Election Poll Shows Diamond in Lead for CCSC Presidency

In preparation for the Columbia College Student Council elections taking place today and tomorrow, the Spectator conducted a poll for the executive board positions last week.

Among 263 students polled, 28.9 percent said that if the elections were held that day, they would have voted for One Columbia and its presidential candidate, Michelle Diamond. Tracy Chung's Rebel CC followed with 16 percent, and Natali Segovia's Voice party trailed at 13.7 percent.

More than half of the students, 54 percent, responded that they intended to vote in the elections.

Of the 40 percent of students not planning to vote, nearly half said that the elections don't matter. Even among students who do plan to vote, the plurality of students said that elections don't matter.

In response to a question about why elections are unimportant, one of the most common responses was that the elections only matter to the students running and are a method of resume-building. Chung promised not to include her CCSC involvement on her resume if elected, if voters expressed this concern.

Students also said they didn't participate in elections because they viewed CCSC as ineffective in bringing about change due to empty campaign promises and powerlessness against the administration.

One student wrote that "major universities are not designed for the students to wield power," while another asked, "Has there ever really been anyone elected that honestly effected great change through their own efforts?" Indeed, many respondents sought candidates with the ability to build strong bonds between students and administrators.

Students also complained about similarities between candidates and the lack of opacity in the council. They also called that elections a popularity contest.

Surveyed students and executive candidates agreed that the budget, particularly the council's allocation of funds to student groups, is a key issue in the campaign.

Diamond said at the e-board debate that she'd like to provide such funds by using the CCSC's surplus, "which are just sitting in our bank accounts not doing anything."

One of the most important issues with voters and candidates is the advising reform. The CCSC passed a resolution at the end of February which called for doubling the number of advisers and combining the First-Year Sophomore Academic Advising Center and the Junior Senior Advising Center so that students can have the same adviser for all four years. The resolution was co-authored by Diamond, and most of its provisions have been adopted into One Columbia's platform.

The Voice party advocates similar but less dramatic changes, maintaining a separation between FYSAAC and JSAC. The party claims that its provisions are "realistic" and utilize "the structures that are already in place."

Financial aid was another pervasive concern among polled students. Current CCSC president Seth Flaxman, CC '07, fulfilled his platform promise to increase financial aid when the administration announced that it would turn loans into grants for students coming from families making less than $50,000 annually. But, as Cosette Olivo, CC '07, wrote in the survey: "That is a big issue that people have given up on because the administration just gave us a little bone. We need more money."

Voice wrote on its platform that although the University "is not likely to pass reform again this coming year," the party would "ensure the continuation of what has already been set in motion." One Columbia made a similar promise on its site to "push to make donation allocation public and ensure that funding is getting to the students who need it."

Rebel CC pledged the same in its platform but went one step further in stating that it would work to increase donations by "strengthening student and alumni ties to the school."