what we think next week’s GSSC meeting will look like

Today, Bwog’s General Studies Student Council (GSSC) Bureau Chief, Alex Tang, brings us updates from last night’s GSSC meeting. Read about GSSC’s latest initiatives, concerning an upcoming Halloween costume party, transparency within the council, and the rights of students with disabilities on campus.

Halloween is happening on a Tuesday this year, which doesn’t sound too lit until you find out that you can party with GSSC! GSSC is hosting a Town Hall meeting next week in an effort to allow the General Studies student body to interact with the council. Free snacks and candy (including lots of international brands) will be provided. Come dressed in your costume, as the meeting will include a costume contest, with categories for the scariest, funniest, and best costume pair. GSSC plans to splurge quite a bit during this event, so do show up! As a GSSC council-member quipped, “What better event to go big than Halloween?”

During the meeting this week, GS Student Services and Academic Representative Yona Kornsgold introduced a resolution aimed at achieving greater transparency for GSSC within the GS community. Kornsgold acknowledged that GSSC has done a great job promoting transparency so far, through its live-streaming of weekly meetings and its creation of a policy tracker, which tracks the status of current and upcoming GSSC policies and initiatives.

Through the new resolution, GSSC would formally establish existing measures, holding certain council members accountable to certain tasks. For example, the Vice President of Communications would post regular reports on the (upcoming) GSSC website, and the VP of Finance would release data on the GSSC budget, total expenditures, and the availability of reduced prices for certain events. In general, the resolution aims to show the GS community all the steps in which GSSC is promoting transparency. Furthermore, the resolution would create a formal archives of all GSSC reports and surveys, so that council-members in future years would have access to important data, promoting a greater sense of institutional memory. The council unanimously passed the resolution.

Later in the meeting, GSSC University Senator Ramond Curtis described recent efforts to work with Columbia’s Services for Students with Disabilities. Curtis stated that a major priority at the moment is to secure a permanent academic testing space for students with disabilities. In addition, the council is working to establish a drop-off/pick-up golf-cart service throughout campus, which Curtis described as an inexpensive resource that the Columbia administration could reasonably commit to. The University Senator also mentioned his investigation into the possibility of whether or not American Sign Language could potentially count as a way to fulfill the foreign language requirement. Check back in later posts for future updates.

At the end of the meeting, GSSC heard a co-sponsorship request, or a request in which current or upcoming student groups ask for funding from the governing board. Today’s request came from The Spectrum Collective, a new student organization which seeks to build a community around autism. The council noted that autism is still a fairly under-researched and under-discussed subject, especially on university campuses, and that The Spectrum Collective would be a highly innovative, unprecedented group on Columbia’s campus. The student organization would give interested students a space to learn more about autism and to conduct their own research into the topic. GSSC approved the co-sponsorship request, which will allow The Spectrum Collective to organize a launch event on November 2, from 5:30-7:30pm. At this event, the group will meet interested students and discuss future goals and projects.

Other updates:

  • Basketball Mania is happening this Thursday at 8:30pm. Come out to support your Columbia basketball team and to get some free stuff! One thousand pint glasses will be given out, and a student will be randomly selected to participate in a half-court shot (with a prize of $10,000)!
  • GSSC has set up a Facebook page for the International Students Network, which intends to create a more cohesive community for international students in GS. The council plans to create an event to promote the network in November.
  • General Studies did well this year in Giving Day, surpassing last year’s donated amount. Thanks to all who donated and supported the cause!
  • GSSC Tech Team positions are still open. If you’re interested in working on the GSSC website, social media platform, app, or marketing efforts, email GSSC to inquire about the position.

adorable puppers via petropolis.com