Category: Education

By Amita Sharma / KPBS / April 22, 2025

With head-spinning speed, President Donald Trump has targeted and reoriented key areas of American society through a barrage of executive orders and other administrative actions in his first three months in office.

Trump denied during his presidential campaign last summer any connection to the Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy agenda Project 2025 and ridiculed some of its proposals. But now, many of his early directives echo or are outright lifted from the 900-plus page plan.

In fact, Project 2025’s director Paul Dans recently told Politico the president and Elon Musk’s moves to shut down programs that combat climate change, encourage diversity, equity and inclusion and eliminate the deep state through mass federal worker firings are “actually way beyond my wildest dreams.”

By Kate Callen

Community college students running an underfunded newspaper in Chula Vista have just taught the nation a lesson about the power of diversity.

The Southwestern Sun of Southwestern Community College has won the Gold Crown award from the Columbia University Scholastic Press Association for being the top collegiate newspaper in North America.

The Sun’s multi-cultural staff are student reporters from working-class and immigrant families. They surpassed peers who attend prestigious universities and grew up in privileged surroundings.

If you badly need a ray of hope in a dark time when journalism and equity are under siege, this might do the trick.

Sun reporters have had plenty of reason to give up. For many, English is a second language. They juggle full courseloads with jobs of 25 hours a week or more to support themselves and their families.

But they are unyielding. “These students do journalism the right way for the right reason,” said Max Branscomb, professor of journalism at Southwestern and a decades-long Sun adviser.

In her State of the County speech last week, San Diego County Supervisor and acting chair Terra Lawson-Remer took on the Trump administration and all his cut-backs to local programs that benefit a lot of vulnerable residents.

She declared:

“Right now, the federal government is slashing programs we rely on for health care, housing, clean air and water, public safety and disease prevention. Every decision Washington makes impacts our ability to serve you.”

Yet her solution was to propose a new tax ballot measure that could raise $1 Billion a year. The San Diego U-T reported:

Lawson-Remer said she will propose a local tax ballot measure to offset federal cuts and boost services.

“We can raise the money ourselves, right here at home,” she added, “not by waiting, or begging for D.C. to do its job, but by taking the wheel of our own destiny and steering our own San Diego County ship through this storm.”

This funding, she said, would help the county adhere to an ambitious plan, introduced last month, to double behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment slots from 16,000 to 32,000 by 2030. …

Lawson-Remer had floated the idea of a ballot measure in February but pulled the discussion from the board’s agenda.

A supervisor-led tax increase would require the support of two-thirds of county voters, but there are ways to structure a ballot measure so as to require only a majority vote, she said.

In her address, Lawson-Remer said such a measure could generate $1 billion a year.

What? What was she thinking? Was she here when city voters rejected Mayor Gloria’s tax measure last year? (And Gloria has been punishing San Diegans ever since with high trash fees, increased fees for parks and facilities, higher parking rates and now cut-backs to police, libraries and rec centers and the arts.)

This is NOT the answer, Terra! It’s absolutely DOA – dead on arrival.

By Roberto Camacho / Times of San Diego / April 7, 2025

A controversy about an op-ed in The San Diego Union-Tribune by a student at UC San Diego in the wake of violent responses to pro-Palestinian protests has stirred a conversation about free speech, its limits, and who has a right to speak — and about what.

For decades, universities have held themselves out as boundary-pushers at the forefront of societal metamorphosis and have served as conservatories for challenging ideas and conversations.

However, some ideas appear to be more palatable than others.

When “Mia,” a 21-year-old anthropology major at UCSD and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace, was invited to contribute an op-ed to the Union-Tribune to share the perspectives of Jewish students in support of Palestinians, she was elated.

However, a few days later Mia’s op-ed was removed from the U-T’s website without explanation, sparking a local outcry from educators, activists, and community members.

KPBS / April 7, 2025

At least five UC San Diego students had their F-1 visas “suddenly” revoked by the federal government, and a sixth student was allegedly detained at the border, denied entry and deported, Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said over the weekend.

Khosla said the university received the notification “without warning,” and that the federal government has not explained the reasons behind the terminations. The students have been notified and the school is working directly with them to provide support, he said.

By Amen Etefa / The Point – Pt Loma Nazarene University / March 26, 2025

Point Loma Nazarene University’s Civil Rights Pilgrimage is a part of the SOC 3035 class field trip to the South. This year, alongside a group of 25 students, staff and faculty, we traveled to Selma, AL, Birmingham, AL and Atlanta, GA. The trip, which lasted from March 6-12, was one of the most transformative experiences of my life. Though it was only a week long, I have never learned so much history or felt such a whirlwind of emotions in such a short time. From heartache to hope, every step of this journey stirred something in me that I will carry forever.

Our first few days were spent in Selma, where we visited several museums and historic homes. One of the most powerful stops was the Legacy Museum, which displayed the harsh realities of American history – from slavery to mass incarceration. Walking through the exhibits, I couldn’t help but cry. The sound of crashing waves, symbolizing the millions of lives lost at sea filled the room. The voices of enslaved people singing spirituals, pleading for deliverance, echoed in my ears. It was haunting. This museum didn’t just teach history – it made me feel it. It shook me to my core.

by Lynne Miller

Love dogs, or don’t, tolerate dogs or don’t?  ‘Dog Love’ ranges from strongly dislike, through tolerate, to love dogs more than people. You know where you mark your territory on this doggy scale.

I love dogs, some more than people.  Having lived in OB my entire life I have watched dogs run free, unleashed, in the 40s and 50s, to today’s walks on tight leashes based on new laws.  Still, Ocean Beach is dog-friendly partly because  of local activism. Dogs and their humans have Dog Beach, a Dog Park, and not far away, Fiesta Island Dog Park. There are also many schoolyards that allow responsible owners to bring their dogs to play on the dirt and grass.

Things are about to change again.  Every time the city gets involved in our lives you can almost guarantee new restrictions are being seeded–new laws that, if disobeyed, will place you in the doghouse!

Here is the latest bite into your dog’s freedom, and yours. 

By Kristen Taketa / The San Diego Union-Tribune / March 16, 2025

San Diego college faculty and students say they fear the Trump administration’s plans to investigate UC San Diego and other universities, and its attempts elsewhere to deport student activists and assert control over academic programs, mark the start of a broader erosion of civil and human rights.

Last weekend, federal agents detained and tried to deport a Columbia University student for his role organizing pro-Palestinian protests. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Education said it was investigating 60 universities for alleged antisemitism amid such protests. And on Thursday, the Trump administration threatened to withhold all future funding from Columbia unless it cedes control of its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department to the government, on top of other demands, and  intensified an ongoing effort to deport student protesters.

To many academics, students and free-speech advocates in San Diego and beyond, more than individual free speech is at stake. They say such moves by President Donald Trump and his administration represent an attack on everyone’s academic freedom and First Amendment rights.

With the library’s expansion project moving forward, here’s a look back at its evolution, beginning in 1916

By Eric DuVall / Pt Loma-OB Weekly SDU-T / March 18, 2025

On a weekday afternoon last fall — it might have been a Wednesday in November — five San Diego city officials visited the venerable little library in Ocean Beach. What the heck was up with that, you might be wondering? I’ll tell you.

The folks from downtown were met by a group of locals including library staff, several Friends of the OB Library and representatives of the Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, Woman’s Club, Community Foundation, Community Development Corp. and Historical Society. We all sat in a circle around the rug in the children’s section on those little chairs to hear a heartwarming rendition of “Go Dog Go!”

OK, I made up that last part, but it was almost that exciting.

The good news was being revealed to the Ocean Beach community that the OB Library expansion project was finally being fully funded. The long-languishing project is a go, and if that isn’t a good excuse for a crazy dog party, I don’t know what is.

by Tessa Balc / Times of San Diego / March 10, 2025

Students across the Grossmont Union High School District are organizing a district-wide walkout in the wake of the school board’s decision to cut teacher-librarians and other staffing positions, such as school counselors.

Immediately following the 4-1 decision to cut staff at the Feb. 27 special meeting, the Instagram account @studentsforstaff.guhsd, which has now amassed just under 1,000 followers, made its first post calling for a peaceful protest on March 11.

Maggie Kelly, a senior at Grossmont High School, is behind the account. Kelly is also one of two seniors elected to sit in on board meetings and provide reports this year.

She said the initial idea was to hold a walk-out at Grossmont High School, but she decided to make it district-wide. On the account, she said, she put out a call for student leaders at each high school to help organize the event on their campuses.

By Rene Kaprielian

The fast-moving brush fire that swept through the canyon off Montezuma Road near San Diego State University on Oct. 31 reminds us how fast disaster can strike. It wasn’t just the fire, which came within 10 feet of homes on the canyon rim, but the chaos and hours-long traffic jams of residents trying to evacuate the area. If that fire had gotten further out of control and jumped to adjacent neighborhoods, people could have been trapped in their homes and cars and possibly died.

After this harrowing incident and the Los Angeles fires, it’s unconscionable that SDSU is planning to build 13-story towers on a cul-de-sac at the northwest corner of campus on a peninsula surrounded by canyons. In SDSU’s Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the “Evolve” project, the land is classified as a “Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone.” Besides being in a severe fire zone, this massive project is out of scale for the area.

SDSU wants to demolish 13 buildings, most of which are two-story apartment buildings that house 702 students, and replace them with five 13-story and one nine-story tower that will house 5,170 students.  A recently built apartment complex adjacent to this proposed project and an existing dorm together house another 1,000 students.

To put it in perspective, SDSU’s proposal would put more than one and a half times the population of the city of Del Mar in a two-block area surrounded by canyons, with only one way in and out on a two-lane residential street.

New Menu Cycle Begins February 10!

From SD Unified School District / Feb. 6, 2025

Spring has Sprung at Sandi Coast Cafe! New Menu Drops February 10

To welcome the upcoming season, Sandi Coast Cafe has unveiled a new lineup of new, revamped and favorite items. All meals align with USDA nutrition guidelines and offer great taste with nutrition designed to fuel students’ bodies and minds.