Find out what’s new in this week’s GSSC with bureau chief Romane Thomas.

Last night, General Studies Student Council got bwog pumped up about the GS Gala, swipe access and mental health initiatives.

President Larosa started out by announcing that registrations for the upcoming elections were closed and that a mandatory rules meeting will take place at 8pm today in Math 202. Campaigning will start next Wednesday and voting will take place in the week after that.

An exclusive look at the forever inaccessible John Jay Lounge

Senator Curtis updated the council on his initiative with the subcommittee for students with disabilities. A panel will be organized at the end of April to raise awareness about disabilities and disability access on campus.

The policy team is currently working in conjunction with the Student Affairs Representative on providing swipe access to GS students. Specifically, GSSC is trying to obtain access to the CPS walk-in hours for GS students.

The representative for working students and students with families is currently meeting with CUFSN to ensure the smooth organize of the children’s music festival happening on April 8. He also announced that the Ivy Leage Policy Conference applications were now closed and that the organizing committee invited GSSC to an informal luncheon on April 15.

The Academic Affairs Representative spoke about the upcoming Annual GSSC Excellence awards. She reminded the council and the audience that the student body was responsible for nominating faculty members, teaching assistants or administrator for this award. Application close on April 11.
The Representative for Community Service Representative reminded the council that a scavenger hunt with an after school program is organized on Saturday.

First Year President Nicole Rodgers spoke about the organization of a coffee house music series for the end of the semester. She assured the council that organization was under way and that they had already secured an artist and funding. The Joint First Year Council Project is also in the works. The overwhelming majority of people on the first year council wish for this project to have to do with animals.

She next gave a presentation on the Ivy League Mental Health Conference. Each school first made an introduction before giving a summary of their mental policies and their deficiencies. A couple of initiatives held our attention. University of Pennsylvania has a 24-hour text messaging system that has had great success due to the anonymity that the service provides. Princeton has a good medical leave of absence program that can be replicated at Columbia. Brown has staged sit-ins and walk-outs to protest the cap on counseling visits, a cap that Columbia maintains at 6 visits. Across the board, it seems universities must improve their medical leave of absence policies.

Other Updates:

• A motion to spend $2000 to maintain the food bank was approved.
• Same from the MilVets announced that a Freshman Seminar will take place on Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30pm in the John Jay Lounge.