Governing boards

This chart shows the flow of student life fees paid by undergraduates. The fees are collected by the University, then given in ratio to the student councils based on student body population. At F@CU, the councils divide the money between the governing boards.

The governing boards at Columbia are several bodies (normally cited as either 6 or 7) that govern specific categories of student activities and organizations.

List of governing boards

The six undergraduate governing boards are:

• Student Governing Board (SGB) - political, religious, humanitarian, activist and identity groups
• Club Sports Governing Board (CSGB) - club sports teams
• Intergreek Council - fraternities and sororities
• Community Impact (CI) - community service groups
• Activities Board at Columbia (ABC) - all other groups that do not fall under the other boards
• Governing Board at Barnard - Barnard groups

The seventh, slightly different, governing board is:

• Interschool Governing Board (IGB) - student groups that consist of both graduate and undergraduate students

Functions

The main functions of the governing boards are:

• appeal to the undergraduate student councils for funding out of student life fees at the end of each academic year in an event known as 'F@CU' (pronounced 'fack-yoo')
• set rules, policies and timelines for student groups to receive recognition
• award and distribute funding to recognized groups
• provide recognized groups with various benefits such as a Columbia student group account and the ability to reserve space with University Events Management, and in the case of some boards, the rights to use the Columbia logo, space in Dodge Fitness Center, etc.

Barnard College's participation in funding the governing boards (and thus student groups) is particularly complicated.