When people elect officials, they expect those officials to take care of their responsibilities; this isn’t just for state or federal government officials, but for student government officials as well.
Some of the Associated Students are neglecting their duties as the semester progresses, noted President Arman Marukyan and Vice President of Administration Irene Ismailyan.
Marukyan, Ismailyan and the advisers of the Associated Students of Glendale Community College all urged the rest of the ASGCC Legislature to uphold their responsibilities as student representatives.
Ismailyan had to remind the Associated Students that they need to attend governance meetings and take notes, check their mailboxes and attend legislature meetings.
“You guys aren’t checking your mailboxes,” Ismailyan said. “You have to check your mailboxes, it’s in the bylaws.”
Marukyan and Ismailyan urged the Associated Students to report when they have governance meetings as well.
“Whenever you find out you have a governance meeting that week, please write it on the list on the door so we can put it on the agenda,” Marukyan said.
Marukyan then reminded the ASGCC that it is important to make an effort to attend all the ASGCC events, even if their committee was not involved in the planning.
“Last week was the campus cleanup. Some of you were there, but most of you weren’t,” Marukyan said at the Oct. 23 meeting. “That was a little disappointing because I felt like it was a good way for AS to give back to the campus.”
In response to the lack of participation by some of the Associated Student members, Joe Puglia, academic counselor and adviser, reminded the students that they need to take advantage of all the opportunities in life and that they should try to attend all of the events that the ASGCC is involved in.
The Associated Student advisers seemed to feel that the student representatives aren’t getting as involved as they should during their committee meetings.
“Karla and Lilian were the only ones that referred to the committee and used ‘we’,” said Student Activities Coordinator Tzoler Oukayan. “You need to remember that you are a part of the committee, too. You help make the decisions.”
An issue that Marukyan wants the Associated Students to act on is the possible installment of a new class payment program.
The Student Fees Committee is considering changing to a new payment program in which students will have to pay their class fees at the time of enrollment. This consideration comes after the current payment program, in which students have seven days to pay after enrollment, is not working well.
According to the Student Fees Committee, it would cost more money to fix the current payment program than to buy a new one.
“We need to represent the students and do what is in their best interest,” ASGCC President Arman Marukyan said. “If it’s more money, but it’s better for the students, we should say that.”
“Think of the implications of this,” ASGCC adviser and dean of student affairs, Paul Schlossman said. “Many students don’t have credit cards or have other situations where they can’t pay at the same time [of enrollment].”
Although the decision to change over to a new program is ultimately up to a series of committees, Marukyan and Schlossman want the rest of the Associated Students to represent the GCC students and voice their opinion.
On a lighter note, Oukayan congratulated the Associated Students on the success of the proposition events as well as registering students to vote. However, she reminded the ASGCC that the election hasn’t happened yet. “There’s more we can do,” Oukayan said. “We can’t stop now.”
