Student-Athlete Advisory Committee

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is a Columbia Athletics-affiliated committee made up of student-athletes. Its avowed purpose is to "promote communication between student-athletes and the Columbia University community". It does not have a website or publish minutes of its meetings; little is known of it. The SAAC is a resume-stuffer, and you can accordingly read a little about it on athletes' LinkedIn pages.

The SAAC is newish; probably less than five years old. Evidently of the 31 each varsity sports teams fields two representatives.

At meetings they pass resolutions and stuff, much like CCSC, except by and for athletes. The SAAC represents the athletes before the the athletics department and "provides input on NCAA rules and regulations," i.e. violations thereof by Columbia athletes.

SAAC and the 2013 football bigotry scandal

A little was learned about the SAAC in context of the 2013 football bigotry.

First: the following email was sent under the subject heading, "[SAAC] Message from SAAC Eboard."

Dear SAAC members,

In light of recent events involving fellow student-athletes, we’re asking you all as SAAC representatives to spread word to your teammates to avoid giving commentaries if approached. Athletics is already under a lot of pressure to deal with the situation, and will probably appreciate if student-athletes support their efforts and withhold from interfering or making statements that could very well go under fire from the rest of the community.

Good luck with finals!

-- Grace Kim

Columbia University

Columbia College 2015

Second: according to a Bwog commenter, some SAAC representatives made a petition calling for punishment for the offending football players, but did it anonymously out of fear of the ire of the Athletics Department (a rumor substantiated by the above email).

External Links

• The SAAC's Facebook page