President + Vice President

There is one commonality that unites all students within Columbia College. It is that we came to Columbia with hopes of becoming a part of a larger community that will support our passions and aspirations in ways that enable us to not only excel, but also thrive. Sometimes, students can find that support missing and that is why it is a core aspect of "A New Roar’s" platform.

Mental Health

We plan to continue emphasizing the importance of stronger, more constructive mental health resources on campus by implementing a Student Task Force that will funnel information from students to the administration. Student voices are integral to any change on campus and therefore, we also plan on having students vote on the initiatives that they think are most crucial to student life. Most importantly, combatting mental health issues on campus, is not just a policy initiative designed around products and giveaways. We at “A New Roar” imagine addressing mental health problems by fighting the issues that impact them at the source – like financial and food insecurity, dissociation from others and the uncertainty arising from contemporary politics – and this is something that informs all of our forthcoming proposals.

Supporting Student Workers and Combatting Food Insecurity

While supporting student voices, we also want to support student workers and food insecurity on campus. With ideas ranging from negotiating smaller dining hall plans to supporting a Farm-Share
subsidy, we hope to create a campus where all students are given the basic resources that they need. Lobbying for increased opportunities for campus casual employment, timely pay roll release, CPT for our international students and supporting the GWC are all important pieces of supporting our student workers, TAs and adjunct faculty.

Expanding Peer Advising Networks

Students not only need support from administration, but also need support from each other. The Columbia College community is so vastly talented and there are few opportunities for like-minded
peers to engage and collaborate. This is why we also seek to expand peer-advising networks so that students can benefit the most from their peers.

The Fun Stuff

Lastly, we want to unite Columbia College with events that will excite students and therefore invite greater participation. With simple event ideas like “Junior Night” or a game of Assassins and gear giveaways, we hope to invigorate the class of 2019 with a refreshed and renewed spirit. In working with the campus chapter of Design for America, we also are hoping to collaborate on initiatives to increase campus public spaces for communal enjoyment, such as projects to introduce outdoor
lanterns in the Van Am Quad.

Read on to see the specific projects our class representatives are planning to take on.

Class Representatives

Our three class representatives come from diverse communities, both on and off campus, but are unified in their commitment to introducing projects and policy initiatives for all of the Class
of 2019 and the Columbia community.


Tarek:      
* Advocating for the arts community on campus and building resources for them by expanding museum partnerships and efforts to engage and highlight the talent of the Class of 2019. These events would showcase the various art forms in which our peers excel. From dance to visual art, we hope to dedicate a time and space to appreciate the art developing on our own campus and support artists within the community.

* Working with CU Records in efforts to transform their space and allow better resources for students who are pursuing music and need better resources.

* Whether for monetary restrictions or lack of information, students can often find it difficult to engage with the greater community. This is why I propose an initiative called “Columbia Night Out” where students can enter a raffle to win tickets to an arts event in New York, movie tickets, or other cultural experiences that they could not access. By subsidizing the costs of these outings and making the raffles open to any member of Columbia College 2019, we can foster a spirit of inclusivity within the community while allowing and encouraging students to engage with the arts in meaningful ways.


George:    
* I am an Executive Board member in the Lion Credit Union and, by working on and with student council, I hope to bring this resource to the greater Columbia community, students, alumni and local
residents, to improve financial literacy, champion a credit union based on community interests and values and increase loan and credit building opportunities for low income students.

* We will also unite students by major, interests, and internships through a series of comprehensive forums which will allow students with similar aspirations and post-grad goals to interact.

* We also hope to provide opportunities for collaboration between Columbia students and NYU students to come up with creative solutions both our campuses face.

* Supporting our most at-risk and marginalized students by advocating for an advisor and/or religious office for Muslim students and expanded resources for undocumented students and international students, within our class and the greater Columbia community. We will also support groups on campus that support and provide resources for survivors of gender based violence.


Sofia:
* Officially creating an appointed position for a diversity and inclusion representative within our class council.

* Leading education campaigns regarding CCSC’s constitutional provisions for representing and advocating for students in The College, so all students can meaningfully use us as a resource.

* Committing to having a portion of all class council meetings open to constituents, holding them in accessible and well publicized locations and releasing livestreams and minutes in a timely fashion.

* Reimagining our relationship to the surrounding Harlem community, I hope to increase the
amount of funding that is channeled into the Morningside Heights and Harlem
communities and help direct students to community action/organizing through CCSC ‘19 organized outreach days.

* A member of the 2019 CCSC Class Council and CCSC Sustainability Committee, I’ve helped expand the scope of environmental stewardship projects and hope to continue to encourage more sustainable practices within our class and urge the Council at large to take bolder, more concrete steps towards increasing campus sustainability and consciousness -- from expanding compost initiatives in our most popularclass dorms, to lobbying for water bottle refilling stations and providing incentives for green bag usage.