Like many on Columbia’s campus last Friday morning, Violet Krejcie was working hard at learning something new. Her current area of study? High fives.

Graphics by Charlotte Li, Raeedah Wahid

Dean of the School of General Studies Lisa Rosen-Metsch highlighted the school’s successful Giving Day performance during an appearance at the General Studies Student Council meeting on Tuesday night.

In its eighth annual Giving Day, Columbia raised $22 million through 18,622 donations as of 1 a.m. on Thursday morning, surpassing last year’s fundraising totals by over $2 million. This year’s top earners were Columbia College, followed by Columbia Athletics and Columbia Business School.

For the first time in 36 years, Columbia will be offering a major in linguistics starting spring 2020 following a notice of approval by the New York State Department of Education sent late Tuesday night. The major will require 34 total points, including two required courses, a senior thesis, and one intermediate-level course in a foreign language.

The General Studies Student Council announced the appointment of five new positions on Tuesday night.

David Hanna, a student at the School of General Studies, has died, GS Dean Lisa Rosen-Metsch announced in an email to the student body on Monday morning. According to the email, he had been battling a chronic illness.

Columbia’s Office of University Life has appointed Joseph Greenwell to be its inaugural vice president of student affairs, a position created to expand the office’s current outreach to student-facing offices and student organizations across the University.

Executive Director of Education Services at the Department of Veterans Affairs Charmain Bogue spoke to student veterans and administrators about changes in benefits under the Forever GI Bill, including changes to housing allotments and the creation of a STEM extension program, at a town hall on Thursday afternoon. The town hall was held as part of a national tour conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

United Nations Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake spoke about the power of young communities to inspire change through connectivity in what she described as a rapidly changing and chaotic political climate on Tuesday as part of the Columbia University World Leaders Forum.