Providing a voice for students at LCC

One of Amelia Hampton’s goals as president of Lane Community College’s student government is to make sure students know about the important decisions being made at the highest levels of the college — for example, at the Board of Education, the college’s governing body.

But the board meets in a room with limited seating, and the meetings can drag on for hours. Students have busy lives and are unlikely to watch the meetings online. What to do?

Here’s the idea Hampton and her student government colleagues came up with for the board’s January meeting: They organized a watch party in another campus building. Perhaps it goes without saying that free pizza was offered to attendees. They had a member of the student government provide background on the issues before the board. 

It worked: Hampton said about 20 students gathered in LCC’s Center Building to watch at least part of the meeting. 

“So I think that’s fantastic,” Hampton, 20, said in a Friday, Jan. 23, interview with Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “And, you know, they kind of trickled out as students do; it gets late. But that’s incredible that we got that many students to show up after hours, especially to watch the Board of Education.”

Another watch party is being planned, but — just like in January — Hampton herself won’t be able to attend. That’s because as the president of Lane Student Government Association, she holds a nonvoting position on the board. 

If that seems like it could be a token appointment — offering lip service to student voices — Hampton has made it clear that she has no interest in fulfilling that role.

“I’m not a very confrontational person, but you wouldn’t get that just by looking at the board (meetings),” she said.

At the January board meeting, for example, she and other members of the student government wore T-shirts urging support for a board policy calling for the college to have an ending fund balance equal to 10% of its general fund. That policy was a key topic at the meeting, at which the board approved a plan calling for budget cuts to bring LCC into compliance with the policy.

Practicing the ‘game face’

This is the second year Hampton has been involved in student government, but her first year as president. After she won the election for president, she prepared for the seat on the Board of Education by carefully watching some of its meetings over the previous school year.

“I practiced my game face, straight face” while observing those meetings, she said. “But it was interesting being in the audience and transitioning to being on the board. There’s such different perspectives. There’s a lot going on. It’s like chess. There’s so many moving pieces.”

It helps to stay focused on her key priorities for student government during her term: ensuring that students can connect with needed resources such as the college’s food pantry, helping to promote student physical and mental health and “transparency about information, especially the LCC budget (and) especially about tuition.”

It also helps, she said, to focus on a primary goal for her time on the board: “I want to represent students in the best way possible, and I want to make sure students have their voices heard. … I’m thinking about, how is each decision they are making going to affect students? How is it going to come back to students? That’s the only thing I think about.”

It’s a perspective that LCC President Stephanie Bulger has appreciated.

“Amelia is a deeply creative student, and she has brought that creativity to her leadership in ways that elevate student government and strengthen its connection to the broader college community,” Bulger said in an email. “She has consistently centered student voice and perspective, ensuring that decisions are informed by the lived experiences of students across Lane. Her ability to listen, synthesize, and articulate those perspectives has been one of her greatest strengths.”

Bulger added: “Her leadership reflects the very best of what student governance can be, and I am grateful for her partnership, her commitment, and the example she has set for future student leaders.”

Student government

Near the end of an interview with Lookout, Hampton offered a pointed reminder to a reporter: You haven’t asked, she said, what the Lane Student Government Association does.

So we asked. Here’s a summary:

LCC’s student government has 10 elected students, two executive officers and eight senators. Each of the eight senators handles a specific function — government affairs, marketing, communications, student events and so on. Projects this year include organizing a “Know Your Rights” workshop in response to federal immigration enforcement actions, adding electronic benefit transfer access at the LCC bookstore and improving the college’s food and clothing pantries.

Not to mention ordering the pizza for the next few board meeting watch parties.

It keeps Hampton, who is a full-time graphics design student and holds a work-study job at LCC’s child-care center, busy.

“It’s a lot of hours, and I don’t have that many hours right now,” she said. That’s why she’s not running for reelection — but she is planning to run for one of the eight senator positions for next year. (In whatever free time she has, she enjoys thrifting and antiquing and is a movie fan who loved “The Life of Chuck.”)

Hampton’s time on the board has to some extent corresponded with a period in which divisions over governance and other issues — not to mention occasional bickering — have punctuated its meetings. Without speaking directly to those issues, she offered advice for the board: 

“Listen to students,” she said. “This is what I’ve always been saying. … How are the decisions they’re making going to affect students? Yes, (those decisions) affect the administration, the faculty, the staff, everyone who works here, everyone who is a part of the college, but at the end of the day, it is about the students. And that’s what I feel has been kind of lacking on the board. I’m not saying it’s not completely there. But there could be more of that thought process.”

But at least one student voice will have a say on the board for the next few months.

“You’re uncertain about every board meeting, but at the end of the day, if I said what I need to, what I feel is right, then I’ve done good,” Hampton said. “I’ve done something. I’ve not let the student voice go unheard.”