Your cart is currently empty!
Week of October 21
General Meeting Notes:
- Shubhanjana attended a president’s meeting over the weekend with the presidents of other school boards at Columbia
- Key takeaways:
- Other schools have vastly larger budgets than we do (we have the smallest budget of all the schools)
- The Columbia SPJ board is not recognized by the school or by SPJ national
- There is a necessity for a conversation about what our role as a student government is and what our powers are moving forward
- Trying to find a safe way for students to voice concerns and have them actually get acted on by the administration
- Admin is looking for an event that brings communities on campus together by October 28th (brainstorming)
- The first newsletter for the student body will hopefully be sent out by Monday
- From the part-time student chair:
- Because of part-time student’s class schedules, they are unable to go to the Journalism Now lectures
- Since this event is only mandatory for full-time students, part-time students aren’t considered access-wise
- No option to join via Zoom, and no recordings of the events
- Need to place more emphasis on the access and inclusion of part-time students
- From the university senator:
- Working on a policy that focuses on each school deciding when they shut down classes due to protests instead of university-wide rules
- Going to bring this up at the next senate meeting
- Also going to bring up election-day safety
- There needs to be a conversation about student journalist access to campus during campus-wide protests
- On October 7th many JSchool students were told they could not enter the protests to report, even though the school previously said we could
- Disconnect between the admin and public safety officers
Academic Affairs Chair:
The academic affairs committee is run by Megha Gupta. Megha can be reached at mg4771@columbia.edu.
- Panel on reproductive rights and abortion in association with Women in Media and the Dart Center
- All things paid for
- Will occur in either November or December
- Google folder of academic resources for students ready for review
- Hoping to launch November 1st
- Pending review by the board
- In the early stages of creating a noon block workshop on freelancing with Columbia Journalism School professors who freelance
- Working on setting back up coffee and conversation with professors
- Getting together a list of professors who would be interested in speaking
- Still working on a social media-focused noon block workshop
Student Life Chair:
The student life committee is run by Laïny Jernidier. Laïny can be reached at lainy.jernidier@columbia.edu.
- Color for a cause coming up! (Check socials)
- Halloween movie bash in final stages
- October 31st (Halloween night), costumes optional
- Snacks and movie provided at a charge of $5 per student
- $5 must be in cash, for international students we can figure out a digital payment if cash is inaccessible
- Have to charge money because we don’t have the budget to cover this
- Working still on setting up peer support groups
- One idea is having students pick times that would work for them and creating groups based on that
- Setting up student government drop-in hours for students
- Each board member will be available for an hour at a set time and day during the week that works for them
- Any students who want to talk to a board member directly can during this time
- Tentatively starting the first week of November
- Planning on coordinating with Ask Alex admins to create a JSchool-specific mental health block via Zoom
- This would be based on topic need
- Need 15-20 people who will attend to make this work
Speaker’s Director:
The speaker’s committee is run by Reeno Hashimoto. Reeno can be reached at rh2984@columbia.edu.
- The first event is confirmed!
- Event on October 30th from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the World Room
- Discussion with Lewis Simons, a Pulitzer Prize winner, foreign correspondent, and journalist with National Geographic
- Simons will be having a conversation with Columbia Professor Michael Shapiro
- Look at the SPJ Instagram or the events tab on the website for more info!
- In the process of setting up a fashion panel
- Speakers have been determined–wrapping up final planning
- The next events will be a sports panel and the event in association with the film/doc committee
Film/Documentary Chair:
The film/documentary committee is run by Mason Leath. Mason can be reached at mpl2159@columbia.edu.
- The first screening will be “Stripped for Parts”
- Hopefully screening in November between election day and Thanksgiving
- Working on setting up 2 more screenings
- One in association with Women in Media
- Another is in association with the speaker’s committee
- Screening followed by a discussion with the creator
Community Service Chair:
The community service committee is run by Augostina Mallous. Augostina can be reached at am6521@columbia.edu.
- In the process of coordinating an event with Food Bank for New York City
- Poll was sent out to students last week to figure out what times work best for most students
- Options include:
- Community food distribution which includes distributing grocery bags to community members
- Community meal service which includes welcoming guests and serving hot meals to community members
- The date and time will be determined this week
- Thinking of coordinating a letter-writing initiative soon