New board member hopes to build ‘trust, transparency and accountability’

Leticia Cazares got the opportunity to continue the legacy her family started, yet used her experiences to go above and beyond in a career she had fallen in love with.

After a vigorous campaign season, Cazares now holds the fourth seat on the Southwestern College Governing Board. As a new board member, Cazares now has the responsibility, just like the rest of the board, to display transparency and concern for the students of this campus.

“During the campaign, I didn’t realize just how much information I would be downloading in my brain,” Cazares said

. “But I love learning.”

Cazares understands this is a new step in her career and she is excited to apply her knowledge to improve the student life and campus. Since her first board meeting, she said she has felt very connected and welcomed by the board and the rest of the SWC faculty and staff and is focused on ensuring that students have the resources they need in order to succeed at SWC.

“My interest is student success, but actually looking at support services and making sure holistically that there is access to services, food and housing,” Cazares said. “That’s just a passion of mine.”

She said that relationships with the people on the campus are most important to her. She wants to establish a rapport with all levels of the campus community.

“Some of my focus areas especially in the year is building trust, transparency and accountability,” Cazares said. “But it starts with trust.”

She wants the community to have trust in her and strives to improve whatever needs to be done.

Cazares also wants to address how mental health is displayed on campus. She wants to incorporate more services, education and awareness. Cazares spoke about her own experiences dealing with a mental illness. She was a college student living with mental health challenges and because of this, she knows she can be a strong voice for it.

“It’s important that I combine passion, purpose, and my strengths and capacity,” Cazares said.

She pushed for college affordability throughout her campaign and after becoming a board member, she was given more knowledge on college affordability and how it could be possible.

“College affordability is absolutely still a priority of mine,” she said.

She wants to enhance financial aid in a way that will make it more accessible for students. She also wants to educate students about the different types of financial aid. She wants different programs to be more straightforward with the students on the criteria and qualifications required.

Transparency is important to Cazares as well. She wants to ensure that the community can be upfront and honest with any concerns they have. The governing board exists to make improvements on campus and around the community. Cazares explains that each member has their own interests, backgrounds, and strengths. This benefits the solution in different issues that come about.

For instance, the president and vice president work with the superintendent to form the agenda for meetings whereas the rest of the trustees would work in different committees together.

“I think it’s important for students to know more about how the board functions with the roles and responsibilities and how it pertains to them,” Cazares said. “So you all can hold us accountable, that is the only way.”

Sworn in along with Cazares were Nora Vargas and Tim Nader, who both ran unopposed. Vargas acknowledged that many voices have been ignored in the past.

“I’ve been hearing it loud and clear, there are members of our campus community that don’t feel heard or included,” Vargas said. “That to me is unacceptable.”

She is determined to make inclusion a priority.

Tim Nader started off his speech thanking his wife, who was a SWC Alumni when he first got elected into the board. Nader then started to speak on the racial setbacks that plagued the college and how he hopes to solve these issues with the help of Black Alliance and the rest of the campus community. He also wants to ensure that students feel safe on campus, especially DACA and LGBT+ students.

“Together, [the Governing Board is] going to make Southwestern College everything it can be,” Nader said.