Students at San Jose City College who experience conflict with another student or a faculty member should know that there are options for resolution. Students may get into a situation with a staff member or student and none of us are guaranteed to have the situation resolved in the way we would want. For example, as a freshman student I myself have already had a problem with a staff member and I feel it was a situation that no one would want to go through.

“I believe complaints should be filed on a staff member or student, especially when the individual is not being professional,”said 18-year-old freshman Justice White.

I spoke to SJCC Articulation Specialist Julinda LeDee, who has worked in the Counseling Department for 22 years. She shared her thoughts on whether on-campus complaints in general were taken seriously and said, “Going by hearsay, some individuals have mixed feelings and that people believe that some people don’t have their own complaints dealt with seriously, especially if harassment is involved just because of the possible legal issues.”

I believe that it is important to take all matters at San Jose City College between fellow staff and students here seriously, and that most complaints could be dealt with in a matter of days after you report it in writing. If you ever have a terrible experience with someone else on campus you would need to file a report through the school’s website. At this point in the complaint process, Director of Student Development and activities, Blake Balajadia, would meet with you and go over particular details of your specific case. If for some reason the parties involved are not satisfied with the final resolution of your reported complaint then you go to William L. Garcia, Vice President of Student Affairs.

“I, personally, think it is important that all individuals know that discipline or complaints are not supposed to be used in the form of punishing but teaching the individual,” Balajadia said.

I spoke with Garcia recently and he said that he takes all student or staff complaints seriously and that he tries to learn the nature of the complaint so he can work to find a resolution to satisfy all of the students or staff involved.

“If students or employees are unhappy with the resolution of their own complaint process or how it’s going, then this is where my role comes in,” Garcia said.