Melissa Kendall
Delegates from 110 California community colleges met in San Jose Oct. 26 for their bi-annual General Assembly meeting, where they discussed and voted on resolutions they think will benefit their college campuses and improve the student learning environment.
Environmental and sustainability issues led the meeting with the most resolutions to be put up for a vote, with “going green” as the main focus.
Psychology major Melissa Love said, “I think it is important to look out for the environment. I’m glad that people are finally starting to realize the harm that we do, and are finally starting to do something about it.”
According to the Resolutions for Discussion packet passed out at the General Assembly, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design was one of the topics discussed and passed at the meeting. Under the LEED incentive, local student senates of the California community colleges are urged to advocate for renovations of their campus buildings so they are made to be energy efficient, and with environmentally friendly building materials.
Also discussed in the packet were “green” collar jobs. With the growth of the “green” industry comes a need to hire people that are certified to work under “green” regulations. This resolution, which passed, will ask that the student senate of the California community colleges advocate for more funding to expand or create programs on their campuses that cater to this industry.
A sustainable cafeteria-practices resolution was also discussed and passed at the meeting.
This resolution, according to the packet, calls for the use of washable dishes and utensils to be used in place of plastic ones. As described in the packet, this will lower carbon footprints and create more jobs for students. This resolution also encourages the local student governments to recommend locally grown and sustainable raised food for their cafeterias to serve, as well as to ask that all food grown outside of the United States be organic.
“I always buy organic food, and that would be really great if Pierce (College) had a selection to offer,” Love said.
But while some students are happy to see Pierce following the “green” trend, others stand in disagreement.
Amy Morrison, English major, said, “Honestly, I think it’s an annoyance. I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal when our temperature now is the same as it was in the 1940s. I think it’s a fad…more of a status symbol than anything else.”
Although these resolutions passed at the General Assembly, more voting still needs to be done before they are actually accepted, according to Christian Marfil-Amatulli, president of the Associated Students Organization at Pierce.
Those resolutions passed are sent to the resolutions committee to be revised and voted on by the student senate president. They are then sent to the three advisory councils of the community colleges where, Marfil-Amatulli said, they are voted on again and then passed on to the governor of California to have a final vote. If the resolutions are passed on all levels, then they are implemented, but how long after is unknown.
“It all depends on the resolution,” Marfil-Amatulli said.