Rakhi Agrawal reports from last night’s Columbia College Student Council meeting, the final one of the semester. Highlights included an open Q&A with College Dean James Valentini (photos below!) and an intracouncil Secret Santa gift exchange.
Underclass mentorship: Valentini said that CCSC could further develop its relationship with the Columbia College Alumni Association to develop more opportunities for students to engage with alumni. He also said that he would look into mentorship models at peer institutions that cater to underclass students, but noted that the logistics for the project would be difficult.
Academic stress culture: When asked about student stress at Columbia, Valentini said that he is not prepared to say what to do to reduce it because he doesn’t know how best to combat it. He said that changing the required number of credits for graduation or changing departmental requirements for majors would be difficult, whereas lowering the maximum number of credits a student could take without petitioning per semester would be easy. But he told students at the meeting to think about what they would do academically if no one were looking.
Financial aid office changes: Valentini said that were three main changes made to the office this semester: the hiring of more financial aid officers, increasing the number of walk-in hours from eight to 40, and abolishing the system of having an individual financial aid officer for each student. He said that the office would probably be evaluated again next year to see if the changes yielded positive results for students.
