Jackie Carrero

Three parties vying for positions on CCSC's executive board went toe-to-toe on Thursday night at a candidates forum hosted by Spectator. Questions about how candidates would allocate funds, respond to controversial events, and manage party policy revealed divisions between the parties—CU Charge, UniteCU, and Better Columbia. Andrew Nguyen, CC '12 and UniteCU's candidate for president, emphasized the diversity and experience of his ticket. Candidates for Better Columbia, a ticket of mostly newcomers led by Barry Weinberg, CC '12 for president, said they have the fresh ideas and drive incumbents may lack. Aki Terasaki, CC '12, said his ticket, CU Charge, is uniquely qualified for the executive board because they combine the advantages of Unite CU and Better Columbia. "Forget the study breaks and think large-scale programming where we can actually make and grow Columbia's sense of community," Nguyen, current VP of policy, said. His party platform includes a proposal for a two-day Homecoming carnival that would include a bonfire and Ferris wheel. Wilfred Chan, CC '13, a Spectrum daily editor and candidate for VP of student life, disagreed with the proposal to do away with study breaks and lower-level programming. "Every single club I joined freshman year was because I went to a study break," Chan said, adding that he disagrees with UniteCU's call for a large-scale event. "I love Ferris wheels. They're great, but they cost 10, 12K for two days ... That could fund 20 student groups." Chan added that he would plan low-budget events like campuswide pillow fights and beach days on Low Steps. Terasaki said his party would prefer to allocate more of CCSC's money to governing boards, so it can be distributed to groups to plan more of their own events. When asked about whether or not Columbia's party scene is in danger following the suspension of several fraternities last month, each party said CCSC should plan more alcohol-free events. Brandon Christophe, CC '12, currently the VP of finance, a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and UniteCU's candidate for VP of finance, said that CCSC should support the Greek community. "We're just not going to be having late-night ragers in Lerner. There's just too much red tape—though I'd love for that to happen," Christophe said. Weinberg said Better Columbia wants to create "party events" to make it easier for student groups to plan parties and gatherings, with or without alcohol. Candidates from all three parties expressed a desire to make CCSC more transparent. First-year Varun Char, Better Columbia's VP of communications candidate, suggested rotating the council's meeting location by using dorm lounges and potentially requesting space from the Intercultural Resource Center. "People don't know where it's happening and when it's happening," Char said. Steele Sternberg, CC '13 and Better Columbia's candidate for VP of communications, noted that the CCSC finance website has not been updated in 318 days. Ryan Cho, CC '13 VP of policy candidate for CU Charge, explained that a lot of students are unaware of the range of issues CCSC influences. He said they intend to have weekly office hours and publish CCSC's budget if elected, in addition to reaching out more to students. After briefly describing their platforms, candidates answered questions posed by audience members, readers of Spectrum, and Spectator. "I'm most satisfied about the fact that even if my ticket is not elected, my presence here has made the issue of sustainability something to be talked about," said Elizabeth Kipp-Giusti, CC '12, current CU Green Umbrella board member and candidate for Unite CU. news@columbiaspectator.com

Michael Steele is no longer the chairman of the Republican National Committee, but he proved on Tuesday night that he can still divide a crowd. In a speech at the law school, Steele touched on his own upbringing and current policy issues. "My mama worked 25 years in a Laundromat making three dollars and 83 cents the day she retired. My daddy was an alcoholic, he beat my mama. That's my story. They shaped my philosophy, they shaped my politics," Steele said. "What you experience right now is shaping your philosophy and shaping your politics." He embraced his role as a controversial political figure, and spoke at length about the nontraditional roles he filled within the GOP. "As a Roman Catholic, African American, and Republican from DC, I know about conflict," Steele said. That was a fitting theme, since the event was made possible by the Friendly Fire Fund, created to invite controversial speakers from all political sides to campus following the 2006 Minutemen controversy. At that speech, by the founder of an activist group monitoring the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal immigrants, 40 protesters stormed the stage in Lerner Hall. "It's obvious that Michael Steele is a controversial figure," Sara Jacobs, head of the Columbia Political Union and CC '11, said. "He is an unorthodox Republican, received flak from the media, and offended people in his own and other parties. He wasn't re-elected, and we thought that because he is not in office he would say things more freely." And despite the labels he placed on himself, Steele stressed the need to transcend political partisanship in order to come to solutions for national issues such as healthcare and racial inequality. "Leadership is required to step up. That's not Republican and that's not Democrat," Steele said. "The challenge is no less different Labels are just that, labels. They don't tell you what you need to know, nor do they help you understand why an action is taken." When audience members questioned his avoidance of strict social conservatism, Steele responded that it was all part of his former job. "It is part of the balancing act that I had to maintain as chairman. I would be sent into one meeting telling me we got to fight against abortion and then would be pushed into another meeting saying we need to focus on economics," he said. On whether gay marriage should be decided at the federal level, Steele emphasized that it is something for the younger generation to decide. "I don't have the answer. I didn't have the luxury as the chairman to get in that nuanced argument," he said. Many members of the audience said afterwards that Steele seemed too wary to make a gaffe and avoided answering most of the audience's questions. "He made a lot of idyllic generalizations about what politics and the party should be," Dylan Glendinning, CC '14, said. "There were only one or two questions in which he actually brought up specific issues relevant to him." "He dodged more of the tough questions, which is natural of any speaker," said Jacobs. But other spectators said his sincerity and openness about discussing his upbringing left a positive impression. "I'm not a Republican, but I like Steele and I respect him. I think most African Americans think that if you're a Republican you sell out. It's like once you climb to the top of the ladder you don't turn back. But I'm impressed by some things he's done and said and he doesn't forget where he came from," Abshir Kore, a first year law student, said. The event was put on by CPU and co-sponsored by 12 student groups, and CPU members said they were pleasantly surprised at the attendance, since CPU has experienced low attendance for some notable figures' speeches in the past. "It was a huge success for CPU," said Alex Frouman CC '12 and CPU director of operations. "The capacity of the room was 124 people and we were clearly over capacity." news@columbiaspectator.com

A couple dozen Columbia students gathered between East Campus and the Law School to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's human rights record on Wednesday afternoon. The rally was originally organized in order to protest a dinner scheduled for the Iranian leader and Columbia's international relations group, CIRCA. After the Iranian mission rescinded CIRCA's invitation on Monday, the leaders of the protest forged ahead with their plans and renamed the "Just Say No To Ahma(dinner)jad" protest "Just Say No to Ahmadinejad." Student organizer Eric Shapiro, CC '13, said that they decided to go on with the protest because CIRCA students not attending the dinner didn't change the implications of the students agreeing to dine with the Iranian leader. "We took issue with the moral implications of Columbia students sitting down to an off-record, intimate meal with an international pariah," Shapiro said. Still, turnout was much lower than the more than 180 people who had said they were attending the original event on Facebook. Victoria Lewis, CC '13, attended the protest because she had been upset when she heard about the setting of the original dinner. "There was no media and it was a setting where people couldn't really respond," she said. At least one CIRCA member, Rich Medina, CC '13, responded yesterday by saying that he was never going to the event because he supported Ahmadinejad's views, but rather as a chance to talk to a world leader. Jacob Snider, CC '13 and another organizer of the rally, said that his goal was just for Columbia to be represented by different perspectives. "We weren't trying to be the sole Columbia voice," Snider said. "We realized early on that just as the CIRCA folks couldn't represent anyone but themselves, we couldn't represent anyone but ourselves." Students weren't the only ones making their voice heard. Former Iranian political prisoner Shirin Nariman addressed the crowd that gathered in front of East Campus. Nariman spoke about her personal experiences living under the oppressive Iranian regime discussing her time as a political prisoner and the human rights abuses she witnessed under Ahmadinejad's rule. "When I was 17, I had a 13-year-old friend who was arrested and killed. This is the oppressive Iranian regime, and we need to reject such a regime and their representatives, which is Ahmadinejad," Nariman said. She also questioned why Columbia students would want to associate themselves with a dictator. "It's morally wrong. It shouldn't be done," Nariman said. "Many people were killed for a dictator to come to power. Is this what Columbia wants to associate with?" For Snider, the most potent part of Nariman's message was the importance of student activism and the effect students can have on people halfway around the world. "Her last message was important: what you do as Columbia students is extremely valuable. The people who are prisoners for speaking their mind, or currently repressed under Ahmadinejad's regime–they hear these messages," Snider said. news@columbiaspectator.com

Involvement in multicultural fraternities and sororities has doubled in the last four years, reflecting greater interest in Greek life at Columbia. 150 students now participate in one of Columbia's 14 minority-affiliated Greek communities, which do not have brownstones and have long received less attention than their counterparts organized under the Interfraternity and Panhellenic Councils. Jason Tejada, president of the Multicultural Greek Council, said that since the spring of 2007, three new organizations have joined MGC and five chapters have been resurrected because of growing interest in multicultural Greek life. Those include Omega Phi Beta, a Latina sorority, which was first recognized by the MGC last fall. "We currently accepted ... one sorority this past semester, so they are currently recruiting," MGC secretary Cindy Hernandez, BC '12 and a member of the Latina-based Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority, said in an email. Last Thursday, January 20, members of 12 organizations recognized under the MGC gathered in Lerner Party Space for a recruiting event, the first time the multicultural Greek organizations had a formal, unified event. According to Jadira Mora, BC '11 and a member of Sigma Lambda Gamma, it was an important moment. "This is the first time that there has been an organized event like this on campus, aside from the NSOP barbecue and the ABC student activities fair, both hosted at the beginning of the year in September," Mora said. The MGC event was one example of the multicultural Greek organizations' growing presence on campus. Last semester, the African-American Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity hosted a sold-out stroll competition in Lerner. Strolling, a synchronized dance routine done in single file to music, is a venue for self-expression among many multicultural fraternities and sororities. Miles attributed the increase in members to the broader rise in Greek involvement. "I think the growth is due to the increasing Greek culture on campus. A large percentage of students who join MGC org[anization]s are already heavily involved on campus. This level of cross participation has increased the attention these org[anization]s receive in a positive way," she wrote in an email. Jaymon Ballew, MGC vice president and member of Kappa Alpha Psi, said that the growing multicultural Greek organizations and the "Meet the Greek" event mirrored the changing demographics of Columbia students. "This event was necessary with the growing minority pool of students," Ballew said. Members of the 14 multicultural fraternities and sororities agreed that the MGC was making a stronger effort than in the past crossing the ethnic lines that sometimes separated those organizations. "MGC has never really come together as a whole, but now they're working towards it," said Lesley Loor, BC '11 and member of Latina sorority Lambda Pi Chi. Tiara Miles, BC '11 and president of Delta Sigma Theta , also emphasized cross-cultural relations. "'Meet the Greeks' is definitely helping with the increase of multicultural Greek life and especially the divide between Latino, black, and Asian groups," Miles said. Still, for some students the events are simply a way to be social, not a gateway to membership. "I do not believe in Greek life, and I highly doubt I will ever be interested," said Tabia Santos, BC '13, who attended the "Meet the Greeks" event. "I'm not interested in being in a sisterhood." Regardless, multicultural Greek life's presence at Columbia continues to grow. "Greek life has definitely grown exponentially," said Vikki Campos, BC '11 and a member of Hermanidad de Sigma Iota Alpha, a Latina sorority. "It wasn't as big as it is now when I first came here." "It is safe to say that, yes, there definitely will be more people in Greek life, and the numbers just keep increasing," Hernandez said. news@columbiaspectator.com

Eighteen months ago, four science libraries were closed in order to make way for the new comprehensive science library in the Northwest Corner Building. But the four vacated library spaces remain closed and unused, aggravating some scientists who say that their departments are already starved for space. The biology, chemistry, psychology, and physics and astronomy libraries were closed 18 months ago in order to unify libraries where there had been overlap. But administrators have not given departments the go-ahead to make use of the vacated space. This delay has aggravated some, including physics department chair Bill Zajc. "It's a source of great frustration that the former physics library space is lying fallow while we have a space crisis in Pupin," he said. According to biology department chair Stuart Firestein, the libraries fall under the authority of Provost Claude Steele. "Our hope is that his decision will be to give the library spaces to the departments that now have library space available in them and allow us to use them for what we see most fit for the department," Firestein said. "But we're waiting to hear from them about that." Steele said that he is working on determining the best decision for the libraries. "There will be a variety of proposals for how to use that space, and the effort of this office is to try to get them quickly heard and fairly adjudicated, and get plans made for the use of that space," Steele said. But for some professors, 18 months is a long time to wait. Despite support for the original library plan, the actual transitions from libraries to department spaces have not been as efficient as many have hoped. The former libraries have remained vacant spaces in crowded buildings such as Pupin and Schermerhorn Hall. While he supports the merging of the libraries, astronomy department chair David Helfand said that the consolidation process has been "less than desirable." "Despite the fact that the libraries have closed 18 months ago, the space has just been left empty, padlocked, and unused," Helfand said. "In a university as space-starved as this university is, it's nuts." The departments have different ideas for what they would do with the library spaces—some of the spaces might become labs, others might become study areas, and still others might become offices. But although the closed science library space has been a nuisance for some science department faculty, undergraduates say they have been less affected. "It's not the biggest inconvenience, at least for undergraduates, because the science department doesn't require as much book research as other majors," biology major Jen Graber, BC '13, said. "But I could see how it could be inconvenient for graduate-level studies." "I'm a senior and I didn't even know there were science libraries at Columbia," psychology major Ben Lee, CC '11, said. The vacant former libraries are not the only space problems some have found in the new Northwest Corner Building. While the building has created a lot of space for the science departments—it has 14 stories and 21 labs—the bridges connecting it to other buildings have resulted in the closure of several offices in neighboring buildings, including Pupin. For the astronomy department, which does not have any faculty moving into the new building, this has resulted in a net loss of space. "We stuff more and more people into spaces. The impact of the Northwest Building is that we've lost space because the offices at the end of the halls have been closed," Helfand said. "We haven't even maintained space, we've shrunken." It's "very frustrating," Zajc said regarding the fact that he has to walk down the eighth floor of Pupin, seeing the connection to the new building at one end and the closed physics library at the other. He does not know why the administration has not yet made a decision about the libraries, noting that he has "expressed confusion" about what more information it might need to make a decision. "A decision is a tool for reducing confusion," Zajc said. "And right now we have had a lot of confusion for more than a year." "There will be a variety of proposals for how to use that space, and the effort of this office is to try to get them quickly heard and fairly adjudicated, and get plans made for the use of that space," Steele said. Sammy Roth and Henry Willson contributed reporting. news@columbiaspectator.com

A hostel on 103rd Street and Amsterdam may host visitors from around the globe today, but over a century ago, it was home to a very different crowd. This was the topic of discussion at a talk Thursday night led by Pam Tice, former executive director of Hostelling International New York, who presented the 103rd Street hostel's transition from its humble beginnings as a home for aged women to a widely used hostel for youth today. "I think knowing local history to me is just so important. So many people pass by this building every day and must wonder what a large Gothic Victorian building is doing on Amsterdam," Tice said in an interview on Thursday night at the hostel. Today, the Upper West Side landmarked hostel is the largest in North America, has a capacity of over 600 guests, and still maintains its Victorian style. Outlining the hostel's history at an event titled "Creating A Westside Landmark," Tice said, "Having worked here, I really wanted to do more research myself on what it was like to be a part of the home, and how did it work and when did they get started." The hostel was originally founded by four young women—Rachel Dunlap, Rachel Maynard, Mary Bingham, and Anne Church—as a home to help aged women avoid degrading "poorhouses," which were government-run housing complexes for needy residents, known for their poor conditions. "It was a group of women in the 1880s, when married women couldn't own property. In the midst of this time, women banded together to form an association like this. It was the women who were visiting patients themselves and doing the work," Tice said. Tice compared it to the abolitionist prohibition movements. "Women at this point were supposed to demonstrate that they were pious, that they were submissive. This charity work taught women how to cooperate with each other, how to take leadership positions, how to organize." Patrick Bennett, a Morningside resident attending the event, said the history of the hostel still has relevance today. "Building the elderly women's home definitely helped the women themselves get ahead," Bennett said. "I wouldn't want to tell a corporate woman today, 'You can't do things that you want to do,'" he joked. In the 1960s, the home was going to be torn down, but Columbia architecture student Fred Chapman got an assignment in a preservation class to find a structure to put on the national list of places to be preserved—right in time to stop the city from tearing it down. Peter Arndtsen, district manager of the Columbus/Amsterdam Business Improvement District, highlighted the importance of student activism in saving the hostel. "I think it's truly remarkable that the students were able to step in at a critical point and save the building. The impact of just three students was huge," Arndtsen said. For some attendees, preserving the neighborhood's history is a priority. "I like to see the old buildings of New York preserved," Bennett said. "We can learn a lot from these old buildings. It's a reminder of our history and helps us develop our future." news@columbiaspectator.com

Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora oversees the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and he's also one of the Columbia researchers currently searching for ways to protect Haiti and the Dominican Republic from natural disasters. One year after an earthquake in Haiti devastated the country, researchers are working with the Dominican Republic to analyze the country's roads, buildings, and food storage infrastructure. "After the January 12 [2010] earthquake in Haiti, we reached out to the Dominican government," Richard Gonzalez, project manager of the Urban Design Lab, said. "We're trying to figure out how the university, as a neutral entity, can help prepare DR in the next 10 or 15 years to minimize risks." The researchers—from the Urban Design Lab, a joint laboratory of the Earth Institute and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, with help from SEAS and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory—are focusing on the infrastructure of the Dominican city of Santiago. That city is located next to a major fault line and has a population only second to Santo Domingo, the capital. Gonzalez said that the ripple effects of an earthquake in Santiago could have dire consequences, since that fault line is located on top of a dam and the city is the central point for many of the country's industries. "Santiago is a hugely important place because it is the fabrication center of the city, where food gets processed and houses a big percentage of textile industries," Gonzalez said. Peña-Mora said that improving the strength of the country's infrastructure can make a world of difference. "If you compare the disaster in Haiti and the one in Chile, the magnitude was higher in Chile but the negative impact was smaller because of better planning," Peña-Mora said. According to the researchers' preliminary recommendations, easing communication between the various groups trying to improve conditions on Hispaniola also needs to be a top priority. "A lot of different groups are running their own response plan," Peña-Mora said. "The Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo has a lot of data collection about seismic activity while another group has a lot of info on dams. We need to combine these plans to create one integrated plan." Although the study focuses on helping the population of Dominicans residing in their native nation, Harlem resident Ana Perez said she believes the research also implicates the estimated 1 million Dominicans living in this country. "If something happened in DR, I would have to leave here [New York] and go help out my family over there. There are a lot of people here with family there, and we are already struggling on our own," Perez said. Raul Rios, another Harlem resident, echoed Perez's sentiments, adding that more destruction on the island would have wide-ranging impacts. "Not only would my money be impacted but the whole country's economy—it's still developing," he said. Patricia Rojas, CC '11 and president of Grupo Quisqueyano, the Dominican student group on campus, said she appreciated the collaborative research. "Preventative measures are often times overlooked due to lack of funding and other sources, but this particular research can highlight its long term benefits and perhaps discover cost-efficient ways to rebuild infrastructure," Rojas said. According to Dean Peña-Mora, more recommendations will be made to the Dominican government in April. "I don't think everything can be done all at once to minimize the negative impact," Peña-Mora said. "It's a long project." jackie.carrero@columbiaspectator.com

The sign welcoming visitors to the Frederick Douglass Houses says "A Wonderful Community," but for resident Lillie Jamison, there's nothing "wonderful" about her housing situation. Jamison, a young mother of one with another baby on the way, said that her apartment is not only in poor physical condition but also hazardous to her and her children's health. "I'm pregnant and living with asbestos," she said. "Not only that, but we have old tiling and haven't had a paint job in years." Jamison's complaints are not new. At a Community Board 7 housing meeting in September, residents spoke of maintenance problems, such as broken refrigerators and unusable plumbing fixtures, that have been left unaddressed by the New York City Housing Authority, which handles maintenance at the 17-building complex centered around 100th Street and Columbus Avenue. Residents said they would submit "tickets," the forms used to request repairs, only to have them ignored or to hear that it would take years for their problems to be addressed. In response, CB7's housing committee held a joint meeting Jan. 10 with NYCHA representatives and tenants association presidents from several of the public housing complexes located on the Upper West Side, including Douglass. "It was the housing committee and tenants association presidents firing questions at NYCHA," CB7 housing committee chair Victor Gonzalez said. "Once they answered us to our satisfaction, people in the audience asked questions." Gonzalez said one of the main issues that emerged was the shortcomings of the Centralized Call Center, where residents are instructed to call whenever they have a maintenance request. "One of the complaints was timely repairs," Gonzalez said. "People were calling in clogged shower heads for example. But when the plumber would come in, they would break the wall for the shower head, resulting in a whole new problem." Gonzalez said that initiatives to solve the issue are in the works, including working with City Council member Gale Brewer to find ways to expedite responses to "child work orders"—problems that stem from an attempt to fix an original problem—by allowing residents to link their complaints, instead of having to call them in as separate issues. But although it has been over a month since that meeting, Jamison said that she hasn't heard anything more about fixing the problems. "I didn't even know about this meeting or else I would've went," she said of the January meeting. "When I last called the CCC, I was told I have a ticket for 2012. When I called again about replacing the poles in the shower, I never got a response at all." NYCHA public relations assistant Brent Grier said the agency is trying its best to address maintenance problems in the 2,604 buildings it serves, but that low funding makes it difficult. "The Authority respects and understands our residents' frustration over the current backlog of repair and maintenance work," Grier wrote in an email statement. "While the needs are great in most of NYCHA's developments, the reality is that buildings that are 40 to 70 years old are aging structures that require a great deal of repair, for which the Authority receives inadequate funding." Grier added that NYCHA is developing a five-year plan to address the buildings' preservation. "It will serve as a vital road map for addressing our current maintenance and repair backlog, as well as other challenges in the future," he wrote in the email. Resident Vivian Brown, who is currently staying with a friend in Douglass, said those promises jar with her daily reality of continually neglected maintenance work. "They don't do your repairs," she said. "The walls need to be covered and plastered, but they [building management] don't respond to your calls. It's also the elevators—they need to be cleaned and fixed more." "But I can't complain, because I'm not the one on the lease," she added. Douglass resident Shirley Poindexter, however, said she's never had to complain. "The building seems to be kept pretty well," she said. "The cleaning lady who maintains the building does a very good job in my opinion." Resources are available for residents to deal with ongoing maintenance issues, said Jane Wisdom, president of Douglass Tenants Association, but residents aren't making full use of them. "People need to call me, because I make sure things get done," Wisdom said. "We all have to work together, because if I don't know about the issues, then I can't do my job. If management doesn't respond or do what they have to do, then I go to the politicians." jackie.carrero@columbiaspectator.com