Frank Scales
September 4, 2024
Dear Student Body,
Community College of Philadelphia emphasizes civic engagement and offers its students multiple leadership opportunities, and hundreds of student-led clubs! At least, this is what was advertised to new students on enrollment day. Unfortunately, after serving as President-Elect of the Student Government for the past five months, I can say that not only are these claims exaggerated, but the growth of campus culture has been stunted by bureaucratic administrators who prioritize enforcement of arbitrary policies & procedures. A more accurate description of CCP would go like this; CCP is home to civic engagement opportunities for students willing to parrot the administration’s left-leaning political agenda and when students’ appearances validate the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many leadership opportunities exist to provide students with awards and resume fillers that seem to inflate egos and mislead four-year institutions. Lastly, hundreds of student-led clubs exist only on a spreadsheet that is locked away in the Director of Student Engagement’s office for safekeeping.
“We are a two-year institution” and “Students do not take initiative” are a few excuses administrators seem to rattle off whenever challenged but my experience in reactivating the chess club and in campaigning for my position in student government has led me to a different conclusion. Students are excited to get involved. The diversity and resilience of our student body can lead to a rich campus culture and an array of student organizations that would ultimately lead to a vibrant and civically engaged student body. However, the policies & procedures that regulate campus life suppress students while the administrators and faculty that are supposed to support students act more like cops.
Issues in student life became apparent as soon as I decided to run to become Student Government President. The election was “hush-hush”. Many were unaware that an election was even going to take place. I was fortunate to be scrolling on Pride Portal, the college’s event planning software, when I saw an SGA election post. Furthermore, while campaigning we were not allowed to have any “substance”, or make any promises, on our flyers. We were supposed to market ourselves with a slogan and free food. Sadly, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
After winning I was excited to get to work but that excitement was greeted with a reluctance to share the SGA constitution and contracts by the Director of Student Engagement. After a few “hostile” emails, our faculty advisor provided access to the documents. The student government then met with the Director of Student Engagement who told us that the student government was “dormant” over the summer. This had me questioning how we were going to get anything done. How could we create an agenda or draft legislation if we had to wait for the busy school year to start? Most of us disregarded that statement and soon after we decided it was a wise idea to create an event planning position in SGA, but our faculty advisor “advised” us not to.
These issues led me to question the purpose of student government, but my hope persisted. We turned our attention to constitutional reform and the finances of the SGA. Our current constitution delegates SGA the power to distribute funds, specifically 9,000 dollars, to clubs every year. To our astonishment, this power seemed to be usurped by administrators. It appeared the money was not being distributed by the student government or even given to clubs. The Director of Student Engagement later confirmed that money not spent gets recycled back into the institution but also added the money goes towards things we need, like carpets! After scouring over the school budget we found SGA was allocated an additional $25,000 under “Student Government”, and $42,000 under “SGA Special Events”.
Over the summer, a handful of students and I worked to rewrite the constitution of SGA to enable students reasonable access to their funds. We also asked the Dean of Students, the Assistant Dean of Students, the Director of Student Engagement, and our faculty advisor where the 42,000 dollars is and have not received an answer. Our faculty advisor explained his background as an English teacher makes him no use pertaining to budgetary concerns. I respect honesty but the faculty advisor contract states that the faculty advisor must handle budgetary concerns. We have even asked the Assistant Vice President of Budgets and Business Services and the President of the college who have then redirected us to the Dean of Students. We are looking forward to a meeting with the Assistant Vice President, the Dean of Students, the Assistant Dean of Students, and the Director of Student Life to finally get to the bottom of our budgetary concerns. If I am the Oppenheimer of emails I expect this meeting to resemble the Manhattan Project with the result of bombs of financial knowledge being dropped on the student body.
All of these issues tempted me to become sour towards CCP but inspiration from the potential of the students to form a rich community catalyzed the development of a plan to empower students instead. First, we must demand transparency surrounding the SGA budget and reform SGA to ensure SGA and college officials are held accountable to the greater student body. In our reforms, we must ensure SGA can manage its budget. It must also be made easier for students to form clubs. These ideas strengthened my resolve that a rewrite of the SGA constitution, which we plan to solicit greater insight on from students as they return for the fall semester, is neccessary.
Unfortunately, in all of this, we have been stonewalled by the Department of Student Life, or as some call the Department of Student Death (some as in me). Our faculty advisor who seems to be the defacto SGA President, dictating what SGA does and does not do through his “advice,” has “recused” himself of any talks of constitutional change. Meanwhile, the Director of Student Engagement seems to be the unelected SGA treasurer serving a life term deciding who receives what money.
Despite a discouraging response from some members of the administration & faculty, we will succeed in changing the constitution of SGA and in doing so ensure that student representatives and college officials are held accountable to the greater student body. Next, we expect to learn where our money is and secure funding for all student clubs. Our bigger goals consist of getting a student a voting seat on the board of Trustees and securing all students free SEPTA trans-passes.
Those who would rather SGA function as a puppet government rely on secrecy, confusion, coercion, and division, all of which are failing to slow our momentum. If you are interested in making a difference, please know that a formal title is NOT REQUIRED. We will democratize the student government, force administrative transparency, support clubs with funding, secure free SEPTA Trans-Passes, and get a student a voting seat on the Board of Trustees only if the student body unites.
I am your president not the puppet of the administration and faculty. This means my ability to incite change is dependent on your support. Always remember that together our opinions are valuable, and our voices matter but divided we can do NOTHING.
Written in Faith,
President-Elect, Frank Scales
The Independent 
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