Tell us where to go, CCSC 2018

Key notes from keynote visitor to the CCSC  meeting last night and other miscellaneous points summed up for you by veteran CCSC correspondent, Joe Milholland. 

At Sunday night’s Columbia College Student Council meeting, Dean of Advising Monique Rinere from CSA came to talk to the council about changes to the leave of absence policy and discuss other projects CSA is working on.

Changes to the leave of absence policy:

• The maximum time for medical has been increased from one academic year to two.
• The deadline to apply for readmission in the spring semester after medical leave has been pushed back from October 1 to November 1.
• For a student to take a medical leave, a licensed practitioner must complete “an individualized assessment of the student’s healtcare needs.”
• When Columbia denies a student readmission and the denial would mean the student’s leave would be greater than two years, the student can now appeal to their dean for readmission.

Dean Rinere then told the council about new academic programs. Tutoring has been revamped, and there are now academic skill-building workshops. As a pilot program, Deborah Mowshowitz’s biology class now has weekly, 90-minute Mastery Through Academic Coaching sessions for students. There was a first generation student event at orientation, and there is a first generation student mentoring program. Interestingly, during her talk with the council, Dean Rinere asked how many pre-meds there were on the council. Two hands went up. For MBAs and pre-laws, there were about 6-8 hands each. When Dean Rinere asked if anyone wanted to be a professor, only one council member raised his hand.

Other updates:

• The Class of 2015 has an open position for the Senior Week Committee. The application is here.
• The Class of 2018 council is planning a “traffic light party” for first-years the day before homecoming.
• The Class of 2017 council is planning its first Major Discovery event with CSA & CCE. The event will feature upperclassmen who will talk about their majors.
• President Bailinson is researching the governing boards at Columbia and student life fees for Columbia College. From 2008-2010, student life fees increased $6 each year. Since 2010, student life fees have not increased. There has recently been a growth in groups covered by the governing boards, which are funded through student life fees. Bailinson is still researching and has not yet decided on a course of action.
• Campus Life is planning a week-long event of putting historical information around Columbia’s campus.
• CCSC is reviewing WTF Columbia and making every council member take on an issue.
• The council changed their by-laws for appointing students to academic committees. A subcommittee will selected two candidates for every position (10 candidates in total) who will appear before the general council and argue for why the should have the position, and the council will vote on which candidate they want on the committee. The voting will take place between spring elections and constitutional review.

Look up what a traffic light party is via Shutterstock