What is rap doing to our nation

Upheaval, new faces, rap music, and fractions were what best characterized last night’s GSSC’s meeting, at least according to our resident Roone reporter, Romane Thomas. With a notable lack of alliteration, she breezily gives us all the deets.

Yesterday night’s General Studies Student Council (GSSC) meeting turned theatrical when the student council moved from its normal meeting room to the Roone Arledge Cinema in Lerner and was provided with an unexpected rap soundtrack from the performances in the auditorium next door.

All the drama did not deter the General Studies Student Council (GSSC) from accepting 3 ½ new members (don’t worry, we’ll explain):

• The open Chief of Policy position will be filled by Michael Higgins, a sophomore specializing in urban studies.
• A.J. Lardo will fill the vacant Chief of Finance position and is excited to apply his financial skills to the job.
• The Social Media Representative position will be filled by Karlee Rodrigues. Karlee was asked, “How much weight will you put into MySpace?” “None,” she replied. Good answer.
• Due to the formal resignation of the Vice President of Communication, the position remained vacant until GSSC’s very own Jade Le-Cascarino (hence the 3½), former VP of Campus Life, was chosen to fill the position. She stated that although she enjoyed her former pole she believed that “better communication could greatly improve campus life.”

VP of Finance Dalitso Nkhoma introduced two new initiatives that were to be included in the budget. A representative from Artsy asked for additional funds to organize an event for GS students that would include singing performances, stand-up comedy and magic tricks! In order to serve food at the event for the 40 people attending, the representative asked for $200, which was granted by the student council. The student council also approved the allocation of $175 for food and drinks to be served at the Arts Career Panel organized by Alumni Affairs. The event will take place from 7 :30 pm on Monday January 22.

VP of Campus Life Jade Le-Cascarino congratulated the council on a successful Valentine’s Day Mixer. She also reminded the council that a soup kitchen will soon be organized by the Community Service Representative but that updates would not be available until next week. Le-Cascarino also introduced a Snack Attack initiative, which will take place between March 7th and March 19th. She explained that menus were not yet finalized but that more details would be available soon.

The Council also discussed the possibility of adding two new positions to the GSSC, namely, First Year Class VP and Senior Class VP. Although nothing has been officially announced, the council discussed the possibility that these positions would help facilitate the communication between the Sophomore and Junior classes and the Council. Another council member pointed out that it may be useful to have them sit in on Finance meetings as well.

Other updates:

• A collaboration between ESC and CCSC is set up to start giving out free tampons on campus soon.
• First Year Rep Anthony Salamone reminded the Council that the First Year Formal would take place on the 27th of February and that the First Year class reunion will take place at the end of April. The exact date is still to be determined.
• The Policy Pole is now accepting ideas for questions to add to their General Studies Survey that will be launched after Spring Break. VP of Policy Michael Neier stated that the questions would be directed towards international students, students with families, and working students, but that other topics would be addressed as well. Candy and $50 bookstore gifts cards await some lucky students who take the survey! Send your recommendations to gsscpolicy@columbia.edu.

Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-2.5