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Please use the links below to learn more about our platform on particular issues:
Academics
Ethnic Studies Department
Currently, the Center for Ethnic Studies can’t give professors tenure; it relies on a conglomeration of faculty from other departments. This is a burgeoning field of study and one with departments at many of Columbia’s peer institutions. As a college that prides itself on diversity, we need an Ethnic Studies Department. With the resources of a department, Columbia can build a program that attracts higher caliber faculty and better services students.
Smaller Core & Seminar Classes
Where are the 15-student Core classes we read about when we applied? Core classes are far too big, making productive discussion difficult. PULSE will push for smaller core class sizes and smaller major seminar classes so that all we were promised about a top notch liberal arts education is fulfilled.
Publish Year-end Class Evaluations
We’re very fortunate to have CULPA as a resource. But we take the time to fill out those forms at the end of every class, evaluating the professor, TA, and course’s quality. That’s another resource that should be made public to students to help us determine which classes we want to take.
Workshop Courses
1-2 credit mini courses in specialized fields. Researchers/grad students can teach these courses that will give us the chance to learn about the cutting edge of technology and research.
Advising
Reform the Center for Career Education (CCE)
Most of us want help finding jobs, whether for the summer, semester, or post-graduation. PULSE is dedicated to continuing the reform of CCE that was started this year: more career counselors, longer hours, and job opportunities in more fields and regions.
To see the details of our plan, visit: http://www.columbia.edu/~zrf2001/cce.html
More Staff at Pre-professional Office
Interested in law or medical school? You’ll have to fill out a ton of paperwork for this office. And right now they only have 2 people on staff. PULSE calls for the immediate hiring of more pre-professional advisors and submittable web forms.
Policy Guidelines for Major Advising
PULSE insists upon uniform guidelines for advisors from all departments; this will provide all students with the level of advising that they deserve.
For details on our advising plan, visit: http://www.columbia.edu/~zrf2001/advising.html
Alumni Relations
25th Reunion Class Mentors
PULSE has an innovative mentor program that partners every incoming freshman class with alumni from the class from 25 years prior. This will lead to new student-alumni relationships, better connections, more job options, better career advice, and a new vibrancy for Columbia’s extended community.
Direct Connections with Alumni
Why is the administration afraid to let student groups contact alumni directly for funding? PULSE will help student groups build bridges to their alumni, leading to increased funding and access to new resources.
Alumni Days at Home Games
Alumni are some of the strongest supporters of Columbia athletics. PULSE wants to invite them to bond with students at home games. Cheering on Columbia’s athletes together is a great way to build community, alumni relations and support our teams.
Athletics
There is a general lack of support and recognition for all athletes on campus. The athletic community is strong, but to a large extent separate from the larger Columbia community. E-mails are not enough to draw students to games, and many students are reluctant to attend, for they feel little connection to the athletic community.
Pulse believes that the CCSC should take a more active role in athletic programming and promoting all sports teams. Forging connections between all students and the athletic community will build a larger sense of community on campus. Therefore, PULSE will make every effort to respond to athletes’ needs and support then in all their endeavors, through programming and publicity.
Weekly Athletic Calendar
Publish a weekly athletic calendar to be posted in residence halls and the Lerner lobby.
Dorm Storming
Organize "dorm-storming" before the games in residence halls.
Tailgate Series
A Van Am Jams Tailgate series to increase on-campus visibility and spirit. Students will join together for a free pregame barbecue. Bands will entertain, athletes will be publicly recognized, and free promotional items will be distributed. We’ll put Baker buses on College Walk, as opposed to their current Amsterdam location.
Free Admission
Free admission for students to all athletic events.
Bookstore
Merchandise Prices
Prices on merchandise in the bookstore are too high. PULSE will work with business services to find ways to bring those prices down.
Better Buy-back Policy
The bookstore does not pay us enough when they buy back text books. PULSE will push to end the price-gouging and get students the rates they deserve.
Campus Capital Improvements
In the summer of 2004, Columbia will begin a capital improvement plan. We need to make sure students have a say in this process.
Improve Walkways
You can barely walk across campus without wading through a pool of water. We need to improve a lot of the paths on campus to increase drainage.
More Grass and Open Fields
Rather than making small planters of grass like in Lion’s Court or in front of Furnald, we should have more open grassy areas that can be used for more activities.
Club Sports
P.E. Credit for Club Sports Athletes
Club Sports athletes certainly put in more time than a student in a P.E. class. These athletes should receive P.E. credit for their participation. They already have packed schedules as it is and asking them to take even more time for a gym class is unacceptable.
Funding and Practice Space
PULSE is dedicated to allocating more funding to Club Sports teams by shifting extra funds out of the P.E. Department. We also support more field and practice time for Club Sports.
A lot of the problems Club Sports face, originate from a lack of regard from the administration. They see varsity sports as primary, and Club Sports as secondary. Many of Club Sports practice space needs could be met, without taking space away from any other group, if they are just treated with the respect they deserve by the administration.
Recognition for Club Sports Athletes
Club Sports athletes train hard to compete; their efforts should not go unrecognized. PULSE will lobby for a Club Sports trophy case in the gym’s lobby. In addition, Club Sports athletes’ accomplishments will be featured in CCSC e-mail announcements.
Dining
FLEX at Local Vendors
Other colleges in urban areas allow their students to use FLEX-style payments at local vendors. It’s more convenient, faster, and saves students cash. PULSE will push for an immediate FLEX payment option at Nussbaum and Wu’s, as their building will be wired by Columbia for the new undergrad residents. But Nussbaum’s is just the start; we’ll work to make FLEX a reality at many more area businesses.
Lower and Standardized Prices
Prices at dining locations are inconsistent and too high. Prices should at the very least be standardized, and we will work with dining services to lower food prices throughout campus.
Expanded Kosher and Vegan Options
PULSE believes that no student should have toe at off campus because of their dietary choices. We won’t stop working until we get real Kosher and Vegan options in John Jay, longer hours at Harley Deli, and more Kosher and Vegan food in JJ’s, Café 212, Ferris Booth and Uris.
Because we understand the importance of dietary restrictions, whether it be Kosher, halal, vegetarian or vegan, we will ensure that dining services is honest about and openly displays the ingredients of any food they serve that students do not unknowingly violate their own nutrition codes.
Renovate John Jay Dining Hall
Renovations to John Jay Dining Hall are long overdue. It’s time for a bathroom that can be accessed without leaving the room. And the atmosphere can be improved with much needed renovations.
Financial Aid
Replace Student Loans with Grants
Since it replaced loans with grants 2 years ago, Princeton went form having he least diverse entering class to the most diverse in the Ivy League. We can implement an even better plan, by retroactively replacing our current students’ loans with grants.
Summer Stipends
Can’t take an internship because it doesn’t pay? PULSE calls upon Columbia to support students who pursue public interest internships by providing summer stipends. Barnard already has a program like this, why can’t Columbia?
Aid for Transfers & International Students
Columbia is the only Ivy League school that doesn’t offer financial aid to transfer students; international students don’t have access to financial aid either. We are dedicated to changing both policies.
Visit http://www.columbia.edu/~zrf2001/finaid.html for more details.
Funding for Student Groups
Student Activities Fees to Student Activities
Student groups need more money. We pay over $2,000,000 in student life fees but only a fraction of that goes to student groups. The money is being wasted on administrative programming that does not benefit a large number of people
While we realize that some programming can be done by the administration, we believe student groups, in many instances, are much more effective at creating programming that appeals to a larger community and for which there is greater student interest.
Inter-Group Cosponsorship Fund
Nothing is done to encourage groups with different interests to work together. This fund would provide grants to programs and events that bring together more than one student group and reach across communities. For example, a joint event between a cultural and political group would breach boundaries and foster connectivity between students in different groups with similar concerns.
Governing Board Independence
The governing boards have much greater connection to student groups than student council. As such, they should be given autonomy to allocate their funds to groups as they see fit. The current council proposal to review all activities of student groups, we believe, poses a serious threat to free speech of those groups on campus that may be more controversial in nature.
Expanded Access to Performance Space
Music and performance groups compete for very limited performance spaces on campus. Miller Theater is too expensive for most performance groups to use. PULSE will advocate for more performance space and will work to reduce, if not eliminate, the costs of using Miller Theater. Miller Theater is seen as a cash cow for the administration, we need a strong voice telling them it should benefit students.
Housing
Open the LLC to the Lottery
The LLC no longer requires programming. It has just become another application that we have to fill out to get housing.
Prioritize Housing Upgrades
Why did the townhouses in EC get renovated when Wien is in the shape it’s in? PULSE will make sure that priority is given to renovations where they are needed.
Create a CULPA-style site for Housing Reviews
PULSE has already begun planning the site with web developers and the CULPA webmasters. This will let you find out details about individual rooms and floors and more of what you want to know about buildings and RAs.
Columbia residence halls vary greatly in the quality of housing they offer students. As class size increases, Columbia must expand housing options available to students. Sophomores, being at the bottom on the lottery, consistently receive the worst housing Columbia offers. Additionally, there is currently no venue for students to review their housing conditions, from their individual rooms, to the residence hall’s facilities, to their resident advisers.
Housing affects student life every day. Undesirable housing situations cause much frustration and, in turn, have a negative effect on a student’s overall experience at Columbia. There should not be such a large discrepancy between the best and worst housing available to students. Furthermore, students should have a forum to voice their concerns and advise each other. Renovations and the availability of space currently reserved for the LLC will help combat the “sophomore slump. PULSE believes it should be a priority of the University to renovate residence halls and improve the quality of undergraduate residential life.
Lerner Hall
Lerner Hall does not function well as a student center.
24-Hour Access
Lerner Hall should be kept open 24-hours a day. Even if some of the rooms are locked, access to the building itself would be a huge improvement and a great benefit to most students. To accommodate our diverse and unusual schedules, Lerner needs to be open if it really wants to serve as a center for students. This will allow for more study space and take some of the burden off of Butler.
Lerner 6
The only undeveloped space left in Lerner is the sixth floor. The next CCSC e-board needs to make sure that this year’s proposal for Lerner 6 is realized. Lerner 6 should have more music and performance practice space. Columbia has an extraordinary number of very talented performers and they deserve this space.
More Student Space
The University administration plans to move many administrative offices out of Lerner Hall and dedicate those spaces to students. PULSE will work to see that is accomplished sooner rather than later. More importantly, we will make sure that as those spaces are redesigned for students, students decide how to design the space.
Easy Room Reservations
Anyone who’s tried to reserve space in Lerner knows how difficult it can be. We propose a streamlined reservation process, a list of reservations that’s updated real time.
Unlock Doors
Right now, even if a group is not using a room, it is locked by Lerner Hall Administration. We will see to it that all reservable spaces in Lerner are kept unlocked, so that if they are available, they can be put to use by student groups.
Libraries
Grow the Collection
Columbia’s library collections have not been growing at a sufficient rate. They are starting to rely on Interlibrary Loan, which is unacceptable. We need books that are available for check-out immediately. We have one of the world’s top libraries and we need to keep it that way.
Collection Tracking
Every wandered through the stacks only to discover that the book your looking for is nowhere to be found? There needs to be better tracking of books so that we can find them when we need them.
SDA
Facilitation, not Oversight
Too many times, Student Development and Activities try to tell student groups what to do. They shouldn’t be telling us what to do, just how to do what we want to do. They are stifling vibrant student groups on campus and we want to see that office reformed.
Reform the Alcohol Policy
The alcohol policy is far too strict and has a lot of ridiculous components to it. We need to reform the policy to encourage students to follow appropriate procedures but still allow them to have great events.
Security
We need to follow through on the COMPREHENSIVE SECURITY REVIEW.
Speaker’s Fund
A speaker’s fund should be established to pay the honorarium and travel expenses of notable speakers. Just because we’re in New York, we can’t assume they’ll come to us. Other universities, from Cornell to Georgetown to Stanford have sizeable funds. To better connect us to modern world events, we need to be able to bring high caliber speakers to campus.
Urban New York Year Round
Other universities, that aren’t even located in New York, have a regular program that sends students to shows and sporting events in the City. We have Urban New York, but it only happens once a year. PULSE wants a monthly program, to make these opportunities more available to Columbia students.
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