Lotta documents to go through

Huzzah huzzah to constitutional review! Review of last night’s constitutional review brought to you by Joe Milholland. 

It’s constitutional review season at the Columbia College Student Council! Groups of council members have been reviewing their constitution, and they presented some of the major areas of review on Sunday night. However, the council only gave input on issues with the constitution. They will vote on specific changes at a later date.

How Many Class Reps? – The council extensively discussed a proposal brought up last academic year to reduce the number of class representatives on each class council, thus reducing the size of the council from 30 to 34 students. Their reasoning behind this before were studies that showed smaller groups were more efficient.

CCSC President Peter Bailinson said that the council opposed the measure last year because it said nothing about increasing the efficiency of the council in other ways.

VP of Campus Life Andrew Ren was in favor of the proposal because it would allow the general body to vote on things more quickly and the reduction would not mean any group in Columbia College would lose representation.

Class of 2015 President Kareem Carryl mentioned that senior year class duties can be “taxing,” but he emphasized he wouldn’t want the senior class to be disproportionately represented on the council.

Much of the talk on the council was over the role of the appointed council, with several council members speaking favorably of the efforts of appointed council members.

Class of 2016 Rep Sameer Mishra raised concerns that fewer class council members on committees would mean that committee work and class council work would start conflicting due to a lack of communication. VP of Policy Sejal Singh brought up the idea of making requirements for regular attendance at committees for those who do volunteer.

What to do with Pre-professional and Alumni Affairs Reps? – Class of 2016 President Saaket Pradham brought up that the roles of the Pre-pro and Alumni Affairs reps are not well-defined in the current constitution. The council agreed that the two positions, especially the Pre-pro rep, had limited capabilities, and they discussed whether to get rid of the positions entirely or reform them.

Bailinson told the council that, in his time on CCSC, he saw 4 pre-pro reps, all of whom couldn’t achieve much. Current Pre-pro Rep Chris George admitted that “there’s not much to do” in his role. He cited that his main contact in the administration was pregnant and unable to respond to his emails.

Ren said that, based on his experience working with pre-pro groups, he didn’t thing CCSC was the best place for a pre-pro rep.

Student Services Rep Charles Sanky talked about the need for a liaison to CSA and CCE. He mentioned these jobs could be incorporated into the Academic Affairs Rep’s position.

Singh suggested greater areas of focus for the pre-pro rep, such as fellowships and grad school applications.

At the end of the discussion, Bailinson noted that the two main suggestions by the council were to either make the pre-pro rep’s position broader or scrap the position and give more repsonsibilities to the alumni affairs rep.

Sandbassador, or no Sandbassador? – The Sandwich Ambassador’s platform thus far has been based on the text of the proposal approved by voters last year. It does not currently have a defined job in the constitution. Bailinson asked the council if, similarly to the pre-pro rep, the council should expand or scrap the position. However, he voiced concern over the council getting rid of a proposal voted on and approved by students.

Several council members voiced their support over a position that would tackle issues of food insecurity, equity, and inclusion at Columbia, although they were split over whether the Sandbassador was in the best position to do that.

VP of Finance Michael Li supported getting rid of the position, saying that a position that tackled food insecurity issues on campus would be best if it “doesn’t have the legacy of being a joke Columbia Lion position.” Sanky and Class of 2015 Rep Lillian Chen agreed with Li, saying a different position could tackle related issues in a better manner.

Ren and Singh supported the light-hearted tone of the Sandbassador. Ren’s defense of the Sandbassador received snaps from several council members.

Academic Affairs Rep Grayson Warrick noted the “funky dualism” between the light-hearted tone of the Sandbassador and its potentially expanded role. He suggested one position with two titles.

CCSC VP of Policy-Elect Vivek Ramakrishnan suggested keeping the Sandbassador but also instituting a more serious position.

Current Sandbassador Joshua Burton said his position is “unsustainable,” citing the inability for CC to exert pressure on businesses to lower their prices. Ren disagreed with Burton, citing the impact of Eat@CU.

In a poll Bailinson took about halfway through the discussion, sixteen council members supported getting rid of the position entirely. These council members all supported a new position focusing on equity. Nine other council members supported keeping the title Sandbassador and broadening the scope of the position.

Impeachment – The council finally discussed the impeachment process. This came after a few council members had been absent for two or more meetings but had not had impeachment procedures against them.

Some council members suggested automatically kicking members off council if they had 3 or 4 unexcused absences. Warrick proposed instead that the VP of Communications (a role he will take on next semester) would have the option of impeaching a council member if they have 3 unexcused absences.

Updates:

• Bailinson is looking into next semester’s schedule. He is trying to get professors to schedule their exams before the last day of exams on December 23. He and Heinrich are looking towards long-term changes on this issue.
• Class of 2018 Rep Nicol Allicock has asked admin George Jackson to fix floor plans for housing (for example, the McBain floor plans still say there is laundry on floor 2 to 5).
• According to Usenator Marc Heinrich, the AU Campus Climate Survey needs 6,000 responses, and they only have half that number so far.

An idealized and patriotic CCSC meeting via Shutterstock