ASG plans for a new semester
The Associated Student Government at Saddleback College propose updating the groups constitution, starting a new grant program and
Newly elected ASG President Joseph Hassine plans on completely updating the groups constitution and bylaws.
“These were extremely updated last year, but there are still a couple of areas for corrections,” Hassine said.
Last semester, Hassine and other group members revised the ASG bylaws, and plan on implementing them during the 2011-2012 school year.
Hassine said he wants to “accurately represent the divisions and the students through our senate surveys and projects.”
New paragraphs have been added to the Student Senate web page regarding their efforts for this school year. The following two are examples.
“Senate has implemented a few new ideas this year to reach as many students as possible, such as conducting surveys, starting a new grant program and routing division run funding requests directly through division leaders. We have already allocated money to the divisions based on historical data.”
“So now only student organizations will be funded through ASG’s revenue from our ASB stamp sales.”
In the past, senate has advocated for students talking to division deans. This year, they are taking it a step further by surveying students from each division, and serving on all college-wide committees. ASG will be writing resolutions based on what the surveys say the student body really wants.
Other branches within ASG include the Events Cabinet and the Inter-Club Council.
The ICC at Saddleback conducts meetings every month and oversees the functioning of all campus clubs. In addition to holding campus-wide club events, the ICC educates student leaders on how to manage their clubs.
According to the ICC web page, serving as a leader to a college club has proven to increase one’s chances of gaining admissions into a four year university of choice by demonstrating a well-rounded student of academics, extra-curricular activities and leadership skills.
Reaching over 50 clubs is one of the many goals listed by Hassine for this school year.
The Diversity Student Council, which is a branch of the Inter-Club Council, was started in spring 2009 in order to address matters of diversity on campus.
They arrange events and speaker series, among other things, to support diversity on campus. In the past, the DSC has worked on Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Persian New Year, and much more.
This year, the branch seeks to focus on reaching more students to educate them on important issues of tolerance, multiculturalism and the struggles of underrepresented and underprivileged communities, according to the branches official web page.
One issue that will be brought before the council this school year will be the mascot image revision.
The DSC drafted a resolution in April 2010 to modify the gaucho image. It was later passed by “a majority voice vote to support the efforts of the students to change the image of the Gaucho to one that is more culturally sensitive.”
The resolution was sent to the The Academic Senate and then approved by the Consultation Council.
Hassine has placed the mascot modification as top projects for things to complete this semester.
The DSC is currently looking for an ambassador and more members.
Hassine wishes to “have very successful [Events Cabinet] events.”
The E-Cab is another very active part of ASG that promotes campus life at Saddleback every year and plans events like the biannual blood drive, elections, turkey drive, adopt a family, homecoming and many more.
A calendar of events and elections is available on the ASG web page.
Transparency is something ASG tries to accomplish by making information available regarding issues brought up at their meetings.
Many of ASG’s various branches offer PDFs, containing meeting minutes and agendas, which are available to the public on their respective web pages.
Meeting minutes are documents that account for what goes on at meetings. Agendas are lists of meeting activities written in the order they are to be taken up.
ASG has many committees as well, such as the Budget Committee, which manages their budget and resources.
Documents like the 2011-2012 preliminary ASG budget can be found at the school website on the budget page under the ASG section.