Howdy, y’all! Welcome back to our weekly student council roundup, brought to you by Bureau Chiefs Maddie Goodman (CSSC), Eliza Staples (SGA), Olivia Mitchell (GSSC), and, temporarily, Leora Schloss (ESC). Hope y’all have a hog-killin’ time this weekend and stay masked up!

This week in CSSC:

  • President Joon Baek CC ’21 and VP Communications Krishna Menon CC ’22 met with Associate Dean for the Core Larry Jackson, Dean of Advising Andrew Plaa, and Dean of Academic Affairs Lisa Hollibaugh, to discuss proposed policy changes. CCSC will be bringing a petition to the Committee of Instruction asking for an extension of the drop and pass/fail deadline to early November, as well as an increase to the pass/fail classes allowed. The petition also asks for the administration to allow pass/fail to count for Core and major classes however, the deans made it clear that these requests are not likely to be realized. CCSC has posted on their social media an Academic Satisfaction Survey for CC students, the data of which will be used in future meetings with the Committee of Instruction.  
  • The Student Affairs Committee sent out a Spring Semester Survey which asks about students’ plans for next semester and will serve as a way for CCSC to advocate for students’ wants to the administration.
  • CCSC’s discretionary budget for the semester is a combination of surplus from spring and reduced student activities fees and will largely go towards financially aiding students during this era of remote instruction through purchasing needed school and technology supplies for them.
  • Student Adjudication Board appointments were given to Alumni Affairs Representative Sina Monfared CC ’23 as the primary contact and Sophomore Class President Elle Harris CC ’23 as the alternate.

This week in ESC:

  • This week, five new members joined ESC. Two positions are still open.
  • SEAS student Jason Mohabir ‘21 asked for the council to support him in advocating for the creation of a Biology minor for SEAS students. ESC voted in favor of working with Mohabir and plans to discuss Mohabir’s proposal with the deans moving forward.
  • ESC is still working on finalizing their meeting time. Class of 2021 Councilmember Ashley Rosenberg and Class of 2023 Councilmember Angel Mancera voiced concerns about moving the meeting time later, a proposition suggested in the light of a WhenToMeet survey the council has filled out. Both worried that doing so will exclude students overseas and be too late or early for them. 
  • VP Policy Ahmet Karadeniz, who could not attend for time zone reasons, is working on creating subcommittees within the ESC committees to address the unique challenges presented by online learning.
  • VP Finance Sophia Sagandyk is working on allocating the budgets for the four class councils. Each council may initially be given the surplus of last year’s budget to work with, with the option to ask for more funds if necessary. The freshmen class council will be allocated a portion of the funds as well. 
  • VP of Student Life, Katherine Liu, discussed several ideas for events and community initiatives, including the creation of a SEAS cookbook and a virtual escape the room event.

This week in SGA:

  • SGA met with Dean Grinage and Dean Youngblood-Giles. They talked about Barnard’s pandemic response this semester and next, with many questions (yet unanswered) about the possibility of on-campus activities/housing in the spring.
  • The Deans reiterated that the College will release a decision about the spring semester in late October, and will revisit this decision as necessary in December.

This week in GSSC:

  • GSSC voted for the adoption of the letter for their CARES Act letter-signing campaign that hopes to get the attention of President Bollinger, the Board of Trustees, and Provost Katznelson to support the $12.8 million funding from the act to be utilized for Columbia students in need. The form and letter can be found here.
  • Starting on Sunday, October 25th, GSSC will be hosting a week of Halloween events. HalloWeek will include a Donnie Darko movie screening, Halloween trivia, a GSSC x MilVets mixer, and more.
  • GSSC appointed a new Academic Affairs & Student Services Representative by the name of Bernadette Gostelow. Gostelow transferred into GS this past Spring, and she hopes to help students find their footing in and become comfortable with virtual learning.
  • Vice President of Finance Josh Brown GS ’22 introduced the possibility of a new system of voting for the council. After serious deliberations, the council decided to table the vote and resume next week.

Cowboy Bollinger Header via Bwog Illustrator Shane Maughn