Newly appointed CCSC Bureau Chief Sam Azanza brings you the tea live from the Satow Room. This week’s CCSC review recaps the discussion regarding the Food Pantry, campus wellbeing, and the Alumni Fundraiser.

a very creative logo

The meeting started with the usual announcements regarding various events and initiatives on campus.

Selected Announcements

  • Tampons and pads have started being implemented in select locations and CCSC is continuing to work with uptown campus medical locations to expand the program
  • Advisors will be more involved with students on leave, allowing these students to feel more included in campus events
  • CCSC is in talks with Dean Chang regarding food insecurity; a working committee is being created for FGLI students
  • The junior boat cruise went on sale on Friday, apparel and t-shirt giveaways to follow

Food Pantry

A guest from the food pantry came to answer some question regarding two Spec articles published in the past year. He talked a little bit about their goal, which is to make sure that people who utilize the pantry have access to not only the food but also the means to put the food to use in terms of simple cooking supplies. They also want to set up individuals to apply for the governmental SNAP program.

CCSC asked the guest about ways the council could help the food pantry. He mentioned that any consideration the council may have for anything related to campus hunger can be discussed with any member of the food pantry who would be willing to converse with anyone regarding any concerns or questions to ensure that students have access to what they need.

The council also asked if there are movements to which CCSC can directly help make sure students are getting not just food but nutritious food. The pantry wants to make sure that the food they purchase is of good quality and nutritional value, and if there are initiatives like food drives that CCSC is planning, to make a consideration of monetary aspects instead of just food donations to aid in the process of purchasing good quality food.

Campus Wellbeing

The meeting continued with a discussion on campus wellbeing and the Columbia wellbeing website. (It’s an awesome resource that got a lot of good feedback and snaps during the meeting, go check it out!)

The discussion revolved around defining the dimensions of wellness in order to cater to the different needs of  Columbia students. There were talks about different initiatives that can help students’ general wellbeing, as well as a discussion about the toxic culture that surrounds the college regarding the pre-professional nature of academics at Columbia, where students are so focused on getting perfect grades, work experience, and different campus positions. An interesting question was presented in the meeting, “wellbeing can touch a lot of different facets in our lives, so how can we categorize it in such a way that it makes sense to students?”

It was refreshing to hear CCSC’s discussion about stress culture and wellbeing as we enter the final semester of the school year. As things pick up and deadlines get closer, academic demands can be overwhelming. It’s great to see that CCSC devotes time to thinking about how to promote wellness on campus for students’ various needs.

Alumni Fundraiser

CCSC voted to have the total earnings from the alumni fundraiser, of over $4,100, go to the MetroCard initiative for low-income students. The initiative began last October, in an effort to help low-income students have access to the various resources of New York City.

 

And that’s a wrap on this week’s CCSC meeting!

CCSC logo via Facebook

Tampons via Flickr.