GSSC is back with Romane Thomas! They covered the integration of Dual BAers, CUFSN, GS week, and more during this week’s meeting. 

Last night GSSC gave us co-sponsorships and promises meditation sessions and insomnia cookies.

President Larosa started off the meeting by reminding the council that election season was starting today with the information session in Hamilton 401 at 8pm. The positions available for elections are President, VP of Policy, VP of Finance, VP of Campus Life, VP of Communications, International Students Representatives, Veterans Representatives and Family & Working Students Representative.

The VP of Policy announced their progress on intergrating Dual BAers in the GS community. They are currently working on a Facebook group to spread information about events. Raisa Flor also stated that the sign-up form for the Dual BA Focus groups have been circulating but she still hopes that more City U Joint Degree students will sign up. Only 20 responses have been received so far.

Family and Working Students representative Justin Deal introduced a new co-sponsorship request from CUFSN. One of its board member Danielle introduced their project: a children’s music festival. She is the wife of the newly appointed director of CUFSN. Together, they have taken over the leadership of the club and hope to focus more on community building rather than policy. She pointed out that “being a parent at Columbia is isolating” and that “any support we get is very important.” CUFSN works to connect Columbia students with families to each other through such events as weekly play dates. They asked for $1,500 from the co-sponsorship budget and this motion was approved by the council.

The next co-sponsorship request came from the Mid-Semester Success Series. They are requesting an additional $385 to fun the food for their last event. Council member argued on the amount and whether this money could be needed to fund upcoming requests. Some members pointed out that the co-sponsorship fund was very low and that the remaining $1,200 might not be enough to fund remaining requests. In the end, a motion to approve the original amount was passed. Food donations will be accepted at the event.

VP of Campus Life Brett Krasner updated the council on gala and the upcoming GS Week. With the kick-off taking place next Monday, Krasner listed the events taking place on each of the days. GS Week will include an international cultural day with an afternoon zen meditation session, a veterans panel on March 7, a Dean Talks day with insomnia cookies and a puppies day! Krasner informed bwog that even if puppies cannot be officially arranged, council members will bring their pets to play on Lewisohn lawn for all students to enjoy. Krasner also spoke about gala and informed the council that tickets will be sold starting Thursday at 9pm, Friday at noon and Sunday at 7:30pm. Laura from Campus Life also spoke about tentative plans for senior week which will include a gala and two other events (March 11, 12 and 13).

First Year President Nicole Rodgers was congratulated on the organization of the first year gala. She mentioned that the attendance was not as high as they had planned but that they gave out the remaining food on campus afterwards.

Lastly, the Community Service Rep. announced that an opportunity to work with middle and high school students will come up on March 25 between 11am and 1pm. The event will include making the students visit the campus through a scavenger hunt and answering their questions about Columbia and college as a whole.

Puppies via Pixabay