Loading ...I Want You For CPU Tech Director
Listen To Tux!
CPU elections have come and gone, and now we have a fantastic new Executive Board primed and ready to lead CPU come next semester. But before we can introduce the new board, one final position is must still be filled. CPU still needs a Tech Director for the following year! This is a great opportunity to expand and exercise your technical skills, while also serving a vital role in Columbia’s multi-partisan political community.
We are looking for someone with strong technical skills and a passion for politics. The Tech Director, as a board member, gets a vote on the CPU E-Board and therefore is an active participant in all of its activities (events, publications, etc), not limited to tech. The position is highly flexible and will allow you a lot of freedom in terms of what types of projects you would like to pursue with CPU. That said, we are looking for candidates with one or more of the following interests:
• Web-design
• Web server systems
• Multimedia (film, photography, audio)
• Social media
• And other important 21st century things
If you are interested in applying all we ask is that you submit a brief (one paragraph) statement of intent, along with your name and year of graduation. All applications should be sent to the incoming General Manager Nick Singer at nbs2125(at)columbia.edu. The sooner you send in your application, the sooner you can take your rightful place on the CPU Executive Board! Don’t make Tux the Penguin sad, apply today!
CPU BOARD ELECTIONS!
When you play the game of CPU Board elections…
It’s that time of year again. Time to pass down the torch from CPU Board to another. But how does one ascend to the glorious pantheon of CPU Board members? The answer, dear readers, is in this post. Read on and fulfill your (political) destiny!
CPU will be hosting its Executive Board elections on April 22nd at 9pm in 502 Lerner Board Room. Any member of the Columbia student body can run for a position, regardless of your current affiliation with CPU. We’re simply looking for candidates who are dedicated, and innovative, and passionate about politics. That means that you should apply (yes, we mean you)!
You are allowed (and encouraged) to apply for more than one position. If you are not chosen for your first-choice position, you will be automatically considered for your subsequent preferences. That means you should apply for any and every position you have interest in. Additionally, you must submit a brief statement of intent (1 paragraph on why you would are interested in the position) for your first-choice position along with a ranked list of the positions you wish to be considered for by midnight on Friday, April 19th. All applications should be sent to CPU General manager Mingming Feng at mf2719@columbia.edu. Then on the day of the elections, you must be present to briefly speak and answer questions in front of the CPU Governing Board, which will then deliberate and announce its decision.
The list of available positions on the E-board are as follows:
• General Manager
• Director of Operations
• Treasurer
• Events Coordinator
• CPU Publisher
• Technical Director
• Communications Coordinator
• Editor-in-Chief of the CubPub
• Columbia Political Review Publisher
Your eyes do not deceive you: you can indeed apply to be the Editor in Cheif of the Blog! The thing you’re reading right now. But there’s plenty of other great positions to apply for. Don’t just take the Cub Pub’s word for it. Read these personal words of encouragement from our current GM, Mingming:
“The experience of working with CPU is fantastically rewarding, and I highly encourage those of you who either consistently read my emails or are interested in politics and engaging with the Columbia community to apply! And of course feel free to contact me (mf2719@columbia.edu) or any other board member with questions!”
You heard it, folks! Get those applications in and get engaged!
Lay Down Your Placards: Faculty House Workers Agree To New Contract
SWS marches again
It seems that every generation of Columbia students has it’s own landmark protests. The class of ’68 shut down campus, protesting the Vietnam War and plans to build a gym in harlem. In 1978 Columbians rose up again to protest the University’s investments in South African Apartheid supporting companies. In 2007, student demonstrations lead to the creation of the Global Core. And now 2013 has seen the conclusion of the Faculty House protests, after workers ratified a new contract with the University.
As the years go on, Columbia’s protests have become more low key. Or, maybe the University has slowly learned that an out-of-hand demonstration is bad publicity. If that’s the case then both the students and the University are better for it. The Faculty House contract is a sign that the administration is capable of compromise. The workers didn’t get a every thing that they wanted, but that was likely to be from the start. What SWS (Student Worker Solidarity) and the Faculty House workers did prove, however, is that campus activism is effective.
It’s fitting that these protests wrap up in Spring when prospective incoming students flock to Morningside Heights. At some point during their stay, between searching for the owl hidden away in Alma Mater’s robes and sitting in classes that they might take come next year, a prosbie is bound to hear Columbia’s light bulb joke. “How many Columbia students does it take to change a lightbulb? 76– One to change the lightbulb, fifty to protest the lightbulb’s right to not change, and twenty-five to hold a counter-protest.” In a way that joke is an integral part the College’s legacy.
That joke is a reflection of ourselves, one we can shape and control. It depends on whether we as students protest for things that matter, and whether we are willing to work with the University to create change. Without compromise, and negotiation, all of these demostrations are just exercises in public navel-gazing. It’s disheartening that SWS had to organize demonstrations for months before proper negotiations could begin, but they succeeded in bringing about real change to the lives of faculty house workers. It may be a modest victory, but let’s hope that it’s one that continues to pave a path towards a more receptive Columbia administration- a path I expect SWS will be marching down sooner rather than later.
In any case, that’s the Cub Pub’s thoughts on the new Faculty House contract. If you’re interested in the hard details of the contract then you should check out Spec’s excellent coverage, or you can hear from SWS in their own words in this WKCR interview. If you’d like to read a statement from SWS as to the future of the organization (which was sent to Prezbo and other members of the administration) then just check after the jump.
Continue Reading →
CPU Event Tonight: Panel on Gun Control
So far, policy has been missing the mark
[Event Cancelled]: Unfortunately, Mark Glaze will be unable to attend tonight. There have some very recent developments on the gun control bill that is currently making its way through the Senate, and we were notified this morning that Mr. Glaze must set out for Capital Hill rather than Morningside Heights. The Columbia Political Union feels that it is thusly unable to preserve the nature of the event originally scheduled. We at CPU are still dedicated to bringing this important discussion on Gun Control to campus, perhaps at a later date.
While this is disappointing news, CPU has plenty of other great events lined up in the coming weeks. Be sure to check out our conversation with Dr. Hooshang Amirahmadi, candidate in the upcoming Iranian presidential elections, this Thursday at 8pm! Continue Reading →
Columbia ’13 Class Day Speaker Leaked!
This image has been edited to protect the identity of those pictured
[Editor's Note: For those not in the know, this post was published on April 1st]
It’s Columbia’s biggest leak since Macklemore. A series of emails have been leaked, discussing the choice of this year’s Columbia College Class Day speaker. While the emails, sent between ___ ___ ___ and ____ ___, do not conclusively decide on a speaker, their first choice seems to be “Zero Dark Thirty” director, Kathryn Bigelow.
The choice itself is a little out of the ordinary for Columbia.Usually the Class Day speaker is a graduate of Columbia College. Bigelow is an alumni of Columbia’s graduate film program, where she earned her MFA. However, a few previous speakers have been graduates of other programs. The 2002 speaker, David J. Stern, was a graduate of the law school and in 2007 Senator John McCain was Class Day speaker despite never attending Columbia (his daughter did, however, and was graduating that year).
Bigelow would be a controversial choice, if she indeed is selected, due to the incredibly political nature of her films. The emails do discuss the possibility of other speakers, should they be unable to finalize arguments with Bigelow. The other names mentioned are perhaps your more typical class day fair: distinguished attorneys and CEOs. However, the emails imply that the University has repeatedly reached out to Art Garfunkel (CC ’63) to speak at Class Day. The chances of that are unlikely though. Apparently he was supposed to speak a few years ago, but plans fell though when Prezbo “innocently joked that for what Mr. Garfunkel charged for his services, it would only be worth it if Paul Simon were to collaborate on the speech as well.” Continue Reading →
The Cub Pub is on Break
There’s a new pope in the Vatican, the sequester is putting the squeeze on America, Hugo Chavez died, and North Korea is going off its rocker and what does the Cub Pub have to show for it?
Nothing, it’s Spring Break!
See you in a week, Columbia. Until then we’re handing off control of the Cub Pub servers to our friends in Pyongyang. Enjoy!
SWS Writes to PrezBo, Gets Frustrated
Part of a SWS protest, joined by Columbia dining hall workers
Yesterday, SWS hand delivered a personal letter to President Bollinger, appealing for action on Faculty House worker’s contacts. This is not the first time the group has written to the administration in an attempt to start negotiations. However, it seems that whatever little dialogue there may have been has not proved fruitful.
When they previously tried to get in contact with PrezBo, their letters were instead replied by Vice President of Student Affairs, Scott J. Wright. Wright’s letter tried to explain the administration’s perspective on the Faculty House contacts, but SWS was… less than convinced. SWS members released an annotated version of Wright’s letter, highlighting and commenting all the sections they found objectionable. For anyone who is interested in the University’s politics relating to the protests, it’s very much worth reading.
SWS has provided us with a copy of their most recent letter to President Bollinger which you can read in full after the jump. Continue Reading →
Eric Foner Joins Faculty House Protesters
The Faculty House protests show no sign of stopping. The administration has been tight-lipped towards the demonstrators but their silence seems to only egg on Student Worker Solidarity, the organizational group behind the protests. And, as the protests drag on, members of college faculty start to take notice and raise their voice to support the cause.
This Friday they again marched on campus, and then organized on Low steps. But this time they were joined by legendary American history professor, Eric Foner. You can listen to a section of his brief speech below.
Eric Foner steps into the ring of protesters
And for more pictures and video of the protest, continue after the jump. Continue Reading →
There is a Future for Israeli Politics (Maybe)
Yair Lapid giving a speech after his party came in second in January’s election
The results of this past January’s Israeli legislative elections show that the country is in the midst of a political shift towards centrism. The Yesh Atid Party, known in English as the Future Party (translated laterally as “There is a Future”), was founded just last year on a platform of moderatism. This year they won 19 seats in Israel’s legislative body, the Knesset.
Yesh Atid was created by Israeli actor, television anchor, author, and now politician, Yair Lapid as a moderate answer to Netanyahu’s conservative Likud Yisrael Beteinu coalition and the liberal but polarizing Kadima and Labor parties. Prior to the formation of his party, Lapid had been increasingly vocal about the disconnect between the important issues for average Israelis and the kind of political rhetoric being used by Knesset legislative bigwigs. Instead, Yesh Atid aims to represent the concerns of the middle class by addressing economic and domestic issues such as education and employment.
Last Day to Pitch for CPR!
TO SUBMIT PITCHES!
By this point in the year everyone must be aware of the awesomeness that is the Columbia Political Review. If you’re looking for in depth political analysis put together by some of the sharpest writers and editors in campus, then CPR is right for you. But, have you ever considered that you maybe be right for CPR?
That’s right, writers! Right now you can right the wrongs of not writing for CPR sooner by writing a pitch for their spring issue right away! Support our fellow CPU publication by filling out their application, reposted below. But do it quick because the deadline is today at 11:59 PM!!
