Student Trustee, Eli Egger, prioritizes textbook and parking affordability for Santa Rosa Junior College Students. Egger was elected for student trustee position by SRJC students and will remain in office for one term.
Qualifications for student trustee are maintaining a minimum 2.0 GPA and an enrollment in a minimum of five units throughout the term of office.
Before becoming student trustee, Egger was involved with Student Government for approximately two years. In 2013, he created the Entrepreneur Club and in Spring 2014, the Student Senate appointed him as vice president of student marketing. He served this position for one semester, and then went on to become executive vice president of the student senate.
Egger has been at SRJC on and off since 2011. He is currently double majoring in political science and business administration. When he transfers to a UC, ideally UC Berkeley, he will have to choose one major. Egger is not sure if this will be his last semester at SRJC, but predicts that after he’s done at a UC he will attend law school.
Referring to textbook affordability, Egger said he plans on “implementing a program of free textbooks to some extent.” He would like to see a half-dozen or even a dozen of each required textbook on hold in the SRJC library and more availability to online textbooks.
He thinks cheaper parking is not reasonable because all the parking revenue goes towards the District Police, but he would like to make it his goal to have parking more available and to have a larger discount for students who purchase the optional Cub Card Plus service. He is hoping to see a $10-$15 parking discount for all Cub Card Plus holders.
“[Being student trustee] it means that I am more responsible for the quality of education of every student at SRJC. It means that I have a greater amount of responsibility than any other student on the campus,” Egger said.
He believes he is doing everything necessary for the student trustee position; however, he thinks there could be more requirements to prevent people from slacking off. He also thinks the student trustee should be required to sit on multiple committees.
According to SRJC student president Josh Pinaula, Egger is great to work with and has been receptive to information brought up about programs and campaigns.
Egger’s leadership is straightforward when it comes to financial matters, Pinaula said. He thinks about the future and is very helpful when it comes to finances and listens and acts accordingly.
Egger created the program where student government and students who sit on committees at the college will start getting paid. He also created the student grant system.
According to former student vice president of membership and marketing Alex Smith, Egger is the most qualified for the position because SRJC students elected him to be their voice.
Originally Egger had an opponent to run against, but student affairs disqualified his opponent leaving Egger the only one running for the position of student trustee.
“I think it’s important to have a student representative on the board, but I’d like to see even more power given to the students, possibly by adding more student seats to the board,” Smith said.
