The annual Student Government Summit is a conference that brings together the Student Governments of New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai to discuss and plan university-wide collaboration and programs. Initiated last year after the establishment of NYU Shanghai, it is a conference whose agenda involves building relationships between the three campuses by addressing the aspects that make them different, such as structure and programs. This year, the Summit took place from 24th-25th January, 2015, at NYU Abu Dhabi’s new Saadiyat Campus, and included 15 representatives from NYU Abu Dhabi, 7 representatives from NYU New York, and 5 representatives from NYU Shanghai. This is a brief on how the conference went and what was achieved. The conference was attended by the following representatives of the NYU Shanghai Student Government: Roxanne Roman, President; Kenny Song, Global VP; Richard Zhao, Clubs Committee Chair; Wesley Livingstone, Freshman Class Rep; and Li Siyao, SenatorUpdates about Clubs: Regarding club synchronization between the campuses, it is imperative to make clubs realize that there are parallel clubs in other campuses that are made for the same purposes or are trying to host similar events. The first step towards increasing collaboration is making the clubs more aware of each other’s presence. The idea of “Global Clubs” was also discussed, which will not only increase club collaboration but also be helpful during study abroad semesters so that students don’t feel like they are stepping into unfamiliar territory when joining portal campus clubs. While the three campuses have been facilitating information exchange, New York has yet to establish a finalized list because of the large number of clubs that exist at the Square. Ideas currently being discussed and worked on include finalized rosters with club names and leaders as well as a stronger two-way relationship between Shanghai and New York when it comes to OrgSync. Updates About Communication and Alumni Programs: Currently, Abu Dhabi is focusing on alumni relations and want to work on bringing that focus to Shanghai as well. They are also trying to focus on creating better integration between the three campuses, but believe we have more of a control on its creation. Currently, a program is being established to allow the freshmen at Shanghai and Abu Dhabi to Skype each other to ask questions and provide answers on each other’s experiences. Updates about Academic Consistency Establishing academic consistency between the three campuses is underway, such as allowing Albert to indicate how a course at one location allows you to fulfill a requirement at another location; this will especially be helpful when students study abroad. Moreover, discussions about Abu Dhabi’s controversial policy of dropping all first year grades were brought up, without definitive answers on why it exists on one campus and not in the others. Issues regarding this policy were discussed, such as the value of this practice as on one hand, it allows students to explore different areas of interest in their first year, but on the other hand repercussions have been seen in very poor freshmen terms because of flippant attitudes towards grades. It was clarified that in Abu Dhabi, first year grades are only dropped after graduation, hence still affect the undergraduate experience such as in terms of GPA, study abroad requirements, major requirements, internships etc. Updates about the GSC The GSC stands for the Globalized Student Senators Council, and is an initiative led by NYU New York to give NYU Shanghai and NYU Abu Dhabi positions other than Senator in the council. The biggest problem with this right now is that rather than as individual universities, NYU Shanghai and Abu Dhabi are viewed as “colleges” of the New York campus - instead of being on the same level as an entity like “NYU New York”, we are viewed as one of their schools like Stern or CAS. The Abu Dhabi and Shanghai Student Governments are currently working to change that perception and to this end, is working on several proposals to restructure the NYU governance a fair, comfortable system that is equally representative of all three of NYU’s degree granting campuses as well as the connected global network we inspire to be. Lathika would like to thank Roxanne Roman and Maggie Walsh for providing her with information about the Student Government Summit, its agenda, as well as its results and developments.This article was written by Lathika Mouli. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Roxanne Roman