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CityTimes
sdcitytimes.com
Covering the San Diego City College community since 1945
Volume 73, Issue 4
March 19, 2019
L ow st u d en t i n t er est h u r t s A SG Student Affa i r s a nd ASG w a nt to know w hy there i s low student pa r ti ci pa ti on B Y J E SSE A LTI L I O Staff Writer tudent Affair s wanted to know why the pr evious voter tur nout was so low, noticing only 218 people voted on a campus of over 14,000 students. I ts office had the Associated Student Gover nment poll students to find out why. ?We?ve r eally tr ied to look at why we?ve had fewer students know mor e about the election pr ocess,? said Mar ciano Per ez, dean of Student Affair s. ?I think some of it was tied to not having a cafeter ia, because in the past, that's wher e they held their for ums. ?That?s wher e all the candidates used to campaign. You?d constantly see ?oh, it?s election time.?? Most students don?t know much about the Associated Student Gover nment elections. Students who want to r un should establish whether they can pr ior to campaigning by contacting Student Affair s. Ther e?s a minimum of 100 signatur es to be added to the ballot,
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and ever y candidate must be pr escr eened for r equir ements such as minimum GPA. I n r ecent elections ther e have been multiple uncontested positions that had to be appointed after war ds. Per ez said that San Diego City College wants to change that, meaning the school has to get students engaged and out to the polls. ?What I can tell you is that we'r e making a concer ted effor t this year to r eally pr omote the ASG election,? Per ez said. Student Affair s and the ASG plan to hold campaign events to infor m students about topics like who can r un for office, how to declar e your intent to r un for office, how to vote, and for ums wher e students can get to know the candidates. With that in mind, her e ar e some basics about City College?s upcoming ASG elections. Over seeing this election cycle will be, Miguel Antonio Cibr ian, the newly appointed student election commissioner. Cibr ian?s r ole is to manage the
ASG member s, led by pr esident Andr ew Leal (r ight ) and senat e pr esident Sebast ian Dunne, discussed impor t ant issues affect ing t he Cit y College campus. By Jonny Rico/ City Times
entir e pr ocess, be a neutr al thir d par ty, ensur e a fr ee and fair election wher e election codes ar e followed, and handle gr ievances. The San Diego Community College Distr ict plays a similar r ole, ensur ing r ules ar e obser ved and cer tifying
election r esults. The ASG pr esident ser ves as both the r epr esentative of the student body at City College, but additionally ser ves as student tr ustee on the SD CCD boar d. See ASG, page 2
Awar d-winning, on-campus t ax cent er offer s fr ee ser vice Low-income students (and non-students) can file their taxes for free at City College B Y J ONNY R I CO Editor-in-Chief an Diego City College students and community member s have the opportunity to have their taxes pr epar ed and filed at the on-campus VI TA Tax Center for fr ee. The I RS sponsor s the Volunteer I ncome Tax Assistance pr ogr am. City College became a cer tified VI TA location last year. Now in its sophomor e year, the pr ogr am's or ganizer s ar e pleased with the r esults. VI TA is designed to help lowmedium income individuals file their taxes for fr ee. Anyone who makes less than $54,000 per year is eligible for the fr ee ser vice. ?We?ve pr epar ed over 700 feder al and state r etur ns this year,? said associate pr ofessor Shana Car r. ?We have had over $650,000 in r etur ns for our clients so far.? The City College Tax Center was awar ded the 2018 VI TA Rookie Par tner of the Year by the I RS, beating out over 1,000 other VI TA locations nationwide. The center opened on Feb. 4 and will continue to oper ate until Apr il 15. Accor ding to Car r, the possibility of staying open until June to wor k on
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back taxes is under consider ation at the moment. The Business Depar tment at City College has been sending its students to VI TA sites to help pr epar e taxes for over 10 year s and r ealized the ?need to have it on campus,? accor ding to Car r. The Tax Center is r un by volunteer students who took a one- week Accounting 132 cour se dur ing the Januar y intersession. Students accumulate valuable exper ience that boosts their r esumes. Car r said the pr ogr am had a total of 70 students who took the class in Januar y, up fr om the 55 students the pr ogr am had in its inaugur al year. Those 70 students ar e now volunteer ing their time wor king at the oncampus Tax Center or other VI TA locations ar ound San Diego. Jaime L opez is one of those students who took Accounting 132 in Januar y and is now one of the 26 students at the City College Tax Center. ?I t wasn?t as har d as I thought it would be,? said L opez, who has exper ience doing his own taxes. ?I t?s infor mation one knows alr eady. I t?s just knowing the patter ns. Pr ofessor Car r did a gr eat job (teaching it). ?I feel if I can under stand it, anyone can under stand it.?
L opez takes delight in being able to get a bigger r etur n for the clients than they thought was coming. ?I t makes me feel like I know my stuff,? he said. The biggest challenge for L opez has been r emaining as pr ofessional as possible. ?I feel that someone that does your taxes has a close look at your per sonal life,? L opez said. ?I tr y not to get too close or too involved.? The Tax Center ?s success has been noticeable fr om the Jaime Lopez enjoys get t ing client s as much money back as possible. By star t and it has been Jonny Rico/ City Times able to navigate But she also explained the change smoothly thr ough tough situations didn't cause any confusion for the like the gover nment shutdown at the students who took the accounting star t of the year and a br and new tax cour se since they wer e lear ning code implemented by Pr esident Don- taxes for the fir st time. ald Tr ump. ?I think it was a bigger challenge ?The new tax law did change the for our pr ofessor s than for the stucur r iculum,? Car r said. dents,? Car r said.