Part-Time Students Can’t Join Trustees

A plan that would have allowed part-time students to serve on the Ventura County Community College District board was derailed by trustees, who said the student representative should be enrolled full time.

Students want the requirement for the advisory trustee position lowered from 12 units a semester to nine units. But trustees voted 3 to 2 against the proposal Tuesday.

“Who can better understand the needs of a part-time student than a part-time student who’s working?” asked student trustee Chi Young Choe.

Ventura College student James Armendariz told trustees that state law requires that student representatives be enrolled in just five units and that the average around the state is nine units.

“We’re asking for equal and open access for all students to come in here and have the opportunity to participate in the school,” he said.

Trustees Norman J. Nagel and Pete E. Tafoya supported lowering the requirement to nine units per semester, but a majority of the board disagreed.

The 12-unit requirement “has worked well in the past,” Trustee Allan W. Jacobs said. “If they’re going to be student representatives, they can arrange their schedules and arrange their time to do it.”

Tafoya argued to no avail that the board members should listen to their constituents--including students themselves. “They know what they want, and they want to participate in the process,” Tafoya said. “They have spoken and we need to honor that.”