Julian LaRosa is giving his decisions the weight they deserve.

Never fear: GSSC is near, starting its year with not just initiative, but energy. Jennifer Nugent and Romane Thomas observe and report back from the ice dungeon.

Yesterday night, the General Studies Student Council met in the freezing heights of Lerner (the air conditioning gave us colds) for its longest meeting yet and started off the year with a bang (of a Thor-style gavel) and some laughs.

Although all the appointed positions are not yet filled, the reduced sized council introduced themselves through short yet impactful opening speeches. Student Council president Julian LaRosa set the tone by emphasizing what seems to be this year’s general attitude. From food insecurity initiatives to mental health, GSSC is “going to get stuff done,” building on the achievements of last year’s highly committed council (we miss you Liz!).

University Senator Ramond Curtis followed up by announcing that he would use his position this year to provoke a “major push for resources for student with disabilities, both mental and physical.” He also took a moment to address the loss of Uriel Florez and to assure the council that mental health is a priority this year. In the context of mental health awareness month, Curtis emphasized the importance of connecting students to the right resources. As for food insecurity, Curtis congratulated the Council on last semester’s initiatives like the food bank and pointed out that GS is “leading on the forefront” and is “leaps and bounds ahead of other schools.” In this context, additional space to set up food insecurity initiatives will be needed. Curtis expressed the hope that the vacant Uris building might partly be dedicated to GS’s food insecurity initiatives.

Next up, VP of Communications Dennis Zhao announced the development of the website with a cute teaser preview that featured the cutest owls Bwog has yet to see. This year, GSSC will also set up a video cast to share important information with the general student body. Zhao announced that the to-be-appointed social chair will start to “feature heavily on social media platforms,”  including Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

Campus Life VP Brett Krasner introduced his team and said that he would meet with specific groups on campus to specialize events. Krasner reminded the student council that a Welcome Back party is coming up on September 22nd at 7 pm (The Copacabana Times Square) and that the first batch of tickets will go live this Thursday at 7 pm. 600 tickets will be made available this year. Tickets have been saved for students in need of financial assistance.

At the end of the meeting, MilVets president Al Chang expressed his desire to turn the passing of Uriel Florez into a force that can “drive some real change”. He urged the student council to push for around the clock emergency services in the form of a hot line. He expressed his anger at the current system by asking “what is the point of VA certified psychologists if they are not available to the student body”. The council agreed that the need for change was undeniable. They advised that MilVets should first meet with the appropriate representatives before GSSC writes a resolution on the matter. Anyone wanting to take part in these initiatives should contact him directly at aic2112@columbia.com

During the meeting, four “new” members of the council were appointed after some controversy surrounding the application process. Some members of the public raised concerns that the nomination of candidates was done without considering the entire applicant pool since the deadline for applications is September 16th. However, the council clarified that application were filled on a rolling basis and that the deadline had originally been pushed back to allow more students to apply to the positions. Further, the nominated applicants for vacant positions proved to have extensive experience and motivation. Here are the new members!

• Nicole Rodgers, a transfer student from California was appointed to first year president. Seeing as many people were interested in this position, she diplomatically expressed her desire to “harness this energy” to “connecting students to each other.”
• Marysol Yoo was appointed to the position of Social Chair. President of the Chinese Club at her previous university, she believes that leading a happy, healthy life as a student is very important. Although she does not have experience in planning events specifically, she does have a lot of practice planning projects, as witnessed by her time as a contractor in Texas.
• Tamta Arakhamia from the Republic of Georgia was appointed to the position of Academic Affairs’ representative. Co-founder of the Young Diplomats of Georgia, Arakhmia is passionate about the GS community and hopes to make substantive changes this year.
• Mike Neier, a completely unknown face at GSSC (apart from the fact that he has actually been in GSSC for four years), was appointed as Alumni Affairs representative. He did not tell the council much about himself. His obvious shyness (not) prompted a question from one of the council members about whether it would be an impediment to his work. His agenda will include bringing alumni events closer to campus and giving more information about the people attending. As he stepped out of the room to await the decision of the GSSC, our favorite comments included “don’t worry about coming back” and “try not to flex too much out there.” He stared at the council through the glass window as they were making the decision to appoint him. Shocker.

Judgement via Bwog Staff