At the end of May, election results for San Diego City College’s 2024-25 Associated Students Government were in, but the roster was still short.
Five members elected, 23 to go.
Incoming president Dalia Ramirez and the newly-elected officers received recruitment and onboarding instructions from Student Affairs Coordinator Lori Oldham, and got to work.
“I just felt like my team had my back,” said Ramirez, a political science and journalism major. “They have so (many) great ideas and I just can’t wait to bring them (to) life.”
With a full summer under their belt, the new City College ASG is stepping into the fall 2024 semester with a clear mission: to make students feel welcome and to leave a legacy that positively impacts the campus, according to several members.
As of print, 18 of the 28 seats in the body are filled, with some schedule-pending shuffling anticipated for the first meeting of the semester, according to Oldham.
The ASG advisor credited an inherent synergy that grew among the initial five officers, and subsequent members who joined, for the seamless onboarding of the remaining available seats.
“I can tell you that immediately there was a connection,” Oldham said. “And what I mean … I just want to say a soul-to-soul kind of connection, where you feel like this is a kindred spirit to me.”
Collectively, ASG has several initiatives planned to engage with the student body, including president’s forums, tabling events and voter registration outreach, four members who were interviewed said.
Some legacy projects the ASG body intends on exploring include the creation of a multimedia green room for student clubs to produce marketing content, installing locker spaces for transborder and unhoused students, and health center-provided prescription glasses for qualifying students.
“I want to see clubs thrive,” said Inter-Club Council President Sergio Montiel. “I want to see clubs collaborate more. I don’t want this feeling of like we all exist within a vacuum and we can’t help each other out.”
Ramirez and Montiel are among five active members of City College’s Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán chapter who now serve in the shared governance body.
A dispute between MEChA and members of City’s Academic Senate that was drawn-out over the previous academic year galvanized the Chicanx activist group to seek a role in the student government, according to three of the MEChA members.
A year-long campaign to receive club reimbursements from City administration also drove MEChA to spurn campus funding and autonomously raise funds for their organizing, according to the members.
“It mobilized a bunch of us,” said Montiel, a history and Chicano studies major, of both incidents. “It was a pivot point (where) we were challenged to, ‘if you want to see change, be the change.’”
Ramirez’s experiences organizing with MEChA, growing up in Logan Heights and in advocacy efforts through an AFT internship are among the factors she credited with seeking to harness ASG as a tool to advocate for students’ needs.
The new president said an Academic Senate-coordinated resolution for students to support local businesses on campus may be in the pipeline.
Oldham, the group’s advisor, said she sees that desire to serve City’s student body permeate the new student government and has her anticipating their success for the rest of the school year.
“It’s fascinating to see so many students in agreement with how they want to impact in a positive way students’ lives here at City,” Oldham said. “And it’s all very authentic, it’s very… it’s palpable.”
ASG will be hosting its first Student Org Conference Sep. 20, in room BT 301 and a President’s Student Forum with Ramirez and City President Ricky Shabazz at the cafeteria Sep. 23.
ASG meets weekly Wednesdays from 1:00-2:30 p.m. in room M-201.
