New student vice president steps in, hopes for student involvement

Palomar’s student government has elected a new vice president who wants to make big changes.

At the Feb. 4 meeting, former ASG Senator Michael Dentoni was elected as the next vice president of the board. One other person, Malik Spencer, ran against him.

Dentoni is in his second semes- ter on the ASG and was recruited by former president Jason Hosfield.

“It’s a lot of responsibility,” Dentoni said when asked about his new position, “But I think one thing Jason said is that none of us actually have power, just responsibility.”

“I think that’s a good way to put it,” he added.

The seat was left empty when former vice president Mario Gaspar ascended to the president’s seat. Former president Jason Hosfield officially resigned on Feb. 4 because of personal and financial reasons.

“He just stepped up to the plate,” ASG President Mario Gaspar said of Dentoni. “I think he’ll do a great job.”

Dentoni is the fourth vice president that the ASG has had in the last two semesters.

When asked about the high turnover rate, Gaspar said that being on the board entails a lot of responsibility. Sometimes the busy schedule of a college student doesn’t allow for that much work, he added.

“Sometimes it’s just too overwhelming,” Gaspar said, “It’s pretty time consuming.”

Dentoni said that he hopes to help future ASG staff, and by extension future students, by reviewing the bylaws.

According to Dentoni, there are some inherent problems with the way the bylaws such as poor organization and lack of good review.

“The important thing is to have good, solid bylaws that make sense and that people can rely on,” Dentoni said. “I think that’s an area that Palomar could benefit from improvement.”

One of the bylaw issues is a prob- lem with the definition for quorum. The ASG bylaws conflict with Robert’s Rules for Order, a book full of rules for meetings and assemblies that the board wants to operate by.

Another issue is succession. When Hosfield left, there were issues with conflicting bylaws concerning the rules for replacing the vice president.

As well as reviewing the bylaws, Dentoni is also in charge of discipline. He holds the other members of the board accountable, including senators and the president, according to Gaspar.

The ASG has suffered from low numbers in recent semesters. Dentoni said that when he started, there was basically an empty board room. He hopes for more awareness and interaction with students.

When asked about his ultimate goal for ASG, Dentoni said it was to leave ASG better than he found it.