College Assembly Votes on Student Government: Students Could Be Deciding Factor

On Thursday, March 5, the Student Task Force on Campus Life at Middlesex County College will bring a recommendation to the College Assembly to reinstate the Student Government Association (SGA), said Terry McGlincy, director of student activities and head of the Task Force on Campus Life. "The charge was brought to us last year, but due to the smoking ban issue, we never got around to it so this semester a student government is our main focus," said McGlincy. In order to get an idea through the College Assembly there is a process that must be followed. Every year at the end of the summer and spring semester's suggestions of changes in policy get emailed to the Chairperson of the College Assembly who then distributes the different ideas to the appropriate task forces, said Richard Ellison, chairperson of the College Assembly. "It is then up to the specific task force to decide which suggestions are priority. Once that decision has been made approximately one week before the actual meeting, the task force needs to hand in their policy changes and recommendations for the charge they received," said Ellison. Once a charge has been given to a task force it is completely in their hands. It is their responsibility to get the information back into the College Assembly so the issue can be voted on and then passed on to the president of the college for approval, said Ellison. Once a charge is approved by the president of the college it is then handed over to one of the vice presidents, who is expected to make sure the charge gets implemented, said Dr. Karen Hays, vice president of MCC. MCC used to have a SGA, but in 1972-1973 because of a lack of student involvement it was decided to combine the SGA, Faculty Senate and Administrative Council into one organization which is now known as the College Assembly, said Dr. Hays. The College Assembly works toward changing and amending all policies on campus. Out of the 19 community colleges in New Jersey, MCC is the only one without a SGA. For an SGA to pass through the College Assembly process, students will most likely have to show the college it is something they want, said McGlincy. "I think it's important for students to look outside our institution and see what we do not offer them and how we can make the college community better and more versatile. A student government would give interested students another chance for leadership," said Dr. Hays. "It could be a great asset for them [students] to work on communication and actually see how decisions get made on all sides at MCC." It is important to remember that the College Assembly can only do so much. There is a lot that goes on at MCC and policies need to be looked at from all points of view. People might not understand why it has taken so long for the SGA charge to go through the process, but the College Assembly also works on priorities, said Ellison. "We have open meetings the first Thursday of every month at 2 p.m. in L' Hommedieu Hall. Anyone can come. We take everyone's views into consideration. The problem is students don't usually attend unless they are on the College Assembly," said Ellison, "If they [students] were serious about an SGA, they would use the information that is made readily available to them and come discuss the issues at the meetings." By the end of the spring semester, students at MCC should know if an SGA will be implemented for the following year or if it will be another year of going through the College Assembly process, said McGlincy.