Joon Baek
Biography
Coming from South Korea, I (he/his) served in the Republic of Korea Army at the DMZ. I am the international student representative in CCSC. To help international students to work at internships, I have advocated for CPT. To address food insecurity over winter break, I hosted food events and created calendars that listed other free food opportunities. I have also hosted international alumni networking panels with CCE, Visa Q&A events with ISSO, and international student town hall. Finally, I advocated for cancellation of in-person classes at the beginning of COVID-19, greater transparency about move-out process, and pass/fail options.
Platform
As president, my biggest priority will be focused on whether Columbia resumes in-person or online Fall 2020. With the current pandemic, it is impossible to predict what form Fall 2020 will take place. Thus, using our ticket’s experience, we will make sure that at every step of Columbia’s decision-making process, we’ll advocate on your behalf what is the best choice for students. We got a detailed plan both for in-person and online Fall 2020 here (https://tinyurl.com/cuonhouseparty).
Top 5 Policies when campus resumes:
-Continuing the dialogue with graduating seniors to have in-person commencement sometime during next academic year
-Host commemorative events for university facilities and dining hall staff who is still working on-campus
-Expanding CCSC’s Co-sponsorship fund to support student club’s events and utilize our listserv to actively promote more student clubs
-Designing financial literacy and financial aid officer assignment programs to help students navigate their aid
-Convening a town hall including administrators, students, and student groups to discuss issues on campus and ways we can solve them.
Top 5 Policies when Columbia is online:
-Developing a resources grant for students to buy technology, school supplies, and other materials they need for remote learning
-Ensuring the administration reduces tuition to a justifiable amount for Fall Zoom 2020 and that these changes reflect properly in terms on financial aid
-Using the Fall 2020 Campus Life budget to purchase Zoom Pro accounts for every Columbia student group
-Implementing a co-op program where students can get academic credits for work they do while having a leave of absence
-Hosting a virtual club fair at the beginning of the semester
In these perilous times, it requires active leadership to advocate for students. Whether Columbia is online or on-campus, we will do our duty to improve our community. CU on Houseparty! is prepared to tackle this situation.