An emergency Associated Student Body Government meeting held on Wednesday, Aug. 17 resulted in the removal of the government body’s authority to run the Delta College Flea Market.
The $500,000 a year operation, which has been under scrutiny since the market coordinator Robbin Gerald Sealey plead guilty to grand theft earlier this summer, will now be run by the Delta College Foundation.
ASBG was made aware of the move by Michael Kerns, the college’s vice president of student services.
“I will be transitioning the management of the flea market from the ASBG to the College Foundation,” said Kerns. “The College Foundation is the arm of the district that handles fund raising.”
The board’s reaction was negative, with ASBG President Nicholas Aguirre saying he would contact American Civil Liberties Union lawyers and the California state treasurer’s office for support.
“You are effectively removing the hand that helps students,” said Aguirre.
Micheal Kerns promised that business would continue as usual for workers and students.
“As far as students still being funded, there will be a process in place,” said Kerns.
Aguirre told those gathered the act was the administration “cutting off the head” of the student body government.
Kerns said the move was not an attack on ASBG.
When asked by the Student Representative to the Board of Trustees Donna Armstrong if the school planned to disband ASBG, Kerns simply responded “no.”
At the end of the meeting, Aguirre told Kerns he could “put Marsee on notice,” referring to new Delta College President Dr. Jeff Marsee.
The flea market has a 30 year tradition at Delta of being run by the student government. The money raised has been the governing body’s main source of funding.
This change is effective immediately.
“It feels like corporate piracy. There was no transparency. It feels disingenuous,” said Armstrong. “And students are still taking the brunt of every cut.”
