General Studies Lounge

The student council has concluded the petition portion of the campaign to get a Latin Diploma.

The results:

• 366 hand signatures
• 145 e-signatures

For a total of 511 responses in favor of changing to a Latin Diploma.

I presented a bound copy of every response we got to both the Deans Office and to the Dean of Students Office today at 3pm. Below is a photo of me presenting the document to Dean Awn.

I would like to personally welcome Alex Katz to the role of VP of Student Life. He has shown great leadership so far during his time on the GSSC as a class president. With Lisa Fishenfeld stepping down for personal reasons it was a great time for Alex to demonstrate a new level of leadership. As he was the Sophomore class President, his VP, Joey Spitz has stepped up to take the president slot.

We wish Lisa the best of luck, and welcome Alex to his new role.

You can find all the updates reflected on the GSSC page along with contact information for Alex and all members of the GSSC: http://gslounge.com/gssc

Read and participate in the forum we put up about the Latin Diploma - you can find it in the gslounge.com forum at: http://gslounge.com/forum

Bean Town

By TED BOTHA
Published: October 24, 2008

SOUTHSIDE COFFEE could hardly be more obscure. It sits on a corner of a quiet street in what is called the South Slope in Brooklyn, and at first it looks like any other shop with the word “coffee” slapped on the awning: A bunch of bikes are chained outside, several customers sit at tables on the sidewalk, and inside people are hunched behind their laptops.

Joshua Sidis is the only barista this Saturday morning. Once a drink is ordered, he flicks the doser below the bean hopper several times until the scoop is full. Then he presses down the grounds with a tamper, fits the doser into the Marzocco espresso machine and lets the water seep through the grounds into a demitasse.

Read More...

For more coverage on coffee here at gslounge.com check out our list of great places to drink espresso and our guide to creating and enjoying great espresso.

The following email message was sent by George Krebs, Columbia College Student Council President on behalf of the four undergraduate college leaders putting on the student forms about NROTC before a student survey on the issue:

From: George A. Krebs
Date: Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 3:55 PM
Subject: Re: NROTC basics

Dear Students,

In an effort to be more transparent and get information to you about what is going on with NROTC we wanted to recap what has been happening in our planning process.

First, we decided on the format for the forums that will happen before the survey. One will take place at Barnard and one at Columbia, with both using a pro vs. con setup. This means that there will be even representation for both sides of the argument and then questions about specific topics will be asked of the panel to stimulate conversation and inform the students attending the panels about NROTC. These questions will be submitted by each of your student groups and presented to the group again in our next meeting (TBA) so that students can prepare responses and not feel attacked.

Further more, these panels will be composed of students. We ask that if you are interested or know someone who is, please have them email us at columbiaforums@gmail.com, stating whether they are pro or con NROTC, this way we can put all of the people who support or do not support this in contact with one another. This will allow all interested to meet and then select three representatives for each panel, making a total of 6 people from each side of the debate. It is important to remember that you can either support your entire group's point of view, or your individual point of view in these conversations and by no means does a group have to take a stance one way or another. Individual members can be on each of the sides if you wish. In the email please also put your availability so that we can help coordinate times that your side will be able to meet.

Here is a table showing the ages of GS students and also how many students are in university housing.

Thank you to the General Studies Dean of Students office and to VP of Policy, Michael Rain.

These are the majors of General Studies Students. The total does not equal the total of enrolled students because some students have yet to declare a major.

There are 108 people who have either a double major (69) or a major and a concentration/special concentration (39). Of that group, 4 people have a double major and a concentration or a major and 2 concentrations/special concentrations.

Thanks to the General Studies Dean of Students office for these numbers. Thanks also to VP of Communication, Evan Madeo for requesting and obtaining them.