The Las Positas College Politics and Law Club held its final meeting on Tuesday, May 12 and will no longer be an active club. LPC’s political science students are faced with this new change by the political science department.
The Politics and Law club will be dissolved and replaced with an unpaid fellowship for the 2026-27 school year. Joanna Jen, advisor of the former club and political science professor, is in charge of creating the new fellowship opportunity with the help of LPC student Kloe Situ.
Situ is expected to be the first fellow of the fellowship due to her contributions in developing the program.
“One reason I wanted to switch from advising the club to this is because, in my experience, the club elections have been uncontested,” said Jen. “You have one person running for president and no one else is willing to run against them. And as someone who teaches about democracy, this is a really bad example of how democracy works.”
Students are free to reinstate the club, but Jen expressed that she is no longer interested in continuing her role as an adviser.
“In my opinion, a fellowship is more substantial than a student club to put on a resume or job application,” Jen said.
Through the fellowship, students will have the opportunity to interact with political science students and alumni. They can also gain leadership experience by organizing speaker and panel events on campus and via Zoom.
First-year students will also have access to tutoring. Jen said the focus would be to assist students who are unfamiliar with writing a social science paper.
“It’s different from writing an English paper, so being fluent in writing in that genre is important,” Jen said.
The fellowship will also feature a speaker series with local politicians, activists, district attorneys and others to educate students on their chosen professions.
According to Jen, both students and faculty are excited to see the fellowship come into fruition. She also noted that students who are interested in pursuing a journalism career with a focus on politics will benefit from the program.
“I think the fellowship will be more helpful in providing more relevant experience for political science students,” said Mila Dovgal, political science major and associate assistant of the Honors Program Committee. “I support this idea 1000%.”
Applicants must be enrolled in a political science course or intend to declare political science as a major. The opportunity is not available for students who are transferring and must be enrolled in Las Positas next year.
Dovgal said that she plans to apply for the fellowship. The deadline for students to apply is on Monday, June 1.
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TOP PHOTO: Joanna Jen, political science professor, will be developing a new fellowship opportunity for students looking to gain leadership skills. The application deadline is on June 1 for the 2026-27 school year. (Photo by Sam Barnes/Special to The Express)
Sabrina Hossain is a staff writer for The Express. Follow her on X @WritersBlock678.
