planned expansion for SGA headquarters

Bwog’s shiny new Diana Bureau Chief Renée Kraiem reports on the goings-on at SGA.

• Reflecting on last week’s contentious meeting about Barnard’s new full-time enrollment policy, one council member explained that she knew of many students who hadn’t recognized the importance of the email announcement from A-Hinks. Barnard inundates students with so many emails, some argued, that it is impossible to distinguish invitations to an open house that bears (pun intended) no relevance to your life from emails presenting major policy changes. SGA President Jessica Blank (we hear the kids are calling her PrezBla!) clarified that doc@barnard.edu, the address from which Dean Hinkson sent her statement, stands for “Dean of the College,” but many students mistook it for spam. Discussion ensued about the way the college administration relates to students, and though the council agreed that the timing of Dean Hinkson’s announcement was too late into the semester, the proper forum for communicating an announcement of this magnitude was debatable.
• Blank also reported that a representative from LionPAC, which calls itself “Columbia University’s pro-Israel public affairs committee,” stopped by her office hours last week. Cheers erupted to celebrate the occasion, but the mood quickly turned ruminative as the council debated whether to “non-financially co-sponsor” LionPAC’s upcoming not-explicitly-pro-Israeli networking event for student groups. Council concluded that co-sponsorship was inappropriate since SGA does not support politically affiliated groups, and should not lend its name to an event that it doesn’t help plan. 
• Barnard may not be in PAC’s pack, but the use of Barnard’s name and BC’s relationship to Columbia lions remains in question. Another representative asked whether the council would support a reception exclusively for Barnard students as part of the women’s volleyball Dig Pink event preceding the game against Yale next Friday, October 28th. The council made sure to recognize that its appreciation for Columbia athletics’ commitment to celebrating its Barnard athletes but was cautious again to lend its name. The event launched a heated conversation about the “unique consortium” that is Columbia athletics. One council member challenged the statement that Barnard athletes compete for an institution other than their own, and suggested, rather, that they compete “under Columbia’s name.” The council rejected the proposal of a Barnard-only event.
• This semester’s town hall meeting has been scheduled for next Wednesday, October 28th, in the James Room. Despite the late notice, SGA really wants you to come, since they’ll discuss students’ use of the Diana Center. So, to address Barnard students’ use of their new student center, it’s important that students actually, you know, attend.
• Barnard SGA meetings are held each Monday from 8:05 to 10:05 in the student dining room of the Diana Center and are open to all students. Next week’s administrative guest will be Brenda Slade, the director of health services at the College.

What you wish Gmail would have filtered for you via Wikimedia Commons