A missed deadline has forced the Moorpark College Associated Students to cancel a trip to Sacramento to protest cuts to education that would have brought students to the capitol to participate.
The decision came in Thursday’s board meeting, based on the lack of sufficient advisors committed to attending the March 16 rally per a board resolution that expired Tuesday at noon.
Director of External Affairs Lauren Lewow said that the board agreed on a resolution to confirm that three advisors would travel with the group of students by Tuesday at noon. The conditions were not met.
“I did my best to get the advisors that we did have,” Lewow said.
The “March in March: Rescue Education” has been under discussion by the Moorpark College AS for the past several weeks with the Region VI board, which includes Oxnard and Ventura Colleges, until today’s meeting closed discussion on the matter for Moorpark’s involvement.
Adviser Sharon Miller said in the meeting that the withdrawal will be “bitter medicine” for the board, but a learning experience nonetheless.
“Why isn’t Moorpark College going?” she said. “Because it wasn’t facilitated on time. For eight weeks, this board could not get it together.”
AS President Sara Yahki still plans on attending the march on her own since she will be in the area for a student senate meeting. She believes better planning and more support as a board would have been better.
“The board was really coming down hard on Lauren,” she said. “You can’t just blame one person, it’s everyone’s fault. Everyone did something to the effect of this not working.”
With Cuesta College sending 75 students and College of the Canyons sending 100, Yahki said that despite the embarrassment of MC stepping down, the Student Senate of community colleges and Region VI will still help the cause.
“We’re still going to make an impact up there,” she said.
Director of Student Services Nick Turner said the board lacked the proper communication to reach a decision.
“Everyone dropped the ball,” he said. “They were interested in other things and [the march] was a secondary objective.”
