College Assembly Deciding Factor in Student Life

Not many students attending Middlesex County College realize the impact they could have on the school and its policies if they were willing to get more involved with the campus and its efforts to better MCC, said Terry McGlincy, director of student activities and head of the Task Force for Campus Life on the College Assembly.
As stated in the bylaws, the College Assembly is responsible for making recommendations affecting academic, student, and other college affairs to the President of MCC. The College Assembly is Subject to the legal and ethical responsibilities of the Board of Trustees and the President of the College.
They will make recommendations concerning the operations and management of the College, leaving the details of administration to the President of the College and the administrative staff.
The membership of the College Assembly is made up of 7 chairpersons, 17 faculty representatives, 12 students and 5 representatives of the college’s support staff, said Richard Ellison, Chairperson of the College Assembly.
There are eight different task forces on the College Assembly: Task Force on Academic Standards, Task Force on Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, Task Force on Campus Life, Task Force on Community Concerns, Task Force on Curriculum, Task Force on Educational Resources, Task Force on Bylaws and the Task Force on Campus Diversity, said Ellison.
“Each task force gets assigned different charges. We then have to come up with a proposal for the assembly to vote on so the charge can then be sent to the president of the college for approval,” said McGlincy.
Due to the fact that MCC does not have a student government in order to make the College Assembly fair and balanced it is made up of student representatives, administration representative and faculty representatives, said Ellison.
“In order for the assembly to vote we need what is called a quorum, which requires the presence of 13 voting members including at least three representatives from the student, faculty and administration constituencies as well as one member from the MCC support staff,” said Ellison.
Meagan Plichta, a 19-year old Visual Arts major from MCC who has been on the College Assembly since the fall of 2008 said,
“I have attended all the meetings required of me so far and have voted in all of them. I think the assembly helps students, but I also think not a lot of students are aware of what the assembly is. If more students knew about it, I think it would give them a stronger voice.”
Federico Zanatta, a 22-year old Liberal Arts Communications major at MCC has been on the College Assembly since the fall of 2008 and plans to continue until graduation. Zanatta has attended all meetings so far and has cast his vote in all but the first meeting. The College Assembly is beneficial to the college because it gives the students a chance to help make decisions that involve them, said Zanatta.
Samantha Clinton, a 19-year old Education Practitioner major from MCC, who has been on the College Assembly since the fall of 2007 said, “I have attended and voted on all meetings through my first year on the assembly. I think the assembly is a good idea because it gives students a voice. We have an open forum so students can be a part of the decision making process.”
Although all College Assembly meetings have an open forum, students who on not directly related with the assembly rarely if ever attend the meetings, said Ellison.
“Occasionally student’s complain how they have no say in what is going on and how decisions are made on campus without their input, but we give them the chance to speak up and be heard,” said McGlincy.
All College Assembly meetings are held the first Thursday of every month at 2 p.m. in the L’ Hommedieu Hall amphitheater. All students, faculty and staff are welcome and encouraged to attend the open forums at each meeting, said Ellison.