ASG denies parking fee increase and changes ways to organize events
The Saddleback College Associated Student Government revised their bylaws again but they did not revise them by making changes to the rules of ASG.
ASG is reforming committees, so that its members are spread out in helping as many organizations as it can. ASG members can now choose which events for which they want to volunteer. However, to help make sure everyone is volunteering, ASG has set a quota for its members only.
ASG members must have a minimum of 15 hours total of volunteering for events for the whole semester. ASG has also decided to allow non-ASG members to volunteer at events as well. If a student helps, but is not a part of ASG, ASG will add their volunteer time as an “extra co-curricular activity” on their transcripts, but they must be attending Saddleback College.
“We cannot give credit on a transcript unless they are a Saddleback student,” said Audra DiPadova, Director of Student Development.
ASG also continued to plan Crunch Time for students.
The events cabinet has also allocated money to contribute to Crunch Time. According to Bahman Sabahi, the cabinet and senate have two different funding accounts.
“We are allowed to allocate money for another branch of student government,” Asal Bahrami said.
Rodman Oveisi found a way to inform students of Crunch Time during the week before finals.
“We can have teachers announce it in class,” Oveisi said.
ASG also voted on whether to raise the parking fees as well. ASG voted to not pass the new fee increase without knowing what the students thought about it first.
Sabahi went over the reasons for the parking increase with ASG. Parking fees might increase, because it is not generating enough money for maintenance. The money from parking fees each year are used to power the lights on at night, pay the maintenance workers to clean and even pay to re-tar the asphalt around every five years.
The increase will affect both the students and the teachers. Students currently pay $60 annually and teachers pay $20. The student’s fee will increase $20 bringing it to $80, and the teachers fee will increase $60, also bringing it to a total of $80. The reason for this is so teachers are paying the same amount for parking as the students.
According to Sabahi, the school does not have to consult any students.
“They can raise the fee to $105 without bringing it to the ASG Senate,” Sabahi explained.
Though, the senate agreed that they will need the students input, before they can make an overall decision.