Monique Arambula
Staff Writer
During the school semesters, a new film is screened as part of the University of La Verne’s weekly Film Series. This week’s screening, held in collaboration with the Pomona College Program in Environmental Analysis, took place at 7 p.m. on Friday in the Arts and Communications Building at the University of La Verne, with an audience of 12 people.
The night’s film, “S.O.S. – The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power’s Legacy,” stirred up deep conversation about environmental harm caused by nuclear power plants.
“The reaction to the idea of how dangerous nuclear energy is as a concept is very warranted,” Matthew Marquez, freshman psychology major, said. “But I also think this is like capitalism 101… to assume that the United States and capitalism are not above sacrificing the many for the needs of the few is utterly foolish, and that’s obviously what California Edison has continued to do.”
The documentary-style film focused on the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant, a facility in Southern California that faced a major radiation leak in 2012. The film detailed the aftermath, including how residents around the plant faced high cancer rates, while the Southern California Edison company delayed response and accountability.
The event made audience members question not only the safety of nuclear energy, but the systems that allow dangerous operations continue to go unchecked.
“It was astounding to me to hear there had been problems with other nuclear plants, not just San Onofre, and that Edison just covered it up,” freshman accounting major Emily Ulrich said.
“I thought there should have been more investigation into those issues and even more into Edison because they’ve covered up other incidents similar to that,” Ulrich said.
The room was quiet during the screening and many stated that it was cold in the room. Only two students showed up, while the rest of the audience were professors or older adults.
After the film ended, discussion lasted for another hour, first opening up questions and responses to the students and then to the guests afterwards.
“Joanna and I have written on the history of this plant,” Heather Williams, professor of politics at Pomona College, said. “We actually started thinking about this problem when we were joining supervisors on a field trip for students who went to San Onofre.”
The film also emphasized the lack of planning when it comes to nuclear waste, especially since the San Onofre plant has been shut down. The big question is: where does the waste go?
The documentary also captured the unfortunate events that happened in Fukushima as a reminder that nuclear radiation should not be taken lightly.
Jay Jones, professor emeritus of biology and biochemistry at the University, has been the one choosing the films in the series.
“The films I choose are mostly environmental,” Jones said. “A lot of them are about mental health and wellness, sometimes political and stuff like that. I’ve shown some on education, ADHD, and the issues involved in that.”
Friday’s film ran for an hour and a half, with the discussion lasting another hour, so the event didn’t wrap up until around 9:30 p.m. While the turnout was small, good conversation still arose. It seemed to cause healthy debate and educated questions all around.
The next screening in the series will take place April 25 and will show the documentary film “Mission Joy.”
Monique Arambula can be found at monique.arambula@laverne.edu.
Monique Arambula is a staff writer for the Campus Times. She is also a freshman communications major with a concentration in public relations and a minor in film production.
