Impact of ASG
President speaks on low attendance rates
Contributed by Madison Wilber / Times Staff
President of the Associated Student Government Leif Benson (pictured back left) inducts Vitumbiko Kambilonje (pictured back right), 25, political science major, as the new Chief Justice of ASG, on Oct. 5. Accompanying Benson and Kambilonje from the ASG team are Director of Student Resources Valeria Graciela Herrera Vásquez (pictured front left), Vice President of Finance Xitlaly Martinez (pictured front second left), Director of Communications Mohamad Shaar (not pictured), and Director of Student Engagement Denim Sperisen (pictured back middle).
The Associated Student Government at San Jose City College is holding meetings for students, but the minutes show students are not yet understanding how the meetings work.
Leif Benson, president of ASG and second year student, describes the meetings as a place to learn about upcoming events. “In these meetings we have two items that we usually discuss. They are action items and discussion items,” said Benson.
He details those discussion items as ideas that are talked over as a group. Students can voice what they want to see on campus while also receiving feedback. These meetings give students the opportunity to be heard.
Moving forward, Benson explained action items as an effort to plan events. The process of that is having a plan then proposing it with how much it will cost. The action aspect of the ASG meetings provide an insight to the school’s budget limit and information for future events.
“Our mission is to create a transformative and enriching experience for students in the light of things like civic engagement,” said Benson in respect to the goal of having these meetings. He also expressed how students are not attending these meetings.
While expressing the positive impact of having a student government on campus, he noted the lack of attendance by the students. President Benson observed that students who are attending are ones who are invited otherwise, aside from the members, there is one student in attendance.
“The pandemic and the nature of how student government is right now, it’s hard to maintain students’ awareness of the student government,” he said, understanding the absence of the student body.
Alan Rubiano, a third year student, is not aware of the zoom and on campus ASG meetings. “I don’t know much about it,” Romero said regarding the meetings.
Htut Aung Hlaing, a second semester international student, stated “I am not into that kind of thing,” as his reasoning for not attending the gatherings.
Awareness being an issue, students still find themselves opting out because they are not interested. Students may be aware of these meetings, but feel as though it is not for them.
Visit the ASG website for more information about online meetings and in-person meetings.
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