The Student Council is comprised entirely of students and holds 12 seats, three of which are reserved for Rockville students. The Campus Council, however, will house two students out of 12 available chairs, the rest being occupied by faculty members.
In addition, students can ask to serve on one of the four functional councils: Student Services Council, Academic Services Council, Operational Services Council, and Employee Services Council. Those elected into the Faculty, Staff, Students, and Administrator Councils will appoint interested students.
In total, the new governance system consists of 13 different councils: College, Student, Staff, Faculty, Administrator, Student Services, Academic Services, Operational Services, Employee Services, Germantown Campus, Rockville Campus, Takoma Park / Silver Spring Campus, and Workforce Development and Continuing Education.
Depending on council seat, elected students would be dealing with issues ranging from textbook prices, tuition and orientation programs, to library hours, bus stop locations campus hours, and smoking areas, according to documents and Amy Crowley, a member of the task force that came up with the new governance system.
“Everybody is going to be at the table. Everyone has representation,” Crowley said. “We looked at many different models across the country” before ultimately deciding on this one.
The model settled on is an amalgamation representing individuals and groups at the college.
Under this new system, all of the councils will report directly to the College Council, which will report to Dr. DeRionne Pollard, the college’s president. The shift from the old governance system was brought upon a need to bring more faces into the decisions. Part-time faculty members and students are two notable additions to the governing body.