What’s up Butte College students! What a crazy last couple of weeks it has been, and we are so close to finishing this semester. Good job everyone for powering through.

The last board meeting was a special one because we had our Board of Trustees’ Food Drive Challenge. Faculty and staff, including the board, were invited to bring non-perishable food to the board room before the meeting. By the time the meeting had started, the front of the room was filled with food, and it was an awesome sight! The board also had a chance to visit the Roadrunner Hub, and greatly appreciated the opportunity to get to see all the resources offered to students.

Let’s dive in! 

First, we had one of the Biology instructors, Michael Matiasek, come to the meeting to give a report on his sabbatical leave. A sabbatical leave is when an instructor, usually a 10-year instructor, can receive a semester off to travel, rest, reflect, and/or work on skills and interests. This type of leave has to be approved by the Board of Trustees, and the faculty member should give a report on what they did when they come back. Matiasek gave a presentation, showing how he updated the textbook materials and lab manuals to include more up-to-date information and better illustrations and examples. He also worked on his lecture and lab videos to make them better quality, more engaging, and aestheti

c. Michael is an awesome instructor as I had him for BIO 7, Sustaining Life on Earth, and as a student I appreciated his effort towards helping students be successful in and out of the classroom. 

Then we moved to reports, with Academic and Classified Senate working on policies and procedures. The Academic Senate is also working on figuring out what to do with AI and Chat GPT. If you have any suggestions or opinions about AI, let our student gov. know, and we can communicate with faculty on what us students want.

I commented on a few upcoming events, such as our Car Seat Drive which is being run by one of our CTE senators Ana Duenas. This event will take place December 7, 11-4, in parking lot 3A by the Arts Building. The California Highway Patrol will also be there to check car seats, so we invite all student parents to come. If you need a car seat, we can provide you with one for free as well as other baby supplies! 

The Chico Center is also having the grand opening of the new Student Lounge. This will take place December 4 and more info is to come. We are really excited that we can provide students with a bigger, more comfortable space at the Chico Center–as for some students, this is their “main campus.” Our AS government is also attending the Student Senate for California Community Colleges (SSCCC) Advocacy Academy in the beginning of December to better help us to represent students.

When we got to contracts, I asked clarifying questions regarding the Pepsi contract we currently have at the college. In the recent Student Government Survey, students surprisingly said they wanted to see more Red Bull! The Pepsi contract doesn’t allow Coke or Redbull products in dining services, which means it’s going to be difficult to get these products in the cafeteria or even the cafe. If you would like to see more of these products on campus LET STUDENT GOV KNOW! The Pepsi contract was renewed, but there are still ways we can get more desired products on campus for us students.

There were also two resolutions that came through the board, which are basically just motions to do something in writing. One was authorization to use a design-build process to speed up the building of the new Cosmetology and Barbering Building next to the Chico Center. In this building will be a huge room that the college plans to use for big events, and that other departments can also use which is going to be awesome. 

If you ever have questions, feel free to email me at [email protected] or come to the student life office in the Campus Center(CC) room 145. The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 13 at 1:00 PM in the SAS Boardroom on main campus.