A Good Samaritan

Brian Wagner keeps you informed!

• CCSC shook things up last night and started with a game of “Pat on the Back”! Sheets of construction paper, each labeled with a council member’s name, adorned the Satow room. CCSCers wrote compliments on their fellow members’ sheets and took their respective papers home after the meeting.

• Then shit got real: CCSC discussed the club sports resolution. Much of the debate centered around a request to add a new clause that had not been included in the original proposal. Previously, CCSC planned to work with the PE Department to monitor student participation, the overall value of the students’ experience, and the possible opportunity cost for other students. The new clause would make the opportunity cost of the gym as a public space part of the analysis of the club sports PE pilot program. One objected that priority registration for these classes was unfair to students who were already trying to find room in a gym class that they would enjoy to fulfill their PE requirement. The resolution passed.

• Most of the meeting focused on the allocation of the newly available rooms in Broadway, specifically whether or not CUEMS (you know, CAVA) should be given Broadway 103, the largest of the new rooms opening up. A petition created by CUEMS, which has garnered over 1,500 signatures, requests that they be granted the new spaces in Broadway 102 and 103, which opened up after the space in the new CSA allowed the advisors working in Broadway to move their offices to Lerner. According to CUEMS, the new space would solve their current issues and allow for future expansion. CCSC thought it more equitable to only grant them 103, as there are many other student groups who need storage and would be interested in the space. Many of the council members agreed that CUEMS had demonstrated a real need for the space, and that granting such a space would remedy a slew of the issues CUEMS had presented. Some argued that there hasn’t been enough time to allow other groups to present their cases for a move into Broadway. However, the fact that the old CUEMS space in Carman would become available quieted most of this discussion. Eventually, the council passed the resolution, granting CUEMS the use of Broadway 103, placing their fate in the hands of the other governing boards.

• The Council then discussed a Good Samaritan policy. The main purpose of a Good Samaritan policy, in this case drafted by Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, is to prevent punishment of students who attempt to get medical aid for someone suffering from an overdose. Columbia is unique among the Ivies in not having such a policy. Generally, a Good Samaritan policy grants amnesty to the victim, those who aid the victim, and other bystanders who may not have been directly involved. The aim is to prevent situations in which a student who needs medical attention does not receive it because other students who have been engaging in illicit activities fear some sort of punishment if they contact the authorities. The representative from SSDP cited a study that concluded similar laws have had no impact on drug use, but have increased the frequency with which help is requested for life-threatening drug- and alcohol-related incidents. As discussion of the policy began, council members questioned the wording of part of the proposal, nearly indecipherable to many at the meeting. Additionally, someone raised the request that the resolution be amended to also include amnesty for institutions and organizations, such as fraternities or student groups who may fear retribution if someone at one of their events needs medical attention. Eventually, the discussion wound to a close, and the Council tabled a vote until at least next week.