(Last update on Nov. 7 at 9:19 pm)
American River College acting Associated Student Body President Jorge Riley was detained by police and ticketed for public intoxication yesterday.
In a phone interview, Riley spoke with The Current about the detainment, claiming the police were making “outlandish statements” by accusing him of drinking before a meeting with Vice President of Student Services, Pam Walker.
“(The police) did not give me a breathalyzer or field sobriety test,” said Riley. “They dragged me across campus in handcuffs.”
The acting president was written a ticket before being released back onto campus yesterday and is not allowed to return until campus police receive approval from administration.
The scheduled ASB meeting today began with confusion as student officers speculated about Riley, unsure of how to proceed. The meeting began late with Club and Events Board President Jeremy Diefenbacher leading.
The Current will continue reporting on the story as more develops.
Daniela Vargas • Nov 9, 2013 at 8:10 am
As a response to Mr. Palmers comment… as of now we neither have a VP or a Director of Finace to proceed with a line of succession. And the meeting can be chaired by any board member. It’s important students get out and vote so we have a full board!
David Fisher • Nov 9, 2013 at 3:04 am
Brett, this is 100% an administrative failure. I have fond memories of most of ARC’s Administration, they’re good people, but they dropped the ball. ARC has been fortunate to have good leaders come along, but its just that. They just come along seemingly randomly. There is no institutional effort to recruit quality leaders. There are community colleges who have very successful recruiting and development methodologies, but ARC is not among them. I witnessed a tendency at the college and district level to want to tighten the grip and minimize the impact of student government rather than promoting it as a positive tool. My cohort was an exception to this rule I believe because our intentions and abilities were to obvious to ignore coupled with the time in which we were there when ARC was receiving a lot of bad press. Fast forward a couple years, the tide waters have receded, the heavy hitters have moved on, and we see that tendency towards suppression reassert itself.
un-qualified advisers, student government classrooms, purposeful division of power, a lack of new leaders running for office… all of these things are correlated. I would hope the Current would step up to the plate and start asking the right questions. Has anyone ever really asked why policy leadership was so absolutely divorced from events and activities. There’s a reason….I was there….I saw it, it’s not good for students. All of these things add up to why you get a Jorge.
Obviously the impact of all this is debatable, but at a minimum student government is a training ground for a larger, even more brutal type of contest. where are the student leaders capable of using shared governance as a tool to their advantage? Believe me, the game doesn’t have to be rigged if you get the right people. They don’t exist right now because the district and the college have tightened their grip so much that you reap what you sow…Jorge Riley.
Brett Spencer • Nov 8, 2013 at 11:32 am
Students at ARC have an accountability for taking interest and RESPONSIBILITY for their environment by utilizing their power to vote. Historically, the voter turnout has been roughly a couple hundred. Last year’s ASB took on an initiative to encourage students to vote in the last election and that number jumped to (roughly) 900 voters. It’s a significant increase, but it is still discouraging when compared to a student body of 35,000+. With regards to Jorge, there was an active “NO” campaign against him in the election that was initiated by a campus club to educate the student body with concerns as to why Jorge Riley should not be involved with ASB based on historical events. Students are not exercising their right to make informed voting choices. It is not appropriate to blame this entirely on administration. For most people, there is relatively little reason not to vote. I’m extremely disappointed with the student body’s effort in this respect.
David Fisher • Nov 7, 2013 at 9:23 pm
The reality here is that 1725 effectively insulates students from bad student leaders while enabling the good ones to have a huge positive impact. So in reality, Jorge’s negative impact was, I’m sure, minimized. However allowing this kind of garbage to chair represents an institutional failure on the part of Administrative personnel. We gave them a multi year foundation of superb student leadership, but they failed to focus on institutionalizing that ethic. It’s a shame that such a lack of commitment has prevented quality young people from stepping forward and discovering their strength. A good student leader can tilt at giants and change lives. Problem is this attitude is discouraged despite our community colleges responsibility to help discover new generations of grass roots leaders. Jorge is a simple testament that you reap what you sow, and in this case, Arc administrative officials owe students an apology for not being more proactive in promoting quality leadership.
Jeremy Palmer • Nov 7, 2013 at 7:28 pm
Unsure on how to proceed? The order of succession as laid out in the constitution dictates the vp chairs in the abcense of the president doesn’t it?
Also, no mention is made in the article about Riley being unable to come back on to campus, it states the opposite in act. I’m confused.
Also, y’all shoulda seen this comming.