Food insecurities are a real concern across campus, an issue CCSC was confronted with last night

This week’s meeting seemed to be all about money for CCSC. With new co-sponsorships coming in, the debate team asking for travel funding, and the Food Bank extending a partnership invitation, CCSC had some important financial decisions on the table.

Michael Haggins, head of the Food Bank, proposed a partnership to the board. He explained that food insecurity at Columbia was a university-wide issue–not limited, as previously thought, to General Studies students. Currently the Food Bank serves primarily GS students, “however, it has served CC students in some occasions,” Haggins commented.

The partnership proposed is a one-time contribution of a sum between $5,000-$8,000 that would yield solutions for around 10 to 15 years. It would grant CCSC two seats on the Food Bank Board which will supervise allocation resources, institutions to include, and services provided by the bank. At the moment the Food Bank has a partnership with GSSC (General Studies Student Council, FLIP (First-Generation Low-Income Partnership), SGA (Student Government Association), and SGB (Student Governing Board), all of whom have two seats on the Board. But by partnering with all of Columbia’s schools, the Food Bank would become a more formalized institution which would give it an opportunity to grow and service more students.

After Haggins’s presentation, some questions were raised by the council members, primarily concerning the lack of concrete data or a budget even to make sound decisions about partnering. As Nathan Rossi, VP of Student Life, expressed, “What’s the exact purpose of the money and how are we going to measure its results if we cannot have an exact measure of the needs of CC students?”

Though Michael Haggins tried his best to answer all of CCSC’s questions, the matter still seemed inconclusive, therefore the council appointed Inclusion and Equity Representative Lewit Gemeda as a board representative to provisionally meet with the Food Bank and develop a partnership investment budget.

On other financial decisions, the Columbia Debate Team applied for JCCC (Joint Council Co-Sponsorships) funding for travel. Two debate finalists qualified for a world tournament taking place in the Netherlands–however, the Debate Team has no money to fund them. After deliberation, the council approved to give the Debate Team $3,035.50 to be used for travel funding.

And lastly, a co-sponsorship application from CSC for their Intercultural Benefit Dinner: Even though co-sponsorships in CCSC are kept to a monetary minimum, usually $20 or less, this contribution sparked a debate amongst council members. Ezra Gontownik, CC ‘18 Class President, questioned whether it would be better to set up a specific fund to go toward co-sponsoring, since the way co-sponsoring is handled at the moment might reduce student council surplus. Student Council President Nicolle Allicock pointed out it was a great way to use surpluses and VP of Finance, Anuj Sharma, said that the amounts were too small to dent surpluses. The debate continued into why CCSC should co-sponsor if they’d already funded the groups. “These kind of co-sponsorships are common in other universities” said CC ‘17 President Jordana Narin, adding that “it would add a sense of community if CCSC co-sponsored this types of events.”

The debate continued for a while longer, until finally a motion to vote was passed and the co-sponsorship application passed almost unanimously.

As for updates:

• Campus Life: The two final events of the semester are the December 1st “Tree Lighting”, and the November 30th “Night Before the Tree Lighting.” Both events include photo booths, hot chocolate, and “a lot of fun.”
• Senate: A meeting will take place this week in order to establish the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as an academic holiday, starting next year.
• Student Services: Lox has been re-introduced at John Jay.
• Communications: The CCSC web page is almost ready. Also, there will be a townhall meeting on December 6th.
• Class of 2018: They will be distributing candy bags with cute Thanksgiving notes on them.
• Class of 2019: They will be making Thanksgiving goodie bags and giving out stickers, highlighters and gym/SoulCycle passes.

Image via food banks that are a legit concern