Name: Richa Gode
Position/Party: Class of 2019 President Candidate/Fast and FUrious
Bio: A native New Yorker, Richa is a SEAS 2019 student intending on studying Computer Science with a minor in Art History. Her interests intersect on enacting policy changes on campus through ESC, student life events, South Asian culture, and promoting women in STEM. On campus, she is involved in Club Zamana and CCE. Richa’s primary motivation to run for ESC President stems from her passion to both further develop and showcase the prowess of engineering students on campus as well as develop closer ties to the larger community of Columbia and the city. Vote Fast and FUrious!
Platform: As specifically a class council, we remain keenly aware of our duty to nurture a sense of community, both within and beyond the engineering class. There often lies question in the blurred lines of where ESC fits into rest of the the student council, and we plan to establish the ESC’19 Class Council firmly in both its independent and collaborative identities. We are fully dedicated to working more closely with the councils of CCSC, SGA, and GSSC, as well as the EGSC for a more well-rounded attempt to bring SEAS into a larger framework for every student.
As your elected student council, we move to integrate more closely the ideals that ESC as a whole has been underscoring, especially mental health and supporting minority student groups’ voices on campus through cosponsoring events with CPS and other groups.
We, as a council, are fully aware of the tenacity that is required of being a junior at Columbia, especially in SEAS, and we truly emphasize the importance of mental and physical health over all other things for every student that we have the privilege to represent.
Partnering directly with organizations that specifically support minority groups, in addition to cultural clubs, offers an essential avenue in manifesting into action our duties within and beyond engineering. It is essential that these kinds of collaborations are understood as regular components of our class council’s responsibility. In order to promote community, we must emphasize diversity in engineering not simply as yet another reiteration to people in said minority or cultural groups, but also to those who do not usually face the challenges or obstacles that accompany being underrepresented.
Some real changes that we are going to set out to implement include (but does not entirely represent):
1. Updated apparel in the Bookstore
2. A more streamlined finals schedule for students
3. A revised peer advisory board as well as an updated Bulletin
4. the BEST Junior Boat Cruise this school has seen
5. More great giveaways (including a subsidization of movie theaters, restaurants, and city passes)
Engineering-specific support, too, remains equally critical. It feels as though engineers are dissolved into the rest of the Columbia community at times when arriving at engineering-specific solidarity would most benefit us, yet at others, we are removed from larger discussions when we would best be served as considered an entity of the whole. Discerning when one case is applied versus the other follows no formula like any good engineer would hope, but it is our job as class council to guide the discussions and monitor these situations as we go in order to get a better sense of our identities and support systems within the Columbia community.
Please reach out to us if you have any further questions, and thank you for your support! Vote Fast and FUrious once again for your class council!
Name: Asher Goldfinger
Position/Party: Class of 2019 Vice President Candidate/Fast and FUrious
Bio: Asher is a SEAS ’19 student studying electrical engineering. He is a member and President of Columbia Sharp A Cappella and the Associate Principal 2nd Violin in the Columbia University Orchestra. Asher is also the founder and President of Student2Scholar, an inner-city tutoring and mentoring non-profit organization. As a returning member of ESC, Asher hopes to continue to provide a voice for students to get representation with the administration, in addition to fostering a better path for academic and mental health assistance.
Platform: As specifically a class council, we remain keenly aware of our duty to nurture a sense of community, both within and beyond the engineering class. There often lies question in the blurred lines of where ESC fits into rest of the the student council, and we plan to establish the ESC’19 Class Council firmly in both its independent and collaborative identities. We are fully dedicated to working more closely with the councils of CCSC, SGA, and GSSC, as well as the EGSC for a more well-rounded attempt to bring SEAS into a larger framework for every student.
As your elected student council, we move to integrate more closely the ideals that ESC as a whole has been underscoring, especially mental health and supporting minority student groups’ voices on campus through cosponsoring events with CPS and other groups.
We, as a council, are fully aware of the tenacity that is required of being a junior at Columbia, especially in SEAS, and we truly emphasize the importance of mental and physical health over all other things for every student that we have the privilege to represent.
Partnering directly with organizations that specifically support minority groups, in addition to cultural clubs, offers an essential avenue in manifesting into action our duties within and beyond engineering. It is essential that these kinds of collaborations are understood as regular components of our class council’s responsibility. In order to promote community, we must emphasize diversity in engineering not simply as yet another reiteration to people in said minority or cultural groups, but also to those who do not usually face the challenges or obstacles that accompany being underrepresented.
Some real changes that we are going to set out to implement include (but does not entirely represent):
1. Updated apparel in the Bookstore
2. A more streamlined finals schedule for students
3. A revised peer advisory board as well as an updated Bulletin
4. the BEST Junior Boat Cruise this school has seen
5. More great giveaways (including a subsidization of movie theaters, restaurants, and city passes)
Engineering-specific support, too, remains equally critical. It feels as though engineers are dissolved into the rest of the Columbia community at times when arriving at engineering-specific solidarity would most benefit us, yet at others, we are removed from larger discussions when we would best be served as considered an entity of the whole. Discerning when one case is applied versus the other follows no formula like any good engineer would hope, but it is our job as class council to guide the discussions and monitor these situations as we go in order to get a better sense of our identities and support systems within the Columbia community.
Please reach out to us if you have any further questions, and thank you for your support! Vote Fast and FUrious once again for your class council!