By Alex Luthi
ONLINE EDITOR

According to official Associated Students Ocean campus election results released Friday morning, Joshua Nielsen and Ryan Vanderpol were elected to the posts of student trustee and AS president, respectively.

The results were first released via text message by a member of City College’s AS to Rod Santos, acting dean of student affairs and public safety and Diana Munoz-Villanueva, the current student trustee for City College’s board of trustees.

Munoz-Villanueva announced the results of the race for student trustee during the Thursday meeting of City College’s board of trustees at the John Adams campus to the standing room only crowd attending the meeting.

The official results were released to The Guardman by City College student Jimmy Young, an AS senator candidate who ran on the O.S. slate. The results were verified by Pamela Ward, election commissioner, Philip Conklin, assistant elections commissioner and Skip Fotch, associate dean of student activities.

Election Results from Ocean Campus

Vote counts for a candidate appear after the candidate’s name.

Winners of each race are denoted in bold.

District-wide election results:

Proposition S

Proposition S Approved

Yes 467
No 207

Student Trustee Candidates Votes

Joshua Nielsen 846
Bivett Bracket 197
Aito Compton 157

Ocean campus vote tallies:

AS Ocean President

Ryan Vanderpol 277
Alecia Dominguez 265
Paolo Marquez 172
Olivia Franco 118
Jerry Scripter 54

AS Ocean Senators Votes

Nicole Blas 382
Yoowi Jang 281
Marielle Bautista 280
Pedro Alforque 357
Keyla Medonza 325
Laura Medina 311
Moose Adewunmi 308
Choco (Vinci-Paolo) Vilbar 274
Daniel Mancia 266
Eloy Najera 262
Diamond Dave Whitaker 262
Zenryo Trenholm 260
Mei Xuan 257
Rheana Rios 255
Faafetai Tupua 255
Wen S. Li 240
Johnny Lee 239
Raymond Tan 238
Jimmy Young 232
Ashley Brown 227
Christopher Gomora 223
Stephanie Nuttman 217
Joshua Bohar 192
Jacob Anderson 183
Barbara Jefferson 188
Vincent Finkowski 185
Josh Terry 160
William McSwine 152
Tayana Drevaleva 150
Micheál McLoughlin 150

Source: AS Elections

For updates on CIty College’s Associated Students election results, check back with The Guardsman or follow our election twitter feed @ccsfelection.

By Vanessa Blore
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The City College board of trustees passed a resolution March 26, establishing a College Textbook Affordability Task Force to help students deal with the rising cost of text books.

The purpose of this task force is to “develop textbook adoption guidelines and to evaluate and implement other strategies to improve textbook affordability,” Chancellor Dr. Don Q. Griffin said.

“[The task force] should include representatives of the local academic senate, student government, librarians, disabled student services, Extended Opportunity Programs and Services as well as the bookstore manager, chief instructional officer, chief student services officer and other important stakeholders,” Chancellor Griffin said.

This task force is the first step in a local solution to a statewide problem. The California State Auditors May 2008 report stated publishers employ various tactics to affect the costs of textbooks.The report also states several companies in the textbook industry believe the market for used textbooks drives up the cost of new textbooks and may play a role in how frequently publishers issue new editions.

“This resolution is good to bring some awareness to the subject. But the cost of books is far beyond City College. I really hope, that out of the resolution, a lobbying group gets created. Moreover, I really wish for this group to lobby in Sacramento in favor of policies and laws that prevent publishers from burdening students with the cost of books,” Student trustee Diana Muñoz -Villanueva said.

The 2008 California Auditors Report states textbook costs represent nearly 60 percent of the total cost of a students education in academic year 2007-2008. An average full-time City College student can expect to pay $692 on textbooks annually. The annual cost of fees for a full time student to enroll at City College costs around $480.

Community Colleges may attract low-income students because they are more affordable than UC or CSU campuses. Therefore, textbook costs represent a higher portion of the total cost of an education for a student enrolled at a community college than for a student at a UC or CSU campus.

There are a few alternatives to purchasing new or used text books. City College’s library has textbooks on reserve and although the number of reserved books is small, it is growing. Google has also began to take “orphan” books – out-of-print works which no author or publication has an active copyright to. Scanning these onto a database will make these books available free of charge to students.

Nine trustee candidates have stepped forward

By Liska Koenig
STAFF WRITER

Industrial engineering major Diana Muñoz-Villanueva was re-elected as City College student trustee for 2008 – 2009, while political science major Joshua Nielsen was elected the new Associated Students President during elections for AS government on April 29 and 30.

Earning 431 of the 607 votes, Muñoz-Villanueva promised to advocate for more scholarships and tutoring in her next term. She knows that textbook prices burn into students’ financial resources and wants to reduce costs.

“I learned so much during this past year as a student trustee and feel I can really make a difference in the lives of students,” Muñoz-Villanueva said. “I spend about 25 to 30 hours per week in my role as a student trustee. Sometimes I’m at board meetings until 10 p.m. or longer.”

An item on Nielson’s agenda is the improvement of campus tours for new students.

“Students who are just getting started at City College need to know where to find their networks and communities. Tours should include places like the financial aid office, the Book loan program or where to find tutoring,” Nielsen said.

Nielsen would also like to see the building of student dorms after the parking area has been moved from the reservoir. This would be a way to find affordable housing for students just moving to San Francisco.
Candidate Chirag Dalibar lost, but has expressed interest in actively supporting Muñoz-Villanueva.

“There is enough work for two here and sometimes it makes sense to talk things over with somebody else,” he said. “We need to get together and do something, raise funds for student activities and form a true community.”

So far, the position of a second student trustee has not been approved.

“I encourage students to think about their choices and to ensure that their representation by a student trustee is not only helpful to them, but important for the college as a whole,” Associate Dean of Student Activities Skip Fotch said.