On this week’s episode, the editor-in-chief and deputy editor of The Chronicle discuss inclining enrollment numbers, layoffs in the career center and campus events marking the beginning of the year.
Transcript:
0:04: Hello there and welcome to Headlines.
0:06: I’m Will Blakley, the editor in chief of the Columbia Chronicle, and my name is Marc Balbarin.
0:10: I am the deputy editor of the Columbia Chronicle.
0:13: Yes.
0:13: Now, Will, tell me, what’s our top story today?
0:16: Yeah, our top story today is that two career advisors were recently eliminated.
0:21: They were laid off from the college.
0:24: We do not give out names here at the Chronicle.
0:26: There is one confirmed one in our story, but I will not be bringing it up here.
0:30: Well, what do we know about the situation so far?
0:33: Yeah, sure.
0:33: So, we had four career advisors at the college initially, so two of those positions were eliminated, and now Jennifer Halperin and Tom Joyce are gonna be essentially picking up the roles of those two laid off career advisors.
0:46: So instead of being specialized to schools, they’re just the career advisors for
0:51: Every student at the college. Yeah, so that’s kind of the position we’re in right now.
0:56: What’s the admin exactly saying?
0:58: The administrators, what are they saying?
1:00: Yeah, sure.
1:01: So, Anna Ogier-Bloomer, who’s the associate dean of career development and industry relations here at the college, she expressed her gratitude to the prior staff, and, you know, wished them well and all that, and she said that the career center should be running smoothly, despite these cuts.
1:16: Most students have reported that, yeah, it’s still running smoothly.
1:20: You know, they’re able to go in and get their work done, and get the advising they need. Although some students raise concerns about the fact that these career advisors are no longer going to be specialized to schools, because, you know, it’s maybe putting a wider workload on these teachers and students might not be able to get the specified help they need, although that’s an assumption, and you know they could have a system in place that will allow these students to still get the specialized career advising that they’re looking for.
1:49: So what should students be paying attention to with these two advisors being cut?
1:55: Yeah, sure, so I think students just need to pay attention to, are they getting the same help they were getting before?
2:02: Are they getting the specialized help that they want?
2:05: Do they feel like they are being given the tools they need to have a career after college?
2:11: Some students were talking about how, you know, they’re worried about the
2:15: Just the workspace right now, getting careers, it’s, you know, it’s hard, it’s butting.
2:20: And I think some are worried that, due to these cuts that they’re not gonna get the help they need to get the careers they want after college.
2:28: So really it’s just looking out for if those things are changing or if they’re not, and if they’re not, that’s great, but if they are, they need to be vigilant and make sure they look out to see if they need to pick up the slack of these drop positions themselves, and, you know, build their paths to creating their own careers.
2:49: Yeah, it’s an interesting time for this situation to happen, especially since with our new class of nearly 1100 students compared to last year’s 632 first-time first-year students.
3:02: I mean, it was the first week of classes and just come out right out of the gate like this.
3:07: Yeah, no, I mean the college is in a tough position here, right?
3:10: We have an influx of new students, which is great, that is what the college wants and needs and what everyone wants and needs. But also we are dealing with our deficit still, and that means we’re going to see wide cuts across all departments, and that’s just, it’s a need, right?
3:25: There is nothing that we can necessarily do about it.
3:29: It’s something that has to happen, but what they need to do is to ensure that these students still feel supported despite these cuts, which thus far seems like they are.
3:37: Yeah, the number one priority for a college is to serve its students and the student experience is something that should be protected.
3:45: Like, all these first-year students, you know, they’re experiencing all these new clubs, these classes at Columbia, and there’s so many events going on that just brings together our community.
3:56: Yeah, absolutely.
3:57: I mean, recently we had the poster sale in the student center, which is an annual event, and is always really popular and seems to get students excited about interest and stuff.
4:07: Did you pick up any posters yourself?
4:09: No, no, I have way too many posters of those.
4:11: I used to work in a movie theater, so I got a ton of free posters from there.
4:14: My room is covered, so I didn’t need them, but it’s great for students who did need them.
4:19: Yeah, unfortunately I just don’t have money.
4:22: Hey, I mean, the posters are relatively cheap there, I will say. I don’t have money.
4:29: Anyways, we have some free events going on as well.
4:33: Karaoke.
4:34: Yes, there was a karaoke night at the college here recently.
4:38: It’s a pretty popular club here around college.
4:40: It’s a dedicated karaoke club.
4:41: They meet every other Thursday, and it’s, I mean, I love karaoke.
4:45: I love karaoke so much.
4:47: I love karaoke.
4:47: I’m Filipino.
4:48: I love karaoke.
4:49: I’m gay, so I love karaoke.
4:55: Yeah, what’s your go to karaoke song?
4:58: A friend like me by Aladdin, from the Aladdin musical, you know, Robin Williams, like “you never had a friend like me.”
5:04: That’s a hard one to do.
5:06: I mean, I could see you pulling it off though.
5:08: You got a lot of energy and a lot of physicality that goes into that.
5:12: Yeah, it’s really like anyways, what else?
5:16: Well, what else has been going on on campus lately?
5:18: Yeah, I mean, there’s a ton of activities going on on campus, right?
5:21: I mean, some of the cinema clubs are starting up again, so we got Cult Cinema Club which meets every Friday, and they show, you know, weird cult films, sometimes it’s horror, often it’s horror, but once in a while it’s a drama and this and that. A really great club to kind of expand your film taste, and then there’s also a Messed Up Movies Club which meets every Monday.
5:41: That’s also a great opportunity to mingle with other people who love film.
5:45: You know, I’m definitely seeing that these 1100 new students, it’s such a big class and like for me, I’m a leader of my student org, the Columbia Cosmos volleyball team, and you know, we used to have like maybe 20 something members at our welcome meeting that we had.
6:02: We had 50 registered attendees on Engage. Nearly double, and I’m just seeing this, it’s so great to see this new community come in and be a part of Columbia.
6:13: Yeah, I mean, I gotta say I think that’s something the college is doing is making sure students are involved and are excited about getting involved and
6:22: I think that’s being shown across campus.
6:24: A lot of these student events are doing well, number-wise.
6:29: I believe the karaoke meeting had registered like 160 students, and I think about 55 ended up singing to my memory. So yeah, I mean these events are doing well, especially compared to some numbers from prior semesters. Yeah, even though we are seeing these cuts across the board, the college is doing what it can to kind of level out the student experience and make sure they’re not feeling those cuts.
6:56: Yeah, yeah, I believe coming up events we have a reporter going out to Big Mouth as well, the open mic event.
7:03: Yes, yes, yes, yes. We have Big Mouth is Saturday at I believe it’s 2 to 6 p.m. No, I’m really excited for all of our reporters to cover these events as these first few weeks of classes unfold.
7:17: Yeah, absolutely. I mean we’re going to be covering as many as possible, and it’s a great way to get to know about clubs that are meeting on campus and regular events students can attend, or we do students about the art galleries here like we have a story about the “Made it Here” and the “Made It There” galleries, and there’s just some fantastic student work in there.
7:37: The Made It Here gallery had this set of three portraits that I thought were beautiful, that were partially hand drawn and had this very like
7:45: Mystical effect to them.
7:46: It was really beautiful stuff.
7:48: So, honestly yeah, I encourage people to if they’re looking for these galleries out there, you know, look on Engage or check out the Chronicle and read about them, because there’s some really fantastic work that’s happening here around campus.
7:57: I mean, yeah, for the Chronicle, stories like these advisor cuts are important, but really our bread and butter are the student events. Catering to our community because at the end of the day we’re all still
8:09: Students and we’re all part of one big Columbia College Chicago community.
8:13: Yeah, absolutely.
8:14: I mean, I think that first and foremost we are an art school.
8:17: We are a school that is dedicated to culture, and I think the more that we can recognize that culture and recognize different cultures here on campus, which there are a ton, is it works to creating a stronger community of students and a stronger idea of, you know, where the future of art is going.
8:38: All right, thanks for listening to Headlines.
8:40: Don’t forget to check out our coverage at the columbiachronicle.com.
8:43: And furthermore, we have a print issue out at every single campus building.
8:49: The back to school issue.
8:51: Oh yeah, the back to school issue which the theme is “Made in Chicago,” highlights a bunch of college alumni here who are doing some really great work across the city.
8:59: All right, well, my name is Marc Balbarin.
9:00: Once again, I’m the deputy editor.
9:02: I’m Will Blakley.
9:02: I’m the editor in chief.
9:04: we’ll see you next week.
Copy edited by Isaac Russo
