During last year’s elections, One Columbia promised advising reform, environmental initiatives, and a more connected campus community.
One of our top priorities is to create a center for student advising. Last year, we worked with the administration and the Engineering Student Council to reform our advising system. Students now have one advisor for all four years. Columbia is also in the process of hiring new deans in an effort to decrease the current advisor-student ratio (300 students for every dean) to a more manageable ratio of 150:1. By decreasing the ratio, we hope to strengthen student-advisor relationships and to help students make the most out of the opportunities Columbia offers. But we still have one of last year’s promises to fulfill: creating a single center for student advising. Students shouldn’t have to go to one office for academic advice, another office for fellowships and scholarships advice, and yet another office for internship advice. Having one space for all our advising needs will create a more holistic approach to advising, and an overall better experience.
We are also committed to the environment. The CCSC can do more than we have traditionally done in the past. We have the ability to shape the character of the University by advocating for a policy of social responsibility. We will engage and unite our community in the push for a more environmentally-friendly campus. Working with campus environmental groups and the Office of Environmental Stewardship, we are planning to launch a campaign to increase awareness of simple steps that will decrease our contribution to global climate change, such as unplugging cellphone and iPod chargers when they are not in use. Then, we will hold inter-dorm competitions to see which dorms make the most effort to decrease their carbon footprints. The CCSC is also working with our campus publications to make them more environmentally-friendly by printing on 100 percent Forest Stewardship Council certified paper and using non-toxic dies and inks. The Columbia Political Review, the Current, the Blue and White, and the Fed are currently working on this project, and we’re hoping that more publications as well as other councils get on board as well.
As our name implies, One Columbia is dedicated to building a stronger sense of community on campus. On Nov. 9, 2007 along with the Community Principles Initiative Committee, we will host the first-ever community summit, bringing together student leaders to discuss common concerns and develop lines of communication between groups that generally do not interact. It is our hope that this leadership conference will result in strong bonds between different students on campus and encourage them to plan joint events. These leaders will know each other in ways that past leaders have not. They will have an understanding of other identities along with the concerns important to other campus groups. We are also working more closely with the governing boards and individual clubs to create more connections on campus. We believe that the CCSC should function much like it does during Glass House Rocks: we set the skeletal structure, but the participation of our students and student groups makes the event a blast.
In light of the events of the last two weeks, building relationships among students is more important than ever. The evening following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech, the CCSC held an open debriefing during which anyone could come to discuss the merits of the invitation, express his or her views on what was said, or vent about the registration process. While not everyone at that meeting agreed on every point, everyone was able to hear different perspectives. One Columbia isn’t about one voice or one opinion. We’re about creating one place for many voices to exist together.
The author is the president of the Columbia College Student Council.
