If this isn't GSSC's snack attack then Bwog will be disappointed

If this isn’t GSSC’s snack attack then Bwog will be disappointed

GSSC is in the holiday season this week. Between GSSC giving things away and providing snacks for finals, student government liaison Joe Milholland could barely keep up with the holiday cheer.

On Tuesday night, the General Studies Student Council (GSSC) spent much of their time at their weekly general body meeting discussing two topics related to products they want to buy for GS students, both ones they will give away and ones they will sell.

For stuff they’re giving away for free, the council debated a proposal, spearheaded by the VP of finance, to spend $3500 on several items, including GSSC coffee mugs/tumblers. Since the funds for this stuff comes from leftover money in the budget for this semester, GSSC President Elizabeth Heyman, while acknowledging give-aways are necessary to get people to come to events, encouraged GSSC’s money to be spent on more “substantive, meaningful programming” to ensure that all the money in a budget is spent.

Most of the discussion focused on the how much to spend on these items and what items would be the best give-aways. The council couldn’t come to a conclusion on how to spend the money, so Heyman tabled the discussion for an e-mail vote.

VP of Communications Justin Lean laid out the second big spending initiative discussed Tuesday night. Since Columbia’s bookstore has low-quality hats and polling from Communications showed there was demand for hats, he proposed the council mass-purchase hats and sell them at around $15, with the goal to break even. Since bulk purchases of hats cost less than individual purchases, he reasoned this would save students money. He plans to spend around $5000 on this.

Some council members questioned this idea, bringing up the possibility this idea could cause a loss of money for the council if some hats were left unsold and that the purpose of this plan would have to be communicated carefully to the student body to prevent confusion. VP of Policy Michael Neier suggested it be done through pre-ordering. GSSC did vote

However, other GSSC programs were funded. The council approved $10,000 for finals snack attack, $5,500 for senior class cruise, and $500 for a first-year event after the tree lighting. In addition, a funding request by ArtC, a GS arts club, for $50 was approved.

Other Updates:

  • At the meeting, the council approved Josh Dominic to be the senior class VP.
  • On December 7, GSSC will hold a GS-only community forum on the issues facing GS groups and what GSSC can do about it.
  • Dining will provide for the Emergency Meal Fund (EMF) for the rest of the semester.
  • GSSC is invited to Prezbo’s Holiday Party on December 15th.
  • GSSC’s new website will launch December 1st.
  • At the beginning of the meeting, Heyman asked council members for a single noun that described their lives at that moment. Answers included “fire hydrant,” “essays.” “f-bomb,” “behind,” and “vagabond.”

Snacks on snacks on snacks via Shutterstock