Bwog Eager Inquisitor Chloe Eichler reports from Monday night’s CCSC Town Hall.

Last night, the CCSC asked to hear from you at its Town Hall meeting. And you told it to quit bothering you: you were going downtown to a bar.

The overwhelming theme was school solidarity, or lack thereof. In quick succession, students ticked off the symptoms of weak school spirit: Campus groups don’t communicate. No one goes to the football games. No one goes to the big spring events. No one goes to student government meetings. No one goes to student government town halls. CCSC responded positively, pledging to advertise campus events to death and taking any suggestions about facilitating communication between clubs. 

The second major topic was the Council’s foray into technology. More than one student stressed the need for an online centralized listing to spread word about campus events further than two degrees of separation on Facebook. CCSC assured the room that this would be included in the long-awaited university portal. Other tech issues passionately raised were the dearth of working printers in residence halls and inconsistent wireless accessibility. More importantly, as one freshman delicately put it, “I’m concerned about CubMail” (who isn’t?). CCSC President George Krebs mentioned that Columbia could conceivably follow other schools that merged their e-mail systems with Gmail.

The ever-popular MetroCard student discount was brought up, but that project has been dropped in the current economy. A one-off discounted card, probably good for a week, is still a possibility. Miscellaneous proposals included working with other New York colleges on some big events (to which Krebs responded that he wanted to put on an inter-college dance competition), and resource sharing between clubs to eliminate wasteful spending.

The Council ended the night with its own hopes for next year – more collaboration with student groups, more transparency about funds, and as much communication with the student body as possible. The earnest good will in the room was palpable. Then the free t-shirt feeding frenzy began.