Name: Aaron Fisher 
Bio: I’m Aaron Fisher, and I’m a junior in Columbia College, studying history and religion. On campus, I’m the President of Third Wheel Improv. Previously, I’ve served as a Deputy News Editor for Spectator and have acted in and directed a number of student theater productions. I have also written for Spectator and the Current, an undergraduate magazine. My wide range of student life experiences and my advantage of having already been at Columbia for three years will help me be an effective Student Services Representative. As your representative, I will work with you to improve our daily lives as Columbia students.
Platform: I believe there are many little things that, when fixed, together would improve our experiences at Columbia. Because I’m now a junior, I’ve had nearly three years to think about which aspects of our daily lives Columbia can improve. As I’ve written about in Spectator, CCSC seems distant to many Columbia students. As your Student Services Representative, I’ll hold office hours to hear how Columbia’s student services can work better for you. Only by such measures of open communication can we learn from each other. Here are a few specific issues I’ll work on as your Student Services Representative:
Lawns: In a Spectator op-ed earlier this semester, I argued Columbia must foster school traditions. But many possible traditions would involve students being allowed on open spaces on campus. Every time it’s beautiful outside and there are red flags on South Lawn, I think about students studying in Butler instead of lying under the sun. We have seen the success of events such as Surf ‘n Turf as a way to unite campus. More opportunities such as that one will help improve school spirit. As your Student Services Representative, I’ll work with Columbia Facilities to improve our access to the green spaces on campus.
CPS and Mental Health: Mental health is a serious and urgent issue on our campus. I’ll work with both administrators and students to search for ways student services can help us better care for one another. Currently, Nightline is only open until 3:00am. I’ll pursue keeping Nightline open until CPS opens in the morning; additionally, I’ll look into Columbia hiring a mental health professional who is available for emergency counseling overnight, in addition to the students who currently staff Nightline. I will also bring student organizations and the Columbia Mental Health Task Force to the table for these important conversations.
Internet Reliability: This semester, Internet connections on campus have often been unreliable. This has especially been a problem in Butler. As your Student Services Rep, I’ll work with CUIT to ensure the Internet on campus is reliable.
Staff Appreciation Week: I will work to bring back staff appreciation week, which was successful in November 2015 but has not happened since. This consisted of students giving “Columbia Appreciates You” stickers to the hard-working members of our community in Dining, Housing, Facilities, and Public Safety. Then students held a luncheon to thank such individuals for their hard work. Such efforts allow us to recognize the importance of one another, which is essential in building and celebrating our community.
Club Recognition: Currently, the relationship between student groups that are recognized by the GBB (Barnard) and the ABC (Columbia) is often unclear. I have experienced this as the head of Third Wheel Improv. As your Student Services Rep for CCSC, I will work to ensure Columbia students are comfortable as members of Barnard clubs, and vice versa. I have already been working with both Barnard and Columbia administrators on this issue, and I will further these relationships as your Student Services Rep.
Name: Nikola Danev
Bio: An international student and a John Jay Scholar, Nikola Danev, CC’20, is an involved member of the Columbia community. As a member of Columbia University Emergency Medical Services (CAVA), Nikola is a dedicated EMT working to improve campus health, including mental health, not only in terms of policy change, but also practically, by responding to emergency/crisis calls. Nikola is an active member of Greek Life, manifested by his commitment to philanthropy through organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Columbia Community Outreach and various food insecurity projects. On snow days, you’ll often find him skiing with the Columbia Ski Team.
Platform: +Student Health:
-Cutting waiting lines at Columbia Health Services by reviewing the online appointment system and meeting with stakeholders in order to streamline the processing of unannounced, non-emergency visits
-Shortening waiting times to book an appointment at Counseling and Psychological Services by providing more drop-in hours at various residence halls around campus
-Initiating a 24 hour help line with a mental health professional on call during high stress periods of the academic year
+Financial Security:
-Waiving the annual reapplication fee for Financial Aid
-Ensuring that all residence halls have hot water at all times over the school year
-Providing an alternative to buying food for students on a meal plan on campus during academic breaks when dining halls close early either through pre-made lunch packs or increased Flex dollars
+Student Spaces & Leisure
-Providing more after-hours student spaces for gatherings, clubs, meetings and studying in academic buildings around campus
Name: Toqa Badran 
Bio: Toqa Badran is a sophomore at Columbia College double majoring in Political Science and Anthropology and a New York City native. She currently serves on the board of Turath, the Arab Student Association of CU and is a regular writer for the Spectator. She has also worked outside of Columbia to pass important initiatives like the recognition of Eid holidays in NYC public schools, making NYC the largest school district in the country to pass the measure. She is passionate about implementing changes that will affect the Columbia College community as a whole and working towards a better undergraduate experience.
Platform: I plan on bettering and making more effective the communication between CCSC and the student body by updating social media regularly with information about upcoming events- not just having to do with CCSC but also with ABC, SGB, etc and by posting meeting notes for public viewing. Furthermore, I plan on holding weekly office hours and meeting twice a semester with heads of large student groups/initiatives as Student Services representative.
I’d love to work towards establishing a system wherein students who fear they may be unable to return to the campus after going home or abroad for school breaks will be allowed free or reduced fee Columbia housing with demonstrated need and either providing flex dollars for these students or working with CU foodbank to ensure no one goes hungry along with making dining dollars go further by making them vending machine compatible.
Lastly, I plan on implementing a forum, kind of like CULPA, on which students who are confused about using handshake can read reviews or guides put up by other students about both the system itself, and the opportunities on it. Students can submit and read reviews of actual internships that are consistently made available to the Columbia Community.
I’d also Increase the efficiency of the pawprint system so that we can scan in as opposed to sign in along with making it so that students enrolled in specific heavy-reading classes will have more pages in their quota. I plan to establish a system wherein students with leftover dollars in paw-print can add them to a bank for students with heavier reading loads.
I haven’t forgotten clubs, however, as I plan to Increase the efficiency of the space booking system with looser requirements, clearer transactions and by increasing interactions between the different Columbia schools. For example, we could make the beautiful Kellogg Center in SIPA be more readily accessible by Columbia clubs for their events.
Another small but important thing to do is make sure information about disability services is readily accessible to the public or anyone who could benefit from that information- information about getting an AC if you live in a non-AC dorm but require one for your health, on facilitating dorm changes if the dorm you live in is not conducive to a good quality of life or on how to get extra-time if you need it on exams in not readily available but should be.
Name: Hope Chang
Bio: I don’t wear suits.
Platform: “Walk half a city block in downtown [New York], and there is a good chance that you will pass an economist. Another academic discipline may not have the ear of presidents but may actually do a better job of explaining what has gone wrong in large swaths of the United States and other advanced nations in recent years. Sociologists spend their careers trying to understand how societies work” (NYT). Columbia as a micro-society has built a community that we all call home for four years. As with any society and organization, it has produced results that run counter to its goals. My discipline has much to offer by was of explanation, argumentation, research and leadership. It’s time for sociologists to step out of the shadow of academia to take part in the crafting of solidarity in our society. I am doing my part on this campus. The problems that precipitate all the mental health concerns that have recently been a topic of avid discussion can be demystified if seen from multiple perspective. After all, what good is our education if we cannot apply it as we learn it? This is my application. As student services representative, I plan to increase transparency and communication between staff students and faculty, hopefully working closely with both my academic affairs counterpart and our counterparts on ESC.
Name: Monique Harmon 
Bio: Hey! I’m Monique, a CC sophomore majoring in Economics and concentrating in African American Studies. I’m from outside of Philadelphia, and on campus I am the treasurer of the Columbia University Democrats, a part of the Multicultural Recruitment Committee, and a part of the Black Students’ Organization. As a CCSC Student Services Representative, I want work with administrators to advocate on behalf of the student body, particularly the students’ whose voices and ideas are marginalized on campus.
Platform: My goals as a Student Services Representative are, overall, to improve the quality of life for students on campus. First, I would like to work on various mental health initiatives. I would advocate for an opt-out program during NSOP that would familiarize students with CPS and the process of getting seen by a therapist. I would also advocate for hiring more therapists of color to help alleviate the long wait-times at CPS. I also want to work to allocate some of the free space in Uris to house a new dining hall that takes swipes. Right now, all the dining halls are concentrated on South Campus, and this proves to be inconvenient for students who live in North Campus or who mainly have classes in North Campus. A dining hall in Uris would make sure students can eat between classes since a dining hall might be too far away currently. I also want to work on making dorms with community spaces, such as Hartley’s Malcolm X Lounge, more accessible to the Columbia community. Allowing Barnard and GS to have easier access to these spaces would help make campus more inclusive. Finally, I plan to work on various initiatives that would make people’s lives easier. I plan to work with Facilities and other administrators to put a printer in Hamilton and every dorm on campus. This would help reduce stress when you have to submit that last-minute paper. I also want to create a database of Black professors and other professors of color on campus to help students during course selection. Finally, I want to finally get the pavement on Low and in front of Butler fixed. Currently, a lot of the pavement is loose, and this leads to accidents and other accessibility issues.