CCSC Spring 2014 Semester Report

SPRING 2014 SEMESTER

REPORT

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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Time flies when you’re having fun. And when you’re doing work. And that certainly held true this semester. I am proud of CCSC’s accomplishments this year, particularly in the face of a number of internal challenges, administrative uncertainty, and intense media scrutiny. However, these hurdles forced us to do a very hard thing: we had to take a hard look at ourselves. This was the semester of coming to a realization that CCSC needed to keep making things more transparent and open, not only to the student body, but to fellow councilmembers as well. Here’s what we did to shake things up: we instituted mandatory internal event reviews; voted to make the positions of VP Finance, VP Communications, and VP Campus Life independent positions so that elections could be more open and have lower barriers to entry; and argued long and hard about which positions should have indirect vs. direct elections. In addition to increased transparency, I am happy that CCSC saw a marked increase in engagement from students and student groups with issues that they wanted us to take a stance on, such as AKPsi during their struggle to find a governing board to recognize them, or the Lion Credit Union Initiative, which we’ve worked with all year as they define their field of membership. I am happy that, for the first time in my four years on council, students see CCSC as a viable venue to bring their concerns and as a group that has sway with administrators. This “sway” is due to the inroads that councilmembers have been making all year with departments and committees of the University that had previously never really talked to students. These include CUIT, University Events Management, the Registrar’s office, the Office of Environmental Stewardship, the various alumni associations, and more. We witnessed these offices taking student concerns into account this semester in a completely new way. As a result of the work councilmembers have been doing with these offices, we expect that Facilities and OES will standardize the recycling labels across campus this summer and the Registrar and Public Safety agree to open up a new venue for late-night study space sometime next semester. It is important, however, to also recognize some of our disappointments. In some cases, projects didn’t get completed because things were happening above our pay grade. For example, we began talks to revamp Lerner, but realized that Lerner was embroiled in the multiple discussions happening independently re: relocating the Rape Crisis Center,

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relocating disabled student testing, and building a new student lounge space based on the Student Wellness Project report to Dean Valentini. Lerner will change, and CCSC will fight to be a part of that decision, but it wasn’t something we could force through this year. In other cases, CCSC started initiatives too late or underestimated the difficulty of the project, such as the Four-Class-Per-Semester Mythbuster project, in which we set out to prove that our credit system is too heavy and too complicated. Realizing that the ultimate decisions on these matters would have to go through two faculty committees that we had no relationship with and were highly confidential and slow-paced – the EPPC and the Committee on Instruction – we had to push this back to next year. CCSC could also have done more events, particularly utilizing the city or regularly scheduled events that could create long-term community. Lastly, I personally wish I had done a better job of communicating all the random, small, yet important and time-consuming things that councilmembers do – whether it’s simply trying to get the heat lowered in a student’s room, or blocking the proposal to charge for key assists. CCSC is here to pursue big policies, but we also try to be everyday problem-solvers for students. I think CCSC did a lot of that, but it was my responsibility to do a better job of communicating and promoting that to the average student. It’s remarkable to step back and look at CCSC in the long run. Over the past four years that I have served on CCSC, I have seen it grow and change from a council that used to spend weeks debating whether or not to buy publication racks for Lerner into a dynamic and responsive organization that is in talks about remodeling Lerner itself. A council that was very insular and self-congratulatory is evolving into one that is much more student-facing and self-aware. A council that is willing to take risks and stand up for what it believes in, even if it means standing up to the Business School kicking us out of the library (successful!), or being cheesy and spirited about Our Blue (…debatably unsuccessful). I hope that in the future, CCSC continues to grow stronger day by day, earning the trust of the student body and the respect of administrators. The rest of this report details what CCSC has accomplished, as well as what it has failed at, over the course of the semester. Hopefully, it gives you more information about what we do and how we go about it, and give you a sense of the things that CCSC tries to help with. If you have any concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to email [email protected], whether it’s an idea for an event, a story to share about a certain policy, or a question about financing your club. The CCSC membership next year is the strongest I have ever seen, and even if it’s the middle of finals or summer vacation, an email to the executive board team of Peter Bailinson, Sejal Singh, Michael Li, Abby Porter, and Andrew Ren won’t go amiss. Every single one of them has their hearts in the right place and the chops to back it up. It has been an honor serving as your student body president. Sincerely, Daphne Chen

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FUNDING BREAKDOWN

$80, 1% $60, 1%

$1,099, 14%

$375, 5%

$521, 6%

$4,717, 61%

$910, 12%

CCSC 2015 Spring Expenses

1/29/2014 Industry Showcase: Fashion

1/30/2014 CCE Internship Info Session 2

2/9/2014 Tea with Transfers

2/20/2014 Winter Party: Hudson Terrace

3/10/2014 CCSC '15 makes you FeelGood

4/1/2014 Spring Apparel: Tanks & Tees

4/3/2014 Spring Formal: Boat

4/10/2014 Juniors for Juniors

4/20/2014 Afternoon Delights

$200, 3%

$550, 8%

$500, 7%

$1,000, 15%

$3,000, 45%

$1,500, 22%


3/28/2014 Class Day Speaker Screening

4/4/2014 2014 Swimtest Event

4/12/2014 Strugglefest 2014

4/21/2014 Dean's Toast

4/28/2014 End of Year Wrap-Up

5/6/2014 Senior Dinner

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FUNDING BREAKDOWN CONT.

$469, 12%

$296, 7%

$252, 6%

$400, 10%

$500, 13%

$2,067, 52%


$597, 57%

$150, 14%

$100, 10%

$200, 19%


2/1/2014 Winter Wonderland

3/9/2014 Muffin Monday

4/20/2014 Poptarts Study Break

5/7/2014 Finals Study Break (Expected)

1/24/2014 Major Discovery Series

2/20/2014 DeStressAthon

3/26/2014 Major Declaration Celebration

4/16/2014 FeelGoodCU Distribution

4/20/2014 Bacchanal Movie Screening

4/24/2014 Spring Semi-Formal

precedence

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Future Actions: The new Health website removes the link to Open Communicator (online

appointment system) to make the initial telephone appointment with CPS, so initial

appointment now requires calling during business hours / leaving a voicemail—CC

Senator Ramis Wadood is continuing to work to improve this process. CCSC also needs

to contact Phung Tran of Columbia Health’s communications department to actually

design the flowchart.

CPS Identity-Based Concerns: No trans clinician on staff. No queer clinician of color

on staff. Few clinicians with queer competency. Little opportunity to request specific

counselors / areas of expertise before or during the first in-person appointment. VP Policy

Bob Sun requested public listing of clinicians’ areas of expertise so students could

express their preferences for specific counselors more easily, as well as more professional

development for queer and trans-inclusive and competent care. In the long-term,

encouraged hiring of clinicians listed above. CCSC facilitated meetings among student

groups such as CQA, GenderRevolution, Proud Colors, and CPS, who agreed to

accommodate requests. Ongoing working relationship now established between student

groups and CPS on this issue.

Requesting Alumni at Events: Last semester, Alumni Affairs Representative Daniel

Liss negotiated with administrators and had them agree to design a form that allowed

students to request alumni at their events. Liss finalized the agreement and completed

work on the form this semester, which will be put to use next semester.

Columbia Resources: Last year, then-CCSC VP for Communications Jared Odessky

initiated conversations with the Communications team for Columbia College to update

the student life page on Columbia College’s website with the resources that are actually

pertinent to Columbia students. This year, VP for Communications Peter Bailinson

assisted Columbia College administrators and they completed and launched the new

webpage. The site now contains links to every Columbia resource the team could think

of, organized in drop-down menus based around topic rather than administrative

department.

Gender-Neutral Bathrooms: Over the course of the year, CCSC members partnered

with identity groups on campus, like GenderRevolution, in discussions with

administrators to increase the number of gender-neutral bathrooms in residence halls. The

negotiations were successful, and single-use, gender-neutral bathrooms will be included

in all upcoming dorm renovations. The first wave of new bathrooms is being built in

summer 2014 in John Jay and McBain, with more to follow.

Future Actions: The 2014 – 2015 CCSC has pledged to continue improving access to

gender-neutral bathrooms, with Butler Library and Hamilton Hall being the next targets.

Lockout Policy: Due to the increasing number of lockouts occurring in the residence

halls, Housing decided that a deterrent was necessary to make students think twice before

leaving their rooms without their keys. This was originally going to take the form of a $5

charge after two free borrows and a $25 charge for key assists. After negotiations with

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proposals include removing the ramp mailboxes to create more student space and purchasing more social, less “boxy” furniture. Future Action: CCSC will continue gauging student interest whenever more concrete plans for the Lerner renovations are shared with councilmembers. Honor Code Implementation: Academic Affairs Representative Nora Habboosh and VP Policy Bob Sun continued work on the Columbia College honor code, which was approved by CCSC and the CC/GS Committee on Instruction in spring 2013, with roll-out taking place this year. First-years recited a pledge to uphold the honor code during NSOP. Some professors have included the honor code on syllabi and / or exams. Future Action: SEAS has now passed the honor code; in future years all four undergraduate schools can recite the pledge at Convocation. Continue to work with Academic Affairs and faculty to promote the adoption of the honor code among faculty, with the goal of having the code appear on every blue book during exams. Student Access to the Alumni Directory: Over the past year, President Daphne Chen and Alumni Affairs Representative Daniel Liss met with the Columbia College Alumni Affairs and Development (CCAAD) Office to discuss what steps were necessary to extend directory access to current students. Some of those steps, such as technological upgrades (which are planned for summer 2014), were out of CCSC control. However, Liss and Chen were able to gather student feedback on the directory for the CCAAD. Future Action: 2014 – 2015 CCSC will continue work on this project, as the CCAAD had mentioned a possibility of getting student profiles into the directory as early as next year if we continued to meet certain benchmarks. Public Safety Reforms (Securities Fund & Advisory Committee): Currently, a large portion of the student activity fee goes towards the Securities Fund, which is used for security costs for student events. The fund is not successfully managed—there is little recourse after the fact because groups and Public Safety can pull from the fund with no oversight. Public Safety also decides the amount of security required, and the rates, and is able to change these after an event review (the classic example is 2011 Bacchanal). Additionally, the existence of the Fund also means reduced amounts of the Student Activities Fee go towards actual club programming. From an equity perspective, certain student groups continue to be charged disproportionately for security, effectively creating a “tax on speech.” The Securities Fund should be replaced with a flat fee (similar to the Health Services fee) for each student that would incentivize good management of funds by Public Safety and decouple student group programming and Public Safety costs. NY State law requires the existence of an Advisory Committee for Public Safety that includes students. No such committee currently exists. To investigate, reform, and oversee Public Safety more generally, such a committee should be formed immediately. Student Services Representative Chris Godshall, Student Services Representative Loxley Bennett, and CC University Senator Jared Odessky have met with various administrators including Jim McShane to pitch the reforms.

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Future Action: Odessky and Godshall will continue to work on this policy alongside incoming VP Policy Sejal Singh throughout 2014-2015. Drop Deadline: Academic Affairs Representative Nora Habboosh spent several months this year negotiating with administrators in hopes of extending the CC drop deadline. (Currently, the CC drop deadline takes place at week five of the semester, in contrast to the week-ten drop deadline in SEAS.) Although Habboosh was not able to finalize her proposal, the incoming CCSC board plans to finalize the proposal and submit it for consideration of the Committee on Instruction by the end of the fall 2014 semester. CourseWorks App: This mobile application has been discussed ever since the idea became the most popular on WTFColumbia early in its lifetime. This past semester, 2016 VP Grayson Warrick helped facilitate the hiring of Alex Roth, CC ’16, to work as a programmer with CUIT to create the app. It is tentatively scheduled to be completed in the summer or fall of 2014. Study Space: CCSC members spent several months towards the end of the spring semester discussing possible areas for opening up more late-night student study space on campus. The discussions will be ongoing come fall 2014, but areas under consideration include dining facilities, academic buildings, and existing library space. Two of CCSC’s goals in these negotiations include 1) increasing the presence of group study space for undergraduates, much like is included in the libraries for the business school and SIPA, and, 2) serving peak student needs from 8pm until 1am. Past study space initiatives, like the John Jay study space initiative, only added three extra hours of study space, which meant students who needed to study for more than three hours often chose not to study in the space so as to not interrupt their studies. Coalition Against Sexual Violence – Reforming Consent Education: Concerns and criticisms have been raised about the tone and content of Consent is Sexy. More comprehensive and “serious” consent workshops were requested. 2017 Representative Abby Porter headed up a taskforce of CASV to develop consent workshops, and collaborated with NSOP, Student Affairs, and Sexual Violence Response to begin outlining the changes. Future Action: CASV will continue to work on the issue. Streamlining Medical Services Appointment Process: Through Open Communicator (an online system), “same-day” medical appointments could only be made after midnight of the day of the requested appointment. “Routine” appointment option was completely broken and unreliable. VP Policy Bob Sun worked with Health Services to allow same-day appointments to be made up to 18 hours in advance of the appointment time. Future Action: The routine appointment option needs to be fixed or removed.

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Improving Leave of Absence / Reintegration Policies: Involuntary and voluntary leave have a host of issues associated with them. There is little publicly available information on the processes and adjudication leading up to a forced leave. Home situation is not necessarily accounted for during leave adjudication. Medical assessment for returning from leave can be prohibitively expensive or inconvenient. There is a lack of coordinated resources for re-integration upon return. A workgroup of students, including collaboration with Active Minds and the Student Wellness Project, has met with Dean Monique Rinere of CSA, Dean of Student Life Terry Martinez, and other administrators to clarify current policy and recommend changes, and reached an agreement to increase the coordination of re-integration. Future Action: Incoming VP Policy Sejal Singh, CC University Senator Ramis Wadood, and others will continue to work on this during the summer and into 2014-2015 if necessary. Booking Process Centralization: One of the goals of this semester’s UEM Student Events Advisory Committee was to begin centralizing information on the booking processes for all spaces across campus, with the long-term goal being a singular website that can be used to book all university space. The committee recognized that this goal could not be obtained in one semester, or several, but they plan on pursuing this goal over the coming years. Although the website and the majority of details surrounding the plan remain to be determined, its long-term goal is to allow Columbia students to book all spaces in one place. Club Resource Library: The idea of the student councils and governing boards pooling their financial resources to purchase equipment for clubs to use has been floating around for several years, but this semester more steps were taken to bring the project to realization. 2016 VP Grayson Warrick worked with Yixin Sun, CC ’16, to begin determining what club equipment would need to be purchased by the fund. The idea still has a long way to go until completion, but CCSC remains committed to helping create this library, and the incoming ABC Executive Board has also expressed interest in completing the library as well. Columbia College Young Alumni Event Partnership: This proposed amendment to the CCSC bylaws would formalize event planning between CCSC and the Columbia College Young Alumni Association (CCYA). VP Policy Bob Sun and Alumni Affairs Representative Daniel Liss drafted the language of the resolution but did not vote on it because by-law amendments occur at the beginning of the academic year. Over the course of the semester, CCSC partnered with CCYA to bring alumni to a wide variety of events, and the resolution would formalize the program to bring alumni to campus events. SHELVED Pre-Professional Groups Association: This proposed association, similar in conception to the InterPublications Alliance, would facilitate communication and collaboration among business groups and clubs, reducing previous years’ conflicts in events, speakers,

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etc. Pre-Professional Representative Mary Joseph compiled a list and contacted most, if not all, of the groups in question, but groups that were initially favorable to the idea eventually stopped responding to her. Interest among the groups seemed to have waned. Clarifying Mandatory Reporting: Designated university officials (e.g. most administrators, faculty) are deemed “mandatory reporters” and must report any possible information on sexual violence to the University. At Columbia and many peer institutions, Resident Advisors are classified as mandatory reporters. CPS, Medical Services, RCC, and the Chaplain’s Office are not mandatory reporters. Many students are not aware of this distinction. Additionally, concerns about “students reporting on other students” were raised due to RAs being mandatory reporters. Clarification was requested on the role of RAs (are they always reporters? only when they’re on duty? etc.) by VP Policy Bob Sun, who met with General Counsel and Residential Life in separate meetings to address the issue. However, Sun was unable to receive a comprehensive answer. Navigate Columbia: “Navigate Columbia” was a website proposed by VP Communications Peter Bailinson to map out the Columbia bureaucracy from top to bottom, modeled off of a similar website at Harvard University. However, Bailinson decided to focus his time on the Columbia resources website this past semester in order to complete the progress initiated by last year’s CCSC. Whether or not next year’s CCSC decides to pursue this website remains to be decided, but the Communications Committee has already determined there are many hurdles it would need to overcome to produce the site. For example, due to the frequent comings and goings of University administrators, as well as the creation of new offices and the changing of relationships among departments, the site would need to be easily editable by its webmaster, which could prove difficult to sustain if future CCSC boards do not possess web designing skills.

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EVENTS CAMPUS LIFE COMMITTEE Events planned solely by the Campus Life Committee (CLC): Name: Bagelpalooza Date: Biweekly Expected attendance: 200 (average) Actual attendance: 210 (average) Purpose of the event: Hand out bagels, coffee and tea in residence hall lobbies; make everyone’s day a little brighter. Successes: High demand for the bagels, as we sometimes ran out of supplies an hour before we were scheduled to clean up. Things to improve: The time slots corresponding with classes made it difficult for many CCSC members to volunteer, so we recommend that next year’s Campus Life Committee reach out to CCSC members individually to ensure everyone volunteers for a slot throughout the semester. Name: Lion’s Feast Tailgate Date: February 23rd, 2014 Expected attendance: 150 Actual attendance: 130 Purpose of the event: Hold a tailgate at Pupin Plaza to celebrate the basketball team; provide music and grilled food to help get students excited before the game. Successes: The turnout was much higher than expected, and the weather cooperated giving us a great day! Many attendees also noted how delicious the food was. Things to improve: CLC did not realize when they first planned the event that a CCSC member needed to attend a mandatory fire safety training before being approved to grill on campus, which slowed the event planning. We also encountered problems with the speakers rented by UEM, although the committee could not have prevented this. Name: Lerner Hall Study Hall (co-sponsored with ESC and many other student groups) Dates: Tuesday, May 6th – Friday, May 16th Expected attendance: Varied per event Actual attendance: No clear estimate available Purpose of the event: Provide food and drinks to students two times a day during reading and finals week, as well as study breaks led by different student groups. Successes: The event provided a great way for incoming VP for Campus Life Andrew Ren and ESC VP for Student Life Caroline Park to get their feet wet in their new roles. Many students filtered through over the week-and-a-half, including several students who attended regularly and told CCSC members that this was the first CCSC event they had ever (knowingly) attended. Things to improve: Because of the last minute nature of the event, we were not able to co-sponsor study breaks with as many groups as we had hoped. However, now that Ren and

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Park have already planned one Lerner Hall Study Hall, the upcoming LHSH for fall finals should go more smoothly, and they will be able to contact groups further in advance to collaborate. Events co-sponsored by the CLC:

% Glass House Rocks: GHR is an annual event funded by the four undergraduate councils and planned by a co-chair from each undergraduate school. This year’s Columbia College co-chair was Jonah Belser and the event took place on February 13th, 2014. CCSC members helped staff the event.

% Oscar’s Screening: CCSC helped co-sponsor a screening of the Academy Awards on March 2nd, 2014 with Residential Programs. The event took place in John Jay Lounge, and a host of hors d’oeuvres was served.

% White Panda Kickoff Concert: CCSC helped co-sponsor the Columbia Music Festival Kickoff Concert with the other three undergraduate councils. The concert features DJ duo The White Panda and student openers DJ Kassius Klauss and Dwai. The event took place on April 9th, 2014 in Roone Arledge Auditorium.

Events that the CLC was unable to successfully plan this semester:

% Laser Tag in Dodge: The idea for laser tag materialized in early April, and although Columbia has an approved vendor to rent laser tag equipment, the CLC would not have been able to hold the event until finals week. It was decided that it would not make sense to host a specialized event at a time in the semester when so few students could attend, and they decided to postpone the event until next year.

2014 CLASS COUNCIL Name: Senior Gala (co-sponsored with ESC 2014, SGA 2014, and GSSC 2014) Date: February 8th, 2014 Expected attendance: 500 Actual attendance: 500 Purpose of the event: A formal dance for the graduating class to celebrate with food, drink, and dancing. Successes: We had full attendance and smart budgeting. We started planning in October, which allowed us to budget efficiently and be extremely resourceful. We also had members of the 2015 Class Council attend to help them learn how to run the event and avoid making similar mistakes next year. Things to improve: Get an alcohol license and purchase our own alcohol, instead of using Columbia Catering, to save even more money. Name: Lerner Pub (co-sponsored with ESC 2014) Date: Monthly Expected attendance: 400 Actual attendance: Varied (usually around 400) Purpose of the event: Provide a monthly forum for seniors to grab a few drinks and socialize with one another in Lerner Hall.

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Successes: The event continued to be one of the most successful CCSC programs, especially in light of policies allowing excess alcohol to be stored in Lerner Hall instead of being dumped following each event. Things to improve: Continue searching to see if we can find cheaper alcohol vendors than those we already use. Name: Swim Test with CCSC’14 Date: April 4th, 2014 Expected attendance: 60 – 70 Actual attendance: 30 Purpose of the event: Although the swim test is administered multiple times a week, the event was a push to incentivize people to come out to take the test with free swag, free food, and lots of fun. There was food and free beach balls on the upper level bleacher seats. The pool area was open with single lanes for students to take the swim test and a double lane for open swim. Successes: The people who did come were extremely appreciative of the event, and hoped that more efforts would be taken in the coming years to make the event a tradition. Things to improve: The attendance was much lower than anticipated. This could be attributed to publicity not going up soon enough (Facebook promotion only began two days before the event took place), many people having already taken the swim test, or needing higher quality giveaways to entice people to come (we had gift cards provided by Alice!). The 2014 Class Council also held several sweater sales throughout the semester, bringing their total yearly sweaters sold to more than 900. 2015 CLASS COUNCIL Name: Tea with Transfers (co-sponsored with the Center for Student Advising) Date: February 9th, 2014 Expected attendance: 39 Actual attendance: 20 Purpose of the event: To give transfers a space and opportunity to socialize with each other; to foster connections within the transfer student body; to answer any second semester questions Fall 2013 transfers students had; to direct transfer students to the relevant advising resources -- all over cookies and tea from the Hungarian Pastry Shop. Successes: We spent only $60 on cookies from the Hungarian Pastry Shop, which comes down to $3 per person - which is pretty efficient for a cost-person ratio. Things to improve: We expected many more people to show up given the high attendance and success of our Transfer-to-Transfer event in the fall. This meant that we weren't able to reach a greater proportion of transfer students we'd hope to have reached - despite strong advertising efforts through social media, CSA emails to the transfer listserv, and CCSC weekly emails. Given this experience and the experience of our fall transfer event, we would move the event to the fall, since transfers have yet to develop support networks then. This would allow us to reach a greater number of transfer students, and would also give us the ability to publicize through NSOP orientation leaders. In the spring, it seems

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like transfers have already settled down and adjusted to Columbia, so the event was not nearly as beneficial as it was in the fall. Name: Winter Party (co-sponsored with ESC 2015, SGA 2015 and Westside) Date: February 21st, 2014 Expected attendance: 300 Actual attendance: 150 Purpose of the event: The purpose of the event was to build community within the class of 2015. We had really good feedback from the Hudson Terrace party that we held the year before and got a good deal on the venue. Successes: While the event was not successful from an attendance perspective, it was successful from a budget perspective. The contract we negotiated was only $20/person and the 3 councils provided a $5/ticket subsidy. We also secured a $100 co-sponsorship from Westside that was used for bar snacks. I would also consider the event successful from the standpoint that the people who attended genuinely had a good time. Things to improve: If we were to do this event again, we would have held it in the fall semester. This would've increased excitement and attendance for the event. The reason we didn't do this is because the three councils involved didn't have their budgets set until halfway through the semester. Given that we planned to have our boat formal in early April, this meant we had to have this party early in the second semester, and we had to advertise during reading week of the fall semester. Obviously this was not an ideal time to advertise. Name: CCSC ’15 makes you FeelGood (co-sponsored with CU FeelGood) Date: March 10th, 2014 Expected attendance: 300 Actual attendance: 300 Purpose of the event: We wanted to hold a de-stressing study break for our classmates. However, we switched up our normal study break structure by purchasing our food through a student group (CU FeelGood) rather than Westside or Morton Williams. Successes: Our class council, CU FeelGood, and the event attendees all remarked that the study break seemed to be more meaningful when we were spending our student life fees on a student group rather than a local supermarket. This event also helped inspire our later Afternoon Delights event and a similar CCSC ’16 event. Things to improve: Had we known that the event would have been such a hit, we would have increased the scale of the event—both advertising and supplies—to reach even more of our classmates. Name: Formal Boat Cruise (co-sponsored with ESC 2015 and SGA 2015) Date: April 3rd, 2014 Expected attendance: 400 Actual attendance: 400 Purpose of the event: Furthering cooperation between the three councils, which feeds into our guiding principles of (a) improving the 2015 experience; (b) increasing engagement among Columbia students of all schools; and (c) promoting a coherent Columbia University consciousness.

Successes: When we began planning this event last May, we always had the idea in mind of having 400 tickets sold. The tickets sold out in about three days, which demonstrated strong interest in the event.Things to impThings to improve: We would warn students in advance of rush hour traffic posing an issue with getting to the cruise. Many students found themselves rushing / figuring out alternative ways of getting to the Pier on time. In terms of dinner service, we should move the dessert closer the dinner, instead of at the very end. Possibly think about having a one-hour boarding period and a three-hour cruise (thereby extending the cruise time from what we had.)

Name: Juniors for JuniorsDate: April 10th, 2014Expected attendance:Expected attendance: 50Actual attendance: 98Purpose of the event: This event was a partnership with the Center of Student Advising for ju-niors to sit down with advisors and ensure that they are on track to graduate.Successes: This event was very successful in that attendance exceeded expectations and many juniors were able to access a service that they needed.Things to improve: Continue to do more outreach with the junior class.

Name: Afternoon DelightsDate: April 20th, 2014Expected attendance: 400Actual attendance: 400

The 2015 Class Council also held several class apparel sales throughout the semester, and co-sponsored several events with CCE targeting the junior class.

2016 CLASS COUNCIL

Name: Name: Major Discovery SeriesDate: January 24th, 2014Expected attendance: 25 – 30 students per panelActual attendance: 15 – 20 at the first panel, various at the other “panels”Purpose of the event: Purpose of the event: CCSC'16 hosted a panel discussion for the Class of 2016 in which up-perclassmen and advising deans shared information and experiences about the major decision process. Students were able to ask questions about their potential major while enjoying free food and drinks.Successes: The first panel was a success. While there were fewer students in attendance than we had expected, the advice that the panelists shared was great. A few students that we spoke to after the event said that the panelists really helped illuminate the major selection process, and their advice related to their own major was a great help. Additionally, given the positive comments about the first panel, we will share our plans with the 2017 class council so that they can hold a more successful version of the event next year.Things to impThings to improve: Hold this earlier in the school year so that groups are able to spend the funds that we give them for the baked goods, instead of having it rollover year over year.

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Things to improve: However, we encountered an unavoidable issue—there was an unbearable smell during the event. We noticed the smell during the first panel, and a few Facilities staff found the source to be a rotting turkey in the Lerner Party Space’s (broken) fridge. We kid you not. After the turkey was found, we were asked to leave the Party Space, forcing us to relocate upstairs near the entrance. At that point, we decided to turn the remaining two panels into an informal event during which students could speak directly with panelists and administrators. Though this turkey was the most significant reason our event didn’t work out as planned, there are a couple of other reasons. First, the event conflicted with a large career fair. We’ll be sure to check other event calendars before booking future events so that we don’t conflict with another popular, related event. Also, we could have collaborated with other student groups to make this event more of a success. We originally had a Pre-Professional Panel planned for the event (for which we were going to reach out to pre-professional groups), but due to time constraints and issues coordinating with University Event Management, we could not include the panel in our event’s schedule. Name: Tea with Transfers (already profiled above under the 2015 Class Council) Name: Bacchanal Movie Screening (co-sponsored with Bacchanal) Date: April 20th, 2014 Expected attendance: 75 Actual attendance: 50 Purpose of the event: The purpose was to provide an outdoor movie screening for students to enjoy. We screened Pineapple Express. Successes: There were no technical difficulties. The students that attended seemed to enjoy the event. Things to improve: The location in front of EC was not ideal. It was pretty windy and not conducive to attracting passerby on campus. Ideally we would have this on Low Steps in the future. Name: DeStressAthon (co-sponsored with ESC 2016) Date: February 20th, 2014 Expected attendance: 150 Actual attendance: 150 Purpose of the event: The purpose of this event was to provide students with immediate and long-term methods of combatting stress in the form of an expert guest, study snacks as well as Alice! packs and StressBuster back rubs. There was a speaker, snacks (cheese, crackers, Insomnia cookies), and tea. We also had StressBusters giving back rubs. Successes: Because we had budgeted on the conservative side, we ended up purchasing just enough food for all who attended. Things to improve: We encountered a few problems including the length of the speaker’s address. In general students felt awkward entering during the actual speech, thus reducing our numbers until after she left. However, she was incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, even if the presentation could have been shorter. Name: Major Declaration Celebration Date: March 26th, 2014

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Expected attendance: 150 Actual attendance: 150 Purpose of the event: The purpose was to allow Columbia College sophomores to celebrate the fact that they had just declared their majors, and allow them to find other students who had declared the same major (using name tags). We celebrated with food and drinks from Morton Williams and Malaysian Grill in Lerner's Satow Room. We also played smooth jazz and handed out Chipotle BOGO cards to attendees. Successes: While it was difficult to host an event advertising free food and expect all attendees to go there for the intended purpose—which was to find other people who would be majoring in their subject—students enjoyed themselves regardless, and the event essentially transformed itself into a larger, fancier study break. Things to improve: We should find some method of tallying up all entrants based on their majors, and give them the opportunity (in person or digitally) to reach out to each other afterwards if they were so inclined. It may help students if they wanted to find others who are doing the same coursework as they are. Name: FeelGood CU Distribution Date: April 16th, 2014 Expected attendance: 320 Actual attendance: 290 Purpose of the event: To bring warm grilled cheese sandwiches to CC ‘16 dorms, bringing the classic study break directly to our sophomores. Successes: I'd consider this event successful - a lot of sophomores were excited by the event, and it was something that a lot of people asked for, after CCSC15's original event. We bought the sandwiches in bulk, so they were at their cheapest price, at $1.25 per half. We also bought from a student group so the proceeds directly benefited our Columbia community. Things to improve: We were unsuccessful in gauging the amount of sandwiches to purchase, because we had about 50 left over, with a lack of interest when we were tabling. I think 275 or 300 would have been the ideal amount. We ended up giving out extra sandwiches in Butler 209, after dorm storming. We also should have marketed the event more efficiently, and solicited more volunteers. We struggled to find volunteers because of club conflicts, so it was hard to staff the event. I'm not sure if reaching out to CCSC members in general might have gotten more volunteers. Lastly, we would like to have started the event at 9PM, rather than 8:30PM like we did, so that there's time in between when dining halls close and when people would like a snack. However, we want to be done delivering by 10PM, so as not to bother the people who go to bed early. I think with enough volunteers, we could have done two dorms at a time, starting at 9PM. This event is largely based on manpower - the more doors we can knock on, the better! Name: Spring Semi-Formal (co-sponsored with ESC 2016, SGA 2016, and GSSC) Date: April 24th, 2014 Expected attendance: 300 Actual attendance: 317 Purpose of the event: The event's purpose was for class of 2016 to celebrate the end of the semester as a class at Hudson Terrace with a DJ, dancing, food and drinks.

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Successes: The attendance was higher than we had expected, and the atmosphere was lively and fun. Things to improve: Start planning earlier, especially in the contract/payment department. Advertise in a more organized manner (i.e. be more unified with the other three councils). 2017 CLASS COUNCIL Name: CCE Info Session (co-sponsored with CCE and ESC 2017) Date: January 23rd, 2014 Expected attendance: 50 Actual attendance: 50 Purpose of the event: Our second information session with CCE (the first was before winter break), this session focused on providing first-year students with information on internships, externships, and first-year partnerships. Successes: We had good meetings with the administrators at CCE to tailor the session for first-years, and the presentation they gave was a success overall. Things to improve: We were slightly low on space considering the number of people who wanted to attend, so next time a different location should be considered. Name: Winder Wonderland (co-sponsored with ESC 2017, SGA 2017 and GSSC 2017) Date: February 1st, 2014 Expected attendance: 250 Actual attendance: 150 Purpose of the event: Formal event for first-years in Low Rotunda. There was a DJ and food served from Columbia catering. Successes: For the most part, it was an enjoyable event for those who attended. Students from all four schools were able to gather in a nice venue. Things to improve: Attendance was much lower than expected. This was probably because there were a lot of other events going on concurrently. There were also technical issues with the sound system. Both of these factors made the event less enjoyable than we would have liked it to be. Name: Muffin Monday (co-sponsored with Columbia Dining and ESC 2017) Date: March 10th, 2014 Expected attendance: 150 Actual attendance: 150 Purpose of the event: We served muffins and hot chocolate in John Jay and Carman on the morning of the day light savings time change, and we handed out Dining business cards to help gather feedback on Columbia Dining Services. Successes: We were able to publicize dining services’ social media by giving out their business cards, and were able to hand out a lot of muffins to people on their way to morning classes. Things to improve: We could have planned better with facilities to confirm that we would have a table in Carman. Name: Lerner Renovations Town Hall

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Date: March 10th, 2014 Expected attendance: 50 Actual attendance: 30 Purpose of the event: Gather information from members of the class of 2017 to hear what they had to say about the upcoming Lerner Hall renovation. Successes: Several important ideas were brought up and a productive discussion was fostered. Things to improve: There could have been better publicity and a better location for the event to achieve higher attendance. Name: Poptarts Study Break (co-sponsored with ESC 2017) Date: April 20th, 2014 Expected attendance: 150 Actual attendance: 150 Purpose of the event: Study break in Van Am Quad with Pop Tarts, chips and other snacks served. Successes: Attendance was pretty high and it was an enjoyable outdoor event overall. Things to improve: Attendance could have been even higher with better publicity.

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ATTENDANCE

% Bold denotes perfect attendance Name Jan. 26 Feb. 9 Feb. 16 Feb. 23 Mar. 2 Mar. 9 Mar. 30 Sheila Alexander X Absent X X X X X Chris Allison X X X X X X X Peter Bailinson X X X X X X X Loxley Bennett X X X X Absent X X Liam Bland X X X X X X X Kareem Carryl X X X X X X X Conan Cassidy Absent X X X Absent X X Daphne Chen X X X X X X X Matthew Chou X X Absent Late X X Late Annette Finnegan X X X X X Absent X Chris Godshall X X X X Absent X Excused Nora Habboosh X X X X X X Late Marc Heinrich X X X X X X X Uchechi Iteogu X Absent X X X X X Mary Joseph X X X X X Late X Richin Kabra X X X X X X X Joanna Kelly X X X X X X X Benjamin Kornick Absent Late Resigned / / / / Michael Li X X X X X X X Daniel Liss X X X X X X X Jared Odessky X X Absent X X Late X Sarita Patankar X X X X X X X Abby Porter X Late X X X X X Briana Saddler X X X X X Absent X Anne Scotti X X X X Late X X Anuj Sharma X X Absent X X X X Bob Sun Absent X X X X X Absent Noah Swartz X X X Absent Absent X X Jackson Tse X X X X X X X Zach Vargas-Sullivan X X X X Absent X X Ramis Wadood X X X X Excused X X Grayson Warrick X X X X X Absent Excused Ben Xue X X X X X X Absent Sarah Yee / / / / / Absent X

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Name Apr. 6 Apr. 13 Apr. 20 Apr. 27 May 4 Total Absences Sheila Alexander X X X X X 1 Chris Allison X X X X X 0 Peter Bailinson X Absent X X X 1 Loxley Bennett X X X Late X 1.5 Liam Bland X X Absent X X 1 Kareem Carryl X X Late X X 0.5 Conan Cassidy Absent X X X Late 3.5 Daphne Chen X X X Absent X 1 Matthew Chou X X X X Absent 3 Annette Finnegan Absent X X Absent X 3 Chris Godshall X X X Late X 1.5 Nora Habboosh X X Absent Absent X 2.5 Marc Heinrich X X X X X 0 Uchechi Iteogu X X X X X 1 Mary Joseph X X X X X 0.5 Richin Kabra X X X Absent X 1 Joanna Kelly Absent X Absent X X 2 Michael Li X X X Late X 0.5 Daniel Liss X X X X X 0 Jared Odessky X X X Absent X 2.5 Sarita Patankar Absent X Late X X 1.5 Abby Porter X X X X X 0.5 Briana Saddler Absent X Absent X X 3 Anne Scotti X X Absent X X 1.5 Anuj Sharma X X X X X 1 Bob Sun Absent X X X X 3 Noah Swartz X X Absent Left Early X 3.5 Jackson Tse X X X X X 0 Zach Vargas-Sullivan Late X Absent X X 2.5 Ramis Wadood X X X X X 0 Grayson Warrick X X Absent X X 2 Ben Xue X X Absent X Late 2.5 Sarah Yee Absent X X X Absent 3

CCSC Spring 2014 Semester Report

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Transcript of CCSC Spring 2014 Semester Report