Students voice hopes, fears in new constitution

SGA’s new constitution may have passed with ease, but some students are still hesitant to join them in celebration due to the lack of a pre-established bond between SGA and the student body.

“I feel like unless you are a part of SGA, you will not know anything about it,” said sophomore Cassidy Desmore, who feels unaware of both the purpose behind SGA, and how her own class senator has created change on campus.

Junior Ashley Gomez echoes Desmore’s opinion.

“I have a hard time knowing what goes on, and how my senator represents me,” Gomez said.

For commuter and transfer students, any type of relationship with SGA has been practically non-existent. Sophomore Erica Zenobia, a transfer student, feels that this has been a hindrance to her in her time on Vanguard’s campus.

“For me as a transfer student it is hard for me to make friends. I feel like an outsider, so a representative specially for transfers would help me feel known and heard,” Zenobia said.

Senior and commuter student, Andrea Gonzalez, said it is not easy to interact with the student body on campus, and feels like her voice does not matter.

“Instead of class senators, I believe a commuter representative would be great, as they would hopefully understand what commuter students go through and provide creative ideas on how to give them a voice,” Gonzalez said.

Sophomore Senator, Paisley Quitoriano, shared her personal concern regarding the large portion of Vanguard students who do not care to be involved.

“If you want to invest your time into [SGA], and be willing to be involved you’ll know things,” Quitoriano said.

Quitoriano recognizes that SGA does not promote their class senators the way president and vice president are, as those positions put effort into campaigning and require votes.

“[Not being able to campaign is] a bit of an obstacle because not as many people are involved in choosing their class representor…I was hired by interview to fulfill this role,”

An email was sent this spring semester to the freshman body by Joe Contreras, freshman class senator, to remind his class of the opportunities that are available such as, council meetings, to share their opinions.

Contreras expressed how senators can only engage as much as students allow them to.

“It is extremely difficult to get a hold of constituents to get to know them, so please check your emails and respond, because my desire is to hear your voice and create change for the freshman class,” Contreras said.