When Fresno City College students vote for their student representatives on April 26 to 28, they will be using an electronic voting system through their SCCCD email. All voting will be done online, rather than with the paper ballots which have been used in the past.
To make sure that even those without home computers are still able to vote, the ASG is looking into setting up a computer bay where students can vote online on campus.
ASG’s main goal, besides finding new officers’, is to increase voter turnout. With dismal participation in last year’s ASG election in which only 431 students voted, members of the student government are making all attempts to get students more involved in the political process.
With the college facing some of its biggest obstacles in recent memory, this year’s Associated Student Government (ASG) elections promise to be pivotal.
Incoming ASG officers will face a myriad of different challenges, ranging from budget cuts to possibly implementing a new smoking policy.
This pool of candidates is more diverse in this election cycle than in years past and feature 13 candidates who have all been involved in FCC in different ways. Each candidate is offering a different set of priorities, what they would change if elected.
Canidadates for Presiden
Reggie DeLeon
DeLeon is a community activist, and claims to be the creator of the Jim Bean Facebook page, which helped Fresno to gain funding from the Wal-Mart “Fighting
Hunger Together” campaign, this past December. Now, he hopes to bring his serving attitude to Fresno City by running for ASG president.
DeLeon’s biggest concern is the lack of student involvement in ASG, and around Fresno as a whole. “We ask our community to rally around us, but have we really rallied around our community?” DeLeon said. He said that if elected president, he will “make an impact in our school by getting more students involved with ASG, so that they can voice their opinions and concerns.”
Through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, DeLeon hopes to make ASG more accessible to the average students. He would also make himself “available for hours once a week by the big fountain,” to listen to students’ concerns.
Gabriel Cordova
Gabriel Cordova, a current ASG senator, is seeking to be president. Cordova’s motto is, “I’m here to serve you.” One of his biggest goals is to get students more involved in the shared governance of the college. Cordova said, “We want to get students more interactive with what’s going on campus.”
His plans, if elected, include instituting a more aggressive recycling program, making a weekly address to the students via Youtube and expanding his current ASG pet project, the Rampantry, a food handout through ASG that aims to attack student hunger.
Cordova said his biggest accomplishment has been working with DSP&S to help accommodate students with disabilities and create easier access and better opportunities around campus. He has worked with the Student Welfare Committee and lobbied on their behalf. Cordova said, “I love serving students.”
Cindy Quiralte
Moving from Merced last year, Cindy Quiralte is a Chicano Studies major who hopes to go into law. She is best known at Fresno City College for her role as president of the MEChA club.
She said she believes she has a deeper connection with FCC students because of her humble upbringing. “I know what struggle feels like,” Quiralte said. “I know what it’s like to be lost and confused.” Through this connection she believes that she is better suited to serve the students than her opponents.
Quiralte has three main goals that she will pursue if elected. They include lengthening library hours, establishing a deeper connection between teachers and students on campus, and having more cultural activities on the FCC campus.
Quilarte is a self-described, “public servant.” She is currently the president of MEChA and is involved with the city council; she holds a part time job and is enrolled in seven classes with a 3.8 GPA. This has played a large part in her mission statement, which is “Help me help you.”
