 "Photo: Destiny Mata")
UPDATE: Because of delays in launching the voting Web site, the Student Government Association will not be able to start voting today. Dawn Elmore-McCrary said a SACALL will be sent to notify when the site is up and running. The Ranger will update our Web site as information becomes available.
The Student Government Association is accepting applications for the offices of president, vice president, secretary and treasurer and four commissioners-at-large.
The positions will be from December 2009 to January 2011.
Packets are available in the office of student life on the second floor of Loftin Student Center. Students who want to run must have at least a 2.5 grade-point average, be taking at least six hours at this college and be able to meet at 2 p.m. Mondays.
Association President Julianne Cantu, political science sophomore, said students who are elected receive a scholarship of up to $500 for their elected term. The money covers books, but whatever is left over goes back to the college.
“You want your focus to be on the student body, not about getting your books paid,” she said.
Packets must be submitted by Friday to the office of student life or to any association adviser: Dawn Elmore-McCrary in Room 130A of Gonzales Hall, Christy Woodward-Kaupert in Room 217C of Chance Academic Center or Tandy Schoolcraft in Room 102 of Nail Technical Center.
Voting begins Nov. 2 on the PALS Web site. Students also can go to the Cyber Café on the second floor of Loftin to access PALS from a computer there. Voting ends Nov. 6.
Cantu said students running for office should be concerned about students’ issues and not about the monetary gain from being in office.
“We are eight people who represent 24,000 students at SAC,” she said. “The students’ interest is our No. 1 priority.”
This year, the association approached the district board of trustees with a resolution asking if students could be a part of the Accreditation Review Committee formed by Chancellor Bruce Leslie.
Cantu said Leslie refused because he did not think students could comprehend issues the committee deals with.
Board Chair Denver McClendon said during a June board meeting that the committee was set up to see if being accredited as a single institution or remaining five separately accredited colleges would help the district become more efficient.
Being persistent, Cantu and association members were successful in getting a student representative from each college in the district onto the committee.
Association members attend every board of trustees meeting wearing matching shirts and sitting in the front row to let trustees know students have a presence, Cantu said.
“The board meetings are televised, so people see us when we argue for the students’ needs,” she said. Board meetings are shown on Time Warner Cable Channel 98.
Cantu said association members are trying to do as much good for the student body as they can.
“I think if you’re going to be at the school for a while, you should do something that will make a difference,” she said.
The association made handbooks for students with tips about the campus. The book also has facts for international students to inform them about important issues on campus. Handbooks will be distributed during spring semester orientation or registration. The association also sponsors Pizza with the President, a chance for students to eat free pizza with President Robert Zeigler and the administration.
The next Pizza with the President is at noon Thursday in the Fiesta Room of Loftin Student Center.
The meetings used to be closed to the public, but when Cantu came into office she wanted to have open meetings so students knew what the elected members were planning for the student body, she said.
Officers who miss three or four meetings or do not perform their duties will be let go, and they will have to return their books or the $500.
“We hold a lot of responsibility on our shoulders because we take this seriously,” Cantu said.
To cut back on spending, the association has stopped going on trips and has saved $7,000. Rather than attending conferences, members decided to focus on college issues and student activities.
“All of us are on at least one committee. We do this for students to be linked to what is going on on campus,” she said.
The association meets three Mondays each month, with the third meeting serving as a forum in the Fiesta Room of Loftin during which students can ask what their elected members are doing.
The date for the forum had not been determined.
The names of the new officers will be announced at that forum.
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