The Corsair is holding a Candidate Forum for the Santa Monica College’s (SMC) student government, Associated Students (A.S.), elections this Sunday, March 28, at 5 p.m.
The virtual Candidate Forum will serve as an opportunity for Santa Monica College students to find out more about the candidates running for positions on the A.S. board. The event will be moderated by the Corsair’s Editor-in-Chief, Carolyn Burt. While the Corsair has hosted this forum for many years, this marks the first time the forum will take place virtually over zoom.
To watch the forum live, students can visit The Corsair’s youtube channel where the forum will be live-streamed. A recorded version of the forum will remain on The Corsair’s youtube channel for students to watch after the live stream has finished.
Campaigning for A.S. is already underway, with voting set to start Monday, March 29. Current SMC students can vote by logging into Corsair Connect using their student login until April 1, 2021, at 11:59 p.m. The winners of the A.S. elections will be announced on April 2 at 11 a.m.
There are 19 SMC students running for positions with 4 positions uncontested, A.S. President, A.S. Secretary, A.S. Director of Budget Management, and Student Trustee. There are also 3 positions which no one is running for, A.S. Vice President, A.S. Director of Instructional Support, and A.S. Director of Equity and Diversity. No-Candidate-Positions will be filled in the Fall 2021 semester, following the A.S. Constitution.
Tensions were high as board members and students alike expressed their opinions on the controversial decision made at last Monday's board meeting on April 30. Students used the public comments section to express unhappiness at the decision.
Following SMC students' reactions towards the Associated Students board's decision to vote against funding agenda item 6.3, the proposed $8,917.19 for catering SMC's graduation reception, A.S. President Jennifer Chen reached out to The Corsair to voice her disapproval over what occurred during the board meeting last Monday, April 23.
The Cayton Center Lounge was packed with students on Monday, April 23, when the Associated Students Board of Directors met for their weekly board meeting. Most items on the agenda passed; however, a request for catering for this year’s Graduation Reception was denied in a vote of 6 to 5.
Members of the Santa Monica College Associated Students board were joking amongst themselves and the atmosphere was jovial as the board met in their Cayton Center conference room after classes resumed after spring break.
This is a response to Francisco Munoz’s Op-ed, “Associated Students? More like Isolated Students.”
As a preface, let me make it clear that I thought it was a well-written and thoughtful article, but I feel compelled to respond to (and elaborate on) a couple of points that I find to be particularly important. For the sake of clear organization, I will copy and paste three central paragraphs from Mr. Munoz’s article before I write my response to them. Let us examine the following passage:
After two weeks of furious campaigning, fraught with controversy and scandal, the 2018 Associated Students election has come to an end. The slate "Step Forward" performed excellently, winning seven of the eight seats in which they ran a candidate, most of which were contested.
As elections begin, confusion, apathy, and lack of knowledge appear to bring low voter turnout this semester. When a reporter asked on Monday, April 3, the first day of elections week, what efforts the Associated Students (A.S.) board had made to promote and educate students about…
Two days into the Associated Students election, Santa Monica College’s election committee gathered in the Cayton Center’s conference room. Three violations were discussed, one of which resulted in one A.S. candidate being reported to the campus disciplinarian for allegations of a threat.
Approximately 100 students and Santa Monica College staff members gathered on the college’s quad this Tuesday, April 3 on the main campus to listen to what candidates running for SMC's student government, the Associated Students (A.S.) Board of Directors, had to say.
Santa Monica College Police Chief Johnnie Adams asked the Associated Students board of directors for $20,000 of the $28,000 price for another year's subscription to the security app, LiveSafe, at their Monday meeting on May 7. The school's administration has already provided the remaining $8,000.