The Associated Student Government (ASG) typically holds board meetings from 3-5 p.m. on the first and third Monday of every month. The most recent meeting was on April 30 in the Boardroom of the 1000 Building. Students may attend if they would like to meet their representatives or voice an issue. In addition, students may meet with their representatives in the Student Life Office on the third floor of the PUB on most weekdays.
The next meeting will be on May 14.
Open Comments
According to ASG Budget and Finance Officer Toni Zapanta, there was only $12,776.56 left in the mini-grant budget.
Fatoumata Jammeh, the ASG club affairs officer, also informed attendees that the application to perform during the Club Award event on May 24 or to host games during the Club Carnival Day on May 23 is still open.
ASG President Yorin Anggari encouraged students to vote in the presidential election which began on April 25 and will end on May 9. A video of the open forum and candidate bios are available on the Student Life’s Facebook page and the ASG website respectively.
Mini Grants
Hiking Club
An overnight event called “Adventure Time” will be held on June 9-10 at Double K Retreat Center in Easton, Wash., by the Hiking Club and the Environmental Club to provide canoeing experience and outdoor education of survival skills and natural creatures, according to Hiu Ching Lee, the club’s vice president. A group of 22 students and two faculty chaperones, Angela Hughes and Ernest Johnson, will participate in the event. Participants will travel to the site on the morning of June 9 and return to SCC at the following night.
Two faculty members, Jamie Ardena and Adria Magrath, will arrive on June 10 and lead two workshops each.
The request of $2,810.11 will cover three meals provided by the site, lodging, canoeing, snacks, workshop materials, transportation and the two instructors’ budget.
Zachary Peeples, the club’s president, said students are asked to eat breakfast before departure and to bring their own lunches on the first day, in order to reduce costs. They also chose to borrow two of SCC’s shuttles to avoid paying for rental vans.
ASG Vice President Nam Pham expressed concern about how the same group of students seemed to consistently benefit from the club’s trips.
Peeples said that during the club kick-off, they gathered names of students who were interested in participating the event and that he believes it consists of both new and current members.
Pham reminded the club that since the event is funded by students’ money, the club has to open their events to all students, not just their own members.
Request: $2,810.11
Granted: $2,810.11
Project PRIDE
One of the biggest club events of last year, PRIDE Prom, will be held again this year by Project PRIDE on June 1 in the Main Dining Room. It is a platform to gather the LGBTQ+ community and allies.
The event will have a drag show, a DJ, dancing and an informative session about LGBTQ+ community resources.
The club requested a budget to cover the cost of the photo booth, food, safety guards, decorations, the DJ and the drag show.
According to one of the representatives, Christian Espinoza, they will purchase the food from Lancer. For decorations, they planned to buy UV lights, tablecloths, balloons, stars and glitter for a total of $500, with the UV lights costing around $450.
Michael Komala, another representative from the club, said they only have a few decorations left from last year’s prom and they believe the new decorations are necessary in order to fit in the prom’s space theme.
For similar events in recent years, clubs usually invited an in-house DJ, an SCC student, for free, according to Gary Wu, the ASG communication officer.
Komala said they prefer to recruit a DJ from an outside company so they can ensure that the DJ is someone who is “understanding of the LGBTQ point of view” and represents that through their music choices.
In response to the members of the board suggesting they consider using a cheaper food vendor, such as Costco, the club said they are flexible with that as long as it could provide enough food for participants.
Espinoza, however, did not have enough information about the breakdown of food cost. Micaela Smith, the ASG program support supervisor, suggested the board could name a maximum amount, and then the club could work with Smith to find the cheapest options.
The amount of granted budget costs for decoration and food was amended to $350 and $700 respectively.
Request: $4,900
Granted: $4,350
YooToo Club
The YooToo Club is looking to buy a higher quality camera (Canon EOS 80D DSLR Camera and lens), video editing software (Movavi) and other equipment, such as a tripod and reflector.
Pham asked the club if they knew that students can borrow high-quality photography equipment from the school’s film department.
Min-Yuan Lee, the club’s president, said they want to own equipment for the club’s own purposes. She said renting equipment from the school takes more effort and the two-hour period of usage limits their project’s flexibility, especially when they have to film off campus. She said she believes the equipment is a long-term investment that future members and other clubs could also benefit from.
Pham was concerned that the investment might not be worth it for a relatively new club.
If approved, Lee said the club will store the equipment in the storage space at the back of the game room to ensure that the equipment is not taken by members for personal use. Other clubs, programs and Student Life would also be welcome to borrow the available equipment from the club, but club members would have priority.
Seeing the club’s remaining baseline budget of $333, the board negotiated with Lee to use $200 from the club budget to reduce the amount of the mini-grant request. The remaining $133 would be used for future weekly meetings.
After some debate, it was decided that the mini-grant discussion would be tabled for the next board meeting on May 14.
Anggari suggested the club bring more research and information on the requested equipment and the availability of existing resources. She also asked the club to have a clearer contingency plan in terms of the equipment use, storage and ownership.
By Frances Hui,
Political Editor