CC-SEAS relationship

Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) are the two undergraduate schools for traditional college students at Columbia. Due to the way the University has evolved and it's current structure, the divisions between the two schools are often unnecessarily played up. CC and SEAS students jointly form a single student body that live, eat, and study together at Columbia.

While both schools are academically independent entities within the University, the undergraduates of the schools are administered under a joint office which essentially makes CC and SEAS students part of the same school.

The Division of Student Affairs, headed by Dean Chris Colombo, oversees admissions, advising, financial aid, student programming and activities, residential programs, the scholars program, study abroad, pre-professional advising, and more. They are your administrative shepard for 4 years.

Issues

US News and World Report Statistics

For years Columbia only reported the statistics of Columbia College to US News and World Report for their annual rankings of the "Best Colleges". This seemed to imply that SEAS wasn't considered part of the general undergraduate body. Since 2006 US News has been using the combined statistics for both schools, and the Admissions office has been reporting statistics for the schools jointly as well, rendering this point moot.

Flags

The flags and flagpoles on the South Lawn were a gift a CC alumnus, who supposedly stipulated that the flagpoles be used only for Columbia College flags. There have been reports, however, of witnessing SEAS flags on those poles during Days on Campus, so nobody knows how much truth, if any, there is to this rumor. Efforts by the Engineering Student Council to remedy this by placing one SEAS flag in the area have been uniformly unsuccessful so far. The counter-argument to this complaint is that the flags fly on Hamilton Lawn, in front of Hamilton Hall, the home of Columbia College, while a SEAS flag flies in the plaza in front of Mudd, home of SEAS. Of course there are limitations to this arguement since the line between both schools is blurred- the undergraduate admissions office which handles applications for both schools is located in Hamilton Hall.

Discrimination in the Classroom

SEAS students have reported instances of discrimination in the classroom.

School of General Studies

A whole 'nother can of worms. Seperate dedicated article to come later.