CSUN On Point

Music is considered to be the universal language. People listen to music for many different reasons, but it makes an impact on most. Musicians have taken that influence into consideration, and many now use their music as a form of activism.

“It is a really powerful way to get that message across,” said Rudy Vasquez, CSUN alumnus and trumpet player for Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles. “….[We have the ability to] to inform people, because they are not only being informed, they feel what you feel.”

Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles is likely the very first openly LGTBQ mariachi in history. Its members are trying to use their music to break barriers in the music world. The group provides a safe haven for mariachi musicians identifying with the LGTBQ community who want to perform traditional Mexican regional music.

Traditionally mariachis are male dominated and considered to have a machismo identity, with male chauvinistic tendencies. Therefore a mariachi is not a place where someone of the LGTBQ community would feel comfortable or free be themselves.

“We needed a place where we were free from bullying, being made fun of, being talked about behind our backs, and [suffering] discrimination,” said Carlos Samaniego, director of Mariachi Arcoiris, “different type of things that all of us, unfortunately, have suffered.”

“The group also has members who are straight and considered allies,” Vasquez said. “It’s great to see they could play comfortably with us, and know that about us and they are not going to feel that their masculinity is being threatened or anything. It’s like helping out or being a part of any other mariachi. They go in there and play with no reservations.”

Females have been a part of the mariachi world since 1903, when the first documented female mariachi musician, Rosa Quirino, played in a mariachi band, but to some it is still uncommon to think of female mariachis. The first all-female group was the Las Adelitas formed in 1948, which was directed by a male. Today only about thirty all-female mariachi perform in the United States.

Mariachi Arcoiris welcomes women, and is proud to have the first transgender female in mariachi history, Natalia Melendez, as their violinist.

“There were a lot of obstacles I had to go through to be comfortable,” Melendez said. “I never was expecting to be in a leadership role to the world, and I’ve been blessed with that; I’ve been given this kind of responsibility through everything that I’ve done.”

In 2015, gay marriage became legal throughout the United States, demonstrating that times are changing for the LGTBQ community.

“Your generation is more flexible, adaptable and open, and not as concerned about rigid boundaries about sexuality and gender,” CSUN Communication Studies Professor Kathryn Sorrells said. “I think those kind of [musical] performances are shifting [perceptions] for people in ways that I think are really helpful. Not everywhere, not all the time, but certain spaces are more open.”

Despite these advances ,the LGTBQ community is uncertain of its future under the Trump administration, and continues to experience discrimination such as harassment, misgendered pronouns, other forms of hate speech, and exclusion from basic public accommodations and many other areas in society.

But with artists and groups such as Mariachi Arcoiris de Los Angeles, who use music as a tool to advocate for a change, many say there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

“Music and protest are going to continue to come together in really powerful and creative ways in the next decade,” Sorrells said.

Moderator: Julie Nesbitt

Producers: Amber Partida and Abril Preciado

Anchor: Shelby Charlene

Social Media Editors: Malcolm Finney and Curtis Poindexter

Reporters: Yesenia Burgara, Shelby Charlene, Malcolm Finney, Julie Nesbitt, Amber Partida, Curtis Poindexter and Abril Preciado

While many consider climate change to be the most important issue of our time, not everyone agrees. Although former President Obama took an active role on the international scene to attempt to curb climate change when he signed last year’s Paris Agreement, President Trump’s actions during his first 40 days in office may signal a shift in U.S. policy, both domestically and abroad. And, according to a Gallup poll taken during last year’s elections, climate change failed to rank as a top issue among Democrat and Republican-leaning voters.

Despite this, California has implemented its own plan to combat climate change. The Associated Students at California State University, Northridge have as well. A new campus Sustainability Center is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in May 2017. With the opening of the center, CSUN could be considered a leader in sustainability efforts.

“It’s going to be the most innovative building on our campus, as well as in the CSU at this point,” said CSUN Director of Sustainability and Energy Austin Eriksson. “It’ll be the first building with composting toilets. It has the first grey water system on campus, so water that’s used in sinks will be used outside of the building for irrigation.”

The center will house CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability. Here, students will be able to find studies on sustainability, informational flyers, and even volunteer opportunities. The A.S. Recycling Center will also be located at the new Sustainability Center.

“It was recognized that there’s a lot of different groups on campus, and we all have the same goals to promote sustainability on campus and educate our students,” said Darien Siguenza,  Chair of the Associated Students Committee on Sustainability. “I think it’s going to be really awesome to have everyone under the same roof; and just to be able to have that collaboration and that same space, I think is going to be very beneficial for the future.”

With the new Sustainability Center, Associated Students and CSUN’s Institute for Sustainability hope to expand upon their current educational efforts and resources. However, while they recognize the importance of their recycling programs on campus, and acknowledge they can be improved with better signage, they want others to know this is only a small part of what should be done. They say other things like waste prevention and energy efficiency are more important. The manner in which the Sustainability Center will be powered reflects this belief. Since it will generate all of the energy it will use, it will be a net-zero energy building.

The campus community as a whole has welcomed and supported sustainability efforts at CSUN. Professor Loraine Lundquist, a physics and mathematics lecturer at the CSUN Institute for Sustainability, said this support is in stark contrast to the lack of support among the nation’s current political leaders.

“Over 12,000 papers have been published on the topic, and 97 percent of those papers agree with the consensus that first of all, our globe is getting warmer, and second of all, that we are the ones causing it,” she said. “But that is not the perception in the country right now, and that really does change our politics. There’s a lot of politicians that themselves have that skepticism, and it’s made it very hard to implement solutions, because a lot of the most important solutions are policy solutions.”

Moderator: Rosa Rodriguez

Producer: Arianna Takis

Anchor: Adam Hajost

Social Media Editors: Luzita Pineda and Lexi Wilson

Reporters: Jose Duran, Adam Hajost, Luzita Pineda, Rosa Rodriguez, Arianna Takis and Lexi Wilson

Following one of the most divisive political campaigns in modern American history, President Elect Donald Trump now faces scrutiny and resilience among segments of the population who opposed him from the start. Throughout the campaign, Trump targeted undocumented Latino immigrants, women, Muslims, and people with disabilities, and he now prepares to be president for the various groups of people he attacked.

“A lot of us are very confused and very scared about what’s going on,” said Dreamer and CSUN student Chris Farias.

“Because of Trump’s dangerous rhetoric, people feel they can say things that normally they would have been more in check about,” said CSUN Asian American Studies professor and EOP Faculty Mentor Coordinator Glenn Omatsu.

“Before I didn’t know about DACA [when I was growing up], I didn’t think I was going to go to school,” Farias said. “In the community that I’m from, you’re kind of taught you’re not going to make it… [DACA]… was my way out. I didn’t want to be different I wanted to be included.”

President Obama’s administration established the American immigration policy known as Deferred  Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, in 2012. It gives certain undocumented immigrants eligibility for a work permit and a renewal for a two-year period of deferred action from deportation.

The DREAM Act is a legislative proposal giving undocumented immigrants the opportunity to achieve legal status in the United States through academics or the military. Both of these programs have been fundamental in establishing the rights of thousands of undocumented immigrants.

“What we have to do is use inspiration from students themselves who are fighting,” Omatsu said. “In 1942, [when] Ralph Lazo was a high school student at Belmont high school, his Japanese-American friends were sent to concentration camps. He, as a Mexican American, felt it was wrong, but as … a high school student, he didn’t have enough power [to change policy], but what he did was on his own: he registered himself to be of Japanese ancestry, so he could go to the camps with his friends, because he felt it was an injustice. I think actions like that need to be encouraged in our society.”

California politicians are already laying the groundwork for combatting policies against immigration reform, environment protection, and workers’ rights being floated about Trump and his administration. California is home to a lot of undocumented immigrants, and many young immigrants are now worried about their status as students in the United States. Students who are protected by DACA and the DREAM Act have raised concerns about what could happen to their student status because of Trump’s proposal to combat all forms of immigration. On top of that, some students who may be protected by DACA and the DREAM Act are fearing the ramifications of Trump’s proposals on family members and friends, who aren’t protected by any of these legislations.

“This is our time to show the media and Trump that we are together, and we’ll fight for what we deserve,” Farias said. “It’s a bummer to be seen as a criminal, who doesn’t want to go to school, who isn’t intelligent, but we are and we really need to stick together.”

With pending questions and concerns surrounding president-elect Trump and his immigration policies and their effect on DACA, the DREAM Act, and non-protected immigrants alike, students are looking for ways they can defend these policies that have protected them from being deported.

Anchor: Alicia Dieguez

Moderator: Nick Torres

Producer: Susana Guzman

Social Media Editor: Jaclyn Wawee

Reporters:  Alicia Dieguez, Thomas Gallegos, Ebony Hardiman, Ke-Alani Sarmiento, Jaclyn Wawee

Moderator – Scott Sanders

Anchor – Gabrielle Ortega

Producer – Danielle Pendleton

Social Media Editors – Sophie Ashley and Alexandra Chidbachian

Reporters – Sophie Ashley, Alexandra Chidbachian, Gabrielle Ortega, Danielle Pendleton, Scott Sanders and Joshua Spidel

Millions of Muslims around the world have had their religious faith put on trial because of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, and Brussels. Some political analysts and American Muslims fear that the battle for the Republican nomination has prompted controversial rhetoric against their religion, including proposals to register Muslims already living in America, order police to patrol their neighborhoods and mosques, and ban any further immigration.

Islamic leaders and imams in several countries say they are not responsible for terrorist organizations, and that terrorists should be recognized as separate from their religious beliefs.

Muslim Public Affairs Council President Salam al-Marayati, said in a news conference in Los Angeles following the San Bernardino attacks, that the Muslim society will not be divided by ignorant hate.

“In the media landscape, one of the only times there is an opportunity for the Muslim voices to be heard is in the aftermath of a terrorist attack,” said Edina Lekovic, Public Affairs Consultant at the Muslim Public Affairs Council. “It sets up one of the few opportunities for there to be a mainstream Muslim voice, but it’s still in the context of bad news.”

Muslim organizations in America say they have seen unprecedented spikes in hateful episodes after anti-Muslim remarks were said by some presidential hopefuls. There have been many cases of vandalism and threats made towards mosques and those who attend them.

“People are going to have fundamentally, deep and profound disagreements about the highest things, and unless they get a sort of grip over themselves (and) learn to contain themselves, (then) these disagreements will find themselves in violence and political violence,”  CSUN Political Science Professor Nicholas Dungey said.

“Look we’re all concerned about safety,” Lekovic said, “and that’s something that I react to, too. It’s not a Muslim thing, a white thing, a black thing, a Latino thing…At this stage in our country, it’s an American thing.”

Moderator: Ala Errebhi

Anchor: Noemi Barajas

Producer: Ala Errebhi

Social Media Editors: Jamie Perez and Caitlin Pieh

Both Democrats and Republicans have had long and well-publicized campaign seasons for this Presidential election, and both of the front-runners have yet to acquire enough delegates to win on the first ballot at the convention.

California will likely be the state that will secure the amount of delegates for the front runners for both of the major political parties. Still, many voters are saying they’re dissatisfied and confused by the long process.

“Political parties are not democratic institutions,” said former mayor of Thousand Oaks and Pierce College Political Science professor Ed Jones. “It gives the impression that they are when you see all these primaries.”

The party rules governing the system have been slowly developed in the course of our country’s history.

“Political parties are not mentioned in the United States Constitution, the only major political element that isn’t,” Jones said.

The nomination process has evolved, from party leaders choosing the candidate they believe has the best chance to win the election, to voters having their voices heard in a primary.

“The process has become more representative,” said Los Angeles Valley College Political Science Professor Anthony O’Regan. “It has become more democratic. It does reflect the will of the people, but it is the will of the people within the political party.”

California’s registration deadline is May 23, giving voters more time, not only to register, but also pick a party affiliation. This should help avoid the problems of voters being disenfranchised because they are not registered or registered improperly, as has happened in other states.

“We won’t have necessarily the issues that they had in New York, because in New York you had to be registered six months prior to the election date in order for you to cast a ballot,” said Los Angeles Democratic Party Vice-Chair Mark Gonzalez.

The California primary election takes place on June 7. California residents can find out how they can register and where to vote on the California Voter Information Guide at http://voterguide.sos.ca.gov.

“Your voice is your vote,” Gonzalez said. “We still have time for folks to register. People are engaged; they’re excited; they’re at rallies and events. And I think it’s important for everybody to just realize: it’s just simply about the vote.”

Moderator: October Primavera

Anchor: Glenna Dixon

Producer: October Primavera

Social Media Editors: Jasmin Dalton and Kiara Draper

Reporters: Harry Abelson, Jasmin Dalton, Kiara Draper, Anna Logan and October Primavera

Common sense would suggest that candidates for powerful elective office be knowledgeable and experienced, but some of this year’s presidential candidates seem to be using their lack of experience in government as a selling point.

The United States is one year away from electing its next president, and the leading candidates — Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump and Ben Carson — are all trying, in one way or another, to sell themselves to voters as ‘outsiders.’

“There are no outsiders really,” Pierce College Political Science Professor Denise Robb said. “We always end up with the person experienced in government. An outsider would be someone with no experience. Trump, for example, is an outsider.”

Trump is a billionaire real estate mogul and TV personality on NBC’s ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’.

Carson, Trump’s closest competitor, is an author, philanthropist and retired neurosurgeon, who became famous for separating conjoined twins.“I am never going to be politically correct since I am not a politician,” he said during an appearance on CNN.

On the Democratic side, Clinton and Sanders have both been spent decades working in government and politics, yet both are trying to adopt this ‘outsider’ label.

Article II, Section I of the Constitution says that in order to run for the office of president, a candidate must be a natural born citizen of the U.S.; he or she must be thirty-five years of age or older, and have at least a fourteen year residency in the country. Even though these basic qualifications to run for office aren’t much, some experts say voters consider more than that.

“American politics is determined by money,” Los Angeles Valley College History Professor Michael Powelson said. “The reason why Trump is leading is because he’s a multimillionaire. With money you can do what you want despite the [lack of an] education.”

Powelson said he thinks that no matter which candidate wins, there will be only one true victor: “Wall Street.”

Still, Powelson said he doesn’t believe these ‘outsider’ candidates have a chance of making it to the national elections.

“Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee, especially now that [Vice-President Joseph] Biden has said he’s not going to run, and Bernie’s numbers are starting to fizzle,” CSUN Political Science Professor Tyler Hughes said.

Moderator: Nick Popham

Anchor: Ashton Smith

Producer: Mirna Duron

Reporter: Anna Akopyan

Social Media Editor: Ericka Sims