elections
ABC Elections Edition Email
(04-03-08)
04/03/2008 09:29 AM
Dear ABC Clubs,
Thanks for getting your allocation packets in!
In this email, you'll find info on how to be an ABC rep for 2008-2009 and CCSC E-board Candidates' responses to a few questions from ABC that we think many of you will find relevant to your clubs.
We really encourage members of all of our groups to engage with ABC and with all of the candidates running for the various student council e-boards on issues that affect your group, especially since the councils support and fund ABC and we in turn support and fund your groups. We all want to make 2008-2009 a better year for you, so let all of us know what you think, what your group's needs are and what things you think can be improved!
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
1. Be an ABC Representative-at-Large for 2008-2009
ABC Reps help groups navigate the Columbia bureaucracy, aid groups in event & financial planning and support the development of student life on campus. Reps are advocates for the groups they oversee and are crucial in identifying areas in which ABC, the administration, and other student leaders can help improve students' experiences at Columbia.
The Rep sits on the Activities Board, which consists of 21 members. Throughout the year, the ABC votes on the allocation of funds, recognition of student groups, the granting of appeals and has a vital role in determining the agenda for the Activities Board. This is a great place to learn more about student groups and funding, to gain leadership experience and to make an impact on campus.
The application can be found here and is due by Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 11:59pm to abc_exec@columbia.edu! Rep elections will be held during ABC's Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, April 30th in Earl Hall Auditorium.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
2. Questions from ABC to CCSC E-Board Candidates
Laura Doan for VP of Funding (Experience Columbia)
http://www.experiencecolumbia.net/
Jennifer Choi for VP of Funding (Connect Columbia)
http://www.connectcolumbia.com/index.html
--
1. What are your plans to improve student groups' experiences at Columbia? (eg. funding, space, pre-calendaring, alcohol policy, advising, gift accounts, etc.)
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): As the name of our party suggests, we are working towards enabling students to make the most of their experience at Columbia. For student groups, a large part of this translates to increasing funding availability and opening up more space for students, as well as reducing the overall bureaucracy associated with event planning. In the realm of funding, I have many initiatives, such as the "self-growth" fund and the fight for F@CU transparency (which are explained in further detail below), to ensure that student groups receive the necessary funds for their organizations' events, and that they are rewarded for diversifying their programming and building community on this campus. Space-wise, I will tirelessly advocate for making Lerner solely an undergraduate student space. Student groups' activities should come first, and to make this point clear, I will actively work and speak with Lerner management to reduce the usage of student rooms by outside organizations and other schools. An ABC group should have priority over JP Morgan or the business school for use of Roone Arledge. Your only focus should be to work hard on programming your events; making the space available will be our priority. Although this is a simple concept, not enough has been done in the past by CCSC to enforce this. The key to solving these space and bureaucratic issues is to make the students' voices heard by Lerner management. I will present our grievances and be your agent of change.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): Our top priority next year will be to serve the interest of student groups. We have all served on campus groups and we understand the difficulties associated with planning programming and we want to work to make your experience better.
We plan to alleviate the space crunch facing groups with a two-pronged approach. First, we will work to make the most efficient use of the space we already have. We will work to streamline the University Event Management website and the pre-calendering process. In order to make the case to administrators that the system is inefficient, we will create a "Space Complaint" form on the CCSC website. Whenever your group has problem booking space, we will encourage you to notify us about it. This way we will be able to better gauge the flaws in the system and make more effective recommendations to the administration to fix the problem. Second, we will work to increase the amount of space available. As it stands, half of the rooms in Hamilton are off limits to student groups since they have electronic equipment. We will work to make a waiver form to allow students to use these rooms. Additionally, we will advocate to make Lerner 6 the home to all campus advising thereby freeing up space in the residence halls and Lerner 4 where advisers currently work. After this move is made, we will push to make this space available for student and student groups as lounge space.
While space is important, having money to fund programming is also important. As members of student groups, we know that it can be hard to make ends meet. While providing ample funding for the governing boards and groups from the CCSC budget is a top priority, we also want to find creative funding solutions. As it stands, the administration restricts student groups from approaching alumni and corporate sponsors for donations. This policy does not make sense. We will advocate to end this restriction on donations so that groups have additional sources of revenue for their events.
-----
2. What has been your experience with ABC groups?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): I have served on the executive boards of two ABC clubs--the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) and the Vietnamese Students Association (VSA). As the co-chair of a committee in AMSA, I had to be very cautious monetarily when planning events because the total AMSA budget had to be divided among its four subcommittees. This equated to roughly $200 per semester for my committee, making it very difficult to plan large-scale events like our community health fair. I had to reach out to and rely on outside organizations, like the National AMSA, rather than Columbia, for grants. From a personal standpoint, I feel Columbia has much to improve in terms of its support for student groups. Thus, I will be an advocate for all student groups to ensure that support systems between CCSC and ABC are developed and maintained. ABC takes the time to truly understand its groups individually, and we will make sure this understanding exists.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): All five of us have at one point been involved with an ABC group. Jennifer Choi who is running for Vice President of Funding used to serve on the e-board of the Korean Students Association. She knows what it's like to fight for every dollar and to plan big events on an insufficient budget. She has also enjoyed the opportunity of working with a lot of ABC groups this year through the CCSC co-sponsorship meetings.
Jennifer's experience as VP Funding has led her to attend the weekly ABC meetings as the CCSC liaison. This makes her a highly qualified candidate to understand the concerns of ABC groups. She understands the complexities of funding for student groups. Something she pride herself in is the great deal of candidness that occurs in the co-sponsorship meetings. When people present their ideas to the co-sponsorship committee, she says more than, "Here's the amount of money we can offer you." Although Jennifer has served on the CCSC executive board, her heart still lies with student groups.
-----
3. Both parties have advocated an increase in funding for student groups. Where would this money come from and what does this mean for ABC groups?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): Traditionally, CCSC usually has a surplus of funds at the end of the year which is put towards a very large scale event, in a last minute effort to use all these funds. Whatever money is left after this event is rolled over from year to year. For instance, this year there was a rollover of $191,591 from the 2006-2007 year. This means that the $467.00 you contribute to CCSC via your semester student life fees is not even being used to benefit you that year. Your money is not going towards your student groups, your projects, or your experience at Columbia; it's going unused. This is unacceptable.
To ensure that these surplus funds go directly to the students each year, I will develop a "self-growth" fund that will provide the fiscal resources for any student or organization wanting to create a project or initiative for the betterment of the Columbia community. These funds will be stored in a separate account from which students can withdraw the money necessary for their projects via E-forms. I understand that the budget given to student groups has a historical precedent and is traditionally based on the events they have held in the past year; thus, groups face the difficulty of finding funding for any new projects they wish to plan for the upcoming year. This "self-growth" fund will reward these groups for their new events and encourage them to continue the growth and expansion of their club. ABC groups should have every opportunity to see their projects materialize, without money being an issue.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): Connect Columbia is committed to ensuring that all the governing boards receive their fair share at the F@CU process, including ABC. But we realize that most times these funds are still not enough. So we will work to increase the accessibility of CCSC co-sponsorships. We want to implement "bundled co-sponsorships," where a community of student groups can come together to apply for something that is needed by that community. For example, this year we noticed that theater groups had a hard time covering costs for fire-proofing. Jennifer has spoken to David Milch about the possibility of setting up a fire-proofing fund that would benefit the entire theater community. Next year we will encourage ABC groups to apply for these bundled co-sponsorships.
However, increasing the co-sponsorship budget is only a short term solution. We realize that our student groups are growing, but the funds that support these groups are not. Bottom line- to sustain the growth of student life here at Columbia, we need more money. Our party is interested in picking up the leg work accomplished by ESC's Dan Wong in compiling a report of student groups spendings and needs to present to the trustees a case for an increase in funding for student life.
-----
4. In what ways, if any, do you plan on collaborating more with ABC next year?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): If elected as VP of Funding, I will immediately contact the newly-formed boards for each student group in the summer preceding the boards' terms in office. I will touch base with them, informing them of the many different resources they have to fund their upcoming projects. My communication with ABC will continue on from the summer and throughout the year, as I intend to collaborate with ABC representatives to develop a better understanding of each group's goals and dynamic. For instance, during CCSC co-sponsorship meetings, I will not solely base the CCSC allocations simply on a group's 10 minute presentation; instead, I will reach out to the ABC representatives to learn about the character of these groups individually before making financial decisions. In this manner, I will be able to tailor CCSC's support to each group's specific needs.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): The notion of "collaboration" is the centerpiece of the Connect Columbia vision. We want to work with ABC groups. Together, we can be much more effective than working separately. But enough with the rhetoric- we have some real, concrete ideas about how to reach out to you.
First, we want to reform what it means to get a co-sponsorship from CCSC. This year, CCSC made major moves by increasing the co-sponsorship budget by 20%. However, we realize there is always room for improvement. As it stands, the process of obtaining a co-sponsorship is rather sterile. It involves filling out a form, making a presentation, and then receiving money. While the money is important, we think that CCSC can do more to actively promote your group's event. We plan on buying tickets to every event we sponsor and then raffling those tickets away to students. We will also work to provide additional support to your events as necessary through the Campus Life Committee.
Second, some of you may or may not have come to one of CCSC's many study breaks. We want to spice things up at our study breaks and co-sponsor them with student groups. We want to invite performance groups to make guest appearances at a study break or we could work with a multicultural organization for an internationally themed event.
-----
5. What are your thoughts on F@CU? (ie. how you envision the process to how the decisions will be made this year)
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): The F@CU committee is currently composed of the incoming and outgoing presidents and treasurers of each undergraduate student council. These 16 members meet with administrators during the end of the Spring semester to determine the appropriate allocations for each of the five governing boards. Unfortunately, this current process is lacking in transparency. Although these representatives have been elected to make these financial decisions, students have the right to see how these decisions are being made. These funding decisions should not be made behind closed doors, with governing boards wondering how and why they ended up with their allocated amount. To combat this, I will open doors and push to have an outside observer, such as a member of the Columbia Spectator, present at these F@CU meetings. This way, students can be informed and aware of the process and reasoning behind these financial decisions. Furthermore, this will hold student representatives accountable for voicing the thoughts of the students in their respective colleges. Finally, to assist individual governing boards in this allocation process, I will contact the boards and give them guidelines about what F@CU expects from each governing board prior to the F@CU presentation meetings, so each board knows how to prepare their presentations to best appeal to the F@CU committee.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): F@CU, the infamous 8-hour long meeting where the student life fees get disbursed to the governing boards, should be a fair and transparent process because this is where YOUR money is getting distributed. This year, great headway was made in making F@CU a transparent process (visit: http://facu.columbia.edu/). For the upcoming year, we want to take it a step further by making an impartial observer present in the process. This impartial observer will be someone which all the councils and governing boards agree upon. We will not, however, invite the Spectator since impartiality can potentially be compromised by the desire to write a story.
-----
6. What is the best way for members of student groups to contact you should they have any questions or concerns?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): Please feel free to contact me via email (lld2109@columbia.edu), via phone ([redacted]), or in person ([redacted]). I would love to hear any suggestions or concerns you may have, for it would help expand my current understanding of student issues and enable me to better represent you.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): We want to hear your thoughts. Do you have any questions about anything we said in this email? Is there something we didn't talk about which you want to hear about? Do you have any general criticisms about CCSC or about us? Whatever it is, we want to hear what you are thinking right now.
Feel free to email us at connectcolumbia@gmail.com at anytime with your questions and thoughts. Thank you!
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
As always, ABC would love to hear from you -- contact us at abc_exec@columbia.edu.
Best,
Paula
--
Paula K. Cheng
President, The Activities Board at Columbia
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/abc/
CC '08, Columbia University
This is the Activities Board at Columbia (ABC) mailing list. If you wish to unsubscribe, please send an email to majordomo@columbia.edu with the following command in the body of your mail: unsubscribe abc_clubs.
Thanks for getting your allocation packets in!
In this email, you'll find info on how to be an ABC rep for 2008-2009 and CCSC E-board Candidates' responses to a few questions from ABC that we think many of you will find relevant to your clubs.
We really encourage members of all of our groups to engage with ABC and with all of the candidates running for the various student council e-boards on issues that affect your group, especially since the councils support and fund ABC and we in turn support and fund your groups. We all want to make 2008-2009 a better year for you, so let all of us know what you think, what your group's needs are and what things you think can be improved!
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
1. Be an ABC Representative-at-Large for 2008-2009
ABC Reps help groups navigate the Columbia bureaucracy, aid groups in event & financial planning and support the development of student life on campus. Reps are advocates for the groups they oversee and are crucial in identifying areas in which ABC, the administration, and other student leaders can help improve students' experiences at Columbia.
The Rep sits on the Activities Board, which consists of 21 members. Throughout the year, the ABC votes on the allocation of funds, recognition of student groups, the granting of appeals and has a vital role in determining the agenda for the Activities Board. This is a great place to learn more about student groups and funding, to gain leadership experience and to make an impact on campus.
The application can be found here and is due by Saturday, April 26, 2008 at 11:59pm to abc_exec@columbia.edu! Rep elections will be held during ABC's Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, April 30th in Earl Hall Auditorium.
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
2. Questions from ABC to CCSC E-Board Candidates
Laura Doan for VP of Funding (Experience Columbia)
http://www.experiencecolumbia.net/
Jennifer Choi for VP of Funding (Connect Columbia)
http://www.connectcolumbia.com/index.html
--
1. What are your plans to improve student groups' experiences at Columbia? (eg. funding, space, pre-calendaring, alcohol policy, advising, gift accounts, etc.)
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): As the name of our party suggests, we are working towards enabling students to make the most of their experience at Columbia. For student groups, a large part of this translates to increasing funding availability and opening up more space for students, as well as reducing the overall bureaucracy associated with event planning. In the realm of funding, I have many initiatives, such as the "self-growth" fund and the fight for F@CU transparency (which are explained in further detail below), to ensure that student groups receive the necessary funds for their organizations' events, and that they are rewarded for diversifying their programming and building community on this campus. Space-wise, I will tirelessly advocate for making Lerner solely an undergraduate student space. Student groups' activities should come first, and to make this point clear, I will actively work and speak with Lerner management to reduce the usage of student rooms by outside organizations and other schools. An ABC group should have priority over JP Morgan or the business school for use of Roone Arledge. Your only focus should be to work hard on programming your events; making the space available will be our priority. Although this is a simple concept, not enough has been done in the past by CCSC to enforce this. The key to solving these space and bureaucratic issues is to make the students' voices heard by Lerner management. I will present our grievances and be your agent of change.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): Our top priority next year will be to serve the interest of student groups. We have all served on campus groups and we understand the difficulties associated with planning programming and we want to work to make your experience better.
We plan to alleviate the space crunch facing groups with a two-pronged approach. First, we will work to make the most efficient use of the space we already have. We will work to streamline the University Event Management website and the pre-calendering process. In order to make the case to administrators that the system is inefficient, we will create a "Space Complaint" form on the CCSC website. Whenever your group has problem booking space, we will encourage you to notify us about it. This way we will be able to better gauge the flaws in the system and make more effective recommendations to the administration to fix the problem. Second, we will work to increase the amount of space available. As it stands, half of the rooms in Hamilton are off limits to student groups since they have electronic equipment. We will work to make a waiver form to allow students to use these rooms. Additionally, we will advocate to make Lerner 6 the home to all campus advising thereby freeing up space in the residence halls and Lerner 4 where advisers currently work. After this move is made, we will push to make this space available for student and student groups as lounge space.
While space is important, having money to fund programming is also important. As members of student groups, we know that it can be hard to make ends meet. While providing ample funding for the governing boards and groups from the CCSC budget is a top priority, we also want to find creative funding solutions. As it stands, the administration restricts student groups from approaching alumni and corporate sponsors for donations. This policy does not make sense. We will advocate to end this restriction on donations so that groups have additional sources of revenue for their events.
-----
2. What has been your experience with ABC groups?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): I have served on the executive boards of two ABC clubs--the American Medical Students Association (AMSA) and the Vietnamese Students Association (VSA). As the co-chair of a committee in AMSA, I had to be very cautious monetarily when planning events because the total AMSA budget had to be divided among its four subcommittees. This equated to roughly $200 per semester for my committee, making it very difficult to plan large-scale events like our community health fair. I had to reach out to and rely on outside organizations, like the National AMSA, rather than Columbia, for grants. From a personal standpoint, I feel Columbia has much to improve in terms of its support for student groups. Thus, I will be an advocate for all student groups to ensure that support systems between CCSC and ABC are developed and maintained. ABC takes the time to truly understand its groups individually, and we will make sure this understanding exists.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): All five of us have at one point been involved with an ABC group. Jennifer Choi who is running for Vice President of Funding used to serve on the e-board of the Korean Students Association. She knows what it's like to fight for every dollar and to plan big events on an insufficient budget. She has also enjoyed the opportunity of working with a lot of ABC groups this year through the CCSC co-sponsorship meetings.
Jennifer's experience as VP Funding has led her to attend the weekly ABC meetings as the CCSC liaison. This makes her a highly qualified candidate to understand the concerns of ABC groups. She understands the complexities of funding for student groups. Something she pride herself in is the great deal of candidness that occurs in the co-sponsorship meetings. When people present their ideas to the co-sponsorship committee, she says more than, "Here's the amount of money we can offer you." Although Jennifer has served on the CCSC executive board, her heart still lies with student groups.
-----
3. Both parties have advocated an increase in funding for student groups. Where would this money come from and what does this mean for ABC groups?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): Traditionally, CCSC usually has a surplus of funds at the end of the year which is put towards a very large scale event, in a last minute effort to use all these funds. Whatever money is left after this event is rolled over from year to year. For instance, this year there was a rollover of $191,591 from the 2006-2007 year. This means that the $467.00 you contribute to CCSC via your semester student life fees is not even being used to benefit you that year. Your money is not going towards your student groups, your projects, or your experience at Columbia; it's going unused. This is unacceptable.
To ensure that these surplus funds go directly to the students each year, I will develop a "self-growth" fund that will provide the fiscal resources for any student or organization wanting to create a project or initiative for the betterment of the Columbia community. These funds will be stored in a separate account from which students can withdraw the money necessary for their projects via E-forms. I understand that the budget given to student groups has a historical precedent and is traditionally based on the events they have held in the past year; thus, groups face the difficulty of finding funding for any new projects they wish to plan for the upcoming year. This "self-growth" fund will reward these groups for their new events and encourage them to continue the growth and expansion of their club. ABC groups should have every opportunity to see their projects materialize, without money being an issue.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): Connect Columbia is committed to ensuring that all the governing boards receive their fair share at the F@CU process, including ABC. But we realize that most times these funds are still not enough. So we will work to increase the accessibility of CCSC co-sponsorships. We want to implement "bundled co-sponsorships," where a community of student groups can come together to apply for something that is needed by that community. For example, this year we noticed that theater groups had a hard time covering costs for fire-proofing. Jennifer has spoken to David Milch about the possibility of setting up a fire-proofing fund that would benefit the entire theater community. Next year we will encourage ABC groups to apply for these bundled co-sponsorships.
However, increasing the co-sponsorship budget is only a short term solution. We realize that our student groups are growing, but the funds that support these groups are not. Bottom line- to sustain the growth of student life here at Columbia, we need more money. Our party is interested in picking up the leg work accomplished by ESC's Dan Wong in compiling a report of student groups spendings and needs to present to the trustees a case for an increase in funding for student life.
-----
4. In what ways, if any, do you plan on collaborating more with ABC next year?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): If elected as VP of Funding, I will immediately contact the newly-formed boards for each student group in the summer preceding the boards' terms in office. I will touch base with them, informing them of the many different resources they have to fund their upcoming projects. My communication with ABC will continue on from the summer and throughout the year, as I intend to collaborate with ABC representatives to develop a better understanding of each group's goals and dynamic. For instance, during CCSC co-sponsorship meetings, I will not solely base the CCSC allocations simply on a group's 10 minute presentation; instead, I will reach out to the ABC representatives to learn about the character of these groups individually before making financial decisions. In this manner, I will be able to tailor CCSC's support to each group's specific needs.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): The notion of "collaboration" is the centerpiece of the Connect Columbia vision. We want to work with ABC groups. Together, we can be much more effective than working separately. But enough with the rhetoric- we have some real, concrete ideas about how to reach out to you.
First, we want to reform what it means to get a co-sponsorship from CCSC. This year, CCSC made major moves by increasing the co-sponsorship budget by 20%. However, we realize there is always room for improvement. As it stands, the process of obtaining a co-sponsorship is rather sterile. It involves filling out a form, making a presentation, and then receiving money. While the money is important, we think that CCSC can do more to actively promote your group's event. We plan on buying tickets to every event we sponsor and then raffling those tickets away to students. We will also work to provide additional support to your events as necessary through the Campus Life Committee.
Second, some of you may or may not have come to one of CCSC's many study breaks. We want to spice things up at our study breaks and co-sponsor them with student groups. We want to invite performance groups to make guest appearances at a study break or we could work with a multicultural organization for an internationally themed event.
-----
5. What are your thoughts on F@CU? (ie. how you envision the process to how the decisions will be made this year)
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): The F@CU committee is currently composed of the incoming and outgoing presidents and treasurers of each undergraduate student council. These 16 members meet with administrators during the end of the Spring semester to determine the appropriate allocations for each of the five governing boards. Unfortunately, this current process is lacking in transparency. Although these representatives have been elected to make these financial decisions, students have the right to see how these decisions are being made. These funding decisions should not be made behind closed doors, with governing boards wondering how and why they ended up with their allocated amount. To combat this, I will open doors and push to have an outside observer, such as a member of the Columbia Spectator, present at these F@CU meetings. This way, students can be informed and aware of the process and reasoning behind these financial decisions. Furthermore, this will hold student representatives accountable for voicing the thoughts of the students in their respective colleges. Finally, to assist individual governing boards in this allocation process, I will contact the boards and give them guidelines about what F@CU expects from each governing board prior to the F@CU presentation meetings, so each board knows how to prepare their presentations to best appeal to the F@CU committee.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): F@CU, the infamous 8-hour long meeting where the student life fees get disbursed to the governing boards, should be a fair and transparent process because this is where YOUR money is getting distributed. This year, great headway was made in making F@CU a transparent process (visit: http://facu.columbia.edu/). For the upcoming year, we want to take it a step further by making an impartial observer present in the process. This impartial observer will be someone which all the councils and governing boards agree upon. We will not, however, invite the Spectator since impartiality can potentially be compromised by the desire to write a story.
-----
6. What is the best way for members of student groups to contact you should they have any questions or concerns?
Laura Doan (Experience Columbia): Please feel free to contact me via email (lld2109@columbia.edu), via phone ([redacted]), or in person ([redacted]). I would love to hear any suggestions or concerns you may have, for it would help expand my current understanding of student issues and enable me to better represent you.
Jennifer Choi (Connect Columbia): We want to hear your thoughts. Do you have any questions about anything we said in this email? Is there something we didn't talk about which you want to hear about? Do you have any general criticisms about CCSC or about us? Whatever it is, we want to hear what you are thinking right now.
Feel free to email us at connectcolumbia@gmail.com at anytime with your questions and thoughts. Thank you!
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
As always, ABC would love to hear from you -- contact us at abc_exec@columbia.edu.
Best,
Paula
--
Paula K. Cheng
President, The Activities Board at Columbia
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/abc/
CC '08, Columbia University
This is the Activities Board at Columbia (ABC) mailing list. If you wish to unsubscribe, please send an email to majordomo@columbia.edu with the following command in the body of your mail: unsubscribe abc_clubs.