By Rogelio Alvarez
East Los Angeles College Shared Governance Council held a meeting last Monday to discuss different proposals and reports on various topics concerning the campus.
“This is a committee that is representative of various committees so that we may have more collaboration and inclusion in a coherent plan of action for the campus,” vice president of student services and special programs Julie Benavides said.
ELAC president Marvin Martinez presented Paulina Palomino as the new ELAC Dean of Student Success.
The meeting began with the Speech Team presenting its first place prize from the 2016 Phi Rho Pi National Competitive Speaking Tournament for Community Colleges.
Associated Student Union president Romel Lopez invited ELAC student and secretary of Students for Equal Rights Club Martha Pool to propose ideas on a resource center for undocumented students.
“I think it’s really important to have the student representative be there to listen to the various proposals and problems that the school faces because it affects us. I need to be there to speak up and to talk about why certain services should be implemented in school,” Pool said.
Pool was one of the students protesting for an undocumented student resource center.
“We brought awareness but we also brought more faculty and staff members to talk about undocumented students. In a previous (ESGC) meeting they mentioned they’ve been trying to advocate for undocumented students, but I’m undocumented myself and I have never heard about any services they’ve been planning until I started attending the meetings,” Pool said.
Lopez also discussed updates on Metro’s Student Transit Pass. Currently, the Metro student pass is $43 and students must be enrolled in at least eight units.
Lopez proposed using ASU funds to lower the cost for students.
Instead of buying the pass at a Metro center, Lopez said ASU is working on having students purchase the pass at the fiscal office and received a bus pass sticker on student IDs.
ESGC received a weekly project update that had information on the construction being conducted on campus. The Science Career and Mathematics building is scheduled to be completed on August 16.
Edward Alvarado and Jeff Hernandez are the co-chairs for ESGC and led the discussions during the meeting.
The first half of the meeting had a quick election for co-chair, which was won by Hernandez and Alvarado.
ESGC approved the proposal for committees to conduct self-evaluations.
According to a recommendation from a report from Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, ELAC should have a three-year replacement cycle for its computers.
During the meeting, ESGC approved Technology Planning Subcommittee’s (TPSC) proposal on a computer replacement plan.
The TPSC proposed recommendations on designating K5 and K7 buildings for the School of Continuing Education, E1-126 as the Welcome and Support Resource Center and D7A as the Transfer Center.
Although it’s still a work in progress, ESGC decided that the proposal will be resolved in the next meeting.
“This is a governing committee that has various representatives and students who can participate through their elected ASU officers or they also can participate by observing. There are members here who are not on the board or the committee but they came here to listen and discuss,” Benavides said.
Students, faculty and staff can view ESGC previous agendas at elac.edu/facultyStaff/committees/sharedgovernance/index.htm.