Council Proposes Advising Changes

Correction appended.

The Columbia College Student Council passed a resolution this week, in support of preliminary academic advising reforms, including assigning students to the same adviser throughout their four years, doubling the number of advisers, and providing guidance that is specific to their fields of study.

The resolution urges Columbia to combine the First Year Sophomore Academic Advising Center and the Junior Senior Advising Center into a "one-stop shop," according to Michelle Diamond, vice president of the Columbia College class of 2008 and a nominee for CCSC president. She authored the resolution with David Chait, president of the Columbia College class of 2007, and Molly Conley, vice president of the Columbia College class of 2010 and a candidate for CCSC Student Services representative.

While affecting no immediate changes, the one-page resolution served primarily as a harbinger of a more-detailed resolution set to come by the end of spring. It was "symbolic" more than anything else, Chait said.

"It's almost a publication for the student body, to let them see we've [the council has] heard their concerns," Chait said. "We'll continue to periodically pass resolutions as we reach new stages in this project. ... It's almost a document of what we're doing, not the work itself, because the work itself is meeting, talking to people."

The council's passage of the resolution this week comes as Diamond and Conley are both running for office, enabling them to cite the issue while campaigning.

Council members say that centralization would eliminate the transition between advisers, thus allowing students to maintain a single adviser for their entire time at Columbia. Diamond said she felt this would solve the "real lack of personal relationships" between students and advisers. She also said she thought maintaining "physical proximity" of advisers meant that they "will be talking to each other more, so they'll have a better understanding of what's going on across different areas."

The resolution also calls for advisers receiving "better basic training on undergraduate requirements," while also undergoing "area specific training ... whereby incoming students will be assigned to advisors specializing in their intended major field."

In response to concerns that students may have trouble keeping one adviser if they continually change majors, Diamond suggested that advisers be determined based on each student's general area of interest, as students are likely to switch majors that still fall under their broader interests.

Diamond later said that although the council didn't have a complete advising plan yet, the main idea was to give students "greater mobility" among their advisers.

The resolution further stipulates that faculty members be made a more integral part of the advising system because they could supply more specialized knowledge.

In addition to decreasing the student-adviser ratio from 300:1 to 150:1, the resolution also recommends doubling the time of preliminary first-year advising meetings to 30 minutes.

Diamond said that the council wanted to work with the administration on the reforms. "The biggest impetus for this resolution was to put pressure on the administration because from time to time, the administration needs a gentle reminder that this is still a priority," Diamond said. " It's something they're still working on."

After the resolution was passed, the authors went on to meet with Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo and Engineering Student Council members on Monday night to go over what changes the students think should be made. Diamond emphasized that the administration has been very "receptive" to student contributions to improving the advising system.

CORRECTION: The jump headline for this article incorrectly characterized a resolution passed by the Columbia College Student Council. The resolution called for lowering the student-adviser ratio to 150:1. It did not call for hiring 150 more advisers.