Name: Zoha Qamar
Party: Back to the FUture
Bio: Zoha Qamar is a sophomore from Southern California, majoring in computer science. Currently, she serves on ESC as Vice President of SEAS 2019, as well as an integral member of the finance committee. At Columbia, she also sits on the boards of Club Zamana and a literary magazine. Since witnessing the intrinsic ties among sexual assault, administrative mishandling, and suicide on her high school campus, Zoha has written nationally and advocated extensively for the reform of such policies and resources. Zoha is excited to bring to ESC Policy a passion even greater than the one she feels for memes.
Platform: Zoha strongly believes many of the challenges and issues we face at Columbia are in no way isolated – indeed, they are quite interdependent upon one another. While facilitating outlets for students to vent concerns and mitigate stressors in the short term, it is vital to simultaneously inspect the causes that manifest into the perpetuating, corrosive cultures for students. Tackling issues from both the inside-out and the outside-in exhibits a crucial approach in effectively cultivating a better Columbia.
Mental Health:
* Ensure CPS is staffed throughout all the office’s hours during its open days
* Create mandatory training for all SEAS undergraduate professors that encapsulates importance of mental wellbeing & achieving the balance between academic rigor and unnecessary strain; the contents of this training will draw from SEAS student and recent alumni feedback, along with TAs’ and professors’ input, to thoroughly and effectively build the contents for the program over the next year
* Expand orientation programs for first-years to foster as much as community as possible even before NSOP: such efforts highlight the importance of proactively cultivating a better Columbia, in addition to simply treating manifestations of a darker one
Sexual Assault:
* Reword school policies by filtering out unnecessary legal fillers that make information seem inaccessible
Ensuring fair pay of students working as SVR peer advocates
* Revamp education training for all first-responder acting individuals: ensure survivors are respected and communicated with properly (includes immediate comforting and cultural sensitivity, as well as logistical items such as STI testing)
Involvement with Current Activism on Campus:
* Improve communication with passionate activist clubs and grassroots organizations on campus to act as a better resource especially for students dedicated toward causes that specifically call upon administrative reform and action
How-to-Maps for Columbia Administrative Offices:
* Work with communications to digitize concise maps and diagrams that outline Columbia resources and contacts for direct student access: for information regarding matters from advising offices to assault survivor support to mental health resources to a UEM-101-guide
Opportunities Abroad:
* Create sample eight-semester class-configuration plans that factor in study abroad; distribute to first-years during an information session during or closely following NSOP
* Highlight programs with CCE, CORE, and other organizations/offices that allow engineers abroad experiences, even if they are not able to leave the University for an entire semester
Professional:
* Ensure the equal representation of job opportunities at career fairs for students of all engineering majors
Name: Aaron Thompson 
Party: SEAStheCurve
Bio: Aaron Thompson is a SEAS sophomore from Atlanta, GA studying Mechanical Engineering with a focus in automotive engineering. Aaron remains involved on campus as a system head in Knickerbocker Motorsports, a perennial competitor in intramural basketball, and a member of the National Society of Black Engineers. His involvement in these different activities has introduced him to SEAS students with a wide variety of backgrounds, interests, perspectives, and aspirations. He hopes to leverage this experience with SEAS’ incredibly diverse students to improve the relationship between students and ESC as Vice President of Policy.
Platform: As ESC VP of Policy, Aaron hopes to make SEAS more inclusive and smooth out the path of students through the difficult engineering curriculum. Focusing on mentorship, improving mental health, and better advisement, Aaron aims to improve the life of all engineering students at Columbia.
Mentorship
-The creation of a new mentorship program involving all students in the engineering school
-Juniors and seniors would be paired with sophomores and first-years in their major, where they exchange information and older students can offer guidance as they progress through their curriculum.
-Underclassmen can get valuable information about classes and learn about what’s to come in their major.
-Facilitate students sharing information about internship opportunities and companies they’re involved in.
-Enhance the relationship between students and alumni working in industries they’re interested in
-Establish a stronger alumni network that students can actually participate in
This will certainly ease the process of students trying to break into industries
Mental Health
-Establish a 24/7 call center for CPS where students may retain anonymity and comfort while working through problems
-Eliminate the cap on students’ CPS visits
-It appears counterintuitive that people who need help the most are limited in how much help they can actually receive.
-Minimize needless stress from rigorous courses by encouraging better professor-student relationships
-Establish an open student space without the presence or interference of the administration. Currently, no such space exists on campus.
-Bring in external, professional psychologists to meet with students to help them cope with loss
Advisement
-Give sophomores and first-years better opportunities to speak with advisors in their desired major
-Improve the shadow declaration process where students can actually see opportunities for research or internships in their specific major
-Support the establishment of an advising Piazza page to eliminate the incidence of poor or ineffective academic advice