“equal, three-pronged hydra of student leadership”

Last night, SGA met to unveil the Governing Board at Barnard, a new entity in charge of recognizing and funding student groups on campus. As per usual, Maddie Ball was there, taking a short break from her favorite hobby of clicking “next episode” on Netflix. 

If you lead a student club, are in a student club, or maybe just ended up on some listserve somehow, listen up! SGA has just divided its forces, creating a completely new board in charge of Barnard student groups, the Governing Board at Barnard (GBB)! This is exciting news, as in the past SGA has been a little a lot overworked, being both tasked with managing student groups and parlaying student interests to the administration. With the two groups working in tandem, SGA and GBB, more energy can be devoted to each entity’s respective mission.

Besides effectively divvying up SGA’s work, the creation of GBB has a lot of immediate benefits for Barnard and Columbia students. First of all, the new group means a slew of new student leadership opportunities, the board having four executive chair positions and four coordinator positions now open to all students from any of the undergraduate colleges- not just Barnard. Additionally, this new development means that any student group, even ones not recognized by Barnard, can hold programs on Barnard’s campus. This effectively means that any student group can host a program anywhere on campus without restriction. If that’s not a reason to celebrate in this dark time of mid semester slump, what is?

In case you were worried about your club losing recognition, fear not. All student groups recognized by SGA will be recognized by GBB. However, if you were planning on your club trying for dual recognition by more than one board, you’re out of luck. GBB will no longer accept applications for club recognition if said club is already recognized by another board. Groups that are already dual recognized, however, get to keep their status.

In other, related news, the McIntosh Activities Council (McAC) is gaining its independence and becoming autonomous from the rest of the board. That means that McAC, SGA, and GBB will become an equal, three-pronged hydra of student leadership on Barnard’s campus.  McAC will be promoting Barnard’s community by planning and hosting Barnard’s traditional events (Midnight Breakfast, anyone?), SGA will continue representing the student body, and GBB will manage student group recognition and funding. Here’s to exciting changes in Barnard student leadership!

Not guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone via Shutterstock