On April 23, the Board of Trustees discussed campus improvements and updates.
One topic that was brought up in the beginning was the creation of a center for undocumented students to be in a safe area to be approved and passed by Fall 2019.
Edward Aguilar, Manager of Student Equity and Diversity, presented the problem of how undocumented students fear ICE finding them one day.
He provided information on how to help students with financial aid and how to partner with organizations like El Concilio and Immigrants Rising to help and spread the message to all communities.
“It’s important that we care and cherish the community and help undocumented students here at Delta,” said Aguilar.
Aguilar said as a community we have a responsibility to help students in need if they’re struggling at school or have fear of deportation.
At the end of his presentation, he gave thanks to everyone and members of the Delta faculty for their help in protecting undocumented students.
“I like to thank Tina Lent for helping undocumented students with financial aid and providing them a safe place for them,” said Aguilar.
During the meeting, Dr. Ben Duran and Dr. Jim Riggs, professors from CSU Stanislaus, brought an update to the trustees on the recruitment of a new Superintendent/President to replace Dr. Kathy Hart.
Ben says the interviews will be conducted outside of campus. Searches are conducted in different counties and cities like Lodi, Modesto, and Tracy.
Duran ends with saying that June 3 will be the final interviews and there are currently four to six finalists for the job offer.
Near the end, Dr. James Todd, Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instructional Services, showed the trustees a spike of enrollment for summer 2019 and what this means for Delta.
Todd showed a chart that enrollment in summer 2018 was 1,779 and its projected Summer 2019 will increase to 2,055 which was unexpected.
Todd also brought up that registration for math classes has slightly decreased he said show signs of improvement given the problem here with students struggling with math classes every year.
The next board meeting will be held on May 7 at 5:30 p.m.