Pretty sure Nixon would dig SGA’s impeachment policy!

Did SGA do anything this week? Yes! SGA Bureau Chief Raji Ganapathy reports on Barnard’s new course registration software as well as the last constitutional review session of the year. Fun stuff.

On the list of things to be fixed about Barnard, course registration is near the top. That’s why at SGA’s meeting last night, I was particularly enthused to hear that starting next year, Barnard will be implementing a new advising software called “Student Planning.” Dean Friedman gave SGA a run-down of the software, which will be accessed through MyBarnard. Student Planning is essentially an accessory to help with program planning. Friedman stated that in its first year of use, the software will have basically the same features as the current course registration software, with new features added over time. Some things to look forward to include a course planning guide that will allow you to plan your schedule up to four years in advance, as well as the ability to communicate with your advisor electronically through a feature called “Advising Notes.” In all, it sounds like the new system will make the management and planning of required courses for both students and advisors easier.

Some of the added benefits of this new system are that the ability to pre-plan programs will allow students and their advisors to have more substantive conversations during meetings, as opposed to spending their time discussing the technical aspects of program planning. A concern was raised by first year class President Emma Barnett, who stated that this new system, which encourages planning ahead, might limit scheduling flexibility, especially in the case of a major change. Dean Friedman responded that the new software is meant to serve as a basic program planning guide, and that students will still have the freedom to explore and change their plans later on.

We then moved on to the last Constitutional Review session of the year. Highlights from the final revisions process included an amendment to state that SGA elections will now be run by the Columbia Elections Board (CEB), meaning that SGA elections will follow the same format and timeline as CCSC, ESC, and GSSC elections. SGA also modified its current impeachment policy, which was unnecessarily complicated and took too long to enact. The new impeachment policy is modeled after CCSC’s, and consists of current Rep Council members voting blindly on whether or not their peers should be impeached.

Other important news:

• Fed up with Barnard’s current P/D/F policy? There will be a P/D/F Policy Redrafting Event on Wednesday from 7-8PM in SLC (Liz’s Place)! Review the current policy and offer some recommendations for changes.
• Pizza boxes will soon be gone from Diana Cafe! A to-go order for pizza will be available on request, but pizza will be served up dine-in style.
• SGA Elections are coming up! Information sessions start this Wednesday and are mandatory to run. The times of the information sessions are posted on the SGA website!
• The Winter Housing Committee will be holding a meeting tomorrow at 8:00 in the SLC. They will be revising proposals to submit to the administration.