All Student Councils should have a Seal of Approval

Getting back to the grind may be slow-going for you, but our Rep Councils are ready to hit the ground running. GSSC had a packed agenda this week, starting off the semester with the creation of two new Council positions. Bwog’s Student Government Specialist, Joe Milholland, reports on the findings that led to the new rep positions. 

On Tuesday night, the General Studies Student Council approved two new voting positions for its council: a Multicultural Affairs Representative and a Student Wellness Representative. The Student Wellness Representative was approved for only a one-year pilot program.

GSSC President Elizabeth Heyman wanted the Multicultural Affairs Representative because of GS’s increasing diversity. VP of Finance Dalitso Nkhoma cited GS groups for students of color and Korean international students as evidence of GS’s diversity. University Senator Katharine Celentano noted that there are student opportunities at the Office of Multicultural Affairs that are available for GS students but in which GS students are under-represented. The council approved the position with no opposition and one abstention.

Heyman said the goal of the Student Wellness Representative was to connect with Alice! Health Promotion. Heyman also said that this representative would work more with Campus Life than Policy, which coordinates student wellness with the Student Services Representative (Silin Huang). Some council members raised concerns that the representative’s jobs could be covered by the Student Services Rep and that the new position would expand the council’s bureaucracy too much, but Celentano believed there was a place for the rep on the council and suggested the council amend their policy to try out the representative for one year. The council approved this suggestion and finally approved the position of Student Wellness Representative with 3 votes in opposition.

The positions will be filled in GSSC’s fall appointments.

Updates:

• The council voted to approve Senior Class VP Michael Neier in his position. The council needed to make this vote because Neier was technically two credits short of officially being a senior, but he explained to the council he considers himself a senior, saying even if he did not graduate in May his last semester would only be part-time. Neier was the First-year Class President last school year. Senior Class President Jin Han complained to the executive board that he wasn’t informed about this subject over the summer.
• This school year, Celentano is on the alumni relations committee, the Commission on the Status of Women with a focus on Columbia’s family policy, and on the Comission on Family Policy – a subcommittee of the Student Affairs Committee.
• As for Celentano’s work on the gym, she told the council she has updates she will give out in the future. For now, Celentano announced that the recreation side of the gym is upping its social media presence and creating a Workout of the Day program. Celentano indicated that more functional fitness options could be gained by GS participation in the gym’s social media and workout programs.
• The council spent $300 to go towards expenses for a panel hosted by GS Alliance and Milvets on the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.
• VP of Communications Donna Askari brought up the idea of closing down redundant Facebook pages for GS class years, but Celentano voiced her discomfort with the council interfering in that kind of student-created content.

That’s how you make it official via Shutterstock