Cerritos College Faculty Federation President David Fabish addressed issues of misleading the Senate in voting to approve a resolution and support the faculty last Wednesday.

ASCC President Paulo Amaral vetoed the resolution that the Senate came up with.

The issue came up after Fabish wrote a letter to the Faculty Senate with “ASCC Senate supports the CCFF,” as the header.

Fabish admitted that he made “one mistake” when he wrote it as the header of the letter.

“I can’t blame anyone for that letter,” Fabish said, “but the fact is that (the Senate) did pass the resolution (for an end to the contract negotiations).”

“I have received criticism from the Faculty Senate for trying to influence (the ASCC Senate),” he continued, “but if I did that it is against the law.”

The CCFF and the Board of Trustees have been negotiating over a faculty salary contract that also implemented keeping the current peer evaluations system.

On Feb. 15 the Senate approved the revised resolution to end the contract dispute in a 13-3 vote and it was to be signed by Amaral.

The resolution stated:

? The ASCC Senate supports the maintaining of a binding arbitration and asks that both parties bargain in good faith for the best interest of the students of Cerritos College.

? The ASCC Senate supports the consideration of re-hiring of faculty.

Amaral stated that the reason for his veto on both resolutions was because he believed that Fabish’s email and the information that said the Senate supported the CCFF was misleading.

“(I’ve always believed) that this resolution was a great waste of time,” Amaral said, “(and the misleading information) is why I vetoed the resolution.”

Senator Karla Marquez disagreed.

“The resolution passed,” she said. “And it’s important to support it.”

She added that Amaral’s veto indicates that the Senate is punishing the faculty.

Senator Christian Galvez believed that Amaral made a “rational decision and that the Senate should respect it and (Amaral) made the decision to veto the bill from an executive angle.”

However, Majority Leader Guillermo Tellez said that he had sympathized with the veto.

“This veto makes a statement,” he commented, “but the CCFF has interpreted it one way and the Board has interpreted it another way.”

It just didn’t make sense to punish the legislative branch within the student government, he concluded.

Party Whip Lexie Guerrero told Fabish that CCFF member Peter Nguyen had said that the ASCC supported the CCFF.

“He called (the Senate) aggressive thinkers.”

Nguyen denied he said that when he spoke to the Senate on Feb. 15.

As the Senate decided to let the veto stand or be overturned other members expressed that the veto should stand.

Minicrystal Valenzuela said that if Amaral decided to veto the bill “it was for a reason.”

Senator Valerie Aquino agreed saying that if the veto is overturned “education will be affected.”

Marquez agreed that students do pay to come to school, “but it is clear what action to take, to overturn this veto.”

The Senate decided it would not vote on the veto at its next meeting.