PRESIDENT
ROLE IN ASG: The president is head of ASG and chairman of the Senate.
FCC’s top student government post is a battle between Nathan Alonzo, currently serving as ASG’s Legislative Vice President, and Daniel “DC” Clark.
Alonzo was promoted to his current post during the mass exodus of ASG officers during winter break, replacing Karlton Brown, who was impeached during the fall semester.
The entire shake-up inside the ASG hadn’t settled until the district began deliberations over eliminating a portion of summer school, allowing ASG to mobilize students to fight off the threat of slim summer school prospects.
These two candidates, one to become student president, face a daunting task – a campus that has reached its peak enrollment and growing budget woes that threaten programs and operations.
These candidates can reasonably expect another prolonged battle over summer school for 2013, as SCCCD might be unwilling to spend reserve funds if money is tight by January 2013, along with another go-round of budget cut worries across campus.
Alonzo pointed to the cuts and limited access to classes as the biggest hurdle facing the administration.
“For too long, the student body has sat idly by while the cuts have been handed down,” he said. “The FCC student body deserves a quality education and have services available to make sure they get the best education for the money they are paying.”
“Everyone’s concerned about the budget cuts,” Clark said. “I think more people need to be aware that the budget cuts are going on and iI believe we need to emphasize awareness to get students more involved.”
TRUSTEE
ROLE IN ASG: The Student Trustee is a non-voting member of the State Center Community College District Board of Trustees and is the liaison between the Board of Trustees and ASG. Two student trustees currently sit on the Board – one for Fresno City College and one for Reedley College.
It’s an interesting battle for Trustee, with incumbent Senator Mike Wilson running against former Senator, and interim Legislative Vice President, Ben Andersen. During his time in ASG, Andersen served as chair of Region 7 of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges.
Andersen resigned from ASG at the end of the Fall semester while serving as interim Legislative Vice President before Alonzo was promoted.
PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE
ROLE IN ASG: The President Pro Tempore is the chair of the Inter-Club Council and acts as liaison between ASG and the Council.
Incumbent Senator Grisanti Valencia has a slam dunk campaign for President Pro Tempore for one simple reason, she’s the only person running for the office.
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
ROLE IN ASG: The Executive Vice President handles all financial matters for ASG. He or she reviews all requests for funds before bringing it to the Executive Board, signs off on all requests for payments and chairs the Budget Committee.
The campaign for Executive Vice President is one of two races inside of ASG with Senators Michael Olague and Caitlin Mack facing off to take over as head of ASG’s purse strings.
One of the two candidates will wind up overseeing ASG’s budget, which ranges from $60,000 to 80,000 annually. As of March 31, ASG spent roughly $15,000 with about $64,000 cash on hand.
Mack is one member of the three-person ticket headed by Alonzo hoping to create a coalition of familiar student leaders.
LEGISLATIVE VICE PRESIDENT
ROLE IN ASG: The Legislative Vice President coordinates the student seats on the various committees on campus and assumes the roles of President during his absence.
The race for Legislative Vice President will be fought between Senator Rachel McKinley, the final member of the ticket with Alonzo and Mack, and Roman Porras.
The position was filled with plenty of controversy during the shortened tenure of Karlton Brown, who was impeached for failing to perform his constitutionally-required duties.
Over the course of the Spring semester, the role of Legislative Vice President was relatively important, with incumbent Alonzo filling in for ASG President Cindy Quiralte at some of the regularly scheduled and special financial meetings.
SENATORS
ROLE IN ASG: Senators are direct student representatives. Their most significant duty is to sit on various committees across the student government and college.
In blunt terms, this year’s race for the ASG Senate is rather insignificant.
While the positions are extremely important to the inner-workings of ASG and representing student interests, there is no competition between the candidates.
The current makeup of the Senate allows for 16 Senators each year. Because only eight candidates filed to run for Senate, each will earn a seat as long as they receive one vote.
The candidates running for Senate are: Rosalinda Barba, Jose Chavez, Mia Chennault, James Demaree, Hugo Garcia, Nathan Squire, Rene Villa, and Josh Zamora.
Only one incumbent ASG Senator is running for re-election – Rene Villa.
This slate of candidates also has another oddity: Squire is an ASG Senator at Willow International and is running for office in both ASG organizations.
