Santa Rosa Junior College’s Student Government Assembly President Ruben Garcia, who serves as vice president for the school’s burgeoning Student Investment Program, presented his goals for the investment program during the April 21 SGA meeting.
As a co-founder of the Student Investment Program (SIP), Garcia sees himself as an advocate to promote financial education among students.
“I have decided I’m going to commit myself through my professional and academic career to passing a state law that would mandate financial literacy as a general education requirement from California colleges,” Garcia said.
Members from SIP went to Stanford last week to present their work and experiences to a project team working on financial literacy research.
“They said that we will pretty much be their primary contact for the California community college system for any of the work regarding research on financial data,” Garcia said.
Later, during the public comment section of the meeting, faculty member Michael Von der Porten voiced complaints about SGA and the college in general over Zoom.
Van der Porten said he showed up three weeks in a row during posted office hours but was unable to speak with any SGA members. “So let’s take a look and decide if this really is a representative government,” he said.
Von der Porten, who claims the school exposed students and staff to lead poisoning by using an uncertified fire hose to connect water to Bailey Hall from Aug. 22 to Sept. 16 last year, also expressed frustration with the college’s slowness in releasing a report about the incident.
“It seems to be a pretty simple report,” Von der Porten said. “Can I take a look at it please?”
Garcia thanked Von der Porten for coming out to speak. “I appreciate you always holding the district accountable, and us to that standard as well.”
