El Camino College students deserve to feel comfortable walking around campus throughout the day. Concerns have been raised among students about petitioners seen since the spring semester started. Signature gatherers use anti-crime, political advocacy, and religious inquiries as incentives for signatures and set up booths near the Schauerman Library, the Bookstore, even El Cappucino and Cafe Camino. Students on campus avoid certain areas on campus because of how invasive the petitioners get when eager for signatures, chasing them down even after declining to sign.

The Union sent reporters out on Thursday, March 12, and Monday, March 16, to ask students for their opinions on the petitioners seen on campus.

Connor O’Brien, 24, political science major

“I don’t mind it. I’m almost a hundred percent certain there’s a form of compensation incentivization on how many signatures they get. Last person I talked to said 75% of the signatures you get paid out for a whole sheet. I think it’s good to have some form of activism, but they are over the top hawking it, which I think creates issues. They don’t actually truly explain what they’re petitioning for, they use buzzwords and posters with Hellfire on it and Jeffrey Epstein.”

Shubhangi Waldiya, 19, computer science major

“I feel like they’re sometimes super invasive, they get in your space and they’re always asking you questions like they’re pushing you. I feel like once I say no, you shouldn’t push further. I feel like they don’t really explain, after that I got suspicious, and I avoided them because they were right outside the Math Business Allied Health Building, and all my classes are in there. They sometimes have tables so they look professional, but I’ve seen people who were walking around and also with tables.”

Kristian Townsend, 20, business management major

“They are definitely annoying to say the least. You’ll just be walking to class and they are automatically on you, especially the Bible study group. I understand you’re just trying to do your job, but don’t be on me like a hawk. I signed two petitions, the first one was because it was my first time being here, so I was like, okay, let me do it to get it out of the way. Some petitioners are going around asking about nonsense, and then others, there’s actually a serious matter and reason behind it.”

India McEwan, 21, studio art major

“I feel that a lot of petitioners tend to get signatures more than actually talking about the issue. I don’t mind being approached when I’m sitting down, but if I’m walking from my class, then it’s hard to have people approach me for a conversation, and then, when people are interrupting me, it becomes an issue. They are usually next to the Cafe [Camino], so I try to avoid that area. Sometimes I go around towards the Bookstore.”

Ava Ganny, biology major

“Okay, so I’ve seen so many different types of petitioners, and it gets to the point where they are almost like harassing you to sign their petitions. I had one that shouted after me, and he said, ‘You’re a woman, so you should be lucky to have the right to use your voice.’ And he kept shouting after me. A lot of the time, I have to take a different route because I don’t want to have to talk with them, or look the other way and be like, ‘Please don’t talk to me, I don’t want to deal with that.'”

Bobby Decatur

“It doesn’t really bother me, I just tell them I’m not registered. It’s like when the Spectrum guy comes up to you and asks what internet you have, and you just tell them Spectrum. Most of the time when I see it, it’s because they are getting paid for it. Yeah, depending on who you are doing it for, if you are doing it for the state its a $11 or $12 per signature- where I live by Target, there are always guys with a stack of four or five [petitions] and he’s like,‘Yeah, I just made 70 bucks off of that.’ I’m like ‘Off of all those signatures?’, and I do the math and i’m like, “Oh come on!'”

Anaiyah Hunter, cosmetology major

“It’s alright, but it kind of gets annoying when different people ask for signatures for the same one, when you tell them you already did it. It’s hard to tell when they are coming.”