Building new traditions, new owls, and new softballs

Are you back yet? Are you really back? I've been a waitin' for ya! Today, we begin to BUILD NEW TRADITIONS. GS is the home of the finest undergraduate student body in the world (but you already know that, right?). So let's get down right down to it.

1) Welcome to our School's 60th Anniversary.

2) We've got ourselves a new "unofficial" officially unofficial mascot. (I have no idea what that means either.) Determined, feisty, and resilient - this owl rises phoenix-like, and wears his crown proud! You know how FUBU stood for "For Us, By Us"? This new owl is similar - it's designed by a fellow GSer (Nandita Kripanidhi)! What shall we name him?

LOCATION CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! see evite 9/07/07 6:45 pm

3) 1st Annual GS Softball Bash. Sunday September 09, 2007. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central Park. Great Lawn. Click here for all the details. And here is the evite also! Stay tuned for all the details in your email box concerning the weather on Sunday. Then watch the promo =)



4) This is the most effective communications device our GS students have ever had:

Text: GSEVENTS to 95495, and enter to win a free iphone (given away at the end of the semester). By being a member of the GSEVENTS list, you will instantly know if there is any breaking news concerning GS and Columbia policies, news, financial aid, and only the best GS social events (courtesy of the GSSC). I'll send you a text update only two or three times a month; and I promise only the most powerful, important, and exciting info.



Its a win-win situation. Be instantly connected to all 1200 students, instantaneously! Over 60% of the incoming class has already signed up. To sweeten the deal, text GSEVENTS to 95495 by Sunday, and you can instantly win a GS T-Shirt.

A text will be sent straight to your phone letting you know if you are a GS T-shirt winner as soon as you Text: GSEVENTS to 95495. (Just dial 95495 and enter GSEVENTS as your text message) Can I be any more subliminal than that?

p.s. if you're an alum, text "GSEVENTS ALUM" instead for special alum events..


5) It's time for new student profiles. (Click to Watch more here.) Have you met some of this year's incoming class? There are some true diamonds out here. Let me introduce you to a few of our newest stars.


Watch more of Jessica Crenshaw's pairs figure skating "short routine" here. She's on her way to the "big dance"!



Russell Whitaker everyone... [GS]. The [G] stands for Google. The [S] stands for Student. Can he fit more into a day? Yes, he can. Check out his blog and learn more about Russell, stem cell research, and how to live long and prosper at www.survivalarts.com



6) From Aaron Lewis - your GS representative to the Activities Board at Columbia (ABC)

"Come to Activities Day tomorrow (Friday) from 12-4pm on College Walk and
check out how you can become involved in the Columbia community of over 300 clubs and organizations."


7) Allison Scola is an employee of GS. She is the communications and marketing guru behind the scenes by day. By night, she rocks, and her band is gaining nationwide notoriety. Vote for the "Allison Scola Project" on CBS's Early Show on Monday September 10. Here's her myspace, and here's how to vote!!








8) Why not go ahead and bookmark this page, and receive RSS feeds automatically??

Wings of Victory and A Special Hi!

Over 350 of us voted in 24 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is a 24-hour record for GS, not surpassing last year's overall voter turnout - but heck, last year we had twice the amount of time to vote. Congratulations GS! A few of us wanted to say hi, and invite you all out to a party we are throwing in your honor.


11 p.m. Wednesday April 18 - Radio Perfecto at 1187 Amsterdam Avenue (118th and Amsterdam). Come on down and hang out with a hundred or so of your closest friends in GS, and grab happy hour priced drinks and discounted wings. Oh, and don't forget to answer "What if GS could?" in the comments section of today's blog. GS, we did it!!



What if one day, GS could................

The Debates Heard 'Round the World

Want to see where GS is heading in the next ten years? Skip ahead to the 17:30 mark to the 19:20 click of the debates (catch the opening statement also if you have the extra 113 seconds). If you're not convinced, then help us see the vision more clearly and email me.

Choose Your Tradition!

NC-07
the "Non-Traditional Student's Choice"

Columbia Spectator endorses Niko Cunningham and says, "Niko Cunningham can Build GS Community"

STAFF EDITORIAL: Vote Cunningham - Opinion (Columbia Spectator Endorsement)


Today's endorsement in the Columbia Spectator affirms our commitment to community - that we are building GS one student at a time. Click here to vote for Better Community.

We took the camera out and filmed a few GS students. We asked them, "What's your story?




Here's what they had to say:
Corey Reeves - Pro Snowboarder


Yusuf Abukar - from Somalia to GS


Iris Dominguez - La Doctora


John Lockard - NPR made him do it


Garth Stewart - Sacrifice and Determination Personified


Paul Dix - Three Things to Consider


Melissa Muller - the Restauranteur


Aaron Lewis - Peru Volunteer to GS Leadership


Padmini Iyer - the new Dr. Jane Goodall


Dozens more to come!!!

Have you voted yet? Now is the time. Choose Your Tradition and Vote Here

List College: Lets hear what you have to say!

Friends of List College - from Niko Cunningham




What do you think? Where should we be moving?

Hello all 1258 wonderful students in Columbia's School of General Studies. Today, I propose a nine-path solution towards............................Scratch that. No four prong strategies. No eight steps to GS bliss. No protesting, picket signs, or Kleenex moments. Straight talk. Daily.

Every day for the next six days, we're going to blog about one concern that we have as students here in New York. Financial Aid, Housing, Advising, Parity, and my personal favorite, the "We are GS" Community campaign. Let's kick around some ideas regarding each one.

First up on the docket - drumroll please .-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-. Solving our Financial Crisis.

Money Talks, and Money Walks

Last year as many of us recall, the student-run fAiR Coalition was formed to address undergraduate financial aid at Columbia University. Notice the terms being used - "undergraduate" financial aid. The Coalition received over 1100 signatures from students across the University requesting that the debt burden of students be relinquished for those whose families make less than $50,000 per year. A noble goal. So noble in fact, it is now a done deal at Columbia College and SEAS. Many of us in GS signed the petition; yet when we were organizing a greater GS presence within the Coalition, this is what one of the founders of fAiR wrote back to me saying via email ,

"when creating the platform we decided to limit our demands to CC/SEAS undergraduates, not because we don't want to work with you but because a-to be quite honest, i think GS sort of slipped our mind and b-because we evaluated what we deemed the University would find feasible"


WOW! Imagine the irony. Students from Columbia's other colleges fighting for the financial rights of underprivileged parents across America being able to afford to send their students to college. Yet, those very same parents and older Americans go to school on the very same campus.

Financial Prudence

It's true, our unique model deserves a different approach. The average GS student takes 11.2 credits per semester. We are in the midst of an enormous $25 million GS Financial Aid capital campaign that promises to add over $1 million annually to GS scholarships. We must be proud of a school that is prioritizing its future to meet our needs today. When our capital campaign is over in 2011, we can look back and know that we fought the good fight and sacrificed of ourselves to ensure that the ones who come after us will be able to dream by daylight and sleep soundly by nightlight. Yet, what can we do today?



Many of us would like to push for a "flatter" flat-tuition. What are you thinking? Is this part of the solution, or a quick fix?






Well, can't we just give everyone a few thousand more in scholarships and grants? What would it take for everyone to get an extra $5,000? Is that goal reasonable or difficult? Let's look at a hypothetical situation. (An extreme example will be shown) Easy or Hard?


Not so easy! We have trained career professionals who fund raise for a living, and building our endowment is their passion and lifeblood. Let's put our faith into helping our School be proud of our accomplishments so that alumni may see a bright future ahead!

My Nephew Nikolas and Financial Aid

I was thinking the other day of what it means to sacrifice so much for us to accomplish our dreams as non-traditional students at GS. You know, the sort of questions that ask, "Why - why do we do it?" Then I got an email from my sister, who is one of the strongest women I know. Some of you who know me know my background - German/Pakistani/Black American. My mother had me when she was 16 as a Catholic villager in Germany, and she met my father, an American GI, - who adopted me as a baby and moved to the United States. Along came my sister four years later, and we share something that transcends immigration, or the horrors of Detroit where we were raised, or the multi-racial bloodlines we share. It's something much deeper, and I wanted to share an email I got from her this Wednesday on why our dreams mean so much to us.

Hello Brother!

I just wanted to drop a few lines to say that I love you! and I miss you and I am very proud of you and all that you have accomplished.
When I look at my son I am constantly reminded of you. He is so amazing and super smart. I'm glad he received your genes.
I think about you all of the time and our childhood that we were blessed to spend together. I am greatful for Mom and Dad teaching us
the importance of family and spending time with your kids. I look at Nikolas and I just feel that he deserves so much more. He deserves
love unconditionally, like the love that we have.
I can make a promise to you, that the world has not seen
all that I have to offer. I will finish school and I will become something... I can't say better than what I am now, because Nikolas is
everything to me, but I want him to be proud of his mommy and I want to make others proud of me too.
Anyway, I just wanted you to know how much I do love you and I miss you tremendously!

God Bless!

Now, if we place ourselves as the trustees of the future and benefactors of the present, is it not our duty, our sworn oath to help those who work ungodly hours to make their dream come true, to help those who are mothers, soldiers, dreamers, and OUR future, to help those who give of themselves until there is nothing left? I want to be at a School that cherishes what we contribute, and I want to be around students who cherish their School. Everyone deserves a chance to be great - and when money stands in the way, we all lose. So people ask, "Well, what are the specifics, what is the plan? How do you plan on changing financial aid." I'll post documentation on what I believe - but more importantly, the question is should people like my sister Nikola or her son Nikolas be able to come to a school like GS one day in the future, and say that GS is where their "Life, part II" began?