As transparent as plexiglass

If one thing’s clear, it’s the that Joe Milholland is back again to give the non-confidential scoop on last night’s CCSC meeting. 

Last year, when the lock-out policy was being put in place, admins gave information to Chris Godshall and told him not to make it public. Godshall immediately afterwards went to Spec with the info.

That story was one of Godshall’s comments at Sunday night’s Columbia College Student Council meeting on the subject of council member confidentiality with admins. However, Godshall – one of the current student services reps – also said, “I’m sitting on one [piece of information] that could cause pandemonium.”

The council underwent a lengthy discussion that night about feedback for the upcoming semester, and the topic of admin relations with respect to the general body and student population dominated much of the feedback time.

VP of Policy Sejal Singh mentioned that she has many meetings with admins with strict confidentiality rules. In some, she isn’t even allowed to take paper in to the room for fear of leaks. Singh mentioned that she has walked out of meetings, mostly ones about sexual assault, because the confidentiality rules were too strict.

While acknowledging that he doesn’t deal with as much confidential information as others, VP of Campus Life Andrew Ren doubted that elected representatives should make judgement calls about keeping confidential information private.

Academic Affairs Rep Grayson Warrick suggested that there be a clause in the council’s by-laws about sharing information with potential punishments if it is broken. CCSC President Peter Bailinson said that those rules might lead to more meetings closed-off from CCSC members.

VP of Finance Michael Li said that reporting that CCSC members were completely cut out of discussions could lead to student pushback for more overall transparency.

University Senator Marc Heinrich said that many statements by admins are confidential because it’s not always clear at Columbia who is making the decisions, and an admin doesn’t want to speak against the beliefs of a superior. Heinrich also noted that information can be made public to student council members but not the student body.

At the end of the discussion, Bailinson indicated that there was a general consensus that council members need to use their discretion when revealing information that admins give them. Ren said such decisions could be made on a “case-by-case” basis.

Updates:

• CCSC held their Secret Santa event at the end of their meeting. The gifts included a Cleveland Cavaliers water bottle, a framed photograph of Taylor Swift, a pink bowtie bought from American Apparel, and a Star Wars silicone ice tray.
• Student senators have recommended two people to fill the head of CUIT position, and there may be an announcement on the decision next semester.
• Grayson Warrick unveiled a sample proposal for extending the Drop Deadline to the second Monday of October or March. A survey of 376 Columbia students showed that 75% have dropped a class and 64% “didn’t have a midterm of major assignment in two or more clases before the Drop Deadline. Warrick believed this policy would not cause large amounts of dropouts because students need to take so many courses to graduate, so students would only drop out rarely. Class of 2016 Representative Sameer Mishra asked if CCSC could get professors to show practice exams at the beginning of the semester so that students could see the courseload more accurately. Warrick was unsure if this request could be met. An audience member mentioned that other schools have drop deadlines earlier than Columbia, although Singh noted that the council hasn’t yet heard any pushback from faculty about this proposal.
• During the feedback discussion, Chris Godshall asked that more things be voted on. He gave the example of CCSC’s participation in Carry that Weight Day of Action. He supported it but said it wasn’t voted on by the council.
• Also during the discussion, Andrew Ren noted a lack of volunteering and engagement by council members for certain evens, such as Bagelpalooza. He said that some council members were picking up the slack by volunteering too much and overburdening themselves.
• The first CCSC meeting of next semester will deal with bystander intervention and sexual assault.
• Over winter break, CCSC will be working on an end of semester report to publish at the beginning of the spring semester.

Dictionary pic entry for “transparent” via Shutterstock