The Santa Rosa Junior College Student Government Assembly heard special reports on the college’s Strategic Action Plan and issues surrounding campus safety during its meeting on April 14.
Jeremy Smotherman, SRJC’s senior director of institutional effectiveness, research and planning, presented a special report and update on the Strategic Action Plan. He asked for feedback from SGA members.
His report included a goal of achieving 17,500 annual full-time equivalent students (FTES). He set an additional goal of increasing the term-to-term student return rate by 4% by fall 2027 for students taking fewer than 12 units. The plan aims to promote noncredit courses and connect students with state and county services.
“We are committed to fiscal sustainability so that the services we provide to students will never decrease,” Smotherman said. “We want to ensure that nothing we do has a negative effect.”
When asked for feedback, multiple members expressed frustration between the information provided to them and the actual problems they faced.
“We heard that loud and clear,” said Smotherman.
Molly Seneca, vice president of student services, and Student Dean Robert Ethington, joined the meeting at 4 p.m. to discuss campus safety. The two turned to SGA members for a student perspective due to an increased number of safety concerns voiced on the MySRJC app.
“We can’t address anything if we don’t know about it,” Seneca said. “So we thought we’d open up the floor to hear concerns about safety.”
Ethington noted that he had just come from a meeting about safety concerns surrounding the Turning Point USA presence on campus most Mondays.
“We developed a whole team to put out on the quad because there is free speech happening there,” Ethington said. “To make sure that it’s safe for everybody, because civil discourse can become uncivil.”
The discussion turned to student awareness of safety measures on campus.
“A big problem at community colleges is that students just aren’t looking up and around,” said Student Body President Ruben Garcia. “Knowing about the safety resources is on students as well.”
Students may not realize that SRJC has its own district police, who are available to walk students to their cars or respond in case of an emergency, Garcia said..
Members approved an additional $1,500 for the Student Life End-of-Year Celebration on May 9, bringing the total budget for the event to $3,000. While the celebration has been limited to SGA members in the past, this year the group is inviting student leaders from across campus.
“If there’s anything we do on this final stretch, I think we should put all of our effort into making this as big and awesome as possible,” Garcia said. “Let’s go all in.”
At the end of the meeting, members also approved $300 for final exam supplies. During finals week, students will be able to pick up free bluebooks and Scantrons from student ambassadors at the information desk.