New Year's resolutions

With today’s edition, Spectator closes another decade of production. It has been another exciting semester at Columbia—we launched the semester with two new deans, and we close with the future of Manhattanville hanging in the balance.

For our final staff editorial, we look ahead, writing five New Year’s resolutions for Columbia. They may not be the five most pressing issues facing the University, nor are they all equal in their scope and importance. But they are what is on our minds, and we hope that our school leadership does not neglect these issues in 2010.

More financial aid for General Studies

As the New Year approaches, we hope that Columbia will continue to re-evaluate the financial aid packages it offers to GS students. The economic downturn has made it much more difficult to find affordable student loans, and many GS students graduate from Columbia with a significant amount of loan debt. In the coming months, we urge the GS administrators to continue their hard work in an effort to develop a financial aid system that will more effectively meet the needs of the GS student body as a whole.

A better approach to dining

This semester, new proposals for meal plans have resulted in dismay for students on both sides of Broadway. Barnard administrators have proposed mandatory meal plans while administrators at Columbia are considering converting JJ’s Place, Ferris Booth, and Café 212 into all-you-can-eat dining halls. These proposals may not work for students, who, for reasons of preference, cost, and dietary need, do not want their main source of food to come from school or would like grab-and-go options at dining halls. Administrators need to think of different solutions to dining.

Sustained environmental stewardship

As a quintessential urban campus and a global leader in science, Columbia must also be at the national forefront of green initiatives. Whether through an aggressive and coordinated push for recycling, an expanded composting program, a more comprehensive waste-minimizing flyering policy, or the reinstating of the RecycleBank program, Columbia should model for other universities what it means to educate sustainably—in every sense of the term.

A 24-hour Butler

In the upcoming year we’d like to see Butler Library open more floors for 24 hours. Study spaces are limited and Butlerites often limit themselves to the first two floors because rooms in the upper floors keep circulation desk hours. Many students now use the eighth floor, which is reserved for graduate students, because this floor does not close. More hours on the upper floors would help reduce crowding and create a better study environment.

A correct Core

The Core Curriculum defines our University, and professors, scholars, and administrators continually work to tweak and refine it. The upcoming year is an exciting one for Frontiers of Science, the newest addition to the Core. If the Frontiers overseers take the right steps, 2010 may be remembered as one in which a lackluster, unpopular requirement was transformed into a rock-solid foundation for college science, one that can act as a model for universities throughout the nation.