This week’s meeting touched on upcoming campus life events and the Campus Life Committee’s vision for the future.

This Monday, on October 24, I had the pleasure of attending Barnard’s SGA meeting, which was dedicated to all things festive! My major takeaway: campus will soon be bursting with seasonal activities. Fall festivities, as my mother would say. The Campus Life Committee discussed upcoming events in their presentation to the Student Government, so if you’ve been looking for ways to be involved in the Barnard community, look no further. Representatives also discussed how Barnard’s campus life has been impacted by COVID-19 and how to best move forwards with events and programming amid lifting restrictions. 

The meeting began with introductions from the representatives and external announcements. A running theme of announcements: student involvement! 

• Every Monday at 7 pm in Liz’s Place, Student Services holds an open Student Service Committee meeting. As it is an open event, all members of the Barnard community are encouraged to attend! 
• On Tuesdays at 11 am in Diana 302, Dean Grinage holds weekly tea meetings. This is an excellent chance to get to know the administrators and speak candidly about your Barnard experience. 
• This Thursday at 7:30 pm, Being Barnard is holding a Title-IX roundtable. Information will be sent around, but all are encouraged to attend. 

After introductions, the Campus Life Committee gave a presentation outlining the semester’s goals and included sneak peeks at the upcoming class events. The overarching semester goals centered around rebuilding campus life that was impacted by COVID-19 restrictions and fostering a fun, inclusive campus culture. They also discussed maintaining Barnard’s equal footing among the four colleges of Columbia University. This semester, the Campus Life Committee will focus on ensuring Barnard students can participate equally in inter-school programming. 

Class events are on the horizon! Locations and dates will be announced later, so keep your eye on the SGA instagram for more information. 

First Year Fall Spa Night: First Year President Tifi Grossman, BC ‘26, designed this event in collaboration with the Wellness Center, though she wasn’t available to present at the meeting. First-years should prepare for an aesthetic evening of face masks (not the pandemic kind—the ones for your skin), peaceful music, and a relaxing atmosphere. There may also be personalized scalp-massagers. If you need to release all the stress you’ve accumulated from midterms and navigating subway systems other than the one, this night was made for you! 

Sophomore Slam: Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice: Sophomore President Miriam Jones ‘25 brings to you karaoke and delicious, pumpkin-spiced revelry. Enjoy some seasonal baked goods and sing your go-to karaoke songs (this is a perfect opportunity to belt every single song on Taylor Swift’s Midnights.) If you really wanted to honor the theme, you could sing a karaoke song ABOUT pumpkin spice baked goods. This would be a powerful thematic moment, I’m sure. The event will be allergy-friendly; vegan, halal, kosher, dairy-free, and gluten-free options will be available. 

Junior Class Fall Charcuterie Event: Make your own charcuterie board like the sophisticate you truly are. Nothing says classy like a board full of salami shaped like flowers. This event is designed by Junior President Magan Chin ‘24 as the perfect creative midterm study break.

Senior Class Events: Senior President Mysesha Choudhury ‘23 reminded seniors that this Saturday, the 28th, they could pick up their senior experience tote at the Residential Life Event. On November 3rd there will be an evening mixer event with other undergraduate colleges in the Lerner Pub (a wristband will get you one alcoholic drink per hour).

After the class events were presented, other representatives asked the Campus Life Committee questions. 

How are you being ethical with what you’re spending on these events? How can we make sure our spending is sustainable and supports our local communities? 

• Emily:  For homecoming events, it was challenging to 100% commit to sustainable buying practices, largely because time constraints necessitated Amazon purchases. But we did buy the incentive stickers from Redbubble, and some of those proceeds directly supported the Barnard artists who made them. Going forward, there will be a bigger focus on sustainable buying, especially buying food from the local community. 

Do you have plans to work with other campus groups in the future? 

• Emily: As of right now, no. Working with McAC and the other undergrad programming boards is already a lot! But next semester we hope to expand our circle of collaborators. 

Have you thought about reinstating older, more historical Barnard traditions? 

• Emily: Not yet, because there’s zero institutional memory of these traditions, especially after COVID-19. Right now,  the main goal is to revive the traditions we’ve partly lost due to COVID-19 restrictions and restore them to their formal glory. We’re focusing on things like the tree lighting ceremony, homecoming, and basketball mania. 

Are you focused on creating new traditions? Is there a way to survey the student body to learn more about what they’re looking for? 

• Emily: School traditions can’t be planned—they grow organically from events that students love and keep coming back to. Hopefully, we can host a lot of all-school events this year and see which ones are super popular. Those are the ones we’ll try to repeat in the future, and then maybe a tradition will have grown of its own accord.

As the presentation wrapped up, representatives reflected on the success of homecoming, which was well-attended and ran smoothly. The sticker incentive for the daily costumes was recognized as a particular success. When people look at their stickers, Tiffany Vo pointed out, they’ll have a physical reminder of homecoming, and the fun they had during the week. Which is, perhaps, one of the best functions of these campus events: the memories they’ll leave you with even after they’re finished. Memories of karaoke, pumpkin spiced baked goods, and customized head massagers!

SGA Fall via Bwog Staff