Every year for the past few years, Sonoma State students along with thousands of other Sonoma County residents have watched the skies turn dark with smoke. This year likely will be no different. A few weeks ago, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a drought emergency in Mendocino and Sonoma County a San Francisco Chronicle article reported. Residents across the counties are preparing for an early and intense fire season.
Several students have come forward to say they felt forced to disenroll from one of professor Ajay Gehlawat’s classes at Sonoma State University (SSU) because of highly disturbing content they were forced to view during lectures, as well as a lack of compassion and respect from the professor himself.
If there was one item that symbolizes the pandemic, one item that will forever remind everyone of the year that changed everything; it will be the face mask. When wearing a face mask in public first became required by law, many thought the regulations would not last more than six months. Now, over a year later, wearing a mask has become second nature to most and extraordinarily common to see in public places.
The classroom is a place where students are meant to broaden their minds and experience things they never have before. However, under what circumstances should a student be allowed to be exempt from watching a video or attending a lecture? Which topics are deemed too inappropriate for classroom settings?
In recent months, students at Sonoma State University have begun to push back against one professor they believed should have given better warnings about the graphic content of his lectures.
This month, staff members and District Planning Commissioners of Sonoma County met to discuss a new proposal that would change the nature of cannabis business in Sonoma County. A proposal was made to change parts of chapter 26 in the County Code and add a new chapter, 38, to expand the permit opportunities for Cannabis farmers. A General Amendment Plan was also proposed to change the Agricultural Resources Element to officially recognize marijuana as an agricultural crop.
In October of 2020, a STAR reporter visited a homeless camp at the fairgrounds in Santa Rosa. There was a community of tents set up across the grounds, one of which belonged to a woman named Kristine Sullivan. She had a tent set up next to her car with a tarp hanging between them and a dog poked its head out of the rear window of her car while the woman and the reporter talked. “We really need help,” she pleaded, “I’m trying to get my kid back and the fire took everything.” How could this conversation be taking place in the “tenth happiest” city in America?
Netflix’s latest trending movie, starring the internet’s favorite Millie Bobby Brown, and directed by Harry Bradbeer, is wowing viewers across America. Enola Holmes, Sherlock’s teenage sister, is played by the young actress Millie Bobby Brown, who rose to fame after starring in the successful Netflix original series, Stranger Things. “[Brown is] the bright, sustaining spirit of a film that surrounds her with a fine cast and lovely trappings in a pleasantly twisty detective story that’s elevated by the exuberance of Enola’s detecting,” stated Joe Morgenstern from the New York Times.
Famous actor, singer and songwriter Jaden Smith is once again using his fame and platform for good. Smith created his own new eight-episode Snapchat series called “The Solution Committee”, which premiered on Sept. 21, 2020, the day before National Voter Registration Day. You can watch the series on Snapchat’s discovery page every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. In the trailer for the series, Smith said, “Welcome [to] the show where we bring people together to talk about complex issues,” including “why young people don’t vote.”
Ryan Harvey, a Sonoma State University Communications student who graduated in 2020, impresses viewers every year with his submissions to Campus Movie Festival. However, in late June he became the first Sonoma State student to place first in a national competition, winning the National Comedy Award at Terminus, the world’s largest film competition for students, with his film “Citrus Dawn”. Along with the title of best National Comedy, Ryan Harvey’s film was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director.
Every year, the Burning Man Music Festival has been a tourist spot for thousands of people. “Burning Man is not a festival. Burning Man is a community. A temporary city. A global cultural movement based on 10 practical principles.” the Burning Man Project states on their website. Burning Man’s website clearly lays out their mission for all to read, “Burning Man Project’s mission is to produce the annual event known as Burning Man and to guide, nurture and protect the more permanent community created by its culture.
All of Sonoma State has been severely impacted by the coronavirus. From students having to move home to teachers suddenly needing to learn how to move into the digital classroom every department has...
![[Both photos courtesy of sonoma.edu]
Ming-Ting Mike Lee stepped in as the new SSU president following Sakakis resignation in July 2022](https://sonomastatestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/CC4520AB-22A7-41B2-9F6F-2A2D5F76A28C-1200x1200.jpeg)
