver.”

FeRita Carter, vice president of Student Services and Academic Affairs, says an offcial Title IX complaint has not been fled or made known to the college.

Lorraine Jones, RCC’s Title IX coordinator, has not responded to requests for comment on the situation.

The president and others plan to meet with the women’s basketball team in the near future to continue listening and addressing further concerns.