CCSC members gathered in a peculiarly arranged Satow room to discuss long-term proposals and funding caps for incentives among other housekeeping notes.

As usual, this week’s CCSC meeting began with E-Board and individual updates, yet one notably unusual aspect was the setup of the Satow Room. The tables seemed to be missing, and so CCSC members sat in a large circle of chairs facing each other, making for a very intimate and personable meeting. In terms of E-Board updates, President Rads Mehta (CC ‘22) began by sharing with the group that the Student Life task force is making progress on a survey assessing student opinion of the proposed expansion. Additionally, they are trying to push back the meeting in which the Provost is to decide on expansion past March 29, 2022, but President Mehta explained that her power is limited in this regard. Mehta also inaugurated a warm welcome for Marcus Ortiz (CC ‘23), the newly elected VP of Finance, who shared that he is excited about his new role and invited members of the G-body to speak to him about funding for initiatives they’d like to pursue. VP Campus Life Elsa Chung (CC ‘23) shared that Thursday’s “Glass House Rocks” event was a success with high turnout and volunteerism from other members of CCSC, which many members of CCSC shared in their individual updates. VP Policy Krishna Menon (CC ‘22) disclosed that the emergency Pass/Fail proposal for this semester has been officially submitted, which Class of 2022 VP Arya Rao did much of the work on. Menon also shared that he would like to make a CCSC constitutional revision, in which there would be a position for a student mental and physical health/wellness representative, as students continuously voice concerns about Columbia Psychological Services (CPS) and other health-related services on campus. Lastly, Menon shared that there is a Pass/Fail proposal in the works to make it so students can pass/fail a major or a core class every semester, but the details, as well as the likelihood of such a proposal being approved, are undetermined. 

The first item on the agenda was in regard to a pre-professional survey funding proposal presented by Pre-Professional representative Anthony Adessa (CC ‘22). The survey would be for juniors, seniors, and recent alumni to fill out about their individual pathways to postgraduate careers or grad school, and would act as a resource for underclassmen and transfer students. Adessa explained that the incentive to fill out the somewhat lengthy form would be raffled off sweatshirts. The proposal was well-received, yet there was a thorough discussion about the limits of funding for incentives, in which there was some confusion about the basis for incremental funding limits and the flexibility of that rule. 

The final item on the agenda was a summer class proposal, in which Representative Priya Chainani (CC ‘24) shared that CCSC must first pass something in order for the issue to gain attention from the Provost, and then funding can be looked into. President Mehta shared that it is unclear whether the summer class proposal will be possible, but it is an issue that should at least be brought up as last semester’s graduate student strike and the reality of COVID-19 presented students with many obstacles to getting the full learning experience. Mehta added that students have voiced concerns directly to CCSC about this issue, although CCSC as a body would not be in charge of the logistics if summer classes were to become a thing. Class of 2025 VP Emily Mai Chmiel asked if free summer coursework would have to be related to classes impacted by the strike, to which Class of 2024 Representative Maria Steubener (CC ‘24) responded that it depends on how much funding a summer program might get if students can take free classes external to ones impacted by the strike. VP Policy Menon added that it is hard to define what “impacted by the strike” means as many students were affected in different ways, ranging from not having access to office hours and late grading to having classes canceled entirely. Therefore, Menon said, the language of the proposal should attempt to cover the breadth of the strike’s effect. 

For the sake of the Euphoria Season 2 finale, the meeting was adjourned about twenty minutes early. 

See you next week!

Lerner Hall via Bwog Archives