Seven Bakersfield College Student Government Association members joined 450 other students and their advisers to represent approximately 100 schools from around the country for the American Student Association of Community College’s National Conference on Student Advocacy on March 19-22 in Washington D.C.
The conference was aimed toward training student leaders on how to lobby the appropriate government figures. They attended workshops and seminars that covered topics such as letter writing campaigns, writing effective letters and who to send them to in order to make progress.
Other topics covered how to contact representatives at the local, state and national levels and how to set appointments with those individuals.
SGA members met with other community college student government members from around the country to brainstorm and share ideas that have been successful at their schools.
Prayas Patel, SGA vice president, was initially doubtful that BC was doing anything significant with their student government but felt confident after meeting with other student government members from other schools that the BC SGA is well above par at the national level.
“We thought we were below the curve but actually [we] realized that we were at the curve or setting it,” Patel said.
Dean of Students Don Turney said that one success on campus that had other schools “slack jawed” was having an ATM machine. According to Turney, M.E.Ch.A. Vice President Jesse Ibarra shared the ATM idea with other community college student leaders in a small group and said that they were amazed with the idea of raising money in that way.
“Our student leaders are good, if not better, than any of the students in the nation,” Turney said.
The conference held a series of speakers that helped educate and motivate the students to make changes to their respective campuses.
One of the highlight speakers was former Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, who spoke about effective ways for community college student leaders to lobby government figures. According to Patel, Nader emphasized that the importance of lobbying, petitioning government and voicing opinions to government leaders is more than just something to do to get into a good school or something that looks good on a job resume, it’s a civic responsibility.
Joan I. Athen the special assistant for community college in the U.S. Department of Education was also on hand to speak about how to link community colleges together with career pathways. Her speech was aimed at demonstrating that the purpose of going to college is to get a job. Athen also spoke about the College and Career transition initiative, which is a program that grants money to 15 community colleges across the country that have developed a college career plan for their schools. Turney said that he is exploring the options of the initiative to see if the BC SGA should apply for the grants.
Since returning from the trip, the SGA has been working to utilize the skills they acquired. Members of the SGA voted unanimously to support Assembly Bill 982, which was drafted by Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz). AB 982, if passed, will require all students to pay a $13 per-term fee to support the student health center. Currently, low-income students are exempt from paying the fee. Patel said that low-income students who receive the Board of Governors Fee Waiver will be required to pay for the fee if AB 982 passes but added that the BOG will cover the fee.
On April 5, Patel faxed two letters from himself and SGA President Jason Ellertson to Laird in support of the bill.
The conference fell within ther perameters of the Student Representative Fee outlined by Section 76060.5 of the California Educational Code.