hellyeahjustinyang

Comprehensive Guide to hellyeahjustinyang

VOTE HERE: https://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/saapps/college/election/

VOTING DAYS ARE FROM MONDAY (9/19) UNTIL WEDNESDAY (9/21) AT 5 PM. Make sure you vote for JUSTIN YANG during that time. A voting link will be sent to you courtesy of CUIT. The elections board will not let me answer your questions via this site because that constitutes a publication of new web content which is against the rules of moratorium. EMAIL ME at jcy2113@columbia.edu to ask me questions. 

If you are looking at this, it is probably because you are about to vote. This is to help you make an informed decision (or uninformed decision, those are cool too).

Philosophy: Class council should be accessible. You should never be confused about who is your rep and who is your president. You should never feel like you don’t know who to talk to about university related matters. You should never feel like you, as a student, are actually on the outside looking in on a council you don’t understand. Don’t let an incumbent tell you that you don’t “understand” how student council “works.” If we need to “understand” how council “works” before we can help our peers, then we have a serious problem to tend to. As far as I know, I’m a student of Columbia and I love Columbia…and I especially love my class of 2013. That’s good enough reason for me to run for office.  

Multimedia (this is your favorite part anyway)

Throwback video: 

Key platform points:

1. Working with Columbia dining to implement a more flexible meal plan for upperclassmen. Ferris Booth and JJ’s Place are great options, but sometimes an expensive all-you-can-eat method can be difficult on our pockets. Let’s try to create a few more options for those that use Dining Dollars or cash. Also, let’s work for smaller meal plan options for those that just want to eat in dining halls from time to time.

2. Making CCE opportunities readily available and accessible. Junior year is the time to find internships and hopefully future full-time employment. I want to help bring Columbia career services closer to you by working with them to create events specifically designed for juniors at events with a fun and relaxing environment. Easy fixes like having some CCE representatives table on Lerner ramps for interview and resume training signups aren’t hard to do and can go a long way.

3. Juniors Day. I envision a day where juniors get to celebrate being juniors. Free t shirts, food, games, live music, and opportunities to meet those classmates you never met or renew those connections you made freshman year. Let’s have a bulletin board set up to highlight the class of ‘13 highlights and accomplishments. At the same time, I plan to have events that let you voice your opinions and concerns to the class council, and career networking events too. Let’s get to know our classmates better!

Campaign Posters (I am smiling at you on every bulletin board in your dorm. Is that weird?):

Anonymous asked: Do you think you could help implement more CCE opportunities and support for non-finance related careers? It seems that finance opportunities are the best funded and the most available, so it would be great if CCE could provide more funding/support for other paths too. Thank you!

Great question. I agree completely with you. You bet I will provide more access to non-finance career networking or recruiting. Finance is popular on campus, but it isn’t the only industry available to us as interns. I’ll work with CCE to put a bigger spotlight on nonprofits, other Fortune 500 companies, tech startups, sustainable energy companies, publishing, public sector industries, and more. Columbia College is a very diverse school when it comes to our professional future and academic choices so we need to capitalize on that and ensure everybody has a fair shot at landing the internship they want.

Key platform points

1. Working with Columbia dining to implement a more flexible meal plan for upperclassmen. Ferris Booth and JJ’s Place are great options, but sometimes an expensive all-you-can-eat method can be difficult on our pockets. Let’s try to create a few more options for those that use Dining Dollars or cash. Also, let’s work for smaller meal plan options for those that just want to eat in dining halls from time to time.

2. Making CCE opportunities readily available and accessible. Junior year is the time to find internships and hopefully future full-time employment. I want to help bring Columbia career services closer to you by working with them to create events specifically designed for juniors at events with a fun and relaxing environment. Easy fixes like having some CCE representatives table on Lerner ramps for interview and resume training signups aren’t hard to do and can go a long way.

3. Juniors Day. I envision a day where juniors get to celebrate being juniors. Free t shirts, food, games, live music, and opportunities to meet those classmates you never met or renew those connections you made freshman year. At the same time, I plan to have events that let you voice your opinions and concerns to the class council, and career networking events too. Let’s get to know our classmates better!

Anonymous asked: do you plan to bulk up for your stint as rep?

Yes. Representing the Class of 2013 is a heavy task, but I have been hitting the gym because I will be carrying the spirit and values of our great university on my shoulders. 

Anonymous asked: hey justin yang, are you a nice guy?

Thanks for your question. I am indeed a nice guy. I have done many nice things including rescuing kittens from trees and carrying the groceries for old ladies while helping them cross the street. 

Confucius once said “Nice guys finish last.” But Confucius was wrong. This Monday to Wednesday (9/19-9/21), I want to show the world (and by the world I mean Columbia University) that nice guys finish FIRST. 

Here’s A Thought: What does class council even do?!

Since I started campaigning, I’ve made some new 2013 friends that tell me they didn’t even know who their representatives were from previous years, nor did they know who their president was.

I suppose it’s fine if we don’t care, but ever since I campaigned for The BOLD Party last year, I’ve begun to realize that students SHOULD care.

So why don’t our peers know about all this? Why do we think council is just a committee that gives out free t shirts and does study breaks? Council should be responsible for being in direct contact with administration and influencing academics, policy, fundraising, greek life, student life, and more.

Your class council has an obligation to make sure students actually know what they do. Unfortunately, I like many others had no idea until I started running for a position last semester. See how hard I’m campaigning right now? I want to keep campaigning if you elect me as a class representative. I’ll campaign for the council and for you so everyone will know how awesome the Class of ‘13 is and how much the council has to offer. You think I make funny videos? Expect more of that in promotion of our class and our events. You think I blog a lot? Well I’ll blog more about council and our class if elected so you always are in the loop about your student reps. Sounds like a good deal to me.

Here’s a Thought: Give unrecognized student groups a chance to shine!

Here’s a thought.

Columbia would be a better place if unrecognized student groups could have their time in the spotlight also. Every year, multiple groups submit proposals to ABC, SGA, SGB, WTF (this doesn’t actually exist), and get denied the opportunity to become a recognized organization. Being a recognized group offers many advantages like potential funding, room bookings, easier event promotion, and easier recruitment. Starting a student group shouldn’t be a catch-22. As it is now, to become successful you must have many members, but usually to have many members you must be recognized.

Remember those college brochures from other schools that said students could start ANY and as MANY clubs as they wanted to? I’d like to see that here. More innovation and entrepreneurship would be great for our campus.

Though the respective governing boards exist for very legitimate reasons and I think they do a fantastic job of allocating resources, at the very least, our student representatives should lead the way for opportunities to give these unrecognized organizations their chance to shine. Unrecognized student group fairs, the opportunity to book rooms a couple times a year, and greater dialogue with other governing boards is a great place to start. Student groups, both recognized or unrecognized, I’m looking out for your interests and want you to be in the best position possible for success.