Bwog’s Chief Muckraker, Sarah Ngu, stopped by the CCSC Policy meeting, where things really happen. She looked through her crystal ball, and this is what she saw.

This year’s policy committee mostly consists of the same faces from last year’s, so the question arises, “What’s going to change under the new leadership of Ryan Cho?” Most of the ideas proposed this year, such as keeping the lawns open and centralizing space requests, have already been proposed in years past. Critics may scoff at the lack of bold and fresh ideas, but some initiatives do require multiple years of effort. An online student portal, which would combine sites like Courseworks and SSOL, remains low on the University’s priority list and would take some time to materialize. What does seem quite promising are Cho’s proposed operational changes of the policy committee. Last year’s committee struggled with prioritization as it took on initiatives that could have easily been dealt with by other groups. Installing a sign-up sheet of McBain gyms? RAs really could have handled that. Ryan, head of the policy committee, plans to “kickback” many initiatives that are brought up to the council to more relevant student groups.

Last year’s committee lacked follow-through because although it achieved agreements with the administration on a fair number of policy changes, it was sometimes left in the dark as to whether those initiatives were implemented. A prime example is the allocation of Carman basement. All four undergraduate student councils labored over the establishment a democratic body that would decide what to do with the basement after CU-EMS vacated it. Over the summer, housing promptly converted it into a gym, unbeknownst to Council. Whoops. A primary reason for the lack of follow-up was that last year, Learned Foote, former president of CCSC, was the main person who talked with the administration about implementation of policies and became the only guy “responsible” for follow-up.  This year, Ryan hopes to bring multiple people to the table in talks with the administration.

Last but certainly not least, this year’s policy committee is finally stepping up to its role as a focal point of interaction between students and the University. There are several different committees which students sit on, ranging from the Core to judicial affairs to housing, but these student representatives were never asked or required to report back to the Council. In wake of Moodygate, questions have been buzzing around about what say students have in the operations of the University, and so the move to centralize and publicize such information, even if limited, is much welcomed.