Howdy and happy Thursday! All four student councils are now back in session from spring break and everyone’s got student government election season on their minds!

This week in CCSC:

Student government election season is upon us! The election website has been fully updated to reflect all the policies and procedures of this spring virtual election. If you have any specific questions please email them to cc.seas.elections@columbia.edu. 

President Joon Baek (CC ‘21) facilitated a discussion regarding summer course offerings and some issues that have arisen during the recent registration period. According to student emails sent to President Joon about summer registration and first-hand experiences amongst general body members, summer registration has proven difficult for all class years due to a very limited number of sections being offered for each course. The question that many students find themselves asking is why the university could not foresee that by advertising Summer A as part of the 2020-2021 academic year they would need to increase the number of course sections offered. 

The Inclusion and Diversity Task Force presented an amendment that would make the ID Task Force an official committee, and as such whichever at-large representative is leading the ID committee that month would be in attendance at EBoard meetings for the period of time that they are serving as chair. The at-large representatives who would be one of the rotating chairs of the committee are the Gender and Sexualities, Race and Ethnicities, Disability Services, FGLI, Transfer Students, International Students, and Religion representatives. Included in this amendment is also the addition that whichever at-large rep is chairing the ID committee and therefore attending Eboard meetings at that moment would also be a voting member of the appointment process committee. This amendment passed.

This week in SGA:

• SGA elections are happening! Students who wish to run are required to submit intend-to-run forms by 6 pm on March 19. Email sga@barnard.edu with questions.
• Seniors should fill out the commencement survey sent by President Beilock and Dean Grinage and submit photos for the yearbook.
• Stay alert for updates regarding housing registration and the housing lottery.
• Students are invited to sign up for an astrology reading via the junior class council.

This week in GSSC:

• President Jeong reminded the Council that GSSC elections for the 2021-22 school year are live and ongoing. She announced that the elections Council had released their elections timeline and for students to check their GS Weekly Owl email for more information.
• President Jeong announced that the Council finished drafting their resolution on the graduate student workers strike as well as the tuition reduction request. The next moves forward for the Council are coalition building and reaching out to campus publications like Bwog and Spec for coverage on their work. Jeong believes that by highlighting specifically GS’s urgent need for tuition reduction, given the school’s unique population of students who are self-financing tuition through work, the Council will be able to negotiate with the administration.
• VP of Policy Serengeti Timungwa (GS’23) reminded the Council that GSSC Excellence in Teaching award nominations were set to close on Tuesday night

This week in ESC:

• ESC’s meeting this week looked ahead to final senior traditions, Days on Campus, and summer housing policies.
• 40s on 40 will be held virtually on March 20. Later this weekend is the deadline to submit photos to the Class of 2021 Baby Photo Competition.
• Student Body President Estevan Mesa (‘22) reported on a joint meeting with CCSC and Vice President for Campus Services Scott Wright. Mesa advocated in favor of waiving fees for changing summer housing plans until Columbia can guarantee what summer housing will look like.
• Days on Campus will be spread out over the course of a month. Admitted students can opt into interactive sessions and panels with current students.

Image via Bwog Archives