Excited for the upcoming tree lighting? Have a passion for the intersection of beverage coasters and graphic design? This is your weekly GSSC update.
Tonight’s meeting began with roll call in which a notable several members of GSSC were not present. However, many members of the council were busy being honored at a dinner. With that said, there’s still a handful of unexcused members each week, interestingly. We then began with the topic of campus life, as there were no special guests to introduce at this moment. Guess what’s happening! It’s the tree lighting. Guess what GSSC had to discuss about it! The allocation of funds. Whenever I ask rhetorical questions about GSSC, that should be your first guess. Always.
Next item on the menu was the alumni survey, and then a discussion about “Snack Attack.” These events provide free snacks for GS students. They’re working on making these snack attack events more friendly towards people with dietary restrictions. Also, they need somewhere in the ballpark of $7,500 to host this event for eight days. The following motion was for the Spring NSOP party at Mel’s. More food, more money, you get the idea. That’s another $2,000. Guess what they talked about next. Yep, they allocated some funds. Snack funds, to be specific.
There’s a financial literacy event coming up for GS students. Want to impress your local finance bros to secure the bag and then mysteriously disappear? Here’s your chance. They allocated money for snacks for this event, too. On Thanksgiving Day, there will be a Friendsgiving lunch. Some important bureaucrats will be there. Hoo-rah!
The first-year group has an update on the senior event this week. It’s lunch with first years and seniors. It’s happening this Friday. They’re spending money on it. Also, they’re planning a kick-back, a word I haven’t heard since my sophomore year of high school. They’ll be providing food from Hungarian Pastry Shop.
Then, the senior class group took the mic. This is where things got a little out of hand. Instead of discussing the allocation of funds for food, they discussed the allocation of $616 dollars for coasters. I’m shaking while writing this. Such an unexpected turn of events. Also, there will be a senior coffee hour at some point. I’m sure you’ll hear about when it is somewhere else. They’re spending money on that, too.
There was a guest appearance after all, Dr. Anne Goldfield. She’s one of the associate directors at CPS as well as the liaison to GS for CPS. She spoke a little bit about CPS’s services that are available to students. On a serious note, if you’re struggling with your mental health or just need someone to talk to— no matter how big or small the problem may be— reach out to CPS. CPS has experts on hand who are very qualified to work with student veterans and their unique struggles. A note— CPS therapists will never force you to see an off-campus therapist if that’s not something you are willing to do.
A representative came to talk about how there’s not enough money to host a few affinity group parties. He asked for money to be allocated. As it is, there’s not enough money to provide alternative food choices for people with dietary restrictions. After a brief spell of confusion, GSSC ended up funding the event with $327. There’s some fun math that went into that. After that, a representative from GS Recovery Coalition asked for money for an event. GSSC provided.
GSSC meetings tend to revolve around fund allocation, that much is clear. That observation, however, does not serve to diminish the importance of these events.
Edit November 21, 2019, 1:20 PM: This post has been edited for clarification on the GS Scholarship Dinner and for sensitivity to food insecurity issues, which are especially prevalent among the GS student population.
Money via Bwog Archives
2 Comments
@Gary Chang, GS'14 Weeeeee! Gary to the rescue and defense! lol. Well said @Anonymous! The article is biased in a way that appears to lay blame on GSSC members for no show at the Council meeting while not emphasizing GSSC members had a scholarship dinner. Further the disclaimer talks of food insecurity prevalent among GS students, but truth is, not everybody at Columbia College or Fu Foundation School of Science got to sit on first class plane seats like some of their peers. Some students in the other schools also rely on scholarships, have food insecurity. I’m glad there are folks like you and me who come to the defense of GS. Whoever you are, hope you’re someone I know, and hope you’re one of those folks who had/has an infatuation toward me. lol :)
@Anonymous The reason so many GSSC members were absent is because that night was the GS named scholarship dinner, but hey, great job shitting on them without doing research. Also, the snack attacks are a really important way of combatting food insecurity and you can’t really just crap on everything then add a small disclaimer at the end and expect absolution. This article was truly terrible.