Engineering Student Council

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The Engineering Student Council (ESC) represents the interests of undergraduate students in SEAS. Not to be confused with the Engineering Graduate Student Council.

Composition

The ESC consists of three parts: the executive board, the class councils, and the representatives-at-large.

Executive board

  • President: Organizes and runs meetings; chief advocate for SEAS student body
  • VP Policy: Pursues policy changes; heads policy subcommittee
  • VP Finance (née Intergroup): Treasurer of the council; heads co-sponsorship subcommittee
  • VP Student Life: Plans campus-wide events for SEAS; heads subcommittee responsible for event planning
  • VP Communications: Responsible for all communication and media relations of entire undergraduate engineering population; heads communication committee

Class Councils

  • Senior Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the senior class.
  • Junior Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the junior class.
  • Sophomore Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the sophomore class.
  • First-Year Class Council: Consists of a president, vice-president, and 2 representatives from the freshman class.

Representatives at large

  • University Senator (1): Fully elected member of the University Senate, although the SEAS undergraduate senator sits ex officio on the ESC, he/she does not report to the ESC, nor does the ESC exercise any statutory or governance authority over any element whatsoever of the University Senate or its elected members.
  • Academic Affairs Rep: Works with VP for Policy to pursue policy changes to academic life.
  • Student Services Rep: Works with VP for Policy to pursue policy changes to student services such as housing and dining.
  • Alumni and Pre-Professional Affairs Rep: Works with CCE to plan events geared towards career/internships. Also works with Columbia Engineering Alumni Association to plan events related to alumni and student interaction.
  • Combined Plan "3-2" Representative: Created in 2013, advocates for the 3-2 population.
  • Technology Representative: Previously "Director of Technology"; Created in 2008; handles ESC website, represents student body's desires and concerns related to technology on campus, sits in CUIT Student Advisory Committee

Liaisons

The ESC has three official liaison positions to the other undergraduate student councils, with one liaising to CCSC, GSSC, and SGA. In 2010, the council added the position of Sustainability Liaison to liaise with Green Umbrella.

Co-sponsorships

See Joint Council Co-Sponsorship Committee. The large majority of ESC co-sponsorships are run through the JCCC, though other events may be co-sponsored by ESC or its constituent class councils.

In Fall 2013, ESC introduced ESC Project Grants, which are "grants aimed at promoting engineering spirit through engineering projects". Seven student teams were awarded up to $1000 each to work on their own extracurricular engineering projects.

Elections

Adam Goldberg's proposal

Since time immemorial, ESC internally elected executive board members, including the president. This was the subject of much controversy over the years, as the election rules can only be altered during the annual constitutional review. Several council members proposed amendments calling for direct elections, but none were approved. Several years ago, someone accused the ESC of being insular and that it was only electing current council members to E-board positions. The ESC was also widely criticized by campus news sources such as Bwog and Spectator for holding internal elections.

In 2011, ESC voted during its annual constitutional review to approve direct elections of its executive board. It was decided the first-such elections would take place in 2012, as time was needed to draft election rules for these positions. Tim Qin SEAS '13 became the first ESC President to be elected by the undergraduate engineering student body.

In 2013, ESC voted during constitutional review to have its elections run by a centralized elections board, the Columbia Elections Board. [1]

In 2018, ESC, together with CCSC, formed the Columbia Elections Commission comprising of three seniors of each council and a commissioner and vice-commissioner not on council. The CEC replaced the now defunct Columbia Elections Board as another iteration in an incredibly rough elections history[2]

The CEC is significantly different in structure from previous elections board, and looks to create a stable and permanent platform for elections.

Current Members

Executive Board

  • Student Body President: Alina Ying
  • Vice President of Policy: Estevan Mesa
  • Vice President of Student Life: Bret Silverstein
  • Vice President of Communications: Adheli Gonzalez

Representatives-at-Large

  • Academic Affairs Representative: James Wang
  • Professional Development & Alumni Affairs Representative: Sebastian Sanchez
  • Sustainability Representative: Ade Balogun
  • Technology Representative: Rahul Kataria
  • Student Groups Representative: Can Akdere
  • Campus Affairs Representative: Alison Selman
  • 3-2 Representative: Josh Guggenheim
  • Racial Diversity and Inclusivity: Sabina Thomas
  • First Generation and Low Income: Diana Carranza
  • Student Health and Wellness Representative: Juliet Sampson
  • International Students Representative: Katherine Liu

University Senator

  • University Senator: Joe Hier

Class of 2020

  • President: Sambhav Jain
  • Vice President: Lal Uncu
  • Representative: Youngjae Ryu
  • Representative: Will Fesjian

Class of 2021

  • President: Kalisa Ndamage
  • Vice President: Jenny Martinez
  • Representative: Arya Zhao
  • Representative: Ethan Thayumanavan

Class of 2022

  • President: Naomi Kim
  • Vice President: Stephanie Guo
  • Representative: Nicholas Mijares
  • Representative: Eugene Fung

Class of 2023

  • President: Avi Gupta
  • Vice President: Angel Mancera
  • Representative: Kennedy Salamat
  • Representative: Ariana Novo

Past Members

Executive Board

Representatives-at-Large

  • Academic Affairs Representative: Robert Ying
  • Professional Development & Alumni Affairs Representative: Janiel Li
  • Student Services Representative: Jerry Sun
  • Sustainability Liaison: Malini Nambiar
  • CCSC Liaison: Vishnu Kalugotla
  • GSSC Liaison: Manali Yavatkar
  • SGA Liaison: Jason Kang
  • Director of Technology: Sam Aarons
  • 3-2 Representative: Seth Hochhauser

University Senator

  • University Senator: Akshay Shah

Class of 2014

  • President: Daniel O'Leary
  • Vice President: Caroline Taylor
  • Representative: Linda Sun
  • Representative: Andrew Gonzalez

Class of 2015

  • President: Shensi Ding
  • Vice President: Gil Feig
  • Representative: Adam Sherman
  • Representative: Andrew Ryder

Class of 2016

  • President: Michelle Lee
  • Vice President: Caroline Park
  • Representative: Chloe Blanchard
  • Representative: Abdulrahman "Sam" Khoshaim

Class of 2017

Contact

You can email the council at esc@columbia.edu

References

[2] = https://www.columbiaspectator.com/the-eye/2018/03/22/can-the-columbia-election-commission-fight-its-history/

External links