One rep’s declaration of pistachio as their favorite ice cream flavor caused some controversy

Filling in for Bwog’s Engineering Student Council Bureau Chief Finn Klauber this week is Senior Staff Writer Levi Cohen, here to give you the skinny on what the SEAS student government is up to. This week in the Lerner Satow Room: the recently-elected freshmen took their seats at the table, meetings were recapped, and events were planned.

ESC’s meeting last night was, in a word, efficient. Though almost the full hour was used, topics came and went at lightning speed- that is, after a quick icebreaker to introduce the freshmen class representatives to the rest of the council, and vice versa. Once everyone knew one another’s major and favorite flavor of ice cream, it was time to get down to business.

First on the agenda was the Columbia Food Pantry, which was requesting funding from all four student councils for an upcoming silent auction event. After some brief numbers-crunching — what percentage of the students who use the Pantry are in SEAS, how does that number compare to students in CC, and so on — the board voted unanimously to allocate the requested funds (and promotional assistance).

Following that came some rapid-fire updates; relevant ones from each position were as follows.

Student Body President

  • Joyce Jackson, Executive Director of Housing Services, met with members of the Board last week. The topic of discussion: Hartley Hall, apparently statistically the least-desired freshman dorm– and the potential subject of a future, major renovation, designed to make it a “more traditional college dorm.” The plans are highly tentative, but ESC looks forward to providing its input on environmentally sustainable additions to the building, among them recycling/composting systems and better light switches.
  • Another week, another meeting with Scott Wright, VP for Campus Services, about the mold in EC. Though the majority of mold has been taken care of, per Wright, if you continue to have mold problems you should contact the office of Student Services directly. Prevent mycotoxin toxicity!
  • Meetings with the SEAS Deans to talk about courses and faculty will begin soon.
  • The E-Board is starting its own newsletter, with the first edition coming out this weekend. If you have an event that “will benefit the public Columbia and SEAS community,” send it on over to the board.

VP Policy

  • The aforementioned meetings with the SEAS Deans will also concern course evaluations– in light of a survey taken last semester, the Board wants to look into adding questions about the faculty and about inclusivity in the classroom.

VP Student Life

  • All 4 councils are working away at the Homecoming Pep Rally, slated for 19 October (location: tentatively Butler Plaza). There’ll be student group performances! T-shirts (still to be designed)! A contest to take photos around campus!
  • 21 October marks the first “SEAS Bop,” meant to be an agenda-less space during midterms for engineering students to gather and chill out.
  • Athletics continues its push from last week to get more money for Basketball Mania. 25 October, everyone! Go to Levien to see those student government bucks at work.

VP Finance

  • The application for project grants opens 15 October and closes at the close of the month. Class reps will be advertising this at the relevant dates. That one idea for research gnawing away at you? Consider submitting a grant app.

Class of 2019

  • Class Reps met with the CCE (Center for Career Education), focusing on coordination between the groups. Of particular interest was increasing reach to engineering firms, as in-person career fairs are limited to those firms based in and around the NY area. Online seminars and info sessions might be the answer.
  • Per last week’s discussion, planning for Oktoberfest (funded by all 4 student government bodies) is chugging along. It’ll probably be in Low Plaza.

Class of 2020

  • This week, the reps will be going over the boat cruise event with the other student government bodies. If you like spending time on boats, this is the event for you. What’s the old joke about SEAS students not needing the swim test because they can just build boats in the event of a flood?
  • A welcoming event for 3-2 students will be on 15 November. On an unrelated note, 29 November will see the class reps bringing dogs to campus in an effort to destress us all.

First Generation and Low Income Students Representative

  • ESC is working on an initiative with Questbridge to facilitate the handing-down of textbooks from upperclassmen to freshmen and sophomores. Watch this space!

Professional Development Representative

  • The first Alumni Dinner of the semester is happening on 9 October! You can go to one per semester- this one is with a husband-and-wife duo who are in finance (more details to follow). The next one is on 22 October and will reportedly be of interest to Chemical Engineering folks. It’s free, but to reserve a spot you have to Venmo the Professional Dev Rep.

And with a unanimous motion to close the meeting, ESC adjourned for the week.

Controversial ice cream by Janine via Wikimedia Commons.