Javier Zazueta
The 120 “Missing Students” that stood in Swisher Park at Pierce could not move or speak, but their message of awareness regarding class cutbacks and fee hikes was seen and heard.
Having made their voyage from Sacramento safely, the Nov. 10 exhibit, dubbed “political art,” had been postponed for two weeks from its original date due to rain.
The life-size statues, representing a reported 175,000 students denied access to California community colleges due to increasing tuition and a decreasing number of classes offered, were fashioned out of fiberglass. Each was painted, adorned or cut up by students from 70 college campuses across the state.
As Pierce faculty and students gathered among the Missing Students at noon, Joe Meyer, political science instructor and master of ceremonies for the event, explained how they had found their way to Pierce.
Art student Kia Hermann, one of the four students responsible for the “Missing Student” produced at Pierce, spoke about the Pierce statue as well as the necessity to solve the problem of impending budget cuts.
“This poor student is looking for completion,” said Hermann of the bisected statue she had helped to make that has chain link fencing covering its facade.
Presumably, the solution is education.
Constance Kocs, art instructor and advisor on the Pierce art piece, spoke about California government and the need for a solution.
“These hollow shells, which are representative of the students who are no more, were delivered to the students who are still here. Our students have created both nuanced and political statements for us. Our students are the voice of reason,” Kocs said.
After the speeches, Meyer took to the microphone again with a closing statement.
“We can have an impact,” he said.
Refreshments and pizza followed, sponsored by the Political Activities Club, and the crowd continued to meander among the statues with their newfound knowledge.
Jose Aguilar, 19, said of the exhibit, “The tuition is going up and up, and next semester I might have to take fewer classes. It really makes you think.”
Arya Bakshandeh, a student, said, “I imagine these statues as real people, and it’s sad. But if tuition continues to go up, it doesn’t affect me.”
The other speakers were Joy McCaslin, vice president of Student Services; Carl Friedlander, president of the Los Angeles Community College Federation of Teachers; Adam Wills, ASO senator; Phil Asgedom, president of the Political Activities Club; and Mathew Nordstrom, an ASO senator who urged the crowd to “take action.”
The project originated with Kin Kwok of Laney College.? With help from City College of San Francisco, she sculpted two life-like figures of a man and woman to represent students missing from California community colleges because of a 60 percent fee hike. Those initial sculptures received much attention, and Kwok, along with other students, replicated 125 of them.
The statues have been on display in the California Capitol as well as at Union Square in San Francisco. The “Missing Students” left Nov. 11 for their next destination in Glendale.