Students await vote on their budgetary power

Orange Coast College’s student government could get official recognition Wednesday night for a long-standing practice that lets students manage hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue from the campus bookstore and recycling center.

For decades, there’s been an informal understanding that the Associated Students of Orange Coast College gets to draft an annual budget allocating that money, which often pushes past the $1 million mark.

But current student leaders wanted to make sure there was more than just decades of history preserving that power, so they worked with the Coast Community College District to draft a resolution formally recognizing the practice.

The student’s budgeting process won’t change if the board of trustees passes the resolution Wednesday, and the college district would still hold final approval of funds, according to board documents.

But leaders in student government think putting the practice on paper will help sustain what they see as a valuable real-world education.

“This is an issue of the utmost importance to students, as it will [if passed] memorialize student learning opportunities dating back to 1948, when the student government was first established,” Josh Stone, the associated student’s vice president of fiscal affairs, wrote in an email.

— Jeremiah Dobruck

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck