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By Tammye McDuff
A joint board session between the Associated Students of Cerritos College [ASCC] and the Board of Trustees was held Wednesday evening, October 21, 2015 in the Cheryl Epple board room located on campus. Representing the Student Senate was Adrian Gomez, Daniel Flores, Enrique Rodriguez, Jessica Germata, Ivan Oyarzabal and Eduardo DeLa Rosa, along with Victor Villalobos, Student Trustee.
Cerritos College is undergoing a massive renovation and growth in size and in curriculum. In order to continue with the numerous demands the ASCC met with the Board of Trustees to discuss the increase in student requirements.
The ASCC was formed to augment the educational experience of students through social, cultural, intellectual, recreational, health and governing programs. The purpose is to provide students with general information on student government, campus organizations, student services, publications, housing and student activities.
A new Student Union Building [SUB] is scheduled for renovation. ASCC has requested there be offices for student government workers, mentors and tutors. Included in the SUB should also be board rooms for town hall meetings and student lounge and activities room. De La Rosa stated “We understand that the student union building meetings will not happen until 2019, but we wanted to be part of the conversations to address the needs that we have.” Currently many students are using the library as a meeting place, which adds to a very high noise level, distracting those students that are using the library for study and research, De La Rosa added,” there is no area for students to lounge. That is why they use the library to socialize, which created a lot of noise.” An agreement was reached that librarians should work with campus cadets to ensure the library remains a place for study and not socialization.
The issue of adequate Wi-Fi was addressed. Connectivity is an issue on campus, whether it is in the library or the administrative offices. Dr. Jose Fierro, college President acknowledged the difficulty saying; “We are purchasing 300 new hot spots with the latest technology, which should improve connectivity.” Currently the campus has 207 hot spots. Meetings have been scheduled with student service delegates from Fullerton and Cypress to discuss internet connection and providers.
Members of the Board of Trustees commended the ASCC for their green initiatives on campus. One major issue was the recycling program. Apparently there are non-students removing cans and recyclables from the campus bins. Trustee Bob Arthur asked, “The recycling program has been in place for over a year, and I have noticed scavengers removing recyclables, how will the ASCC address this?” De La Rosa stated they have spoken to the Engineering Department to find an inexpensive resolution. Arthur suggested the ASCC reach out to waste haulers to see what they have done to resolve the same issue.
New programs ASCC would like to establish are a Legislative AdHoc committee to continue communications of issues affecting students, Falcon Student Mentors and Falcon Kids, an effort to reach out to local elementary schools. Ongoing discussion pertaining to budgets, transit passes, lowering student costs for books and supplies were updated.
