SGA

The four undergraduate student councils have defined the year largely through their responses to events that affected the campus as a whole, while also dealing with internal council strife.

With two undergraduate council executive-board elections completed and two more to go, students are witnessing the peak of the campaign season. To curb such student apathy, the councils should revise the campaign schedule and engage the student body early and often to underscore why student government matters. They must further act to effectively end the favoritism some outgoing council leaders seem to extend to their preferred candidate.

Women gained the right to vote in America in 1920. Why, as Barnard students who have elected to pursue an education in an all-women’s institution where male opposition is absent, are we still following instead of leading?

After an uncontested election, Sarah Besnoff, BC ’09 was officially named next year’s Student Government Association president in results released Sunday evening.
Along with Besnoff, the new SGA executive board will be VP of Student Activities Maria Morad, BC ’09, VP of Communications Katie Palillo BC ’10, and VP of Finance Amy Chen, BC ’10.

Students sometimes feel apathy toward student council and its role on campus. Nonetheless, the new SGA board is inheriting a record of success, and we have every reason to hope it will live up to students’ expectations.

The promise of Barnard’s Senior Selection is what sustains students through two years of the stressful housing lottery. Yet the reality does not live up to the dream.

A Student Government Association town hall meeting Thursday evening provided an arena for conversation about how activism has changed in the past 40 years as Barnard Dean Dorothy Denburg, BC ’70, and Karla Spurlock-Evans, BC ’71, reminisced on their experiences as students during the infamous 1968 protests.

Student council members from Columbia’s affiliates have teamed up to create a campus-wide undergraduate calendar, advertising everything from group meetings to parties. So far, 35 student groups and organizations have participated in this calendar, which debuted nearly two weeks ago.

A small group of students gathered Thursday night to mingle around an open fire pit at Barnard College in anticipation of the upcoming holidays. While there were no chestnuts available for roasting, students enjoyed a wide array of sweet treats, hot drinks, and festive music.

“Since when does Barnard care?” asked a Barnard College senior after the first class council meeting of the year. The question was in response to a goal of the Student Government Association: to “Go Green at Barnard.” This year, the SGA hopes to bring about meaningful change on our campus.