Elections are around the corner and different groups on campus are looking to endorse the best candidates they feel can fulfill their responsibilities on the board of trustees.

The Cerritos College Faculty Federation represented by president Solomon Namala spoke about who it is backing and how it is helping the candidates with winning the election.

He named the candidates in order of the area:

• Area 1- Martha Camacho-Rodriguez
• Area 2- Luis Melliz
• Area 4- Ken Glenn
• Area 6- Sandra Salazar

Camacho-Rodriguez is running against incumbent Bob Arthur and Namala explained why CCFF chose her over Arthur.

“She is a special-ed teacher, […], she has worked with the local union in Compton and helped with the students and the community, and helping the community be more involved in the school.

“We felt like as a teacher, she is somebody who understands the issues facing faculty, […], she understands the difficulties that we (faculty) face,” he said.

He discussed the year long contract negotiations that went on between CCFF and the board as an example to further go into detail on why Arthur was not the right person for them.

“Personally we like Trustee Arthur, but we don’t feel like he has done much to support the faculty in terms of contract negotiations,” he said.

Namala explained that some faculty weren’t in support of Arthur being a Donald Trump delegate, however that did not play a major part in deciding to not endorse him.

He said, “Our mission is to be open to everybody and to serve everyone, and when you’re supporting a candidate (Trump) who does not share those values, it’s problematic, but that’s not the main reason, he can support anybody he wants.”

Namala explained the union felt the same way about endorsing Melliz who is running against incumbent Carmen Avalos and Tammy Ashton, and Glenn who is running against Marissa Perez.

Melliz is a community organizer and the faculty union feels he is someone who understands their concerns.

Namala shared that Salazar stood with the union during the contract negotiations and that is why they are endorsing her.

The union has walked and donated to the campaigns to show their support.

CCFF has also been using social media, phone banking and mailers to let people be aware of who the union is supporting.

Cerritos College Student Union vice president Ryan Kang said it was backing the same candidates as CCFF.

“We believe that students come first, and the board of trustees has a duty to ensure that students succeed and are given the resources that we need to not only achieve academic excellence, but also thrive and be empowered by our professors and administrators,” he said.

For the final week before elections, CCSU is to do what they have been doing and that is:

• Going door-to-door
• Calling people personally
• Encouraging more students to get involved

The California Schools Employees Association chose to endorse other candidates however, it chose not to comment.

CSEA is endorsing:

• Carmen Avalos
• Tom Chavez
• Marissa Perez