Working in the Shadows

Everybody knows about the council presidents. They fight hard for their respective schools by working with their councils and executive boards to repair and reshape school policies and procedures, all to make the lives of their student bodies easier and their time at Columbia more enjoyable. No one should question the hard work and determination these leaders put into achieving these goals. However, not many know that another student legislative body exists that works—often behind the scenes—to influence policy at the University level and improve the student experience throughout the University.

The Student Affairs Caucus (SAC) of the University Senate, consisting of 24 students representing every Columbia school and student government organization, regularly works behind the scenes with top administrators and academic professors to fight not just for each individual schools, but from a University-wide perspective. In the SAC, students of extremely different backgrounds, programs of study, school experiences, and goals are brought together in a room to serve one common goal—improving the Columbia experience at the University level.

In turn, the SAC serves as an influential body within the University Senate, whose members are drawn from all constituencies of the University, including faculty, central administration, research officers, and alumni. Thus, through various senate committees, student senators work with key players from all segments of the school on issues of policy. Whether reviewing Columbia’s budget, addressing the housing concerns of faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students, or assessing the adequacy of the University’s communication practices and support services in the wake of recent bias incidents, your student senators are actively working on the senate’s 17 committees.

Like any other council, we senators back up our words with results. Many of the student senators have been working on important issues this past semester and continue to work on others this spring. For example, Senator Paige Lampkin, GS ’08, was elected the co-chair of the Housing Policy Committee and has been investigating suspicious expenses in faculty housing. She is also dealing with the issue of affordable housing for graduate students—many of them pay high rents.

Columbia College Senator Eric Wang, CC ’08, works closely with top administrators to keep socially responsible practices a priority in the Manhattanville project. Fellow CC Senator Tiffany Davis, CC ’08, chairs the Interschool Governing Board (IGB), helping clubs and organizations with graduate students receive recognition and funding.
Finally, Public Health Senator Patrick Callahan is working to find ways to increase study space up at the Columbia University Medical Center. If you thought the situation in the Morningside campus was bad, it is even worse uptown.

We have been working hard and regularly making ourselves available to the students we represent. Though the SAC has occasionally received flak since its inception in 1969 (sentiments reflected in an April 15, 2007 op-ed “Murder the Senate”), I think such stances are due to a lack of knowledge about what we actually do.

The SAC’s greatest flaw is a lack of student familiarity. Let us change that view. We are expanding our collaboration with student councils and increasing our visibility. However, we need your assistance. Approach your respective senator. Ask him or her about the senate. Any one of us will gladly assist you in answering your questions and discuss the issues that you believe are of importance. If your issue concerns more than one school of the University overall, we will take action. Students are elected to the senate to help strengthen our voice among the Columbia administration.
Come knock on our door. We’ll answer.

The author is a senior in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences majoring in biomedical engineering and economics. He is a University Senator.