“If you want an education, you have the right to have one,” was a point that Vice President of Student Affairs and Pluralism Elect Andrea Torres emphasized throughout her campaign to join the Associated Student Government team for 2013-2014. Diversity can be seen all around campus, and Torres will be a resource for campus connectivity for the next year.
Torres has been an adamant member of Bellevue College’s Latin American Culture Club and El Centro Latino. At the first ASG debate, Torres shared her leadership plans with the student body. “I’ve been working with the administration to make education more cultural and accessible to students,” she said. Torres plans to work with the administration on an “Open door policy’”that will provide not only financial assistance, but support on campus.
Torres will be taking the VP of Student Affairs and Pluralism position after Michael Yoon has completed his term. Commenting on the situation Torres will inherit, Yoon said, “there [is a] lack of faculty of color. If she could take that issue and hire more faculty of color, that would be ideal.” Yoon also elaborated on recent events in Student Programs. “Also, the LGBTQ issue is very important too. To make LGBTQ members feel safe will be one of the challenges because incidents [like what] happened a couple weeks ago are very unpredictable,” he said.
Yoon has worked alongside Torres in Student Programs for the last year. “She has lots of leadership skills and is passionate about lots of college issues, especially undocumented students.” Yoon stated that Torres’ experiences in Olympia advocating for student rights will help her in her new ASG position. Torres has put in many volunteer hours for the LACC and El Centro Latino programs, which Yoon reflected, “gives the Latino community more opportunities to bond together.”
“I believe Andrea will do a really good job by looking at her past experiences. Also by just looking at her as a peer, she makes me motivated to get involved in issues and help solve them. She’s just an amazing person,” said Yoon, commenting on Torres’ personality.
In her new position, Torres strives to vouch for students and bring awareness of diversity on campus. “We have people from all over the world on our campus. We want to make Bellevue College a cultural campus. It should be a place to talk about racism, sexism and age, but it has to be brought up in a way that we can solve. We have a diverse campus, but I am going to make sure that all of you are heard,” said Torres.