1. How do you envision serving in the role of Student Trustee in representing three campuses but being hosted by one individual campus (in this case, Diablo Valley College)? If there were a conflict of needs between individual campuses, how would you, in your role as Student Trustee, effectively address and resolve the conflict?

While there are three different campuses in the Contra Costa Community College District, I believe that one campus hosting the role of the Student Trustee will not pose a problem so as long as the individual reach out to each campus, remain engaged and inform about each campus and to keep the channels of communication open. Since each college campus might have needs and issues that differ from another sister campus, the Student Trustee must make reasonable effort to include their voices by taking part in such activities as attending each student government gatherings, sit in on academic senate meetings and academic divisional conferences. He or she might also want to gather facts and information by speaking directly with the different division chairpersons, student leaders in clubs and associated student body, the directors and managers of different services on campus and other entities that might be affected or concerned about a proposed issue or motion. In addition, the Student Trustee might also reach out to each campus by collecting surveys, making himself or herself available with an email address and college phone number and generating a website to share with interested students the current events or issues that will be discussed or had been decided upon.

If there are conflicts between individual campuses, the Student Trustee would effectively address this by following basic steps. The first step to conflict resolution is to gather the facts: What is the point of contention? How do each campus propose to have their needs met? What are the obstacles that prevent each campus from attaining what they desire? After gathering the facts, the Student Trustee needs to consider the district and state rules, regulations and restrictions pertaining to the conflict. After this, he or she would look at each party's desire and perspective and try to come to a resolution where most of the demands are met without compromising the rules, considers the resources available at the college and within the district and takes into consideration the possibility of long-term effects. Well, thought-out research and documentation for why a resolution was chosen over other possibilities also helps to make the decision more logical, substantiated and understandable. When conflicts sometimes do divide the different campuses, the Student Trustee can only hope to come to a fair, reasonable and legally-sound resolution. But he or she must also realize that sometimes appeasing all the campuses might not be an option because compromises must be considered.

2. Give an Example of a project or issues that was addressed by a club, committee, or group that you represented and/or led. Describe the goal, the number of people involved and affected and the outcome.

When I worked at California Café in Palo Alto, California, I took on the leadership role as the restaurant's closing server. As the closer, I was responsible for checking other server's side-work at the end of each night while having my own side-work to complete. Before being allowed to check out and go home, other servers had to show to me that they completed the listed side-work assigned to them. If I signed off on their checkout list without checking - and their side-work was not done - then I had to do my side-work and that of the dishonest server. As a leader, I encountered an incident that forced me to choose between standing up for what I believed in and going with the flow. I chose to stand up for what I believed was fair, legal and right and paid a price for it.

One particular veteran server, Bertha, notoriously refused to do her side-work at the end of her night shifts. She insisted that since she had been there for over four years, she was a full-time employee and since she and the assistant manager, Greg, were smoking and drinking buddies, that she had the option of making someone else do her work for her. Many of the other closers feared her and her association with the assistant manager and would sign off on her list without checking. But to make matters worse, these same closers also refused to do Bertha's side-work. The result was that the next day's staff winded up doing twice the work and the restaurant was poorly stocked and unprepared for a busy lunch or dinner rush. This contributed to a reduction in the restaurant's profits and inflicted great stress for the other hard-working servers. This continued to occur and other servers continued to complain, but no one did anything to address the problem.

One night, while I worked as the closer, Bertha lied to me about doing her side-work. She insisted that I sign off on her check-off list. I double-checked her side-work and indicated to her that they were not done. I reiterated that I would not sign her list unless she did her work. Appalled that a junior member of the serving staff dared speak to her so candidly and directly, she yelled some obscenities and marched into the assistant manager's office. Greg gave her permission to go home for the night and signed his name as the closer. I approached him and I asked him why he sent Bertha home. He alleged that she was not feeling well so he excused her for the night. Greg told me that, as the closer, I would, consequently, have to do Bertha's side-work.

After Greg's remark, I thought deeply and asked to speak to him privately outside. In the restaurant's patio, in diplomatic terms, I stated to Greg my concern for his inability to keep the work place professional by allowing his personal preferences cloud his professional judgment, how he was setting a poor pattern for other servers since he was encouraging and allowing one server to not do her job and how he was hurting the next day server's ability to do their work. I reminded him the effects of Bertha's laziness: legitimate complaints from other servers about the supplies not being adequately stocked, material not being available for immediate use, the stations not being clean enough to be presentable to the public. Furthermore, other servers had also resorted to the same tactic as Bertha to avoid doing their work; the problem was getting worse and he was partly to be blamed. Greg sneered at my words and reminded me that he was the boss; therefore, he gets to set the rules.

The next day, on my day off, I decided to take this matter to Greg's boss, the general manager, Shelly. Even though the incident only involved three people, the actual number of people that was affected by Bertha and Greg commiseration and laziness was the entire restaurant staff. My goal was to ask Shelly to enforce the rules to make it more fair and just for the rest of us and the other groups of servers. I shared with the general manager the complaints from other closers about Bertha's conducts and how Greg enabled her. I also expressed to Shelly about the content of the previous night's conversation with Greg. She listened and thanked me for sharing my concerns to her. Shelly also stated that the success of the restaurant does depend on everyone doing their part and that she could clearly see how some changes could help the restaurant take better care of its employees and, in turn, the restaurant will be more lucrative as a business.

After my meeting with her, Shelly made appointments with Greg and Bertha and spoke to them individually. After this discussion with the general manager, Greg was no longer allowed to sign off on Bertha's list. As a result, the employees of the restaurant seem to respect the rules more and were able to go about their work more smoothly since more servers were doing their share of the work. The restaurant became less stressful and, because they possessed the resources they needed to provide better customer and food service to the clients, servers were also able to bring home a larger income to meet their financial responsibilities.

But the outcome of my efforts was bittersweet. Shelly demoted me to being a regular server and I was not allowed to be closer after this incident. Because there were advantages to this closing position, this decision made on the part of the general manager negatively affected my income and prevented me from taking on more leadership duties. While other veteran servers privately thanked me for taking a stand and helping to contribute to the general good of the restaurant, these same veterans did nothing to publicly fight for me or to insist on my reinstatement to the closer position. They seemed to be protecting their own ambitions and interests.

Hence, I became more educated about the true politics of the work place, and, perhaps, the natural tendency of people. Shelly, the general manager, was more concerned about rubbing elbows and making sure she did not lose her own set of drinking buddies in the workplace than to honorable enforce useful and practical rules and policies. After this incident, I realized her initial words to me in her office were insincere, hallow and, perhaps, even patronizing. It helped me to better comprehend why Greg and Bertha did not care about doing their jobs: they took their cue from Shelly.

I remained an employee of California Café for a few more months. I decided to search for another job to remedy my uneasiness with Shelly's lack of care, consistency, integrity and professionalism. Within a few months after I left this restaurant, I discovered that Shelly was fired. A few months after that, an ex-coworker informed me that the restaurant filed for bankruptcy. And Bertha confessed that what she really wanted to be was an actress! Who knew?

In retrospect, I possess no hard feelings against any of these individuals and, is, in fact, grateful for how my brief intersection with their life enlightened me. We all come from different roots, possess different attitudes and have different dreams for the future. But regardless of these variations, it is necessary for each of us to hold on to ideas and values that we believe are precious and important. And when the opportunity arises, it is even more vital for us to defend them when they are being challenged or undermined. This incident reminded me that to stand up for and safeguard our beliefs is not just about executing a long list of job-related tasks or protecting the general common good of a larger organization; it is also about maintaining one's integrity, preserving one's character and rising to the occasion to give life to dynamic and evolving attributes and ideas that defines us as different, unique and courageous individuals.