On Friday, April 12, City College’s Associated Student Government (ASG) decided to transfer $30,000 from the sustainability fund into their budget, and reevaluated their plans for the Olympics event.
The sustainability fund transfer had originally been proposed by Aristea Cottereau, the commissioner of sustainability, and has been a topic of discussion on the ASG’s agenda for the past five meetings.
“The sustainability fund was not being used at all, by moving it we’re just deciding to use the money,” Sophia Kofoed, the student trustee said. “That’s important because then students will actually have access to it.”
With the sustainability fund going relatively untouched for the past few years, it has reached the significant sum of $125,233.46. This fund is accumulated from a small portion of each City College student’s tuition, to be used for ‘sustainable’ projects and ventures around campus.
To clarify, the ASG can not use the sustainability fund for any project until an amount is moved into a budget they have access to, such as the student trust fund.
The original proposition outlined a transfer of $60,000 into their account to use for sustainability projects, nearly half of the entire fund.
The week before their meeting on April 12, the board sent out an email survey asking students how they felt about this transfer; they received one response in favor, and two against the proposal.
“The proposal lacked a specific layout, a plan on how the reallocated funds will be used,” said one anonymous student response.
The board spent ample time compromising between respecting these student concerns, and the proposal to make the funds available to the student body.
“I agree with the idea of transferring half of the [proposed amount],” said Secretary Raquel Smith, “it’s still a good amount, but it will also relieve students’ stresses about how big the full amount is.”
After significant discussion, Bryan Wong, vice president of external affairs moved to transfer $30,000 from the sustainability fund to the student trust fund. The board agreed unanimously, and the money is now available for clubs, students and other on-campus organizations to request for sustainable projects at City College.
Additionally, the student olympics event was planned for Saturday, April 13, but was canceled due to both the rain and a lack of student sign-ups.
The board was stuck with the decision to either reschedule the olympics, or plan a new, smaller event that relies less on sign-ups prior to the event.
“We should move on,” said Anastasia Savonov, vice president of internal affairs and chair of the olympics committee, “it’s not happening, we tried.”
The ASG is now planning on hosting a “smaller sports event,” likely on West Campus’ great meadow.
“I think it’s important that we make it so students can just walk up and join,” Kofoed said. “If they don’t hear about it [beforehand] it’s harder, but if they can just jump in, it’s a lot more accessible.”
The ASG is still working on planning a new, more accessible sports event, as of Friday, April 12.
The board also heard a proposal by Alexia Baca, commissioner of accessibility, allocating $5,000 of the ASG’s budget towards student scholarships.
A discussion ensued, whether to create five $1,000 scholarships, or 10 $500 scholarships for students. A decision on the scholarship amount will be made in one of the next few ASG meetings.
Regarding club grants, the board provided a total of $2,080 during the meeting on April 12: $400 to the Korean Culture Club and $1,680 to the Basketball Club. The board currently has about $1,300 left for club grants this semester, according to Hayden McBride, the vice president of operations and finance.
Lastly, Student Advocate Elena Fuentes attended the general assembly for the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC), where four of five student-proposed resolutions in City College’s region were officially passed.
“It’s a big deal, those are now legislative priorities for the students at California community colleges.” Fuentes said.
Resolutions are student-proposed ideas for bills that are voted on in the SSCCC’s general assembly, and are turned into bylaws within California Community Colleges if they receive enough votes.
The ASG’s next meeting will be held on Friday, April 19, at 9 a.m. in Campus Center room 223.
