New spaces bring new politics.
When the Diana opens its doors this spring, Barnard students will finally have their own version of Lerner—a functional student center with spaces designed for programming. But the criteria for student groups’ use of the fresh space may limit its beneficiaries.
The Diana’s space is slated to be filled primarily by academic departments and student groups. For example, the Barnard Student Government Association will be among those with an office in the building. With space allotted for groups only recognized by particular governing boards, the student bodies that dole out the student life fee to various groups, some board members say these restrictions may lead to an increase in campus clubs seeking recognition from two boards.
SGA functions as both a council and a governing board. Any clubs recognized by SGA and the Student Governing Board—which provides funding for religious, political, humanitarian, and activist groups on campus, among others—will be able to use the space. This is because Barnard pays into SGB, and SGB groups are, in effect, SGA-recognized. In more concrete terms, this means that SGB-recognized groups can program events in Barnard’s spaces.
But, on the other hand, Barnard does not pay into the funding for the Activities Board at Columbia, which includes academic, cultural, media, publications, and performance groups. Therefore, in order to be able to reserve space in the Diana, ABC clubs must actively seek recognition by SGA. This limits the potential users of the Diana to a narrower pool of clubs. This is because only 37 of the 157 ABC groups meet the criteria for shared recognition with SGA—which entail a membership quota of Barnard students—according to an ABC representative.
“Dual recognition is more about funding. … It depends on how the Diana will be doing its own rules. For now, it’s Barnard and Barnard-recognized clubs,” Alfred Davis, GS and an ABC Representative, said. “If a club has at least 50 percent Barnard students or if a Barnard club has 50 percent Columbia students, then the club has to be dually recognized.”
SGB groups are eligible for the space in the Diana, while ABC groups must seek to gain recognition from both ABC and SGA.
“This isn’t a new thing or a special thing,” Devora Aharon, CC ’10 and SGB Chair, said. “It’s just the way that the system is set up.”
Some leaders see the allotment issue—that a little over 100 groups recognized by ABC would not have access to Diana real estate—as a disadvantage. Scott St. Marie, CC ’10 and ABC Chair, said that this could propel more groups to seek dual recognition.
“I think it says something that more student groups are looking to be ... [recognized],” he said. “There are a lot of student groups, particularly groups that need specialized space. They cannot do their programming in Lerner—you can’t put on a show in Lerner.”
Sharmin Ahmed, SGA Vice President of Finance and BC ‘10, said that the influx of applications for dual recognition could strain SGA’s purse strings. “If all ABC-only recognized clubs want to use space in the Diana, they’d apply for dual recognition,” Ahmed said. “This may become burdensome if all ABC clubs apply for dual recognition with the purpose of using the Diana. The burden would stem from Barnard’s inability to fund the proper ratio of funding for these groups, since Barnard’s student activities fees are not divided in the same way as Columbia’s. Barnard also pays for the use of Lerner and other Columbia facilities, whereas Columbia does not pay into the use of Barnard.”
Ultimately, St. Marie stressed that it is not a matter of denying groups the opportunity to reserve space in the Diana, but about the fact that it may not be economically feasible to offer the space to all groups.
“It all comes down to funding,” he said, mentioning that the reason Barnard does not pay into ABC is because the school would have to pay two-sevenths of ABC’s budget, a “really expensive bill.”
“Our groups have to get dually recognized because they [Barnard] just can’t afford it,” he noted.
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