The Associated Student Senate wrote a letter supporting a bill allowing all enrolled homeless students free access to showers on community college campuses.
At the Friday meeting, Senator Josh Villanueva went over the letters showing the senate’s support of Assembly Bill 1995.
The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Das Williams and states that any community college in California with shower facilities will allow access to homeless students who are enrolled in 6-units or more, have paid enrollment fees and are in good standing with the college.
“Homelessness is an often sudden and unforeseen situation felt by many students and is blind to one’s race, religion, gender and political beliefs,” the letter states.
Nicholas Steil, a City College student, along with the senate, made progress in implementing the bill here at City College. Steil wrote the letter, had the original idea for the bill and wrote the language on the bill’s draft.
They don’t want this issue to go unnoticed, which is why they chose to take actions now rather than later.
“There is a large, yet unknown number of students in the California Community College system that are currently homeless or at the risk of becoming so,” the senate wrote.
Students have more than enough on their plate than having to worry about where they can take a shower, Steil said.
“AB 1995, if passed into law, would help in alleviating some of the stress that is faced by a struggling student on a daily basis by providing them with a facility to shower in,” it said.
The letter will be sent to Assemblymember Williams along with Assemblymember Jose Medina and the Student Senate for California Community Colleges External Affairs Committee.
“Homeless students may feel so insecure about their hygiene that they don’t want to show up to school anymore,” said Sebastian Rothstein, a recently appointed senator. “That would mean less enrolled students which at the end of the day, would result in a net loss compared to the cost of maintaining the shower facilities.”
“I think it’s an obvious thing to do and I fully support it,” Rothstein said.
