This, apparently, is how EWB: Morocco takes their money overseas. At least, this is how we imagine it.

Once again, ESC has shut out both Bureau Chief Finn Klauber and his Spec counterpart from observing their “off the record” discussion. In the “public” meeting, however, ESC met with the Morocco division of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) and discussed funding issue. Also there was a cappella drama, but what else is new. 

President Aida Lu

President Lu reviewed her meeting with Dean Morrison, SEAS Vice Dean of Undergraduate Programs. The main point of their conversation included the transformation of the course evaluation system—a topic which was (once again) discussed off the record as it relates to President Lu’s participation in the Committee on Instruction. Because SEAS is transitioning to canvas, the college will mostly likely implement a new tool for course evaluations. Dean Morrison primarily hopes to increase student participation in the course evaluations. They also discussed major representation at career fairs—a source of concern to ESC for the past three years. As ESC has already collected a list of engineering companies and firms which they hope to see, the only real roadblock is the Center for Career Education.

VP Policy, Zoha Qamar

VP Qamar discussed a variety of topics relating to low-income and first generation students. She met with Columbia First-Generation Low-Income Partnership (FLIP) to review their efforts with the FLIP lending library, Giving Day fundraising, summer aid and housing, and the student work contribution. She also discussed expanding the Academic Success Program (ASP) with First Generation and Low Income Representative Carolina Garcia, President Lu, and FLIP. The main issue with expanding ASP is the inconstant cost of the program. ASP generally consists of four weeks of funding students’ classes, meals, and housing—but the number of ASP participants changes every year. Furthermore, some amount of funding for ASP is provided through New York, meaning that the exact price per capita for ASP is unclear. Meanwhile, VP Qamar wants ESC to outline and publicize the exact objectives of ASP, emphasizing the formation of an ASP community, by gathering student perspectives on the program.

Click here to read about Mental Health Student Training and a cappella drama

We have shuttle buses?

Visiting a friend downtown, I found out that the 1 line had completely stopped running down to Times Square. Thanks, MTA. Stuck between walking to the Harlem station to take the C train (cold, lonely) and ordering an Uber (costly, lower self-worth), I pulled perhaps the biggest finesse I have since coming to college. I took the Columbia Shuttle.

I discovered that night that the Columbia Shuttle was an incredibly convenient and underrated resource most students overlook. But personally facing many bumps during my first-time journey taking the bus, I would have appreciated what I will present to you now: a definitive guide to how to take the Columbia Evening Shuttle.

• If you’re traveling between 6 pm and 4 am and have a CUID (unfortunately, Barnard students are excluded), you can use this! There are two lines: the blue line and the red line. If you’re traveling east of Broadway (Amsterdam, Harlem/Manhattan Ave), take the blue line. If you’re traveling west of Broadway (Claremont, Barnard, UTS), take the red line.
• The shuttle will likely not get there on time. The best way to know the shuttle’s location is the SmartTraxx App, or the map on their website. The app works really well and I suggest checking how far away the shuttle is before making the decision to take it.
• The blue line bus stops right at the Amsterdam/116th gate. The red line shuttle stops right across the road, slightly to your left when exiting Columbia. Do not confuse the two!
• Before boarding the bus, make sure you know your stop, as in, exact street intersection names. Oftentimes, the shuttle won’t actually stop at every stop, so the driver will ask you for the exact location.
• Whilst on the bus, I usually check Google Maps for the shuttle’s current location relative to my stop, for peace of mind. If your driver is asking passengers to speak up when they reach their stop, do so and say loudly enough, “This is my stop.”
• You made it! Make sure to be polite to the bus driver throughout, greeting the driver when you board and saying thank you when you depart – remember, Public Safety is nice enough to provide this dope ass service for students.

For reference, I’ve included below the map of the bus routes and the list of Evening Shuttle approximate times provided by Columbia.

Disclaimer: While there is a Barnard-only shuttle with fewer stops (That allows Columbia passengers! What a double standard!), a Baker Athletics complex shuttle, and various Intercampus shuttles that you can take as well, this article covers the main Evening Shuttle provided by Columbia Public Safety.

A real screenshot from my registration portal, <48 hours before registration.

With registration upon us this week, some of you upperclassmen have already started solidifying your schedule for next semester. Still others will be doing so in the next couple of days. And yet an unlucky few are left with one pressing question: where the fuck is my advisor? Bwogger Maggie Moran deconstructs this issue, hoping to provide some insight on the stress-inducing phenomenon.

Academic advisors are, for many students, crucial mentors in the class-scheduling process; they can give helpful information on which classes to take, when to take them, and how to incorporate study abroad into your triple major while still managing to graduate on time. As a first-year student, though, your advisor likely has no real connection to your plan of study, and perhaps as a result, has much less contact with you. But at what point are they crossing the line from just “letting you do your thing” into straight-up avoiding you? Everyone knows the feeling of being ghosted, but never did I expect it to come from the one person who was supposed to be there for me, guide me, and literally just press a button to allow me to register for classes I chose entirely without their help. If you, too, are in a similar boat, the pre-registration process might have gone something like this:

Two weeks before registration. You receive an e-mail alerting you of the advising period for spring registration. With the spring semester far from your mind, you probably ignore it, not wanting to risk the inevitable existential crisis that would result from dedicating real mental effort to your future.

1.5 weeks before registration. In the still of the night, you vaguely recall that you should be planning your courses for the spring. You start picking out classes, still glowing with the naive belief that next semester will be your semester. In the back of your head, you can’t recall if your advisor is supposed to reach out to you, or vice-versa, so you decide to give it another few days to avoid seeming overeager.

DOOM

Edited, 11/14/17, 7:46 pm to reflect further investigation.

Early last Friday, Bwog received an anonymous tip from a member of the Barnard/Columbia theater community. This student claimed that a member of the creative team sexually assaulted her in spring of 2016. Student theater leaders who chose the creative team knew of the assault before appointing this member. The member himself was unaware of the allegation until Friday. The tipster wrote that despite alerting the leaders who chose the creative team member that he had assaulted her, he appeared “set to stay in his role”, because the rest of the creative team said they could not forcibly remove him without a formal complaint and investigation by the university. She encouraged Bwog to warn other students, “especially women”, against getting involved with this year’s show.

Other members of the theater community both within and outside of Bwog confirmed the tipster’s story, stating that they knew of other instances of sexual harassment perpetrated by the creative team member. Later that day, after discussions between the Varsity Show creative team and other students in the theater community close to the tipster, the accused member stepped down from the team. A public announcement on this change was made via the Varsity Show’s Facebook page.

That night, we received a statement from the student who stepped down. He explained that he stepped down because he “didn’t want the shadows of these allegations to weigh on the rest of the team.” This student “disputed” the tipster’s account, yet stated that “the most important thing to acknowledge right now is that [the tipster’s] pain is real”, and that he was “committed to reevaluating [his] understanding of relationships and boundaries.”

Although the accused student did not want his allegations to weigh on the rest of the Varsity Show team, in the minds of many members of the Columbia theater community, this issue is far from over. Several other theater organizations have been putting pressure on both the Varsity Show and CUPAL (the Columbia University Performing Arts League) to reconsider community guidelines regarding sexual respect. CUPAL is not a an advisory or governing board for performance groups, merely an umbrella organization that facilitates discussion between groups and helps to advise and advocate for these groups. Students in the theater community tend to view CUPAL as an organization with a great deal of power, however, particularly in this situation, as several integral members of the Varsity Show team are also closely tied to CUPAL.

On Monday, CUPAL has announced that it will be creating community guidelines; a town hall will be held this weekend with members of the CUPAL board, as well as its member organizations to discuss these guidelines. We reached out to CUPAL leadership for a statement, and were told that they will not be releasing a statement at this time.

The incident has also inspired many student groups in the performing arts community to create or revise similar guidelines.

Read the full tips we received from the alleged survivor and perpetrator after the jump

President Bollinger announced in an email today that Lisa Rosen-Metsch will be the new Dean of the School of General Studies. She is an alumna of the joint program between the School of General Studies and the Jewish Theological Seminary and currently the Chair of the Department of Sociomedical Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health.

Rosen-Metsch’s academic concentration is HIV prevention among populations with substance use disorders. Her research has influenced national policy and she has been published more than 180 times. (All peer-reviewed, of course.) At Mailman, she has advocated for looking at public health not just as a medical issue, but also as a social, cultural, economical, and political one.

Dean Awn left big shoes to fill, and only time will tell if Rosen-Metsch will be up for the challenge.

Read President Bollinger’s email after the jump

Let’s be honest, the old ‘is Barnard part of Columbia debate?’ is still fun

Despite the lack of guests at this week’s SGA meeting, Barnard Bwogger Dassi Karp dutifully reports the council’s survey findings which included a disappointment with on-campus employment conditions, the experiences of first generation students and the availability of JJs. 

It’s been a while since Barnard’s Student Government Association has had a Rep Council meeting with no real administrative or student guests. But SGA had business to discuss, and they got right to it. This week, students reported back from a Seven Sisters conference that happened last weekend, and we heard this semester’s Desserts After Dark results. It was a pretty tame meeting, but not too boring.

The Seven Sisters is an association of historically women’s colleges in the Northeast. Of the seven, Barnard is one of six that still exists as an undergraduate institution. These six get together yearly to promote bonding and learning from each other. This year’s conference took place at Mount Holyoke, described by Rep for Seven Sisters Relations Julia Pickel as “very different from Barnard. It’s a rural campus.” Conference-goers attended sessions on topics such as gender identity at women’s colleges, controversial speakers and free speech, alumnae panels, and group brainstorming sessions. First-year class president Sara Morales, who attended the conference, was especially excited to share one of Mount Holyoke’s methods for sharing information about student groups: a “newsflush,” which consists of updates taped to the back of bathroom stalls. “It’s like wow,” Morales enthused. “I felt accomplished every time I went to the bathroom.” Good to know. SGA plans on taking this and other ideas garnered at the conference in to consideration.

More after the jump

Happening Around The World: The Iran-Iraq border was struck by an earthquake which has injured 7,000 and killed 400 people. Homes in the mountainous area surrounding the quake zone are particularly vulnerable as they predominately made from mud and brick. Approximately 70,000 need shelter and the UN have released a statement saying they are ready to assist. (BBC)

The Good Stuff

Happening in the U.S: The ‘Weinstein Effect’ has created a ‘Me too’ movement, emboldening a multitude of individuals around the world to speak out against sexual assault and harassment. Allegations are piling up in Capitol Hill as Ms Beverly Nelson became the fifth person to accuse Alabama senator Roy Moore of sexual harassment. This is not an isolated incident as over 1500 aides have signed an open letter asking for mandatory sexual harassment training and reform. (NYT)

Happening in NYC: New York Cares Coat Drive officially kicks off today! New York Cares has organised the city’s largest coat drives for the homeless, collecting over 1.8 million coats in the last 29 years. Check out their map for your local drop off point here.

Happening on Campus: The Committee to Protect Journalists and Columbia’s Journalism school are hosting a panel on the International Press Freedom Awards at 12pm in the Pullitzer Hall – three of the awardees will be attending the panel.

Food/beverage of the Day: It’s that time of year where everyone is sick and thus I willingly consume fruit and veg. Juice up with Nussbaum’s $5 freshly squeezed orange juice because self care is important.

Image via WikiCommons