A transparent proposal

Dear Dean Peña-Mora, Dean Moody-Adams, and Provost Steele,

First off, let me personally welcome you to your new positions at Columbia University. When you interviewed for your respective positions, you were each inundated with many facts about this great institution—we are in the top 10 of virtually everything we do, our student body is nothing short of brilliant, and we have more potential than even we currently realize.

But, as you start your first year here, you may start noticing a process that the administration may call necessary, but which stunts the growth, limits the effectiveness, and curtails the scope of our imagination—the slowing, and in some cases stopping, of the flow of information.

After some time in your new positions, you will come to see that this is the root of virtually every problem at our school. Columbians have a long tradition of protesting to assert our fundamental rights as members of the University community. One of those rights is the access to and knowledge of the inner workings of the decision-making process of the University. If the status quo is maintained, the University runs the risk of long-term student alienation, which will be detrimental to both University finances and the wider Columbia alumni network. What could prevent this?

I contend that one simple word could solve many of these problems: transparency. Any student or faculty member will tell you that at times it seems as though there are stone walls that prevent us from being as efficient as possible. In turn, those walls breed dissent and distrust.

I’ll give you a few perfect examples:

Now, when student groups make T-shirts, they are not allowed to use the name “Columbia” or anything affiliated with the school, including the logo, without getting approval TWO MONTHS in advance. Why did this happen? When student council officials asked members of Student Development and Activities when they were planning on telling students about this new policy, the response was, “Sometime in late September.” So let me summarize. Despite the fact that SDA is responsible for advising students on the policies and procedures of the University, they were not going to tell students that there were major and fundamental rule changes affecting organization procedures immediately. This affects everything from our T-shirts for homecoming to club membership. . Transparency would have dictated that SDA tell the students about the new policies when they found out months ago rather than waiting for the councils to stumble across the information in September.

Furthermore, any purchase over $2500, which could normally be fronted by members then reimbursed by the school, must now be approved two months in advance and the vendor must be from a “preferred vendors” list. Because of that, every major event on campus or held by campus groups may now be held up until November, just before we are about to leave. I get that Columbia needs to protect its 501(c)(3) status as a nonprofit, but for the love of Alma Mater and Le Marteleur, please tell the groups. Groups try to follow the rules, but that becomes increasingly difficult, if not impossible, if groups are not informed in a timely manner.

Students are always impatient, but we would understand the inconvenience of waiting weeks if we could simply know the reasons why it takes so long to get reimbursed for purchases we made for our organizations (an action SDA and SACBO are no longer allowing, by the way, for purchases over $2500). Getting reimbursed for pizza from Famiglia should only take a phone call saying, “Hi, did the student group buy X number of pizzas for Y dollars? Yes? Ok. Just checking.” I have been involved in Columbia politics for three years and I still don’t know why it takes so long to hear back from the financial office.

There was one question I asked every potential dean I met during the interview process: “In 25 years, when you are gone, what will have been your legacy at Columbia?” In response, I heard some great slogans, like “the Age of Collaboration” or “solidifying a University community with students and alumni.”

Regardless of your answer, I implore you to add three additional words: “Era of Transparency.” This is the first time that three of the most important positions in the University have been filled by fresh, visionary minds. You three have the power to fundamentally change this University and usher in this new Era, in which students no longer feel the need to go on distracting and dangerous hunger strikes or pointless boycotts simply because they feel frustrated that they could not find the information they needed. Students in this Era will never be stopped by a stone wall of administrative silence.

After hearing your words to our community, never have I been so proud to be a Columbian. Our institution isn’t without flaws, but We the Students of Columbia, in order to create a more perfect University, ask that you help us achieve transparency for the betterment of the University and its students.

Good luck and best wishes,

Rajat Roy

Rajat Roy is a School of Engineering and Applied Science senior majoring in industrial engineering and operations research with a minor in environmental engineering. He is a university senator from SEAS. Cutting the Blue Tape runs alternate Wednesdays. opinion@columbiaspectator.com