FOR STUDENTS
Since the fall, we've seen a great deal of discussion and action around important campus issues such as Columbia's sexual assault policy and the allocation of space. Take a look at the items which we think will affect you as a student on campus and please let us know if there's anything we missed.
Registration
INSIGHT will continue to work with administrators and CUIT to improve the waitlist feature based on student and professor feedback, and continue to push for a later CC drop deadline so that we can drop classes after receiving major grades in those classes.
Space - Present
INSIGHT is determined to expand reservable and un-reservable space for studying, lounging, meeting, and performing. We will advocate for strategically enhanced library hours, opening academic buildings for meeting/studying space, and communicating our space needs through College and University administration.
Space - Future
Dean Valentini has told the University Senate that we need a thorough space survey to see what is needed and how current space is used. Furthermore, he hopes that Manhattanville will play a role in the education of CC students, and not just that of graduate students. We must be proactive in order to attain these goals an protect undergraduate interests. For this reason, we will form an Undergraduate Committee on Expansion. This committee will work with the undergraduate deans to gather information, formulate proposals and fight for undergraduate interests.
College Days
Celebrate the history of Columbia College with a week full of CC-centered events! This week will be spearheaded by CCSC but largely in partnership with student groups. The last day will be an "I am Columbia" campaign to show the variety of identities that make up Columbia College.
Destressing Events
INSIGHT understands that #ColumbiaStruggle so we will work with student groups and members of the Columbia community to host at least one destressing event every month to introduce students to the myriad ways to take a load off! Such events include bringing a hypnotist, meditation, yoga, massages (that's you, Stressbusters), and even a speaker to give tips to combat anxiety.
Bacchanal
We are committed to working with Bacchanal, administrators and other student councils to get a bigger artist for Spring Bacchanal and to create a Fall Bacchanal which is comparable to the current spring show. This will also be a great way to welcome students back to campus and to bring freshmen into the fold after NSOP. These improvements will be accomplished by re-evaluating CCSC's spending and finding alterative revenue streams, without raising student life fees or charging for tickets. By spending more efficiently, we can produce more quality, large-scale events which will interest as many people on campus as possible.
Senior-freshman mentorship program
This program was presented by CCSC member Kareem Carryl and progress is already underway with Deantini. We'll continue to develop and pilot a mentoring program where seniors help freshmen adjust to Columbia, post-NSOP. This will then give way to an alumni mentoring program, as graduating seniors keep in touch with their rising sophomore mentees via major events such as Homecoming.
Transfer Mentorship
Michael Li has already begun work with CCSC member Jackson Tse and CSA on a post-NSOP mentorship program between continuing and incoming transfers. Mentees will be paired the summer before they arrive on campus for early questions and we will facilitate regular events and interactions throughout the first semester. This will expand upon transfer programming that CCSC 2015 began this year.
Class Gifts
CCSC members Michael Li and Kareem Carryl are already in talks with Deantini to establish a class gifts tradition where alumni give a set of gifts to each year of CC students. This will serve as another touchpoint between current students and alumni and a way for us to get some awesome Columbia swag for free. SEAS already gets class gifts, INSIGHT will get them for CC too!
Throwback Movies in Roone
There are 150+ public domain movies that are free to screen, produced from 1920-1970. We'll work to establish free, weekly screenings of movies like It's a Wonderful Life, The Little Shop of Horrors and His Girl Friday. This will give everyone the opportunity to see a movie in Roone every week, for free, without having to leave campus.
Polling Committee
INSIGHT will engage in many practices to ensure that our agenda is student-centered and we never lose touch with Columbia College. One method is to have a group of students provide snacks for survey responses in Lerner on a weekly basis.
Lerner
Oh, Lerner, you squat, hollow, glass box of ramps and mailboxes. INSIGHT wants to give you a make-over to make your lounges more loungy/conducive for studying.
Combat Rape Culture
Warning: This piece contains material about sexual assault on college campuses that might be upsetting to some readers.
INSIGHT will use all four Committees - Policy, Communication, Finance, and Campus Life - not only for progress on sexual assault policy throughout the University, but also for combatting rape culture. The University has prioritized improving sexual assault policy and INSIGHT is determined to maintain pressure on administrators to respond in a timely and productive manner regarding issues of sexual misconduct. Our goal here is to serve as a voice for CC while allowing room for our peers to be heard as well. While these policy changes are happening on a University level, INSIGHT acknowledges that fixing the adjudication process for sexual misconduct is merely a reactive measure to just one symptom of a much larger issue: rape culture. In accordance with the "Save Act", we are dedicated to including domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking in conversations and initiatives surrounding rape culture and sexual misconduct. INSIGHT will take a proactive approach, combating rape culture with the aim of reducing the amount of incidents, as well as fixing the process to adjudicating them. Sexual Assault Awareness Month is in April, but we propose Safe September - an opportunity to start the year off with a month of programming designed to educate and raise awareness about rape culture and sexual misconduct. We would use April (Sexual Assault Awareness Month) as a second, closing opportunity to spread awareness and knowledge on sexual conduct. INSIGHT will restore confidence in Columbia's ability to handle cases of domestic violence, dating violence, and sexual misconduct and we will fight the pernicious norms that cause them.
Public Safety
Currently, public safety has a policy that no event is "content-neutral." This allows them to deem certain events' content as more controversial than other events, therefore requiring more security. Costs for these additional security officers is mostly covered by the Securities fund, which has increased approximately 266% from 2006-2012. Going forward, we will work with Public Safety to (1) create a more systematic approach for deeming events controversial and (2) cut down costs, because money that goes into the Securities fund could be going to student group allocations instead.
Leave of Absence
Concern. Confusion. Coercion. For whatever reason students take a leave of absence, it is crucial that (1) this process is made crystal clear and (2) that there is institutionalized student input in how leaves of absence affect us. INSIGHT also acknowledges that this university-wide issue requires input from all schools and we look forward to working with the University Senate and groups like SWP to represent Columbia College's stake in this topic.
CUIT
Through the Undergraduate CUIT Advisory Board, INSIGHT is committed to pushing for access to Google Drive, the implementation of a global print queue, a color printing quota and greater access to color printers, open data for students to create apps and websites as resources for Columbia students.
Health Insurance
Changes to our nation's health care system will result in direct changes to Aetna, the insurance offered by Columbia. Insight is dedicated to working with the Student Health Insurance Advisory Committee to ensure student input in changes to cost and benefits.
Financial Aid
We will explore options to provide need-blind aid for International students.