The discussion about the Student Affairs Assistants positions has finally reached a conclusion.
During ASCC Senate on Feb.18, Senator Ivan Oyarzabal presented legislation SR 14-002, which called for the resignation of ASCC President Miles Aiello and former Vice President Charles Caguioa from the positions of Student Affairs Assistants.
During the Senate meeting, Senator Oyarzabal stated that the position lacked the necessary success indicators or descriptions as required by the Student Equity plan.
He said, “[These success indicators] are to ensure that the money is being used to benefit all students.”
ASCC President Miles Aiello has decided to veto the legislation.
He said, “I took in a lot of consideration from the executive Cabinet, and a large amount of information and concerns from students at large.” Aiello added that the arguments made against these positions were based on false information.
Aiello added that the argument regarding the Student Equity plan was erroneous because the funds for the jobs did not come from student funds.
Among other arguments, was the lack of transparency, a possible conflict of interest and that there are no clear descriptions that would delineate the two positions.
Dean of Student Services Gilbert Contreras said, “The discussion is healthy at this time but it’s disappointing in some ways that these positions are seen as not transparent or that the headline here is that there is some sort of controversy.”
Some in the senate believe that these positions create a conflict of interest because as they would answer to Contreras.
Contreras at first stated that these jobs were not because of the positions as ASCC president and vice president but later added that these positions were given to Aiello and Caguioa until the senate decided to have paid presidency positions.
He added that these positions were meant to open the way for more student jobs in the future; one of the goals he’s strived for.
Another issue was that these jobs were not presented before senate until after the fact.
Senator Victor Villalobos said, “They [Contreras, Aiello] are 100 percent right about that and I’ve publicly acknowledged it in different government assemblies on campus,”
However, he added that when the issue arose, the dean of student activities picked and chose what to let ASCC in on and also gave false info.
Villalobos added, “So was it legal? Yes. Was it in alignment with one of the core values of Cerritos College ‘promoting respect and trust in all people be they students, community members and employees?’ Some would say ‘no it’s not.’ ”
