Faculty, Students Phonebank for Election Campaign

With so much at stake in the upcoming election, AFT 1521 has mobilized its forces to ensure that LACCD faculty, staff, and students get the resources and representation they deserve.

Since September, faculty and students have been phone banking and spreading the message about the Colleges We All Deserve (#CollegesWeAllDeserve) campaign. The campaign includes giving information about the local’s slate of endorsed candidates for the LACCD Board of Trustees (Andra Hoffman (Seat #1), David Vela (Seat #3), Nichelle Henderson (Seat #5) and Mike Fong (Seat #7)) as well as support for Propositions 15 and 16.

The COVID-19 pandemic has largely changed the nature of campaigning for 2020. Precinct walking and door-to-door outreach are not as widespread this year, but the election season staple -- phone banking -- is fair game, and since September, with the goals of #CollegesWeAllDeserve in their sights, both faculty and students have been reaching out and talking to their constituents.

“I kept seeing the need, and I thought there’s no better time to get involved than right now,” said Jenny Ghiglia, adjunct assistant professor of kinesiology and performing arts at Pierce College. “And people have been receptive.”

Ghiglia is one of the many volunteers whom campaign organizers have enlisted to do multiple phone bank shifts since the campaign launched. Shifts are held nearly every day, as early as 10 am and as late as 5 pm. Volunteers are reaching out to members of the faculty local and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA).

Students have played a vital role as well. Courtney Azari, a Pierce College student who will be transferring to USC, was recruited by her political science professor Denise Robb and has been phone banking twice a week on Wednesdays and Fridays. Azari has enjoyed the interaction and finds the feedback illuminating

“Some people are really interested and they ask us a lot of questions and it’s also cool because we get to see a different perspective,” said Azari. “Not everyone is going to always agree and that’s totally fine as long as we get to inform them and they have a little bit of knowledge so they can make their own choice.”

To learn more about the #CollegesWeAllDeserve campaign, click here.