Engineering Student Council

The Engineering Student Council (ESC) represents the interests of undergraduate students in SEAS. Not to be confused with the Engineering Graduate Student Council.

Composition

The ESC consists of three parts: the executive board, the class councils, and the representatives-at-large.

Executive board

• President: Organizes and runs meetings; chief advocate for SEAS student body
• VP Policy: Pursues policy changes; heads policy subcommittee
• VP Finance (née Intergroup): Treasurer of the council; heads co-sponsorship subcommittee
• VP Student Life: Plans campus-wide events for CC; heads subcommittee responsible for event planning
• VP Communications: Organizes and collects meeting minutes

Class Councils

• Senior Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the senior class.
• Junior Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the junior class.
• Sophomore Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the sophomore class.
• First-Year Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the freshman class.

Representatives at large

• University Senator (1): Fully elected member of the University Senate, although the SEAS undergraduate senator sits ex officio on the ESC, he/she does not report to the ESC, nor does the ESC exercise any statutory or governance authority over any element whatsoever of the University Senate or its elected members.
• Academic Affairs Rep: Works with VP for Policy to pursue policy changes to academic life.
• Student Services Rep: Works with VP for Policy to pursue policy changes to student services such as housing and dining.
• Alumni and Pre-Professional Affairs Rep: Works with CCE to plan events geared towards career/internships. Also works with Columbia Engineering Alumni Association to plan events related to alumni and student interaction.
• Director of Technology: Created in 2008; handles ESC website.

Liaisons

The ESC has three official liaison positions to the other undergraduate student councils, with one liaising to CCSC, GSSC, and SGA. In 2010, the council added the position of Sustainability Liaison to liaise with Green Umbrella.

Co-sponsorships

Any club that includes SEAS students or wants to hold an event that will include SEAS students can apply for ESC co-sponsorship. Applications must be submitted by 6pm on Friday to be considered at the next ESC meeting. Email VP Intergroup Daniel Wong at dsw2107@columbia.edu for more info. Always fill the application out in full and with as much information as possible.

• Segregate all costs to avoid ambiguity:

Instead of "Decorations & Food - $500", write "Decorations - $200, Food - $300".

• When asking co-sponsorship from CCSC, ESC, SGA and GSSC, always ask in ratio (3:1:2:0.9) unless you have a specific reason against asking in ratio.

Instead of "ESC - $500, CCSC - $500", write "ESC - $250, CCSC - $750".

Elections

Adam Goldberg's proposal

Since time immemorial, ESC internally elected executive board members, including the president. This was the subject of much controversy over the years, as the election rules can only be altered during the annual constitutional review. Several council members proposed amendments calling for direct elections, but none were approved. Several years ago, someone accused the ESC of being insular and that it was only electing current council members to E-board positions. The ESC was also widely criticized by campus news sources such as Bwog and Spectator for holding internal elections.

In 2011, ESC voted during its annual constitutional review to approve direct elections of its executive board. It was decided the first-such elections would take place in 2012, as time was needed to draft election rules for these positions. Tim Qin SEAS '13 became the first ESC President to be elected by the undergraduate engineering student body.

Contact

You can email the council at esc@columbia.edu

External links

• ESC website