Amador wins uncontested election

Jorge Amador is a 19 year-old sophomore Government major, and, as of Friday April, 30, Amador is the new student body president.

Amador was unopposed in this year's student government election. Before becoming president, Amador served as the Northridge Campus senator.

Accent editor Christopher A. Smith sat down with Amador to talk about what Amador plans to focus on in his upcoming term as president.

Why do you want to be student body President?

JA: I want to be Student Body President to embody the student body in all its shapes and forms. I want to be able to represent every single student that walks through these halls. I think I'd be a really good person for doing that.

What do you think it is about you that qualifies you to have this position?

JA: I'd like to start off first of all, my experience. I've been an ACC student for a while now and I think that since I've been involved in student government this year I know all the ins and outs, what it means to be the president. I worked very closely with the Executive Council for Student Government so I'm fairly aware of what everyone's tasks are.

Let's talk a little bit about your specific plans. What are some of your goals?

JA: I guess first of all I'd like to increase student involvement. That's my main concern as far as major issues are concerned. I'd love to get more student input by internet and surveys, and talking to people. I think it would be vital for our success. As far as other things, I think more student involvement would help with everything including sponsoring major events or holding major events, like Black Out which is successful.

Do you plan to continue Black Out?

JA: You know it is a very big project. I would hope so we just need experienced hands on board and someone who is determined to make it happen. Like I said, that is more of a macro management from the Executive Council's position.

I want to ask you about some of the big issues we've covered at the newspaper. This semester we've written a lot about the proposal to change late registration and the add/drop issue. There was a proposal to move late registration and the add/drop period back to the week before classes begins. So I want to see what your take on this issue is.

JA: From the beginning I opposed this decision because I think a lot of students could benefit from the add/drop grace period. We made a special committee in Student Government to deal with adds and drops. The person in charge of that was our parliamentarian Brice Gump. We dealt with the details of the actual adds and drops system because it's very complicated and you have to separate it into separate issues. You cannot fix it with a one-line authoritative rule. So we just worked really close with the administration and tried to find an even ground where it benefit both students and administration.

I know the issue will come back up sometime next semester or next year. Now there is a proposal to move late registration but keep two days of add/drop. Would you be comfortable with that or would you want to keep late registration as it is now?

JA: You know it is important to note that in other colleges, major colleges, though I have never attended one, they have registration up to a week or so after classes begin to add and drop and do what they need to do, sometime even more. So I understand this is a community college and we work differently. I still really, really support having three days to add and drop. Everything else with send it back or moving it forward is just more of the details of how the program is run or the paper work.

Another big issue is smoking on campus. I know they've tried in the past to make ACC campuses smoke free. Do you have an opinion on that?

JA: I've talked a lot with my Campus Manager at Northridge about that subject in particular. She expressed the need to have designated smoking areas because some people do not like smoke whenever they are walking out of the college doors. My main concern would be that those students that are smokers are well taken care of so that they are not outside in the rain. I think there is room for compromise. We have been talking about it for the Master Planning of it for all campuses. I expressed that issue back when my meeting convened in Northridge about needing designated smoking areas because you can't just be outside in the rain.

In the last legislative session some pro-gun people were for letting people with concealed handgun licenses take their gun to campus. I wanted to get your take on that.

JA: I'm a strong, strong advocate for our constitutional rights. I believe the United States Constitution is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing I have ever read. Allowing guns in schools is kind of dangerous for lack of a better word. I mean campus police would have a lot of keeping up with students from class to class who have a concealed handgun.

So I think it would be an unnecessary problem for the police, but I'm a strong advocate for guns, and I would really hate if a tragedy were to happen because of proposed changes to the current rules.

The SGA is usually at the forefront of talking to the ACC administration, working with president Kinslow and with the different committees. How do you see that relationship, and how do you see yourself working with the ACC administration?

JA: Whenever we deal with the administration, we are trying to come to a consensus. We don't want to, you know, have a tug-a-war mach where just one side is always winning. We want to have it toward something that we can both agree on and work together with.