Political correspondent Maren Killackey returns from the slightly sparse field of the Satow Room to report on the latest CCSC meeting.

The Satow room at 8 pm last Sunday was noticeably empty, with a number of CCSC members (newly elected and not) mysteriously absent, including the entire Class of 2014 Council. There weren’t even enough members to meet quorum—after Aki made the meetings mandatory again. Perhaps not the most auspicious beginning to incoming CCSC President Karishma Habbu’s term (henceforth known as Prezbu), but the Council did find ways of being productive… kind of. Outgoing CCSC Prez Aki Terasaki showed off some artistic talents when he unveiled a proposed design for the SGO remodel. The new floor plan, which Terasaki hand drew with markers (it was even color coded), includes more of a lounge area for students that would be achieved by removing one of two the big meeting tables. There would also be room for student group storage as well as the creation of extra, unbookable meeting space.

Terasaki took some heat from various Council members who were concerned about how much dialogue with current users of the SGO had been taken into account when drawing up the proposed plan. A few requested to see the quantitative input Terasaki had referred to, something he noted as being “not necessarily… necessary.”  SGA and ESC reps both felt that their respective Councils has not been thoroughly consulted regarding the changes, despite the fact they each have equal stake in the SGO and despite Terasaki’s claims of extensive discussion.

Though it seemed like a fruitful conversation, it was actually pretty useless since the SGO remodel will not occur under the current Council, and is entirely the concern of future councils. Nevertheless, Terasaki seems adamant about locking such future councils into making some sort of improvement to the SGO, whether they find it a priority or not.

Alcohol Exchange Policy author and new Academic Affairs Rep. Steven Castellano dropped by (again) to discuss even further revisions to the AEP draft. This time he arrived with two versions, the first calling for greater UEM facilitation of alcohol exchange, the second not asking. Castellano himself admitted that he preferred the second version; however, its stipulation that “Student groups that have alcohol at events must purchase at least 50% of the alcohol they use,” didn’t sit well with a few Council members. In the end, Council couldn’t do anything as, to repeat this once again, they were 5 members short of quorum.

USenator Kenny Durell gave an update on what he’s been doing in the Senate. Out of conversations he’s had in the course of his Bacchanal 2011 investigation, they’ve decided to explore decoupling the VP Campus Life position from Council and making a separate Student Affairs committee. This body would oversee large scale campus events such as Bacchanal, ensuring that people who are familiar with the trials and tribulations of event planning at Columbia are at the helm of… planning the event.

Barry Weinberg announced that he heard that the Committee on the Core is facing dissolution into various responsibilities that would be executed by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. When interviewed later he called this move potentially “catastrophic,” as the Core merits its own committee and this move to centralize decision-making is worrisome. Stay tuned for updates. Side notes:

• VP Policy Ryan Cho and his horde of Policy minions have set up an academic integrity task force to explore cheating at Columbia (henceforth C@CU?).
• 13 recipients of the Student Project Grants (up to $1.5k in funding) have been selected from 40 applicants. Project ideas ranged from an experimental art piece to a senior dance/music showcase.
• For more information about what the Council has done this year, see this list.