A new semester, new parties, new ideas, and even a new building – here’s what’s going on in student government:

CCSC: Casino Night (this Thursday from 8-12) will include several big prizes, including a PlayStation 3 and an Asus notebook. More importantly, ticket prices have been cut in half to $5, and there will be more tables this year, including some in the seniors-only alcohol area. Senior members of CCSC threw up their hands in celebration at that last news item. In other party news, Glass House Rocks will this year include the all-time classic known as “laser tag” in Roone.

New policy initiatives included VP for Policy Sarah Weiss introducing a new financial aid initiative, including an awareness week, meetings with administrators, and educating students about living thriftly at Columbia. The council also passed the “Columbia College Honorary Lecture Series” proposal, setting up a speaker series primarily for undergrads, and tabled a proposal setting up conversations and town halls about the Core Curriculum until members have had more time to read the proposal.

The meeting closed with an update from University Senator Alex Frouman on the academic calendar proposals in front of the Senate. While Frouman expressed doubt that next year’s calendar will change, he was a little more optimistic about the structure about the shape of the next version academic calendar, which would start in 2015. Student members of the Senate have coalesced around a proposal to begin school on the first Monday of September, rather than the Tuesday after Labor Day.

ESC: “Hi Engineering Student Council … that meets after my bedtime.” Eleanor Daugherty, Assoc. Dean of Student Affairs, opened the New Year’s first ESC meeting with a tour of the new Student Affairs website. Daugherty and the site’s webmaster, Tom MacLean,  showed off the portal’s new features for student groups, including a Facebook-like interface where members of a given group can post events and contact members.

In other policy news, Senator Rajat Roy is proposing a “Freedom of Information Act” in the University Senate, so councils can continue to get information from the administration that was previously available (if the council was able to get a budget in 2009, they can get it in 2010), and student services representative Nathan Lee said that the administration, in response to rowdy students in residence halls over Winter Break, Housing is considering changing the guest policy, or forcing students to alert the administration if they plan to stay over winter break.

In the latest installment of open ESC positions, VP Policy Kelly Chen has decided to step down from her position on ESC, as she is currently taking 8 classes, and felt that she cannot continue dedicating as much time to council. As for currently open positions, ESC Academic Affairs Representative elections will be held next week, just in time for the term to end.

SGA: In addition to discussions about logistics for  Casino Night and the upcoming Seven Sisters Conference, VP for Finance Sharmin Ahmed updated on the impending removal of land-line phones from Barnard rooms, and also informed the group about the redistribution of free New York Times copies (which are funded by CCSC) from Lerner and into exclusively Columbia dorms. As for the issue that drove Barnard students mad late last semester–the meal plan–President Spar, Dean Dorothy Denburg, and COO Greg Brown will hold a town hall on Feburary 4. Make sure to bring some popcorn.

– JCD, SVZ, and BLF, photo via Flickr