GROSSMONT COLLEGE — The Associated Students of Grossmont College (ASGC) are to hold their elections on Monday and Tuesday, April 16th and 17th online and in the main quad as part of an effort to get more students involved in the school.
The candidates are: President: Peg Marcus; Vice President: Esau Cortez, Blake Davidson; Executive Secretary of Student Legislation – Manuel Fernandez, Laila Hamzai; Comptroller: Andrew Schauf-Anderson; Director of Activities – Kimberly Paul; Director of Publicity – William C. Higuera Burgos; and Trustee – Samantha Elliot.
The candidates’ short bios and quick statements can be found on http://www.grossmont.edu/admissions/ASGC2012/Candidates.asp
In video form, you can see the candidates below, thanks to a recording by Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society.
Since only two out of the seven offices are being contested, you might ask why would voting even matter? In an open letter to the Grossmont 2012 body, former ASGC President, Ernest Ewen stated that “Back in the 1960’s, the student body voter turnout was greater than 50%. Today and for the last 4 years the voter turnout has been less than 2%!” So what? You might ask.
Alex Fernandez, running for the office of ESSL, says that students should vote on Monday and Tuesday because “… should have a good representation to find solutions to problems, not just to whine about them, but to solve them.” Blake Davidson stated that he thinks voting is important “…to make sure students are represented in the best way possible.”
The students running are the ones who are going to represent us in local, state and country wide decisions regarding community colleges. According to Ewen, “for a number of years there were no recognized student representatives to the Governing Board.” So why is that important? Because if there are no student representatives how can the Board make an informed decision based on the most important constituency at colleges, the students?
“Your student trustees are able to interface with the publically/ community elected District Trustees and provide the student’s perspective on key issues being considered,” states Ewen, who today is active in the Foundation for Grossmont and Cuyamaca Colleges, and also is deputy mayor of the City of La Mesa.
The former President’s open letter can be found on http://www.grossmontrtv.blogspot.com/2012/04/open-letter-from-former-asgc-president.html
*
Managing editor Weber may be contacted at [email protected]
