Welcome back, y’all! Here’s this week’s student council information condensed into bite-sized form brought to you by Bureau Chiefs Adam Kluge (CCSC), Lori Luo (ESC), Eliza Staples (SGA), and Olivia Mitchell (GSSC). As always, check in next Friday for new student council news and have a great weekend!

This week in CCSC:

  • University Senator Ramsay Eyre spoke about an upcoming initiative concerning students in Columbia College with children, and the role of parents in the Columbia community.
  • First Generation and Low-Income Students Representative Jaine Archambeau recently met with Columbia Dining about a potential restructuring of the meal plan system, which would create a more affordable and accessible food system. Archambeau also asked for a $500 at-large allocation that would be part of incentivizing students to take a survey on textbook affordability. This request came with a great deal of discourse.
  • Gender and Sexuality representative Kwolanne Felix met with LGBT@Columbia coordinator Vanessa Gonzalez-Siegel, about ways in which CCSC can further partner with LGBT programming at Columbia.
  • International Students representative Joon Baek is going to meet with the head of the Columbia Registrar to speak about a shift in Columbia Student Directories in order to consider improving the safety and security surrounding the publication of student addresses. Additionally, Baek spoke about a potential information session concerning international student work and employment at Columbia as well as an upcoming town hall.
  • Pre-Professional Representative Brooks Rubin met with CCE last week to discuss ways to make their events more public and advertised to the greater Columbia population.
  • Race & Ethnicity representative Colby King met with various organizations across campus to discuss ways to make the system  such as disparities in housing selection.
  • Individual class councils offered updates on a variety of events and initiatives they have in the works.
  • Representatives from CCSC are also working on meeting with Columbia Health to discuss classes with a zero-absence attendance policy, in order to continue pushing for a change in this policy.
  • CCSC voted to nominate an interim VP of Campus Life . Sophomore Class representative Leighlani Sanchez will take over until we return from spring break.
  • There was also further conversation related to recent xenophobic events concerning anti-Semitism and racist events in Butler Library concerning the novel coronavirus. CCSC motioned to vote on sharing initiatives related to furthering tolerance on campus on its respective social media pages.

This week in ESC:

  • A representative from the Ivy Council came to speak to ESC about possible sponsorship about the Ivy League Conference that will be hosted by Columbia next month. They introduced the event, which brings together students from the various Ivy League schools to talk to speakers and each other, and focused on the engineering aspect of the “Industrial Revolution 4.0” theme this year. From ESC, they requested 1500 to 2000 dollars and support in planning the event. Ultimately, ESC agreed to promote the event, but asked for detailed budget plans before they vote on financial sponsorship. 
  • ESC also called a representative from the Columbia Engineering Alumni Association (CEAA), who introduced their sponsorship program for clubs and a leadership award program for student leaders nominated by their peers.

This week in SGA:

  • Over the next two years, Barnard will undergo a self-study as part of the reaccreditation process. Stay tuned for opportunities to become involved with this process.
  • Please take the National College Health Assessment Survey! It is fully confidential and allows you to voice your experiences with health and wellness at Barnard, and make real changes.

This week in GSSC:

  • GSSC ran short this week—a whole 25 minutes! We were blessed by the presence of Vice President of Policy Joshua Lefkow GS ’20 as this week’s acting president due to President Christopher Thompson’s GS ’20 absence for travel.
  • GSSC announced this semester’s upcoming Snack Attack, which is where GS provides breakfast and lunch in the GS lounge during midterms. The Snack Attack will be taking place from March 9th to March 12th!
  • Three motions were made and passed concerning allocation for funding. The first allocated $400 from the senior class budget for the first-year, senior-year luncheon; the second allocated $600 out of the first-year budget for the first-year, senior-year luncheon; and the third allocated $2,500 out of the first-year budget for the first-year get-together taking place on Thursday, April 30th. All passed unanimously.
  • GSSC ended by approving a co-sponsorship request from Columbia Milvets, the university student veterans association, concerning their upcoming ball. They requested GSSC buy and subsidize 12 tickets for the ball to allow students who cannot afford the ticket price to attend. The ball will be taking place on Friday, March 27th, from 6:30 PM to 10:30 PM at Pier Sixty, and will be joined by special guest former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunberg.