Columbia College Student Council

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The Columbia College Student Council (CCSC) organizes events and promotes issues that are important to Columbia College students. The CCSC meets on Sundays at 8pm in the Satow Room on the 5th floor of Lerner Hall. All meetings are open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Beginning in fall 2011, CCSC begin its new branding campaign: yourCCSC. All updates and information about the council are now available at yourCCSC.com. You can email the Columbia College Student Council Executive Board at ccsc@columbia.edu.

Members

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

Executive board

  • Student Body President: Organizes and runs meetings; chief advocate for CC student body
  • VP Policy: Pursues policy changes; heads policy subcommittee; assumes CCSC presidency upon vacancy of position by Student Body President
  • VP Finance: Treasurer of the council; heads co-sponsorship subcommittee
  • VP Campus Life: Plans campus-wide events for CC; heads campus life subcommittee
  • VP Communications: Organizes internal and external communications; heads communications committee

Class Councils

  • Senior Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 3 representatives from the senior class.
  • Junior Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 3 representatives from the junior class.
  • Sophomore Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 3 representatives from the sophomore class.
  • First-Year Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 3 representatives from the freshman class.

Representatives at large

  • University Senators (3): Fully elected members of the University Senate, although the three CC senators sit ex officio on the CCSC, they do not report to the CCSC, nor does the CCSC 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 Reps (2): Works with VP for Policy to pursue policy changes to student services such as housing and dining.
  • Pre-professional Rep: Works with CCE to plan events geared towards career/internships.
  • Alumni Affairs Rep: Works with CCYA, CCAA, and CCA to connect students and alumni.

Co-sponsorships

Any student group that includes Columbia College students can apply for CCSC co-sponsorship of their event. If a co-sponsorship is approved, CCSC will provide additional funding for the event based on the judgment of the council. In 2012 the council voted to approve the creation of two new student group co-sponsorship funds: one specifically for group travel to competitions and another for capital purchases.

History

Pre-History

Between 1892 and 1961, the Board of Student Representatives was Columbia College's central student government. In 1961 it was voted out of existence after students decided they were tired of ineffectiveness and even corruption. However, they also voted down the establishment of a successor, the Student Assembly, because it would be just as powerless as the Board was.

Years passed, and in the aftermath of the 1968 protests, the University Senate Student Affairs Committee mulled the idea of a "College student council" to handle some of the issues concerning the College that were being submitted to the University Senate, noting that that the College was one of the few divisions at the University without a student governing body.[1] However, nothing directly came of the proposal.

Founding

CCSC was founded in 1979 as part of a movement to consolidate activities oversight, student policy, and other roles dispersed among various scattered councils.

Proposals for forming a new student council were floated in Spring 1978, and were ultimately fleshed out and promulgated for referendum by the Dean's Advisory Committee[2][3][4] The proposal was met with criticism from a number of quarters. Students objected to the proposed student life fee, the concentration of money into one council, and the lack of guaranteed minority representation.[5][6] In addition, the Engineering Student Council (which, unlike the CCSC, actually existed at that point) was upset with the proposal, because in classic fashion, College students had drawn up a plan that called for swallowing up the ESC without ever consulting the Engineers.[7]

In a tight vote, students approved the proposal 710 to 571.[8] However, after deliberation, the ESC politely declined to abolish itself in favor of joining the new council.[9][10][11][12]

The idea behind the creation of the council was to coordinate the activities at Ferris Booth Hall. Ferris Booth itself was run by a Board of Managers, and organizations that held events at Ferris Booth were represented by an organization known as the Student Polity. [13] The first president of the Council was Jack O'Laughlin. At the time of its founding, CCSC collected fees of $20 per student, and had a budget of $90,000 per semester. Upon the formation of the Council, the Spectator presciently urged it to "show very quickly that it is something other than a gathering place for the blowhards who used to be high school student body presidents."

Withing four months of its founding, other student groups were calling for its abolition for its failure to carry its duties, like handing out the student life fee.[14]

CCSC's first committees were the Joint Budgeting and Calendaring Committee (JBCC), Academic Affairs and College Policy Committee, and Concert Committee.[15] Starting in 1990, seniors were given the right to vote in CCSC elections.[16] In 1991, members of the CCSC Elections Commission were paid $50, and members of the Judicial Commission were paid $25. [17] In 1992, CCSC reps called for the abolition of Polity as redundant with JBCC.

Merger Attempts with ESC

After failing to merge with ESC at its inception in 1979 (thanks at least in part to the impolitic failure to ask the Engineers their opinion on the matter), the CCSC has periodically revisited the idea. In 1992 CCSC and ESC attempted to create a joint constitution. It's proposed name was Columbia College/School of Engineering and Applied Science Student Union (CCSEASSU?). [18] Most of the opposition to the merger was the fact that CC students would be over-represented. A referendum on the joint constitution failed with 55% of students voting against the proposal.

See also

External links

Famous Alumni

References

  1. ↑ Senate Panel Proposes Student 'Bill of Rights', Columbia Spectator, 23 April 1971. Ken Lehn, a College senior and student member of the Senate stated that the student council would be "worthless" because it who would not be given any real powers.
  2. ↑ Student Council, $16 fee proposed, Columbia Spectator, 30 March 1978
  3. ↑ College government, fee proposed, Columbia Spectator, 6 October 1978
  4. ↑ STAFF EDITORIAL: At Last, Columbia Spectator, 30 October 1978.
  5. ↑ Student council proposal meets opposition at forum, Columbia Spectator, 9 November 1978
  6. ↑ Anti-student gov't rally planned, Columbia Spectator, 14 November 1978
  7. ↑ Engineers fear council proposal, Columbia Spectator, 13 November 1978
  8. ↑ Student gov't wins by narrow margin, Columbia Spectator, 17 November 1978
  9. ↑ Engineers mull student gov't plan, Columbia Spectator, 30 November 1978
  10. ↑ BRIEFS: Panel Split, Columbia Spectator, 7 February 1979
  11. ↑ Fee approval will not await okay from engineers, Columbia Spectator, 16 February 1979
  12. ↑ Engineers vote down student govt. proposal, Columbia Spectator, 19 March 1979
  13. ↑ http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19771020-01.2.4&srpos=&dliv=none&e=-------en-20--1--txt-IN-orientation---50-
  14. ↑ Polity raises, defeats request to kill Council, Columbia Spectator, 3 December 1979
  15. ↑ http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19800905-01.2.4&srpos=9&e=-------en-20--1-byDA-txt-IN-%22columbia+college+student+council%22----
  16. ↑ http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19900329-01.2.6&srpos=60&e=------199-en-20--41-byDA-txt-IN-%22college+student+council%22----
  17. ↑ http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19911010-01.2.3&srpos=195&e=------199-en-20--181-byDA-txt-IN-%22college+student+council%22----
  18. ↑ http://spectatorarchive.library.columbia.edu/cgi-bin/columbia?a=d&d=cs19920127-01.2.4&srpos=257&e=------199-en-20--241-byDA-txt-IN-%22college+student+council%22----
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