SCC Steppin' Out for Charity Ball
Members of the Student Coordinating Committee (SCC) invite the HSPH community to strap on their dancing shoes for charity. The SCC will host the 2000 Winter Charity Ball on Saturday, February 26 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at The Westin, Copley Place, 10 Huntington Avenue, in Boston. Tickets are $25 per person and can be purchased outside of the Kresge cafeteria now to February 23. Proceeds benefit Mission Safe, a local after-school program. This year, the SCC has asked department heads to buy blocks of tickets to increase donations and lure more faculty.
The ball marks one highlight in a busy year for SCC members. The group continues to focus attention on a proposal to hold fall semester exams prior to the winter recess. The current calendar, which holds exams after the break, converts what should be a holiday into a study recess, said Robin Blum, SCC president. A committee of faculty, administration, and student representatives drafted a proposal of the change last spring and submitted the plan to the Committee on Educational Policy last fall. Faculty will discuss the proposal at their monthly luncheon meeting on March 2.
Blum emphasized that the work of the SCC improves student life and encouraged people to contact the group with concerns.
The SCC provides a proven conduit between students and administration, said Amy Vinturella, SCC vice president. "Dean Bloom is very interested in student issues," she said, "but he can't come down to the cafeteria every day and ask people how they are doing." When students complained about the lack of filtered water available to them after Sebastian's closes at 3 p.m., the SCC asked for an alternative, she said. Shortly thereafter, a water filtration system was installed near the cafeteria's entrance.
Now, SCC members are working to extend the closing hour of Sebastian's to 5 p.m. They have met with representatives of the cafeteria and HSPH administration to discuss the extension. "The after-hours community is wanting," said Vinturella. "You get out of a 3:30 class at 5 p.m., and this place has turned into a ghost town."
And soon students can eat their food, drink their java, and study their notes in new digs. The SCC plans to move the student lounge from the ground floor of Kresge to a more spacious area in the François-Xavier Bagnoud Building with the help of Operations. New couches, chairs, tables, and magazine racks will adorn the balcony that overhangs the security desk at the entrance of the building.
The SCC meets biweekly. Blum and Vinturella encourage students to check out the group's bulletin board on the ground floor of Kresge for upcoming events, including the ever-popular International Night and an end-of-the-year bash.
In addition to Blum and Vinturella, the SCC Executive Committee is: Eleni Spartos, secretary; Glenn Goldstein, treasurer; Sarah Wovcha, community liaison officer; Sasha Hegde, communications officer; and Heather Hue, athletic coordinator.
Members of the SCC.
Back row, left to right: Jessica Gaber, Cathy Speraw, Allison Morse, Hyun
Ryu, Vandana Shetti, Georg Marckmann, Aaron Woolsey, and Joe Abraham.
Center row, left to right: Amy Vinturella, Smitha Arekapudi, Erika Penz,
Robin Blum, and Heather Hue. Front row, left to right: Jill Fromewick,
Eva Schernhammer, and Manoj Monahan.
