At the start of the semester, ASDVC was in limbo; with no president to guide their hand, the board was stalled to inaction, until Weihao “Wesley” Xia stepped in. Wesley, a 19-year-old Business Administration major, was formerly ASDVC’s activities coordinator, and a very active member of student government. We recently sat down to discuss his election, and his plans going forward.

SR: Why did you decide to become involved in student government?

WX: When I first stepped onto this campus, I felt an obligation to help students around and impact the community, because during high school I didn’t really do much for my community, and I just felt that, “Hey, I could do a lot more.” That I could help other students. During my first year here, I was actually highly active in at least 4 different committees, and I helped set up multiple events, helped draft both the Multicultural Center Proposal and the Carpool Program. I used to dedicate at least 30 hours of my week to the ASDVC board.

SR: You’ve mentioned that you feel there are some fundamental issues with regards to the ASDVC board. Could you clarify what you believe those issues are?

WX: The main issue right now is professionalism… In my mind, the board that’s representing the student body should be more dedicated and enthusiastic about what they’re doing. For example, a couple weeks ago, when I was appointing people to different college councils and committees, some students did not feel obligated to those meetings. If you’re in student government, your job should be to become a vocal and active member of the community.

SR: So as I’m understanding it, there seems to be a problem of absenteeism with respect to representative duties… So what’s your plan to resolve this issue?

WX: After that meeting, I actually realized that majority of the board actually consists of freshmen who just entered DVC. So a lot of them do not know what is going on, and need guidance and leadership; some of them are actually afraid of signing up for a committee simply because they aren’t very vocal or don’t know what to do. So a large part of my job has been delegating tasks.

SR: What plans do you have to improve DVC during your time as ASDVC president?

WX: This semester we have been discussing a plan to hire a crossing guard at the crosswalks at the overflow parking lot and at the front lot by College Park. The other program is the Carpool Program, which would be a networking program to organize student carpools. We’ve also approved a proposal to renovate the old basement cafeteria in the Student Union into a Multi-cultural Center, where students relax and enjoy themselves. One of the biggest projects we have is to reduce textbook prices on campus. We are sending in resolutions to the State Center for Community Colleges, and will establish a committee to negotiate with retailers for lower prices. We’re also looking to start a campus-wide, peer-to-peer book exchange fair.