CPU Newsletter

January 24, 2005

CPU EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. General Body Meeting: Meet and Greet Redux (TONIGHT, 1/24)

2. CPR Pitches for February Issue Due (TONIGHT, 1/24)

3. CPU Event: Gifford Miller, New York City Council Speaker (2/1)

4. CPU Event: Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights
Watch (2/3)

OTHER EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

5. PSSA Event: Back to Barter (1/25)

*******************************************************************

CPU EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. General Body Meeting: Meet and Greet Redux

Monday, 1/24 at 9:00 pm
Room W501, Alfred Lerner Hall

With the start of the new semester the CPU Executive Board would
like to invite our membership to a general body meeting to serve as
a forum for you to share your comments and suggestions with us and
for us to discuss ways you can get more involved in the day-to-day
operation of the CPU. You will hear about deputy positions,
committee positions, and how you can take on individual projects.
You can think of it as a sort of Meet and Greet Redux, complete
with food.

If you have any questions or are interested in getting involved but
can’t make the meeting email cpu@columbia.edu.

*******************************************************************

2. Columbia Political Review Pitches Due

Monday, 1/24 at 11:59 pm

The political pressure that mounted in your brain throughout Winter
Break can finally be released! The Columbia Political Review,
Columbia's nonpartisan political magazine, is currently accepting
pitches for its February issue. Whether you want to write about
war, natural disasters, foreign aid, global/national/local
politics, social issues, or any other politically-tinged subject,
the CPR is the place for you to do it.

To pitch an article, please answer the following questions in the
body of an email (i.e. NOT in an attachment) and send it to
cpureview@columbia.edu.

At the top, include your name, ROLM or mobile phone number, email
address, school, and year. Then follow the guidelines below that
pertain to the type of article that you want to write.

1. Describe up to three articles you are interested in writing for
CPR. Your description of each article idea should be fairly
detailed - about one paragraph in length - and include what sources
you would contact for the article. It should also include what your
opinion of the subject is, i.e. what exactly would you be arguing?

2. Are you interested in writing a book or movie review? If so,
what book or movie would you like to review? (It should be related
to politics, of course).

3. Are you interested in writing a personal essay? What about?

4. What is your previous journalism experience? (It's okay if you
have no previous experience).

5. Have you had any life or work experiences that uniquely qualify
you to write about a particular topic? If so, what? (Some examples
include growing up in a foreign country, working in the White
House, etc.)

If you aren't sure what to pitch, try checking out previous issues
of CPR online at
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cpu/cpr/issues/index.html for ideas.

Questions about how to pitch an article should be directed to
cpureview@columbia.edu. Thanks for your interest in the CPR. We
look forward to reading your pitches.

*******************************************************************

3. Gifford Miller, New York City Council Speaker

Tuesday, 2/1 at 12:30 pm
Location TBA

Elected unanimously by his colleagues to the post of City Council
Speaker on January 9, 2002, Gifford Miller leads the legislative
branch of New York's municipal government, overseeing the passage of
all new laws and the City's $47 billion annual budget. Speaker
Miller, a Democrat and lifelong New Yorker, was fist elected to the
City Council in 1996.

Sponsored by the American Constitution Society, the Columbia Law
School Young Democrats, the Columbia College Democrats, and the
Columbia Political Union.

*******************************************************************

4. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch

Thursday, 2/3 at 8:00 pm
Location TBA

Kenneth Roth has been the executive director of Human Rights Watch
since 1993. The largest U.S.-based international human rights
organization, Human Rights Watch investigates, reports on, and
seeks to curb human rights abuses in some 70 countries. From 1987
to 1993, Mr. Roth served as deputy director of the organization.
Previously, he was a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Attorney's
Office for the Southern District of New York and the Iran-Contra
investigation in Washington. He also worked in private practice as
a litigator.

Mr. Roth has conducted human rights investigations around the globe,
devoting special attention to issues of justice and accountability
for gross abuses of human rights, standards governing military
conduct in time of war, the human rights policies of the United
States and the United Nations, and the human rights
responsibilities of multinational businesses. He has written over
70 articles and chapters on a range of human rights topics in such
publications as the New York Times, the Washington Post, Foreign
Affairs, the International Herald Tribune, and the New York Review
of Books. He also regularly appears in the major media and speaks
to audiences around the world.

*******************************************************************

OTHER EVENTS/ANNOUNCEMENTS:

5. Political Science Students Association (PPSA) Presents: “Back
to Barter”

Tuesday, 1/25 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
East Ramp Lounge, Alfred Lerner Hall

“Back to Barter” is an event intended to save you money on your
books for political science courses. You can come trade books you
have from past courses for books for courses you're taking this
semester. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Please come by
and check it out even if you do not have books to trade! Check out
our website for more info! www.columbia.edu/cu/pssa and email
lmw2018@columbia.edu with any questions.