For CCSC’s second-to-last meeting of the semester, general body members reflected on the election process and created an appointment committee to fill the Religion Representative position.

With elections over and done with and only two meetings left of the semester, CCSC got right to business this week!

VP Policy Rads Mehta (CC ’22) shared the results of her ongoing efforts to ensure the continuation of New York Times subscription services for university students. VP Mehta personally met with the Times liaison to discuss the issue and its costs. The total cost estimate for providing subscriptions to all university students is about $60,000 a year, equating to around $2 per student. Although CCSC is capable of covering these costs, considering that this would be a university-wide plan, VP Mehta is trying to find an alternative party on campus who would be willing to cover this student service. VP Mehta has been pushing for the libraries to absorb these costs however, upon meeting with library administrators she discovered that they have some issues with certain privacy rules within the Times contract. VP Mehta’s work continues as she plans to discuss this further with more administrators in hopes of securing the subscription for the next academic year.

VP Communications Krishna Menon (CC ’22) with VP Mehta met with multiple deans to discuss the brownstones and ways to create housing spaces for marginalized student groups on campus. Both VP Mehta and VP Menon expressed some disappointment in the amount of pushback they received from the deans regarding finding more space (i.e. brownstones) for certain student groups. VP Mehta added that Dean Kromm is currently working with the Native American Council to provide a designated space in McBain for holding their council meetings, although a space in McBain is obviously not the equivalent of a brownstone. VP Menon is interested in learning more about how student groups in townhouses or brownstones lose their space, using the ambiguity of the process of DSig losing their house as an example. VP Menon plans to do some research on who in these houses are responsible/required to report instances of violence within the residence, and what the process of losing a residence given to a group by the university is like.

The one position not filled through this election cycle was also the newest: at-large Religion Representative. While there were three candidates for the position, none of the three received a majority of the vote. Now, an appointment committee including one at-large representative, a senior senator, and one member of the ID Task Force. The three members who volunteered to serve on this appointment committee are Senator Ramsay Eyre (CC ’21), at-large Race and Ethnicities Representative Colby King (CC ’22), and ID Task force member, FGLI Representative, Jaine Archambeau (CC ’22). These three will read the applications for the position and narrow down which candidates will present a speech to the entire general body before the final vote.

The last part of Sunday night’s meeting was spent openly reflecting on this spring election season with critiques, improvements to be made, and observations of the online elections shared amongst general body members. Representative King expressed concern over the lack of time that candidates have to prepare for elections, citing that the season opened on a Thursday and ballot submissions were due the following Thursday. President Joon Baek (CC ’21) agreed that more time would be appreciated by candidates as it would also allow them more time to create political parties if they wish to do so. VP Mehta emphasized that the lack of time impacts the club endorsement process, making the endorsements themselves almost ridiculous because of the time crunch. Race and Ethnicities Representative Citalli Contreras-Sandoval (CC ’21) shared her own critiques of the club endorsements, arguing that there needs to be more truthful and fact-checked information guiding the decisions of the clubs endorsing candidates rather than hearsay, past rumors and old track records. A final concern regarding rule violations was voiced by VP Mehta; the consequences of candidate rule violations are so small that there is no incentive to actively avoid breaking the rules. As such, candidates freely break these minor rules and the outcomes of the election are rarely (if ever) altered. This second virtual election season gave general body members much to reflect on and possibly alter in future election seasons.

Image via Bwog archives