Miina McCown/The Broadside
Associated Students of Central Oregon Community College (ASCOCC), or COCC’s student government has recently made the switch from an election-style process to an appointment process for hiring new officers. Applications opened on April 1st and will close around April 30th of this year.
The Broadside spoke with Gordon Price, the Student Activities Coordinator, who stated that one of the main reasons for making the change was because when the campus was closed for the pandemic, students and staff physically being on campus which allowed for an in-person campaign process was eliminated.
Apart from the pandemic, another reason for this change was in an attempt to increase student engagement.
“A long time ago, we actually used to do applications but then we moved to an election process ten or twelve years ago. So in these last few years, what we’ve particularly found in the last five is that we don’t really get a good turnout candidate-wise, for those who want to run for an elected position and the voter turnout. Typically, it was less than 100 students out of campus’ 7,000 to 8,000 students,” Price remarked.
This process change is not necessarily permanent but will be adjusted as needed in the future after the current hiring process passes.
While there is a multitude of appliable positions, only three of them previously required an election process while the rest were done through appointments. So, most of the processes are already in place.
The actual application and appointment process will be held remotely and will essentially resemble a job interview. The Student Affairs Committee will be reviewing the applications and run the appointment process.
“The Office of Student Life is kind of responsible for running the election process, so the idea came from the current ASCOCC council, so we’ve been discussing that among ourselves and with Andrew Davis, the Director of Student Life, so it’s been a group conversation we’ve been having,” said Price.
One student typically fills each position, and students can also feel free to apply for more than one if they wish. While the deadline for applications may be extended to generate more interest, after reviewing applications, the process will most likely be finished by May of 2021.
Click here to view or apply for current ASCOCC position openings, including the External Affairs Coordinator, Director of Student Affairs, Finance Director, Campus Affairs Director, Diversity Affairs Coordinator and other campus liaison positions.
