I can see clearly now

As our semester draws to a close and the editorial board writes for the final time (don’t worry—it’s only until fall), we reflect on the past few months, on what we’ve seen happen and what was supposed to happen but didn’t, and most saliently, on what we have learned from the events on this campus for the first half of 2010 as we move into the second.

All eyes turned to the University Senate this semester, watching the newly visible policy-making body grapple with various issues—namely, the fall 2010 academic calendar. The issue was unique, not only because it made the senate a battleground, but because students banded together and found the faculty banded together on the other side. It is our sincere hope that the student senators will continue to fight for more study days by beginning classes before Labor Day, as the current “compromise” of moving tests to before Dec. 23 essentially maintains a wildly unsatisfactory status quo. The senate had a chance to prove itself as an effective body and vehicle toward actual change this semester, and it failed to seize this chance. We hope that the senate—and particularly its student members—will not do so again come fall.

We were similarly disappointed to see the option of gender-neutral housing fail to materialize. There was either an inexcusable failure to communicate on the administration’s part or a promise made and broken. The most students can hope for now is a pilot program for next year. We expect the administration, to whom a student petition will be presented today, to actively work with students to make this a reality as soon as possible.

On the other hand, the changes to dining on both sides of the street serve as examples of the administration working with and being open to students to make the best plan possible for everyone. Barnard originally made the decision to mandate meal plans without any student input and only then presented the students with the change, but the administration eventually came to work with and listen to its students. Columbia’s change in meal plan policy seems to take into account student cries for more options, though it will destroy the tradition of communal John Jay first-year dining in the process.

In sum, this semester exemplified the importance of transparency and accountability. This is true not only for the administration (which should, for example, let students know the result of the June 1 eminent domain case as soon as it knows these results), but also for students. The SEAS executive board should be elected openly, and student senators should be accountable to their constituents, not to their political careers (opening up minutes prior to the 50-year anniversary of a meeting would be a good start). We hope that the Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program will actually respond openly to the questions we raised. We hope that department heads will let students know clearly what is offered when as early as possible. We hope that Columbia University Information Technology will work with students to implement campus-wide wireless. But mostly, and most overwhelmingly, we hope that every town hall, every forum, and every conversation between students and the administration will be held in order to achieve an actual end. It’s the only way anyone can see what’s truly happening and the only way that all of us can hope to have a clear vision of where we’re going.