The Student Government Assembly (SGA) unanimously passed the appointment of a new assembly member to aid students in need of information about immigration Monday afternoon at their weekly meeting.
Cristian Cano, 20, will serve the Santa Rosa Junior College community under the tentative title of Assembly Member of Immigration Services.
“I want to help our students get more information about immigration,” Cano said. “I want to help them analyze different opportunities in terms of immigration.”
The new assembly member will work closely with the SGA Advocacy Committee to help inform students in need of the immigration process and services available.
Vice President of Advocacy Alexia Carrillo, 20, also announced that the committee approved $1000 for scholarships for five undocumented students.
“They’re $200 each only for undocumented students,” Carrillo said. “It was originally for DACA, but not everyone even qualifies for DACA so we made it for all undocumented students because they’re the main underrepresented students right now.”
Debate over a motion to appoint SGA members as liaisons to specific departments consumed nearly two-thirds of the abbreviated session.
Under the scheme, SGA members would be assigned to certain college departments in order to improve communication and mutual accountability.
Vice President of Student Committees Robert Martinez pushed to move forward on the motion, which has been a topic of controversy among SGA members.
“By appointing person X to department Y, you’re making it so they’re accountable for knowing what’s going on in that department,” Martinez said. “You’re also holding the department chairs and the deans accountable.”
Vice President of Student Life Dori Elder was among the dissenters who questioned the practicality of giving currently serving members more responsibilities.
“We have a lot of things going on and a lot of stuff is getting done half-assed because we don’t have enough time,” Elder said. “To add another thing onto our plates that’s going to get done half-assed doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Elder agreed with Student Trustee Sabrina Rawson and Inter-Club Council Chair Joshua Pinaula that creating a new position of Vice President of Internal Affairs was a better option.
Members also questioned the need for such appointments. “This seems like resume-building stuff; it seems like worthless words,” Pinaula said.
Due to time constraints, President Evelyn Navarro postponed the motion until next week.
