At its town hall Tuesday night, the Student Governing Board recognized seven new campus groups and passed an amendment to the SGB Constitution creating a Chaplain’s Council.
Barry Weinberg, CC ’12 and SGB chair, said the Office of the University Chaplain asked SGB to create an advisory council that would provide feedback to the chaplain’s office and act as an intermediary between the board and the office.
In a two-thirds majority vote, the governing board voted in favor of creating the council, so the amendment will take effect Thursday. The council will be comprised of eight members and a chair, and will not require involvement in any religious groups.
The chaplain’s office manages Earl Hall and St. Paul’s Chapel, so many student groups have already worked with the office to secure event space. University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis has told students that she hopes an advisory council will better facilitate communication between her office and student groups.
“We are really at such an early, early stage of this,” Davis told Spectator on Wednesday. “I really do think we need to get into the room … and say, what do we need to be thinking about?”
“It’s for our mutual benefit,” Weinberg said.
“It will be eight bodies who can pop in and say, ‘Hey, I have an idea. What about this?’” he said. “It’s for our mutual benefit.”
Connections between SGB and Earl Hall have been historically strong. SGB was created during the 1968 protests in response to demands for a self-governing student caucus, and was part of Earl Hall and advised by the chaplain’s office until 2006, when the administration decided to place the governing board under the Office of Student Affairs.
The chaplain’s office now manages Earl Hall and St. Paul’s Chapel, so many student groups have already worked with the office to secure event space.
“From its very beginning there has been a relationship between the SGB and Earl Hall Center,” Davis said, adding that since the switch, the board remained involved with Earl Hall with events such as the Stop Hate campaign. “We were able basically to co-sponsor that with the SGB.”
However, some town hall attendees, including Yusuf Ahmad, CC '12 and head of the Interfaith Collective, raised concerns about the function of the chaplain’s office, describing it as in a “permanent state of transition.” Since the SGB was removed from the jurisdiction of the OUC, the OUC has constantly been in search of an identity and function. In the process, it has become disconnected from student's needs and concerns, Ahmad said.
"The Chaplain's Office has a lot of potential, but needs to be drastically reorganized," he added.
Weinberg, however, said that SGB will ensure that the council meets regularly and that its input is taken seriously.
The Chaplain's office came under scrutiny last month, when an Oct. 13 story in the Eye, the magazine of Spectator, raised concerns about the Chaplain's relationship with students. Davis called Weinberg about forming the advisory council the day the story was published.
The SGB executive board recommended seven of the ten student groups that applied for new student group recognition for approval. At the town hall, the entire governing board voted to uphold all of these recommendations.
The three student groups that were not approved for recognition are Autism Speaks, a group dedicated to raising awareness about autism, buildOn, which aims to build schools in developing countries, and MEDLIFE, an international service organization whose representatives did not attend the town hall.
The executive board’s reasoning for recommendation against these groups was mainly concerns over sustainability and viability that often characterize large service initiatives.
Seven new student groups were recognized at the town hall—Camp Kesem, CU Students for Human Rights, Design for America, Journal of Global Health, Marantha, Proud Colors, and Students for Education Reform. These groups will receive funding and access to event space.
Camp Kesem aims to provide children whose parents have or have had cancer with a summer camp experience, and Marantha is a nondenominational Christian group devoted to weekly prayer.
Proud Colors, an LGBTQ group that focuses on the intersection of race and sexuality, was previously recognized under the Activities Board at Columbia. But Weinberg said that it makes more sense to bring Proud Colors into SGB, where most queer groups are currently represented.
Todd Smith, associate dean of student affairs, encouraged all student groups to use MyGroups, an online student resource that provides information about every student group on campus and an events calendar that groups can update.
MyGroups was launched a year ago, but not many SGB groups have started using it. Smith described it as a “landing page” for new students to learn more about different organizations and get involved.
Executive council members also discussed the relationship between SGB and ABC and expressed thoughts about an oft-dicussed merger between the two governing boards. SGB represents political, religious, activist, and humanitarian groups, while ABC represents a wider variety of groups, including cultural, pre-professional, performing arts, and special interest groups. Historically SGB has had more freedom and autonomy with its budget allocations, while ABC has required more documentation from its constituent groups.
Many students don’t understand the differences that separate the two boards, and there is sometimes overlap, as indicated by Proud Colors. Some argue that merging them would clear up this confusion and theoretically make recognition and funding processes less bureaucratic.
However, Weinberg said he was unconvinced that the merger would benefit SGB groups.
Members of SGB had mixed responses. Most agreed that the board’s autonomy is a priority, but that a merge would increase political and financial autonomy for all student groups on campus.
“If there were a merger, I would like to see it accomplished in the most democratic and least bureaucratic fashion possible,” Janine Balekdjian, CC '13 and president of the College Democrats, said.
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