Maybe more people would read The Owl if actual owls were involved?

How often do you keep up with GSSC’s The Owl? According to GSSC, you probably don’t read it at all. That’s okay, though, since Bwog has our own campus political pundit, Joe Milholland, who can tell you all about GSSC’s activities.

“Basically, no one reads The Owl,” said General Studies Student Council President Elizabeth Heyman on Tuesday night at the council’s general body meeting. Although Heyman admitted the council has no hard numbers on how many people read the emails GSSC sends out, she laid out changes to how GGSC will promote itself.

The Owl – the weekly updates GSSC sends out to update students on what they’re doing and highlight various aspects of the council – will now go out monthly in a format Heyman describes as more like a “newsletter.” The council will also send out what is informally referred to right now as the “Weekly Liz” (the name will likely change), which is an update of coming events and what the council’s working on in a brief manner with links to more information.

However, the bulk of the council’s outreach and communication will know be diverted to Facebook. University Senator Katherine Celentano commented that not everyone at GS uses Facebook or uses it regularly. VP of Finance Dalitso Nkhoma responded that the weekly e-mails would contain the important information and be easy to read. First Year Class President Anthony Salamone mentioned different people responded through email than through social media when he promoted an event in the past.

Heyman also updated the council on the group adjudication proposal being drafted. The proposal sets up a board which will hear inter- and intra-group conflicts with a jurisdiction above the governing boards like ABC and SGB. A voting member of GSSC will serve on the board, but this position will probably be incorporated into the duties of a current position rather than be used to create a new voting position on the council.

The proposal is still being drafted. Once the committee working on it finishes its draft, GSSC, ESC, and CCSC will vote to approve it.

Finally, Heyman announced a mental health group at GS that will work with Dean Josh Edwin on wellness and GS with the goal of analyzing the problem outside of the Mental Health Task Force.

At the end of their meeting, GSSC recorded a video in support of Giving Day, viewable here.

What GSSC Spent Money On:

• $720 for members of Service to School to go to Georgetown University for the national Service to School conference. Service to School is a group that helps members of the US military apply to schools. At Georgetown, they will be able to reach out to potential applicants and thus increase their membership. JCCC gave them $360 for half their travel expense. They wanted $720 for travel and food expenses from GSSC’s co-sponsorships. GSSC granted this with no opposing votes.
• $25,000 for the annual rooftop party. GSSC had budgeted $15,000 for this, but they plan to gain $10,000 in revenue from ticket sales. GSSC will send out an email about the rooftop party soon with more information. Seniors will be able to order their tickets early. Because the venue for the party is normally for those 21 and up, there will be 5 bodyguards and 5 GS administrators at the event.
• $1,000 for senior-first year luncheon on October 30^th.
• $4,000 for February graduation. Student Life pays the bulk of this cost, but Senior VP Michael Neier explained that GSSC has “traditionally” party funded this.
• $100 for a pumpkin painting event sponsored by the first year class councils from all four undergraduate student councils.

The council ordered that each of these allocations are “not to exceed” the stated amount – meaning, it is possible that when the events actually happen, less than allocated will eventually be spent.