City College held a new election for the office of Associated Student Government (ASG) vice president. Almost 300 students voted Oct. 21 and 22 online and in person.
Michael Roderick, running unopposed, received around 250 votes to authenticate the win. Roderick, who’s been serving in an interim role for the last nine weeks, will now officially serve out the remainder of the school year as ASG vice president.
This election differed from past elections because there was only one candidate running for one office. However, Roderick expressed that, “ … although this election is obviously much less formal, it’s just as important.”
In addition to being a student of City College since 2011, he has also been a member of the ASG for two years.
Prior to the official election, there were two election forums held Thursday, Oct. 17, in the cafeteria.
In an effort to encourage students to vote, the Associated Student Government spreads the word throughout the college about who they are as representatives of the students of City College and how they can better aid them as well.
As vice president, Roderick will participate in shared governance and play an important role appointing people to serve on committees where decisions are made.
“The role of the vice president is a general role of support for the president, to help make decisions important to the board, to sit on the executive council, to assign members to committees, to oversee the actions of the student senate to represent the students’ voice in our meetings and with administrators and to help support the board members in all of their endeavors,” explained Roderick via email.
In the spring election, only 622 out of over 18,000 students turned out to vote. When the results were in, college officials were very pleased with the turnout.
“Many people said that nobody would vote,” stated Dean of Student Affairs Michael-Paul Wong. “We had to fight against the fact that people wouldn’t vote out of apathy or fear of him automatically winning, which is very unusual.”
In addition to being a student of City College since 2011, Roderick’s involvement with ASG includes one year as a senator and one year as president of the senate. Citing this experience, as well as experiences working with state and local administrators on key issues, he feels that he is “suited to represent City College as a whole.”
His goals this year are to improve student outreach, inform students about everything ASG does and fight for more funding for education on a state level.
All students are encouraged to attend weekly ASG meetings on Friday at noon in D-105 to see Roderick and the rest of the ASG in action.
