we love nature and ecology!

As every week, Bwog’s dedicated and experienced Engineering Student Council Bureau Chief Finn Klauber reports everything going on in SEAS student government.

At the ESC meeting last night in the Satow Room, the Council covered some basic updates followed by discussions on the creation of an Ecology minor and a proposed mental health statement.

Cultivating An Ecology Minor
According to ESC President Ria Garg, a girl recently came to ESC to ask for a statement of support regarding the creation of an Ecology minor. While Garg was not sure “why she needs a statement of support,” she figured that the ESC should discuss the topic first. The response from ESC was general confusion over what they are supposed to do. The VP Communications Asher Goldfinger asked if there was a monetary commitment that has to be made, before generally asking why ESC should support a process about which they don’t know anything. 2019 President Izzet Kebudi then clarified that the creation of new minors falls under the purview of the Education Committee of the University Senate. There was general agreement that this affects SEAS as minors in SEAS are different from concentrations in CC, but nobody could agree on what exactly is the difference or how to proceed with the request. As such, the Council decided to table the topic until next week pending more research into the SEAS framework for minors.

Group Editing A Mental Health Statement
The majority of the meeting last night was oriented around the finalization of a mental health statement to be released to the Columbia community. After emailing Deans Boyce, Morrison, and Plaa about the administration’s response to the recent tragic suicide, Dean Plaa responded that SEAS faculty should know about what happened and how students are grieving. He suggested specifically that if any student needs academic support, they should go to their advising dean. To communicate this information to the student body, ESC decided to craft all the information they have on the situation—including the typical list of mental health resources we see on every email from the administration—in the form of an ESC statement.

Before they could vote on the statement, however, the Council spent 45 to 50 minutes editing the two paragraphs and header, moving line-by-line to incorporate any suggestions which ESC approved in straw poll votes. Generally, many thought that “There’s a lot in there that’s specific to SEAS…but the general language and tone of it makes it feel a bit formal and removed from the student level,” as one member put it. Concerns grew that the statement was just the same as any other Columbia bureaucratic memo, and that “the way it reads takes away from the really good content in it.”

Elements which members disapproved of included a list of the statement’s main authors placed at the top, which—despite being accepted professional formatting—may have given the wrong impression, that it makes it look “intimidating, aloof, and too formal.” A specific sentence in the second paragraph of the statement, which exhorted students to “take a moment to acknowledge and respect Kirk in his passing” drew quite a bit of ire. One representative called it “facetious,” while Montana St. Pierre, Student Services Representative, said it was “bold, pretentious, and lacks substance.” After cataloguing and voting on all the changes, the most notable of which consisted of adding a bullet point saying ESC members can be reached out to as well as the addition of a “trigger warning,” ESC voted unanimously for the publication of the statement.

The statement can be read in its entirety here.

Miscellany And Updates

• ESC may not be able to get their specially designed Homecoming shirts because CU Athletics vetoed their design—which, apparently, they can do. Allegedly, the logo which ESC used is an Athletics logo with altered dimensions. Why Athletics can’t let Columbia students wear a slightly altered Columbia logo is up in the air.
• President Garg met with Dean Morrison regarding the registration issues which CS majors have. To recap, CS majors are automatically waitlisted for major electives, and their entry into necessary classes is determined by some administrator in Mudd. Dean Morrison does not believe CS majors are disadvantaged because of this, which is disappointing.
• Oktoberfest steins are on the way, and the Class of 2019 Councils are placing the order for decorations this week, which will include balloons, pumpkins, and other festive decor.
• The Junior Boat Cruise contract was finalized this past week, and Boat Cruise will occur on 4/11 next semester.