Name: Ben Barton
Party: Back to the FUture
Bio: Ben is a junior from the Hudson Valley studying Computer Science and minoring in Mechanical Engineering. He currently serves on the ESC student life committee as campus affairs representative, helping organize events such as SEAS the Day, Midnight in Mudd, and Engineering Week. He also independently organized Glass House Rocks and established morning hours for Blue-Java Mudd this year. These experiences, along with holding an eboard position on the CU aerospace club, have given Ben a unique insight into the struggles SEAS students face and how to effectively address them. Ben spends his free time making rollerblading cool again.
Platform: As Vice President of student life on Engineering Student Council, Ben aims to comprehensively address student concerns by working with Columbia’s administration to shift the university roadmap to be more oriented toward student-life. Ben will strengthen the SEAS community through a variety of fun student events, increase student resources, and prioritize mental health. His experience in planning campus events this past year on ESC such as Glass House Rocks has given him the knowledge to creatively organize fun and meaningful events. Additionally, Ben will advocate for a more accessible Bacchanal by working with public safety to find ways to increase the number of possible attendees.
SEAS Community
-The creation of fun campus events that engage the engineering student body in addition to giveaways, such as engineering design events similar to the SEAS egg drop, that challenge students to apply the concepts they have learned in class to solve an exciting problem as a team
-Allowing student voices to be heard by ensuring clear communication between SEAS students and the administration
-Making sure undergraduate SEAS students’ concerns are taken into account in university-wide policy changes
-Strengthening an inter-school community by prioritizing the connection between student councils of all schools and using this unity for campus-wide events
-Increasing casual connecting between students and alumni through sponsored on-campus receptions, and off-campus meals
Student Resources
-Creation of a Columbia-subsidized summer storage space at offsite locations such as Manhattan Mini storage
-Turning Lerner into a 24 hour student center
Increasing the availability of campus lawns and developing a clear-cut schedule for main lawn open-hours
-Streamlining of space booking in Mudd for student groups
Increasing dining hours in Mudd and Uris
Mental Health
-Developing a dedicated event/week to mental health
-Creation of a mental health workshop for TAs and professors
-Organize a more effective mandatory mental health session during NSOP
Name: Lal Uncu
Party: SEAStheCurve
Bio: Lal is a Turkish student from the Class of 2020 who wishes to pursue a degree in Industrial Engineering with a minor in Economics. She is very passionate about gender equality for which she has campaigned, and giving back to the community as she’s gone to Nepal for tutoring. As a member of the Columbia Daily Spectator, Habitat for Humanity, Turkish Student Association as Community Involvement Manager, and spending all her time at JJ’s, she has heard the voices of members of the Columbia community. She wants to listen to those voices and assure the best student life for students.
Platform: As VP of Student Life, Lal wants to ensure that each student gets the most out of their four years. She aims to make improvements in sundry areas whilst incorporating technology to make students’ life easier in a school with a heavy course load. She strives to emphasize the students’ needs, complaints, and desires in her endeavors.
Academics & School Pride:
– Keeping the 4th,5th, and 6th floors of Butler Library open 24/7 during midterm and final seasons
– Organizing a panel for Graduate Schools where graduate schools come to campus so that students make better and well aware decisions about their futures in collaboration with Center for Career Education (CCE)
– Giving out SEAS sweatshirts to first 500 students who order due to the fact that no student should have to pay to wear their school gear with pride
Technology:
– Setting up an advising portal like Piazza, where students can ask questions regarding advising and check for already asked questions through a search bar for advisors and/or students to answer in order to fasten the exchange of information 24/7
– Creating a tutoring system, where professors, assistant professors, TAs, and students can provide their contact details and declare the concepts for which they can provide tutoring, and student body of Columbia can use the website to request tutoring
– Building a website for club/organization collaborations on which clubs can post events that would require collaborating with another club (i.e. an event between CORE and CFIG), and students can be aware of ongoing events by different clubs around campus
Dining:
– Creating a website on which every Columbia organization would declare if their event will serve refreshments in collaboration with UEM
– Making sure that there are more options to eat healthy at JJ’s Place
– Placing prepared sandwiches and salad for breakfast-to-go at JJ’s Place
– Setting up a breakfast-to-go station at Ferris
– Extending Flex purchases to including but not limited to Joe’s, Starbucks, Five Guys and to incoming Shake Shack
– Changing the coffee stations in Ferris, JJ Dining Hall, and JJ’s Place to either Starbucks or Caribou Coffee stations
Transportation:
– Broadening Flex utilization to Uber/Lyft/Via/Juno and offering discounts/coupons for Columbia students
– Setting up an Airport Shuttle service two days prior to starts and ends of Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer breaks twice a day
Housing:
– Increasing the amount of free proxy per academic year from 1 to 4
– Ending laundry expenses by providing detergent in laundry rooms for students to use
Health & Fitness:
– Establishing an emergency call center for students with disabilities that will operate 24/7
– Increasing the semester quota of getting CPS appointments from 10 to 20
– Creating a 24/7 professional call center for students with mental distress
– Using the 6th floor of Lerner Hall by moving Financial Aid office to another building as an extra fitness center operating 24 hours after realizing that Lerner was meant to be a student space; however, is currently mostly used by administration