Constellations: A major focus of the SGA meeting

DSpar stopped by SGA this week to give thanks and get thoughts from Rep Council about the College’s forthcoming capital campaign, its Global Symposia and its new Constellations program. Each conversation built upon the central topics of SGA discussions this semester: communication and cash, and what it means to be a women’s college.

DSpar was insistent that the Constellations program, launched this year as a networking system and community builder for Barnard students and alumni that is based on their first-year residential life, was one that was built to evolve with lots of student imput. The main sentiment among members of Rep Council was that upperclassmen felt substantially disconnected from the program and that its purpose was confusing to all involved, which, in this case, is everybody. SGA will submit a report on their suggestions for the Constellations program to DSpar, which she intends to discuss with A-Hinks.

SGA had many questions about the growth of Barnard’s Global Symposia and its presence on campus. The Symposium is in its fourth year, and is to be held over Spring Break in Mumbai. The purpose of the Symposia were brought up as a continuation of the discussion about the purpose of women’s colleges that began following the Seven Sisters Conference. Rep Council discussed what could be done to make the Symposia more of a presence on campus considering how few students are selected to attend each year. Spring Break in PI? Try Mumbai.

Barnard’s budget was the hottest topic before DSpar’s departure. DSpar insisted that the priorities of the capital campaign are financial aid, to attract the best and brightest students to Barnard, and faculty salaries, to attract the best and brightest faculty to Barnard, and classroom space on campus. Rep Council agreed that library space, or lack thereof, ought to be a priority, especially given the positive impact that the Diana Center has had on campus life. This follows the recent Town Hall about misuse of the Diana Center.

After DSpar DParted, Bacchanal’s president stopped by to request proportional support from SGA for its request of $20,000 to ABC. SGA approved the request with the stipulations that Bacchanal hold an event on Barnard’s campus either this coming Spring or next Fall, that Bacchanal allow a representative from SGA to sit on their financial board, as was the case last year, and that that Bacchanal apply for recognition by SGA’s SOC (Student Organizations Committee).

Rep Council also unanimously approved a contentious resolution calling for the creation of a non-programmable, non-reservable space in Lerner under the direction of Columbia’s Student Space Project. They did so with the stipulations that the resolution be amended to include “SGA” and “Barnard” among various verbiage in which it was excluded. It was also brought up that Barnard students pay a fee for the use of Lerner hall each semester, but that no student pays for use of the Diana Center. Taxation without representation! Occupy Lerner! Wait, you can’t, it’s reserved…

Constellation via Wikimedia Commons