the Welcome Back Party venue looks pretty glamorous tbh

Today is Wednesday, which means that Bwog’s General Studies Student Council (GSSC) Bureau Chief Alex Tang is here with a summary of yesterday’s meeting. If you’re interested in what goes on in General Studies and can’t make it to the weekly GSSC meetings, check back weekly for convenient updates!

GSSC held a fairly short meeting last night. Members of the council took turns giving updates about various events and initiatives related to the School of General Studies.

Most importantly, the annual GSSC-hosted Welcome Back Party is coming up tomorrow, Thursday, from 7-9pm at the Hudson Terrace, a rooftop lounge in Midtown. The Welcome Back Party is one of the biggest events that GSSC hosts each year, and is a major highlight for many GS students. A limited number of tickets are still available, so check the link above if you’re in GS and want to turn up tomorrow!

In anticipation of Homecoming, the annual Columbia Homecoming Banner Showdown is happening next week, on Thursday October 12 from 12-4pm on the Lerner Ramps. Each of Columbia’s four undergraduate schools (CC, SEAS, Barnard, and GS) will be given empty canvasses on which to propose their own version of the Homecoming banner. The banners will be posted during the pep rally, and the best banner will be voted upon by the student body. VP of Campus Life Dennis Zhao encouraged as many GS students to attend as possible. Zhao noted that other schools have been talking smack about GS, quoting that GS students are “too old” and lack the “steady hands” to make artwork. Let’s show all the haters wrong!

Here are the other updates covered during the GSSC meeting:

• The Faculty Mentorship Program website is now live, and can be accessed here. The program is open to all juniors and seniors in CC and GS, who will be able to choose certain faculty members as personal mentors. Through the program, each faculty member will act as “an experienced ally who can provide personal and individual guidance and support on academic, professional, and social issues, helping their mentees not only achieve but also identify or clarify their goals.”
• GSSC will be hosting monthly awareness panels geared towards different student populations within GS. In October, there will be a Dual BA/Joint Programs Students Panel. In November, in partnership with GS Alliance, GSSC will host a Transgender Students Panel.
• There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Food Bank at Columbia today at 4:30pm at the Food Bank in Lerner. The School of General Studies played a big role in actualizing the food bank, and GSSC would like to invite any interested students to check out the ceremony.
• Community Impact works with high schoolers in the community around Columbia, and is currently looking for GS volunteers who can dedicate an hour per week to show students what it’s like to be a college student. Contact the council for more information.

We saw several new faces at the meeting as well, as the council heard (and approved) the nominations for two previously vacant positions. GSSC’s two new council members are:

• Lou Abramowicz (Senior Class VP): A student from the Dual BA program at Sciences Po, Abramowicz is excited to coordinate GS’s most cherished events and traditions.
• Eren Villa (Social Chair): Villa emphasized his interest in the role as coming out of a “love for the community,” rather than as a means of gaining “social capital.”

Senator Ramond Curtis also introduced two new legislative assistants and three new administrative assistants, who will help him interface with the Columbia administration. The role of the legislative assistants, Patrick and Moth, will be to do research, draft memorandums for the University Senate, and to advocate for direct policy changes. The administrative assistants, Daniel, Alejandro, and Christopher, will meet with administrators and draft official emails. All five assistants will be working associate non-voting positions, but will be active members of the board.

Hudson Terrace via pinterest