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Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, chair of the Assembly Higher Education Committee, said he plans to hold a committee hearing about the proposal “so that we can look at it with more detail.” He said the proposal is worrying some community college leaders because of the uncertain impact it would have on the funding they receive. “This is a big change,” Medina said.

The stakes are high. Our communities continue to be attacked, but there is hope because there are people who care.

California law mandates that high school students take courses such as U.S. History, economics and American government in order to graduate, but Assemblymember Jose Medina (D-Riverside) wants to add one more requirement to the list: ethnic studies.

The historical contributions of minorities are often left out of textbooks. But California Assemblyman Jose Medina (D-Riverside) hopes to change that. 

He has proposed a bill that would make ethnic studies mandatory for high school students. In order to graduate, the students would need to take a class focused on minorities' perspectives. 

California Assemblymember Jose Medina says that he would have introduced his latest bill regardless of who is in the White House, but the fact that Donald Trump is President “adds to the impetus” for doing it now.

The measure, known as AB 2772, would mandate that the roughly 1.7 million high school students throughout the state complete an ethnic studies course in order to graduate, just as they are required to study biology, geography and physical education. If the bill becomes law, the requirement will begin in the 2023-2024 school year.

“Without knowledge of other cultural experiences and the history of those ethnic and cultural groups,” says Medina, a Democrat from the Riverside area who previously worked as a teacher, “I don’t think you can call yourself an educated person.”

The Highlander spoke with Assemblyman Jose Medina this week about a variety of issues pertaining to the Inland Empire and university students in California. Medina, a Democrat, represents the 61st district which covers parts of Riverside, including UCR, and is serving his third term in the California State Legislature, having been elected to this post for the first time in 2012.

“I want to say a word of caution, that as we move forward and we move forward in this legislative year, that we think and think deeply and long before we take action,” Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, said.

George Kieffer, chair of the UC Board of Regents, said the university took Moreno’s report seriously. In addition to policy changes to prevent interference in future audits, he said, the regents released a statement admonishing Napolitano’s actions and required her to apologize. Kieffer added that he did not feel any further discipline was necessary.

Assemblyman Jose Medina remembers not being able to see the bell tower on the UC Riverside campus and, as a teacher, having to keep his students indoors for recess on bad-air days.

Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey remembers getting out of swimming pools choking not from water, but from the thick smog.

Medina, D-Riverside, and Bailey shared their memories at a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, Oct. 27, for a facility dedicated to relegating smog-filled days to the past.

Riverside, CA – City, county, state and federal officials gathered Friday near the UC Riverside campus to break ground for a new $419 million headquarters and testing laboratory for the California Air Resources Board (CARB), a project that is expected to bring as many as 460 high-paying jobs to the area.

The board voted last year to relocate its motor vehicle and engine emissions testing and research facility from El Monte to a 19-acre site at UCR on Iowa Avenue near Martin Luther King Boulevard.