Although ASCC Vice President Aldemar Sanchez was still allowed to run in the election, the decision has left people with a feeling that there is a bias in the way the ASCC government makes its decisions.
ASCC Senator Miles Aiello, who is also running for a ASCC president, is considering dropping from the race because of the way the court’s decision turned out.
“It may look bad on his part or it may not, because of the support that he has in his little group,” he said. “I feel like we are fighting a giant and the giant is huge compared to our size, in that we don’t have a fair shot.”
Chief Justice Jessica Hirani was sitting with Sanchez’s peers, during the court meeting to decide if Sanchez was still allowed to participate in the election.
Daniel Gomez, a senator for the Student Senate of California for Community College, stood up during the meeting and pointed out this observation to the court.
“When you sit next to the individual, with the problems that have arisen, it puts the board in an awkward position because you see your chief just sitting with the individuals that the meeting is being held for to begin with,” Gomez said.
Hirani was then forced to move to the other side of the room next to Chief Justice Pro-Tempore Regina Jaster, who was running the meeting.
Hirani declined to comment on the situation.
Aiello was in disbelief that it took someone from the public to make everyone aware of what was going on.
“It took Daniel (Gomez), our representative for our district, to call them out in the middle of the meeting as a conflict of interest and as the chief justice, that is a complete conflict of interest,” Aiello said.
However, Sanchez felt that he was being targeted by the other candidates based on the relationships he has built from his time in ASCC.
“A lot of them were getting mad because a lot of the student government wanted to support me next year because of everything that I have done for ASCC or what I have done for those commissioners and senators,” he said.
Sanchez will start his campaign four days after the other candidates for his infractions with the application process, but doesn’t feel that this will hurt his chances in the race.
“A lot of them don’t really know many people on campus, because they stick to their own little groups,” he said. “That’s one thing they’ll say about us, but when we are in our group we go and speak to everyone.”
While there was a thought of bias from ASCC, there was nothing but praise from the way Jaster handled everything that was going on during the court meeting.
ASCC President Juan Ramirez was at the meeting and felt that was the most efficiently run meeting that he has ever seen in the two years that he has been part of student government.
“I know she did this in only 24 hours, to get all the materials and also act accordingly within the rules to be fair to both parties,” he said. “A leader like that should continue to be an example for the students here at Cerritos College.”
Although Gomez didn’t understand the point of having the meeting, he too had nothing but praise for Jaster.
“I think that the meeting in general has been as objective as it can possibly be,” Gomez said, “Regina has done a phenomenal job, despite all the pressure and attention in the room.”
