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.
Contents
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 SEAS; heads subcommittee responsible for event planning
- VP Communications: Responsible for all communication and media relations of entire undergraduate engineering population; heads communication committee
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
See Joint Council Co-Sponsorship Committee. The large majority of ESC co-sponsorships are run through the JCCC, though other events may be co-sponsored by ESC or its constituent class councils.
In Fall 2014, ESC introduced ESC Project Grants, which are "grants aimed at promoting engineering spirit through engineering projects". Seven student teams were awarded up to $1000 each to work on their own extracurricular engineering projects.
Elections
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.
In 2013, ESC voted during constitutional review to have its elections run by a centralized elections board. [1]
Contact
You can email the council at esc@columbia.edu
