Santa Rosa Junior College student organization M.E.Ch.A de SRJC demanded better student pay and expressed the need for a Latinx student center at the Board of Trustees meeting on Nov. 14. In addition, the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association emphasized the necessity for a bilingual stipend.

M.E.Ch.A. president Kelly Zamudio and vice president Alonso Rodriguez Villalobos said the SRJC campus lacks a community space for Latinx students. Zamudio urged the Board to consider developing a Latinx student success center.

“How can we be the leaders of tomorrow if we don’t have the space to grow? How can we organize to fight injustices in our academic system? How do we write about our culture?” she asked. “How can we advocate for our communities and how can we support our Black, Asian and Pacific Islander, Native, LGBTQ+ and unhoused peers [without a communal space]?” 

Zamudio said a Latinx student success center would strengthen the SRJC Latinx community by providing a space for students to do homework together, housing a library with books in Spanish and Indigenous languages, and offering access to bilingual tutoring and counseling. A success center is long overdue, according to Zamudio. SRJC began to implement one through its first Hispanic Serving Institution grant, but development was delayed multiple times and led to the program’s termination when funding ran out.

M.E.Ch.A member Bryan Fructuoso, who is also the Oak Leaf co-editor in chief, spoke on behalf of SRJC’s student employees on raising student worker pay to a “fair and equitable” wage.

“Students have already dealt with so much,” Fructuoso said. “There’s a need for student workers, but no one’s going to work for a low wage.”

As of August, SRJC raised the student employee minimum wage from the state minimum of $15.50/hour to $16.50/hour and updated the wage schedule. After expressing their concerns to the Board and administration in a previous meeting earlier in the semester, M.E.Ch.A. members petitioned SRJC’s administration to meet the Santa Rosa and Petaluma minimum wage of $17.06/hour for students when administration members claimed that the cities’ minimum wages didn’t apply to SRJC since it’s a government agency.

The updated wage schedule left student employees frustrated with a minimum wage rate that was still considered unlivable, according to Fructuoso. To receive a 50 cent raise, an employee would have to work 200 hours and have a positive performance review. To earn an additional 50 cent raise, employees must work 600 hours, receive a positive performance review and complete a one-unit work-experience class.

Fructuoso worked as a Peer Assisted Learning Specialist (PALS) in addition to two other jobs last semester. He decided against returning to work for SRJC again this semester, despite enjoying the position, because of the low pay.

“It’s important for institutions of higher learning, such as SRJC, to support their student employees with fair compensation,” Fructuoso said. “Especially for a campus that prides itself on the success of their students. And who is better to work, sustain and represent SRJC than their own students?”

Beatriz Camargo, president of the Latinx Faculty and Staff Association, said SRJC administration should compensate bilingual student workers with a 5% bilingual stipend since they usually put in extra work.

“It’s important to have bilingual representation for our SRJC employees and our student workers,” Camargo said. “There have been times when bilingual student workers have been asked to translate documents for departments. Other times when bilingual student workers are called to the front desk to translate, they’re pulled away from their other duties or even from their breaks. In spite of this important contribution, student workers are not being compensated for their bilingual capability.”

During public comments, SRJC student Thor McKay called for three minutes of silence to honor former student president and trustee Delashay Carmona Benson’s passing. McKay asked members and participants to remember Carmona Benson’s dedication to students and SRJC during the silence.

The Board named Daisy Cardenas employee of the month for her work at the HOPE program center, applauding her tenacity in keeping HOPE alive when its funding and existence were threatened in 2019 when federal funding wasn’t renewed.

The program was left to Cardenas, a then part-time employee, with just enough funding from grants to close it out that year. She was unwilling to let a program that supports first-generation, low-income, bilingual and bicultural students pursuing healthcare careers to close during the peak of a pandemic that was disproportionately affecting her “gente”—her people—many of whom lacked access to healthcare.

Instead of letting the program close, Cardenas stepped into the role of program coordinator when director Jeannie Dulberg left. She tapped into community partners and the SRJC Foundation and has currently secured up to $1.5 million in private community funding to keep HOPE alive.

“As the eldest daughter in a Mexican immigrant family, [a] first-generation college student and now [a] first-generation professional, I often grapple with the imposter phenomenon, questioning if I belong and my worthiness for such recognition,” Cardenas said. “But as I look around and see my colegas, my students and my family, I’m feeling such honor to be here today, holding so much gratitude in my corazon. Thank you.”