Weekly Briefing 9.2.19

Public Safety purchases five new patrol cars

The Public Safety logo, the flashy headlights, the bulky muscle car: in mid-July, Chapman’s Public Safety purchased five new patrol cars to mark the beginning of a new school year. While driving the streets of Old Towne Orange, Public Safety’s new rides have some students intrigued. One thing is for sure: the cars are not hard to miss. With four Dodge Chargers and one Dodge Durango having joined the fleet of Public Safety vehicles, students will see the cars on main campus, Chapman Grand residence halls and the Rinker campus. 

“Driving these cars around for four to five years is equivalent to a student that has driven their car for 10 years,” said Randy Burba, chief of Public Safety. For Public Safety’s previous patrol cars, maintenance was an expensive issue. Each vehicle cost between $3,000 and $4,000 annually to maintain. 

The Dodge Chargers cost approximately $25,000 and the Durangos, $29,000. The purchases came directly from Chapman’s general operating funds. 

“The change is worth the price because with Chapman constantly making improvements to the campus, it is important that the cars we see everyday on campus are just as nice,” said Brian Anderson, a sophomore public relations and advertising major. “Safety is never a waste of time and to know that our Public Safety officers have the latest and greatest makes me feel comfortable when I’m on campus.”

Lisa Sparks: candidate for California’s 45th congressional district

Lisa Sparks is the inaugural dean for the School of Communication, a mother of three, a wife, a professor and now a republican candidate for California’s 45th congressional district. 

“Good people, willing to reach across the table and listen to different approaches and potential solutions should have a role as we rethink who we are and what we need to do to face the challenges ahead,” wrote Sparks in an Aug. 30 email to The Panther. 

Sparks started at Chapman in 2006 and founded the Master of Science graduate program in Health and Strategic Communication. In 2018, she was elected as a trustee for the Orange County Board of Education. Sparks is now running for Congress as she is “not satisfied with the direction this country has taken.” 

“Education is important to me because I truly believe it is the most important component in what we like to call the American dream,” Sparks wrote. “If we want to truly keep the dream alive, education is key.” Other issues that Sparks’ campaign is focused on are the economy, healthcare and homelessness. 

Sparks explained that she feels that members of Congress have become afraid to side with the other party and be labeled as traitors. “This is not who we are,” Sparks wrote. “Intelligent people will change their mind, will soften their positions and will ultimately reach good compromises. 

We need to strive for that kind of behavior and I am committed to doing exactly that.” Sparks hopes her campaign will “embody a renewed sense of civic and civil engagement.” 

“I look forward to a campaign where I can hear what my constituents want, what worries them and I will become the vessel through which those concerns can reach Congress.”

Dodge professor to pitch to Netflix

Kelly Galindo, a professor at the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, produced and directored “26 Seconds,” a feature–documentary about human trafficking. The name of the documentary is inspired by a statistic finding that for every 26 seconds a child is trafficked globally, Galindo said. 

Galindo is editing the feature documentary to pitch to Netflix and will be pitching a series – to focus on one country per episode – to multiple platforms including Netflix, Amazon Prime and iTunes. The pilot is on Amazon Prime and Google Play. The full documentary is expected to be out in 2020. 

“26 Seconds” started as a short documentary about sex tourism in Thailand in 2016, but after learning about Destiny Rescue – a non-profit organization that works to rescue and restore children who have been sexually exploited at work – Galindo knew her project had to be global. 

“It just sickened me how pedophiles get on a plane and can go for a week or two to molest children,” Galindo said. 

About 30 people working on the project with Galindo are Chapman students or alumni. The four cinematographers for the documentary are Chapman graduates Nico Aguilar, Alberto De Coste Calla, Prateek Damodaren and Brodin Plett. 

“It’s alive and present and bigger than we all think, and it’s an issue that many people are interested in,” Galindo said.