LBCC students voiced their opinions about food options, evening classes, and on-campus events during a town hall meeting in the T Building on Tuesday.
The meeting, hosted by ASB president Shamonique Harris, Student Trustee G Gonzalez, and members of LBCC leadership, was created to give students the opportunity to provide in-person feedback about their experiences at Long Beach City College.
“Quite often in our roles, we don’t get the opportunity to interact with students face to face as much as we’d like,” said Dr. Lee Douglas, vice president of academic affairs. “Getting information from students is important.”
Dr. Nohel Corral, executive vice president of student services, shared similar sentiments about interacting directly with students.
“It’s about being able to respond to questions as best we can, being able to research the questions we don’t have the answers to, and making the student experience better,” Corral said.
One of the various concerns voiced by the students was a lack of accessible food options on campus, including those that do not accept EBT cards.
Corral ensured those in attendance that the school is working closely with its new food vendor to make food on campus available to all.
“It’s one of the first things we talked about with them,” Corral said.
Another topic brought up by students was the availability of weekend classes in the evening.
“It ultimately comes down to student demand,” Douglas said. “We can put out a survey to see if there is enough demand for these classes.”
Student Trustee G Gonzalez, left, and Dr. Lee Douglas, vice president of academic affairs, listen to student concerns during the town hall meeting at the Liberal Arts Campus on Tuesday. (Destiny Garcia)
Corral and Douglas also shared important updates during the meeting, including the hiring of 19 new faculty members, introducing online only degrees, and giving students the option of taking classes only at the Liberal Arts Campus or the Trade Tech and Community Learning Campus (formerly PCC).
For ASB President Shamonique Harris, the importance of the meeting was to listen to the feedback and concerns the students had to share.
“We appreciate the time students took out of their day and the questions they asked,” Harris said.
Student Trustee G Gonzalez’s first town hall meeting provided insight on the student experience.
“A lot goes under the table and unnoticed. Concerns from food to evening students, I never thought about that myself,” Gonzalez said. “It’s important for me and the (ASB) president to listen to the students and go from there.”
Gonzalez also appreciated the opportunity to work with Corral and Douglas.
“They know the ins and outs of the school. They know about the departments and internal affairs and who to talk to. Being student leaders, we are kind of limited. By having them, we can better understand the questions,” Gonzalez said.
According to Harris, more town hall meetings will take place in the future.
“We will have a survey to find out how often we should hold these meetings,” Harris said.
Students can find information about upcoming ASB events through flyers posted at the quad, on LBCC’s website, and through the ASB newsletter.