CCSC was a blast this week, with a guest appearance from GSSC, VP Communications’ enthusiastic cursing, and an Among Us celebration!

I literally love these CCSC members and I feel it is my duty as CCSC Bureau Chief to express to my dedicated readers that our student government leaders are not only incredibly effective but also know how to have a good time, even over Zoom! The general body meeting was kept short this week to ensure plenty of time for some Among Us which I was invited to much to my relief–otherwise I would have just had to crash uninvited. Props to VP Communications Krishna Menon (CC ’22) for fostering fantastic student government and press relations and for gracing everyone at CCSC with his stylish glasses!

This week spirits were high as CCSC celebrated the passing of the COVID Academic Adjustment Proposal, effectively extending pass/fail and withdrawal deadlines for CC students. While this proposal was a group effort with EBoard leading the way, VP Menon gave a special thank you to the class of 2024 VP Kathan Reddy (CC ‘24) for his active involvement in the student surveying part of this process and his consistent enthusiasm in pursuing this monumental proposal, especially as a recently elected general body member and first year student. The passing of this proposal is entirely credited to dedicated CCSC members, and VP Menon expressed his gratitude for everyone’s hard work through his multiple elated f-bombs dropped throughout Sunday’s meeting. The Zoom was teeming with more positive vibes than usual, which for CCSC is saying something! 

In other EBoard news, VP Policy Rads Mehta (CC ‘22) and VP Finance Sophia Adeghe (CC ‘22) met with Director of Student Engagement Josh Lucas and a financial aid office representative to finalize the resource fund logistics. CCSC wants this fund to be as accessible as possible for students, and while admin appeared to be on board and in support of CCSC’s suggestions, there are many “bureaucratic hurdles” as VP Mehta put it so well, making the purchasing and allocation of items for students who need them a convoluted process. Nonetheless, CCSC will be able to begin providing items that were expressed as most needed (printers and wifi extenders) before finals to ensure that students have the resources they need to succeed. 

Gender and Sexuality Representative Adam Kluge (CC ‘22) met with Gay Health Advocacy Project (GHAP) coordinator Daniel Chiarelli for a productive conversation on resources and continued advocacy for LGBTQ students across all campuses. Representative Kluge also met with Jen Leach from the Provost’s office to address the LGBTQ Inclusion Guide and other possible accountability structures to address and prevent discriminatory actions and practices against LGBTQ students. 

Race and Ethnicity Representative Colby King (CC ‘22) presented at the University Senate meeting this week on the Continuum Program for Diversity in Graduate Education and Career Development. Representative King was also invited to join the University Senate Alumni Relations Committee. Hopefully there will be more details to come on this work next week! 

Before the Among Us festivities began, CCSC hosted GSSC’s VP Policy Serengeti Timungwa (GSC ‘23) for her to share GSSC’s hope to collaborate with CCSC on advocating for dispersal of CARES Act funds. VP Timungwa first thanked CCSC for all their work on the Academic Adjustments Proposal and for their open collaboration with GSSC on the proposal. As far as the CARES Act, Columbia administration accepted the nearly $12.8 million federal funds in early summer but have yet to touch the money. It is assumed that this is because the administration is potentially weighing the choices of  holding out on dispersal, or returning the funds as Stanford and Harvard did earlier this year. GSSC is advocating for immediate dispersal to their deans and PrezBo, citing the fact that both Barnard and the Teachers College have done so. In GSSC’s correspondence with admin and PrezBo, their demands have been received well however, they emphasized that support of CARES money dispersal from other student governments would very much help the cause. This week CCSC will be brainstorming and potentially drafting a letter, very similar to the one that GSSC sent to their respective deans, which would be sent to PrezBo if CCSC general body members are in agreement of the statement.

If you are a transfer student, take some time this week during the break to fill out the Transfer Student Survey; the more responses the better Transfer Student Representative Shelly Michael (CC ’22) can address your concerns in CCSC! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Image via Bwog Archives