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On the eve of CCSC Elections, Bwog sat down with the dueling slates for 2010 Class Council. Below is our interview with AJ Pascua, Shirley Chen, and Joey Goldberg of The Party Party (not a typo). CC juniors can also read our debate coverage, and can find our second interview, with The Clear Party, here. Voting begins tomorrow.
“You’re perceived by some as the party of incumbents, yet many have also had problems with class council in the past – how important do you think that council experience is?”
AJ: We’re also the party of a fresh perspective. Valerie, Joey and I have experience, but we also Shirley and Maximo, who are foreign to student government. They’re active in other groups, and they bring that fresh perspective. We have the best of both worlds.
Shirley: When AJ’s explaining events to me, I can see how hard it is for someone with no experience to come in and get started right away. I think you need to have students with council experience
Joey: I think that’s really the point to hit home: we’re not saying that the other party is not capable, but we’ve been to these events, and we understand what it takes to put on a given event, and make sure that these are memorable events.
AJ: Both parties want to have Lerner Pubs, but Joey and I have been involved with the planning this year. We know who to talk to and how to put on these good events so the people have fun.
What is your opinion of the “War on Fun,” and how do you plan to improve next year’s senior class events?
AJ: In order for us to put on this alcohol-based events, we need to have a strong relationship with the administration. We have the strong relationship with alumni and administration to make sure these events get done. For example, we’ve had a relationship with the Class of 1960, and they’ve already agreed to give us a ton of funding for our events so that we can have a great senior week while they’re enjoying their 50th anniversary as a class.
Shirley: As for events like Lerner Pub, we’re looking to increase the variety and quality of what is available there.
AJ: Because the administration has its own views, which are different from ours compromises will inevitably happen. Our council cannot go in and be oppositional – 40s on 40 nearly didn’t happen, but once the two sides were able to compromise on an event, something actually did come out that, we’ve been told, many seniors enjoyed. But also, as people with contacts with administrators, we’re the council that can go right in and work with these people and make sure that the best events get put on.
In light of concerns about the endowment, and by extension budgets in general, if CCSC were forced to make budget cuts, what would be your first priority to keep fully funded?
AJ: First of all, we want to secure funding for all senior events. If we had to make a choice, we’d like to focus on Senior Week. While the other events are interspersed throughout the year, and while they do have their own pluses, Senior Week has a special place because of the memories students have of it.
What relationship do you hope to have with next year’s Executive Board?
AJ: Sue Yang has been working with us, and we were elected with her. She’s been with Joey and I through sophomore and junior class year, and Sue and I are roommates as well. As a result, we plan to continue the close working and personal relationship that we’ve had for years, and that’s going to make senior year go even better.
What would you like to improve on from this past year’s council?
AJ: An aspect we believe we can improve on is collaboration, not just with Barnard and SEAS student councils, but with groups across the campus. Just this week, we saw a big overlap with TBTN, the 2010 Class Dinner, and King’s Ball. It’s not any one person’s fault; it’s just that right now there’s different parts of the council doing different things. As part of that, we want to have representatives from cultural groups, arts groups, athletics, and Greek members on our class council. Through this, we hope to hear about all sorts of events coming up, and all sorts of ideas, and help out with the best ones, and help different parts of Columbia come together.
Shirley: I know I’ve worked a lot with Asian cultural groups, and I know that there’s a lot of great events going on out there that don’t get a whole lot of publicity. I think that, as a council, we can do a lot to help cultural clubs, the performing arts community, the athletics community, the Greek community, or really any other interested campus groups.
AJ: To sum up everything that we’ve said, we believe we have the best plan for the senior class, and the best resources to make it happen.
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28 Comments
@Prediction winners: AJ, eve, rocky, joey, shirley
@disgusting Whoever wrote comments five, eight, and thirteen is not only disgusting, slanderous, and misogynistic, but you make me embarrassed to be part of the same species.
@agreed just as disgusting is the fact that bwog hasn’t deleted them, but will delete comments “at the request of a student specifically identified in them”. it’s wrong to bring up someone else’s name if they complain, but it’s okay to keep these offensive and slanderous comments up?
@James The student identified in comments 5, 8, and 13 declined to take down the comments, although they were brought to her attention.
@... wow, i don’t know her at all, but it takes guts to leave the comments up. way to show you don’t give a damn about what random assholes think, shirley. also, nice work, james, in trying to make bwog a better place.
@Angry Black Man Uh so…you mean AJ. Suck it up Mr. Pres! Obama has to go through criticism every day! I not comparing you to Obama tho.
@i think that’s part of what makes it funny, duh. that’s how viral campaigns work
@you know i’m tired of both of these parties and their obnoxious fliers all over campus. Clubs and events can be justified, but all that paper for naked self-interest and resume padding?
@yeah and the flyers of both parties are really dumb, frankly. I have to single out clear though for their very unclear flyers.
@#5, #13 and #17 are all the same person. And that person is an ass.
@Clear Party's name and logo make me think that they ripped off that “Fly Clear through airport security” program. Just Google it.
@It's true! I thought the same exact thing.
http://www.flyclear.com/
@CC '10 If you actually knew Shirley or AJ you’d know that they’re sincere, hard-working people.
I don’t know why people feel the need to spread false rumors like these.
@Yeah right And if you actually knew Shirley or AJ, u would know only they would write that comment… gj AJ
@really? really unnecessary.
@this thread makes me embarrassed to go to columbia.
@yep yep.
lena fan wrote all of these.
@Yeah Ok I think i understand this party. You have shirly f*king all the guys and then u have AJ doing all the gay guys. Guess they figure they don’t need any girls to win.
@AJ Pascua is a major toolbox. Don’t vote this junior class reincarnation of Alidad Damooei into office.
@dude except Aj’s experience is limited to watching Sue Yang do stuff. As opposed to Cliff who was involved in College Days last year, among a bunch of other stuff. He’s got a ton of experience. as do other members of his party.
Ew. I really hope AJ doesn’t win. How pretentious.
Maximo isn’t new to student gov either. but ok AJ you spin things the way you want them….
Cliff and the Clear party for the win!
@i hate how bwog changes their mistakes and doesn’t write [edit] or cross off what they changed sometimes. super unprofessional.
@alli laly peely bee Urgh.
@also why would “CC seniors” like to read the debate coverage. you mean, CC JUNIORS, bwog. CC’09 is still here, don’t cut our fun short.
@what The pseudo 40s on 40s was total shit. They actually checked backpacks and made you empty nalgene bottles. There were more administrators in that penned space than students. It was a disaster.
No, you don’t need to have a good relationship with the administration. You NEED to be oppositional, which no other council has had the balls to do. Tell SDA that they do it our way or they fuck off, and leverage alumni on this. Get a student petition going. Get surveys out evaluating individual administrators (just as they exist for faculty), and hold them to the same standards that faculty are held to.
@agreed the senior class council needs to be the ones to push the admins and call them out on their bullshit.
this article also seems more like “five questions with aj pascua”. why does no one else in his party know how to speak more than one or two sentences?
@CCSC 09 Just to clarify, AJ and his party have had NOTHING to do with the planning of any senior events.
Lerner Pub has happened for years and follows a pretty set schedule, same thing with the majority of their suggestions.
It’s only fair to point out that insider status doesn’t mean too much when it comes to planning senior events because they are totally different from other CCSC ones.
@James Comments 1, 3, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 17 have been deleted at the request of a student specifically identified in them.
@... kudos bwog for trying to make these threads a little bit more civilized