By Monir Khilla —
Gerald Cameron, 21, Political Science major from Jersey City became a non-voting student member in the New Jersey City University’s Board of Trustees. Cameron applied for a nomination through the Student Government Organization and met the criteria to be nominated. The position is broken down into two one-year terms. The first year is a non-voting position and the second is a voting position. Though Cameron has no voting rights yet, he can speak on the board to represent the student body.
Students have already come forward to voice concerns to Cameron. “I’ve been approached by students who feel that there are too many General Education (Gen Ed) requirements. The Gen Ed’s we do have to take aren’t challenging when compared to the Gen Ed’s of Rutgers University which it is more structured. Personally, I don’t think it makes any sense and wastes time and money. General education should be focused on your major.”
Cameron says, “I basically am there to be a voice and to be a bridge between the Student Government and their concerns and voice the concerns the Board of Trustees has.”
“I decided to go for the position out of frustration of the current administration. There’s so much internally going on in the school that’s not transparent. Aside from the administrative aspects, there are educational aspects. One of my professors was at a faculty meeting with the rest of the faculty at school and one of the professors said that there’s no need to challenge ‘these students’ because they’re ‘only NJCU students.’”
The disparaging remarks and the increasing costs of education pushed Cameron to become more involved with the school.
“Why are we paying the bulk of administrative fees? Why can’t we raise our funding through research or cutting-edge programs?” said Cameron.
“Other issues that need to be addressed is the diversity issue when it comes to scholarships. If we want to create a more – diverse community, we need to have more diverse scholarship programs. Wholly, Blacks are still disadvantaged. From a minority perspective, I feel the school is not more accepting to other minorities who are non – Hispanic when it comes to scholarships.”
The pressing issues prompted Cameron to make calls, and try to advance the school, and even start an honor’s program.
“The school doesn’t give incentives for people to work hard. We wonder why students to go other universities and it’s because of reasons is like this.”
Cameron said that his goal in the next two years is, “To see change happen. I want to see the issue of safety be solved, I want to push for better academic standards, and bring transparency to the process of picking a new University President. I want the student body to be more active in selecting our new president and to really ask questions when it comes to credentials,” said Cameron.
In closing, Cameron said, “I would like students to be more involved in the workings of the school. NJCU is like a business and we’re all shareholders in the university: if we pull out, we can hurt the institution; If we invest more, we can help bring more wealth to the institution. We should exercise this power more.”