ASBG barbecue turns into protest

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Students signing petitions at the ASBG barbecue on Aug. 25. BRIAN RATTO/The Collegian

An Associated Student Body Government planned barbecue welcoming new and current students to the fall semester turned into a protest against administration on Thursday, Aug. 25.

The event, billed in campus-wide email as a “Welcome Barbecue” in the area outside Danner Hall know as the Quad, was to include free food, carnival games and live music.

Members of ASBG took to the microphones, however, to protest recent actions by the administration to remove the flea market from the governing body’s control on Aug. 17.

ASBG asked students to sign petitions against the administration’s actions.

In return, students who signed the petitions received free T-shirts with statements on the back and front against San Joaquin Delta College administration.

The shirts said “We are one” and “Save the flea market” on the front, and also included articles from The Record and The Lodi News-Sentinel.

The back had a ribbon graphic with filled in with $100 bills and the statement “Students Together Fighting United,” which spelled out vertically said “STFU.”

Among those who spoke at the rally were ASBG president Nicholas Aguirre and vice president Bronche Taylor.

The ASBG officials announced a 5 p.m. Sept. 13 protest to follow.

Aguirre told The Collegian the event cost less than $6,000 of student monies to put on.