VALLEY COLLEGE : Student Trustee Candidate Picked

Valley College Student Body President Erica L. Hauck has been nominated as a candidate for student trustee on the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees.

Students voted for Hauck in an election last week.

“I think she’d be a very good student trustee,” Valley President Mary Lee said. “She’s been very involved here. She’s in there doing a lot of things.”

Hauck, 20, said she likes dealing with the Board of Trustees and would like the opportunity to work more closely with the trustees and district Chancellor Donald Phelps.

“I see a lack of cohesiveness in our district among the student government groups of the campuses, and that’s something that concerns me,” Hauck said.

“I’ve seen the administration, faculty, staff and students of Valley College grow closer and work together. I’d like to see that happen in the district.”

Tyree Weider, Valley’s vice president of administration, said she too is pleased about Hauck’s nomination.

“I think she would make a wonderful trustee. All semester, she’s been active in College Council,” she said. “She’s well-informed about district and campus issues. She has a good overview. . . . I think she would add a lot to the Board of Trustees.”

Hauck said that although she didn’t hold elected office during junior high and high school, she worked on various committees, including a panel to protect student rights. The election for student trustee is a process originating on the various Los Angeles community college campuses. Each of the nine campuses that chooses to do so may nominate one person.

On May 14, one randomly chosen student as well as the student president from each represented campus (or vice president, if the president is the nominee) will vote during a special election at the board office. The winner of that election receives the trustee position and begins his or her term June 1.

Hauck said that she hopes for a future in politics and that she is planning to attend law school.