CSUN On Point

The Pew Research Center says approximately one-quarter of all veterans say its difficult to transition from military life to civilian life, and nearly half the veterans who served after the September 11 attacks say their adjustment has been difficult.

About 700 veterans attend CSUN. CSUN Veterans Affairs Coordinators Vanessa Ochoa and Noe Aguirre said there are plenty of veterans resources on campus. “We process applications, transcripts, do the evaluations, and they [veterans] make the decisions,” Aguirre said. “We’ve also been given the flexibility. If we need to make any exceptions [for admissions], we’ll go ahead and do that.”

Aguirre said one of the difficulties in providing services to help, is that many veterans and active duty military are so used to following orders that sometimes it is difficult for them to “accept their own decisions.” She described it as a form of brainwashing, caused by years in the service.

Dr. Abram Milton served in the United States Marine Corps for 23 years before retiring in 2016. He’s now a clinical psychologist at CSUN’s University Counseling Center.

“The transition services [personnel] they had back then weren’t as familiar with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as they are now,” Milton said. “A lot of the time, what we see in individuals is that they may have a traumatic experience that could be combat related, or even [from something like] a traffic accident,” Milton said. “When you are coming out of combat areas, there are [now] psychologists or many health professionals who help with PTSD.”

Veteran  and CSUN student Kevin Ogletree said he joined the military to follow a family tradition. Both his parents also served. Ogletree was in the U.S Army and the U.S Marine Corps for a total of seven years. He said his transition to civilian life was difficult. He didn’t have a good enough support system, and he had to drop out of his first attempt at college life. “It wasn’t until years later, now I have matured in life experiences, and I was able to come back to school in a better state of mind.”

Robert Graves, of Disabled American Veterans Department of California, said those who have spent years in the military don’t always know what life is like after the military. “When you leave the military itself, you leave behind your network of knowledge” Graves said. “When veterans with disabilities come out of the military, they don’t know how that will affect their placement in jobs, how they study in college, or how to reintegrate with their friends or their families.”

He said transitioning is a never-ending process.

Moderators: Leslie Estrada and Emmanuelle Yang

Producer: Mareo Ahmir Lawson

Anchor: Matt Roth

Reporters: Rudy Aguado, Leslie Estrada, Mareo Ahmir Lawson, Matt Roth and Emmanuelle Yang

The eSports industry is arguably one of the fastest-growing entertainment industries in the past few years. With competitive video-games drawing larger audiences all the time, eSports is today filling arenas and boosting bottom lines for both marketers and game publishers.

The popular game League of Legends attracted more viewers than the 2018 Super Bowl, an estimated 100 million. The Super Bowl, with  98 million viewers last year, had its smallest viewership since 2008.

With the dramatic rise in eSports, investors are now jumping in, a clear indication of potential growth in the sport. eSports now has a lot in common with traditional sports: highly skilled players and intense competition, and huge amounts of money generated through sponsorships and endorsements. eSports revenues were expected top one billion dollars in 2019, with viewership growing all the time.

“The sense of community is one of the biggest factors in eSports gaming,” said Erin Alonzo, president of CSUN’s eSports Club, “and there are a lot of people that go out to the college events or professional games.”

The ease of participating in the sport via streaming apps like Twitch is one factor ensuring the rise and growth of the eSports industry which also opened the doors to some of the first sports betting games.

“Streaming has made [growth] a lot more possible,” YouTube gaming show host Demothy Tien said, “because it brought [gaming] to the screens of the audience who were not able to make it out to all these events before … With streaming, it made it more accessible,  just like people who watch ordinary sports.”

Street Fight is one of the most popular games. “Streaming has been effective,” Tien said, “because it is easy to go online, type in the name of the game [like Street Fight], and get the chance to watch people playing live at a very high level.”

Tien, whose YouTube show is called “Hey! We’re Playin'”, said people enjoy watching for the competition among expert players, as well as the entertainment content of the games.

But the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified video-games as a health risk, and potentially addictive, officially adding internet gaming to its International Classification of Diseases.

“There are a lot of misconceptions around the decision by WHO to put video-games in the category,” Tien said. “It is not quite like all the people who like playing video-games have video-game disorder, but it is about those who are actually being affected by it, in terms of creating negative effects in their lives.”

Still, the eSports industry has the potential to grow and get to the level of professional sports, despite some negative stigma towards gamers.  Tien and Alonzo said the industry and players need to address the problems, such as the addiction and health issues, player burnouts, toxicity among the different genres, and the discrimination against women in the game.

With the dramatic rise of eSports, the industry is proving viable as an investment, but the huge growth has also opened the video gaming competitive community to the scrutiny of the world. “It is getting big,” Tien said, “and it is going in the direction that other sports have gone, becoming massive, and an even bigger industry in sports to consider.”

Moderator: Ryder Mcconville

Producer: Zach Ferber

Anchor: Yarazeth Tapia

Social Media Editor: Karen Ruiz

Reporters: Ali Bash, Zach Ferber, Ryder Mcconville, Karen Ruiz, Carol Santamaria and Yarazeth Tapia

As the 2020 presidential election draws closer, the political climate is heating up. Impeachment proceedings continue to dominate the news cycle, and a crowded field of Democratic candidates is jockeying for position in the fight to win the nomination to take on Donald Trump, setting up a contentious election season.

With American politics divided along partisan lines, as evidenced by the last two presidential elections, the future is unclear. It could, however, be influenced significantly by the growing number of young voters, many of whom will be voting for the first time in 2020.

CSUN Political Science Department chair Dr. David Leitch said that a growing “generational split,” especially in the Republican party, could change the political narrative.

“In this election in particular, actually I do believe that young voters are unusually important,” Leitch said. “I think that we’re in a cycle now where we’re starting to see real changes in what the party labels mean, and what it means to be either liberal or conservative.”

Grassroots activists are working to register and educate young voters ahead of the election.

“I’m seeing young voters who are preferring not to choose a party,” said Michelle Fowle, activist and founder of The Resistance – Northridge, Indivisible. “They don’t want to be associated with a party, but they want to make their voice heard.”

Fowle said she spends much of her time speaking to potential voters and encouraging them to become politically active. These personal interactions are critical, especially for the youth.

“My sense is that young people right now are struggling to find opportunities for that face-to-face interaction,” Leitch said. “So many interactions are mediated – mediated by a screen of some type, mediated by text of some type.”

Young people may be frustrated by the obstacles to political engagement, but they also have “an awareness of the pervasive importance of politics,” Leitch said. “I think that there is a tremendous amount of potential energy that is looking for a route, and I’m hopeful that it finds [it].”

In Los Angeles, officials are introducing changes for next year’s election that aim to modernize the voting system and increase access for potential voters. A new ballot system, Voting Solutions for All People, will replace punch cards, and polling centers will now be open for a full 11 days before the election. Even on Election Day, citizens will be able to register to vote.

Although Leitch said he has concerns about cybersecurity threats, he said that increasing access is fundamental to a successful democracy. “Americans who believe in democracy ought to be in favor of maximizing access,” Leitch said.

Officials hope these changes will have a positive impact on citizen engagement in the next election. If young voters turn out like they did for Obama, Leitch said, they could swing the election.

Fowle said she would continue working to engage citizens, ahead of what could be a pivotal moment in American politics.

“[The] future is literally at stake,” Fowle said. “It really is crucial.”

Moderator: Tamie Benitez

Producer: Vivian Rayos

Anchor: Joe Willeford

Social Media Editor: Damian Gordon

Reporters: Jenny Almanza, Tamie Benitez, Damian Gordon, Vivian Rayos and Joe Willeford

Every City Council District in Los Angeles is supposed to find a place for bridge housing, and every district has, except for ONE, and that’s the Northwest Valley. Bridge housing is paid for by $1.2 billion in funding from Proposition HHH, approved by Los Angeles voters in November 2016.  Since then, homelessness in the Northwest Valley has increased. Housing in the city has become very expensive, which most experts agree is a main cause of the increase in homelessness. According to Los Angeles Mission, 53,195 people in the Los Angeles County are experiencing homelessness. Three out of four are unsheltered. Over the last year, 9,322 people experienced homelessness for the first time. 

“It’s an issue that affects families, senior citizens, anybody from the spectrum of our society,”  San Fernando Valley homeless advocate Thomas Booth said. Booth said homeless people are often thought to be dangerous and alarming, but in fact, any one in any community can end up living on the streets.

“There is often a misconception,” said Ken Craft, CEO of Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission. “Everyone assumes that the homeless are either drug addicts, mentally ill, or that they are lazy, and they don’t want to work.”

Craft said his experience has allowed him to understand more fully why so many people end up homeless. Craft said the homeless are often people who are going through a hard time in their life, because of financial setbacks, health difficulties, or problems in their domestic situation, and those difficulties cause them to lose a stable home. But, Craft said, living on the streets, even for just a few days, can lead to exhaustion, despair and fear, then to mental illness, and sometimes to drug addiction. That makes it difficult to be open to receiving the care necessary to get back to a stable situation. It’s a good thing that there are drug addiction clinics that can help us during our journey.

It’s not always drug addiction and mental illness that lead to homelessness, Craft said. “We have discovered that some people fall into homelessness, and being homeless can be an onset to mental illness.”

Craft and Booth said they believe that housing is a necessary first step to help get people out of the streets, and into a safe and stable environment. “If we can get people into housing,” Craft said, “it will help with barriers leading to mental illness.” 

Different kinds of housing programs exist to help: affordable housing and supportive housing. Affordable housing is for people who need assistance with more than just housing. Supportive housing helps only with housing, by giving subsidies to those who need assistance.

But when a proposal to put affordable housing in the Northwest Valley reached the community, some parents said they were upset about “homeless” people living in residential neighborhoods, and they said they feared for their children. “There is no known statistics that signify in increase in crime rate [in areas with supportive housing],” Booth said.

Now developers of the proposal to build bridge housing in the Northwest Valley must continue to try to convince residents and voters to accept their plan.

Moderator: Rudy Aguado

Producer: Emmanuelle Yang

Anchor: Matt Roth

Social Media Editor: Leslie Estrada

Reporters: Rudy Aguado, Leslie Estrada, Mario Ahmir Lawson, Matt Roth and Emmanuelle Yang

Many public institutions such as CSUN continue to be open campus environments, which has raised the question of whether the students and staff are protected enough against threats to their security. California is home to 23 CSU campuses, all of which are open to the public, making these schools potentially more vulnerable to campus safety issues.

New CSUN Chief of Police Gregory Murphy said he is considering the idea of implementing cameras around campus to make it easier to prevent crime.

“I’m looking at bolstering the number of cameras on our campus and in public places, so that we have better eyes on the campus,” Murphy said. “I’m looking at video analytics, to be able to identify anomalies…so that we can be alerted to things…[and can] intervene if something takes place….[Video] also lends itself to the investigative phase, because it provides us with evidence.”

In December 2018, hate-filled messages and threats were found in bathroom stalls on campus; they concerned students, faculty and administration enough that the campus was closed.  In September of this year, more hate-filled messages were discovered, again in a classroom building bathroom. University President Dianne F. Harrison sent a letter reassuring the community that it was safe, and that an investigation was ongoing.

The instances of hate-filled messages on college campuses has greatly increased over the past few months. “This morning, I was in conversation with a forensic psychologist who focuses on campuses around California and the nation, and he further supported the assertion that there is a rise [of these incidents] on college campuses,” Murphy said.

But Murphy said the possibility of being able to arrest the individuals who are writing these messages is very rare. “These investigations are often long lasting,” he said, “because the ability and potential to get suspected individuals, who decide to go into a restroom understanding they are operating in secrecy [is low]….Absent of someone confessing to doing the activity, [the chances of catching them are] very remote.”

Murphy said the intent of these messages is uncertain, however, they should be taken as seriously as possible, in order to prevent further consequences.

Some CSUN students said they fear students are not being notified about many crimes, such as sexual assaults, that take place on campus. But all colleges and universities are required under the Clery Act to keep records of campus crime, and notify the community.

“The heart of the issue is, quite frankly, what is the right thing to do? We want to inform the community with the information that best allows them or provides them the ability to care for their safety,” Murphy said. “Understanding that there is an environment in which, if these actions are ongoing, certainly there is an obligation to let people know that.”

Other members of the CSUN community said they don’t necessarily feel fully prepared to deal with incidents in their educational environment, and are concerned about not knowing what to do if there is an active shooter.

“We have implemented a training program,” Murphy said. “It’s referred to as ASSERT, and it’s Active Shooter Survival Escape and Reaction Training. It’s consistent with run, hide, and fight, but what I really put emphasis on is the fight portion. Quite frankly, [it’s designed] to empower folk to have the will to survive.”

As authorities make their best efforts to implement higher security around campuses, the fact that many universities are open to the public may remain a disadvantage.

“A public state university is a part of the community,” Murphy said. “It is an extension of the community; it’s integrated into the community; and in that sense, there isn’t necessarily an outside to the campus. So that does create a greater challenge to safety and security, because your measures to establish a boundary around the campus are just not there.”

Anchor: Carol Santamaria

Moderator: Yarazeth Tapia

Producer: Zach Ferber

Social Media Editor: Ryder Mcconville

Reporters: Ali Bash, Zach Ferber, Ryder Mcconville, Karen Ruiz, Carol Santamaria and Yarazeth Tapia

Like much of Los Angeles, the neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley are changing. In cities like Reseda, once-vibrant commercial districts lie dormant. But residents and city officials are working together to revitalize the city streets and promote a sense of community.

The Reseda Artwalk, held on Sept. 22 on Sherman Way in Reseda, drew thousands for the fourth consecutive year. Local artists, vendors, and performers lined the street, which was shut down for the event. By showcasing the diverse creative community living in the area, the event’s organizers hope to create a sense of pride among residents.

“Historically there’s a stigma to the valley, and it’s not a cool place to be,” said Addy Gonzalez-Renteria, co-founder and co-director of 11:11 A Creative Collective, the nonprofit arts organization behind the event. “We wanted to beautify and revitalize our neighborhood through the arts.”

The event is part of Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s Reseda Rising initiative, which aims to revitalize consumer interest and community pride in the Reseda area.

“Part of what [Blumenfield] is doing with the initiative is drawing the consumer focus and the resident focus back to that area, to let them know that there are fun, safe, interesting things to do here, that you want to come do,” said Tricia Robbins, Economic Development Director for Blumenfield’s office.

As rent continues to rise throughout the Los Angeles area, the idea of gentrification is often debated. Central to this issue is displacement, when people who can no longer afford to live in a gentrified area are forced to move.

“I think we all want to live in a safe, clean, nice-looking place, and I think gentrification can offer that,” Gonzalez-Renteria said, “but I think displacement is the one issue that we need to look at very closely,”

Professor Robert Kent, Chair of CSUN’s Urban Studies and Planning Department, said that he doesn’t see gentrification as much of an issue in the San Fernando Valley yet, but it could be in the future. Blumenfield’s Reseda Rising initiative, if successful, could bring a new set of challenges down the road.

“If they’re very successful in creating a sense of place down along Reseda, in ten or fifteen years we may be looking at some kind of gentrification,” Kent said. There are things a city can do to avoid the pitfalls of gentrification, however. “You try to mitigate the negative aspects through positive social programs,” he said.

Some residents are wary of change, especially when spurred by local government.

“We want to see the community improve, but we do not want gentrification forced upon us by the city,” said Garrett Frank, a local activist.

By working alongside city officials, Gonzalez-Renteria said she hopes to change this narrative, focusing on “the intersection between urban development and cultural development.”

“I think adding this level of consciousness into development is really important,” Gonzalez-Renteria said.

Reseda may be changing, but local elected officials said they hope that, by maintaining focus on the community, the process will be beneficial for current and prospective residents alike.

“I think that we, as a Council office, are trying our best to generate positive change and bring everyone along with us, so that it doesn’t push folks out,” Robbins said.

Anchor: Jenny Almanza

Moderator: Vivian Rayos

Producer: Tamie Benitez

Social Media Editor: Damian Gordon

Reporters: Jenny Almanza, Tamie Benitez, Damian Gordon, Vivian Rayos and Joe Willeford

The Aliso Canyon gas blowout in 2015 is the largest natural gas leak in American history. Hundreds of Porter Ranch residents living a few miles away were affected by the blowout — mentally, physically, financially and politically.

“I am still worried about this situation,” CSUN Sustainability Institute’s Professor Loraine Lundquist said. “It’s still affecting residents in my neighborhood. It’s still leaking; it’s still causing all kinds of problems, and it’s still a risk when it comes to earthquakes, and it’s a fire hazard. We are still working to get the facility shut down.”

The chemicals released by the blowout have caused many health problems for the residents, and research on the long-term impact is still being conducted. “The biggest problems in terms of the people’s health is not the methane,” said Lundquist. “It’s all the other stuff that was released with the methane, because the methane is stored in depleted oil wells, and it has other chemicals that are included in it.”

SoCal Gas didn’t tell Porter Ranch residents exactly what chemicals were being leaked, Lundquist said. “SoCal Gas is actually not required to release information to the community, so we don’t actually know what all chemicals are stored in there, but we do know there are toxic, volatile, organic chemicals that occur in oil.”

Nearly four years after the gas blowout the residents of Porter Ranch remain concerned. Certain chemicals in oils can cause cancer.

“There are five teachers at Castle Bay Elementary School that we know had no cancer history in their families,” Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council member Cheri Derohanian said, “and five out of 34 teachers got cancer. One of them passed away.”

Derohanian said she recently moved to Granada Hills to get away from the gas leak, and because her children wanted to attend Granada Hills High School. She said her former neighbors have health issues anytime there is a gas leak.

When the gas leak first happened, in October 2015, many Porter Ranch residents left the area temporarily.

“We did not know what was going on,” Derohanian said,  “and my children were running the mile [track and field event] that same week in school. The school didn’t know [what was going on], and nobody else knew either. It was ridiculous that the gas company did not have a way to tell the residents.”

Some residents decided to relocate permanently, because they felt too sick to live near the gas field. Hundreds filed lawsuits, including some Los Angeles County firefighters who helped the residents evacuate their homes. “Out of 30,000 Porter Ranch residents, at least 10,000 have filed a lawsuit,” Derohanian said.

Many environmental activists are following the lawsuits. The Sunrise Movement’s Becca Lieb and Save Porter Ranch Co-Founder Matt Pakucko both said shutting down SoCal Gas facilities is the way to prevent another blowout from happening.

“The facility wasn’t really needed in the timespan of when the blowout happened,” said Lieb. “Some solutions would be to shut it down and to fully embrace the transition to clean and renewable energy… I hope that after the facility is shut down, people who are living in that community feel the difference in their air, and are able to enjoy the beautiful environment of the Valley.”

Pakucko said many other SoCal Gas facilities around Los Angeles “are in worse shape [than Aliso Canyon. The green energy solution is not just going to be for [the benefit of] the North Valley. It’s for everybody.”

“Shut down all these facilities,” Pakucko said, ” because the same chemicals are coming out of all SoCal Gas facilities…the chemicals are making people sick.”

Anchor: Leslie Estrada

Moderator: Matt Roth

Producer: Emmanuelle Yang

Social Media Editor: Leslie Estrada

Reporters: Rudy Aguado, Leslie Estrada, Mareo Ahmir Lawson, Matt Roth and Emmanuelle Yang

Moderator: Demothy Tien

Producer: Kimberly Lopez Chavez

Anchor: Alan Cardoza

Social Media Editor: Zaira Garcia

Reporters: Kenia Arevalo, Monica Campos, Alan Cardoza, Lauren Cienfuegos, Zaira Garcia, Kimberly Lopez Chavez and Demothy Tien

In September of 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill to reduce ocean waste by regulating the use of plastic straws in the state. The Assembly Bill 1884 limits restaurants to giving out single-use straws only upon requests from customers. It applies to full-service dining establishments, but exempts fast-food restaurants.

“Single-use plastic takes a lot of resources to make,” CSUN Sustainability Program Analyst Sarah Johnson said. “It never really goes away; it stays in the environment for hundreds and thousands of years.”

California is the first state in the nation to restrict the use of plastic straws in restaurants. Several cities in California, including Malibu and San Francisco, have gone a step further, by passing outright bans on the use of plastic straws, as well as other single-use items, including plastic utensils.

“’Bring your own’ [or] ‘BYO’ is the motto more than anything,” Habits of Waste Founder Sheila Morovati said. “It’s important to think ahead. If you need to pick up some food, bringing your own to-go containers will make a huge difference.”

There is a global effort to reduce the use of plastic, which experts say makes up as much as 80 percent of all marine debris. The California Coastal Commission recorded roughly 835,425 plastic straws and stirrers picked up during organized beach cleanups.

The CSUN campus has been honored for its sustainability efforts. “The Sustainability Plan on campus has really expanded CSUN’s efforts for sustainability,” CSUN Energy & Sustainability Coordinator Nikhil Schneider said. “It has been instrumental in driving sustainability research, and student educational and service learning opportunities.”

“We still sell bottled water on campus, but it has been a culture shift,” Johnson said. “It is very common now to see students carrying reusable water bottles. Every year we have a new audience of 6,000 to 10,000 students to educate and inspire.”

Moderator: Claudia Flores

Producer: Alexis Carfagno

Anchor: Sofia Gutierrez

Social Media Editor: Scott Geirman

Reporters: Alexis Carfagno, Joy Edomwonji, Claudia Flores, Scott Geirman, Sofia Gutierrez, Melissa Rodriguez and Melina Rudigkeit

Starting a business has never been an easy task. In this day and age, it can be argued that it is becoming increasingly difficult. However, this new generation of business owners has found a way to benefit from social media, by using it to build brand awareness much more easily. Regardless, succeeding with a small business is still a tall task, requiring more than just brand awareness in this new age of entrepreneurship.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says about 20 percent of small businesses fail within their first year. By the end of the fifth year, roughly 50 percent of small businesses have failed. After 10 years, only about one in three is still around.

For those who are able to make it past the first year, it’s not the easiest thing to get off to a running start.

“It’s not like Field of Dreams, [where] if you build it, they’re just gonna show up,” Opulen Studios owner Christiana Lucratif said. “It’s marketing, and trying to get everybody to spread the word. One of the biggest things was just being willing to take the risk, and just dive in.”

In this new era, the use of social media has become one of the biggest tools for entrepreneurs as they try to find new customers and partners, and then keep them. A 2017 survey of marketers showed that 66 percent of internet users between the ages of 18 and 24 are more loyal to the brands they follow on social media.

“We’re scrolling on Instagram, or whatever it may be,” Scarlet’s Addiction founder Sadee Mondino said.  “I know I have to use it all day because of what I do for a living. That’s how I find most of the brands I want to work with. That’s how I find people I want to work with.”

However, an online presence can’t be the end all be for these aspiring entrepreneurs.

“If Instagram were to shut down, [you’d have to ask], ‘can you still stay in business and how are you exporting those followers and those customers to your actual CRM (Customer Relationship Management)’,” said Lucratif. “That’s why I do a lot of the marketing directly through my own text messages and emails, versus just social media. And then people that I do find on social media, [I work on]  gathering their contact information, and putting them into my database.”

Moderator: Monica Campos

Producer: Lauren Cienfuegos

Anchor: Kenia Arevalo

Social Media Editor: Zaira Garcia

Reporters: Kenia Arevalo, Monica Campos, Alan Cardoza,  Lauren Cienfuegos, Zaira Garcia, Kimberly Lopez Chavez and Demothy Tien