24 CommentsIn the best attempt yet to make this election about issues, the seven parties running for CC 2010 class council participated in a debate last night moderated by the ever-stylish Subash Iyer. Vertical transportation featured prominently. Highlights follow.
Starting out, each party got the chance to introduce itself.
– The Columbia Undergraduates Supporting Progress party wants to give you condoms on every floor, low-emissions engines in every vehicle, and to “increase the student joy.” Sounds like a platform, guys.
– Alma Matters started out its comments with a citation from Bwog. And they have two cheerleaders, and they talked to former freshman class president Jess Cohen. A+ for doing your homework.
– Nonstop brought the hype in their signature orange…but president Sue Yang was a little too much for Bwog. “We’ll take you guys to the 105th floor of success, no matter if you take the stairs, or the elevator,” she bubbled. “And we’ll make the elevators better!”
– The TOGA party would like to give everyone subsidized Metrocards so students can better explore the city, “which is one of the reasons you all chose New York University.” Ouch.
– Freshmen First, in a jab to Nonstop, opined that “the elevator to success is working just fine.” Also, they want to “take care of your every little need,” including making sure that showers are warm and that elevators don’t skip floors. Bwog’s air conditioning has been acting up lately…
In a tricky twist, the parties got to pose questions of each other. They kept it mostly clean.
– In a question that those of us who follow campaign posters were wondering, Nonstop was asked whether they are cooperating with the SEAS party of the same name—a smart move, if it wasn’t dubiously legal. They replied that they’re starting to cross-council coordination already, not circumventing election rules.
Then came the audience questions. Senior class president David Chait compared working on financial aid reform to an elevator—slowly moving upwards but still able to be sped up—and asked candidates for their practical proposals, while keeping the escalator metaphors.
– The Columbia Undergraduates Supporting Progress wants to go up the escalator holding hands with the administration.
– Alma Matters wants to climb the alumni network ladder, which they’ll make like an escalator.
– Party of Five thinks it’s more like a ski lift, or a rocking chair, but they do want to work “within the system” with proposals that are “consistent with administration policies.”
– The TOGA party wants to work with the people who own the escalator (the parents) as well as the maintenance crew (the alumni).
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24 Comments
@VOTERS! Notice to all freshmen! Make sure you check out the platforms of all the parties. You can do that by clicking on the links (party names) above in this article.
@firstyear Hands down, Alma Matters took the debate. They were the least childish and gimmicky and the most thoughtful. Too bad practically no one showed up to listen to the debate. Hopefully more people read this and can at least make an informed decision about the election.
Party of Five gets my 2nd place vote.
@hmm whoa. what is student government at columbia and what do they do?
thank you in advance.
@awww It’s so cute how the little people care about this!
@mm mm My two favorite groups were Stella and Alma matters…
I liked the genuine school spirit of A.M. They made themselves likable.
I liked how Stella was realistic about matters, and they seemed the least political, most-action oriented of all the groups.
@dude ryan fateh from nonstop looks like an idiot.
@Have you …thought about a role as a political analysist? Your razor-sharp intellect and startling insights would be a real asset to contemporary discourse, douchebag.
@turath you just hate him cuz he’s arab, don’t you?
@nope! he just looks like a spoiled brat to me
@super ryan is hot
@kelly are you serious? alma matters was by far the lamest of the nine million parties.
completely drab. and annoying. and in an objective tone, i don’t see how party of five had less to offer. the mere fact that they have such a well devised web site suggests they’ll have a well-devised effective administration….alma matters truly brought me back to the days of high school class office bullshit.
@cc X The party with the most to offer was definitely the Alma Matters party. I felt that Stella had a few good points as well. I was a little upset by the way NONSTOP avoided answering the question about whether or not they were linked w/ the SEAS Nonstop – they were lying through their teeth and it was evident. I went into the debate deciding between NONSTOP and Party of Five but now have changed my vote to Alma Matters. If they don’t win, the freshman class is in for an unproductive year.
@cc '08 i remember for sophomore council the [phoenix] party won the elections by a mere 12 votes out of 800.
@cc '10 The debates were really impressive, Party of Five was the most professional and by far the most prepared but Nonstop and Toga also did well. With all these parties, the election is going to come down to only a few votes, nobody is going to clean sweep.
@froshie I feel that all candidates did a great job. It is going to be close!
@chris BWOG left before a second, more important audience question was asked: how would each party attempt to change the university’s policy regarding the outrageous mandatory tuition cost for students studying abroad (at schools that charge reduced or zero tuition)? one party, stella, responded with idiocy and said they would do nothing while the other parties responded with some degree of gumption.
party of five and cusp had the best responses. party of five has already initiated contact with administration officials regarding the issue and cusp expressed the outrage i was looking for.
the least pretentious parties were cusp, freshman first and party of five. unfortunately, nobody else was at the debates. if any party other than those three wins, that will be why.
@chris BWOG left before a second, more important audience question was asked: how would each party attempt to change the university’s policy regarding the outrageous mandatory tuition cost for students studying abroad (at schools that charge reduced or zero tuition)? one party, stella, responded with idiocy and said they would do nothing while the other parties responded with some degree of gumption.
party of five and cusp had the best responses. party of five has already initiated contact with administration officials regarding the issue and cusp expressed the outrage i was looking for.
the least pretentious parties were cusp, freshman first and party of five. unfortunately, nobody else was at the debates. if any party other than those three wins, that will be why.
@nyu comment a bad slip up on their part, someone’s poor english, or another party’s witty retort? I’m slightly confused.
@Casey EVERY YEAR a freshman party proposes subsidized or discounted metrocards. Yeah. Like the MTA OR columbia is gonna spend the money on that one.
I love reading their crazy promises.
@RE: Casey Reduced price MetroCards are coming. I swear. Look on the first floor of Lerner in the next few months. No joke.
@lies just like flex for use at pinnacle, etc., has been “just around the corner” ever since I was a freshie in 2003…
@Erf The external use of Flex has been on hold because of the insecure nature of Columbia ID swipes, which transmit your CUID (Read: SSN) in an easily-red form that makes it vulnerable to thievery.
Last year, Student Services committed to rehauling the CUID system. This will increase the security of swipes, which in turn, among other benefits, is the first step towards external flex.
@Eh? How do you know?
@i'm glad that chait kept up the elevator metaphor.