We, Columbia and Barnard faculty, write in solidarity with and in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement now underway in our city and elsewhere. Many observers claim that the movement has no specific goals; this is not our understanding. The movement aims to bring attention to the various forms of inequality – economic, political, and social – that characterize our times, that block opportunities for the young and strangle the hopes for better futures for the majority while generating vast profits for a very few. The demonstrators are demanding substantive change that redresses the many inequitable features of our society, which have been exacerbated by the financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent recession. Among these are: the lack of accountability on the part of the bankers and Wall Street firms that drove the economy to disaster; rising economic inequality in the United States; the intimate relationship between corporate power and government at all levels, which has made genuine change impossible; the need for dramatic action to provide employment for the jobless, and to protect programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, in part by requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share of taxes; the disastrous effects of the costly wars that the United States has been conducting overseas since 2001. Only by identifying the complex interconnections between repressive economic, social and political regimes can social and economic justice prevail in this country and around the globe. It is this identification that we applaud, and we call on all members of the Columbia community to lend their support to this peaceful and potentially transformative movement.
(via Bwog)
Dearest Columbia,
You admit the weirdest and most random people. And that is why I love you. I don’t even know what you see in us half the time. But I knew it was true love when you wrote, “Can’t wait to discuss fashion week with you on campus” on my acceptance letter.
Congratulations, class of 2015! You just beat a 6.9% acceptance rate. Now, go forget about college and enjoy the rest of high school.
Love,
Proud Lion ‘13
The funny thing about everything that I’ve learned at Columbia so far
is that it both affirms everything I stand for and questions everything I had ever taken for granted as part of my identity.
I want to elaborate on this, but I have quite a bit of work to do before the semester begins. Lazy blogger, aren’t I? Point is, college changes things. That’s something my high college counselors forgot to tell me.
This happened this morning and it’s been all over the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Twitter, etc.
Everyone seems to have something to say about it, whether or not they go to Columbia.
It got me thinking about privilege. And ethics. And the law.
I don’t like how the entire undercover operation was called “Operation Ivy League.” What does being in the Ivy League have to do with this?
But the more I think about it, it does.
Here is what a commenter, signed “becca” on Bwog, said:
You know, these 5 guys are pretty lucky. They have parents to back them up, they have friends who are praying for and are sad for them, they have access to non-court appointed attorneys, and any judge they get put in front of is going to see some nice young men who made some bad mistakes and who deserve a second chance at life. They’re having a bad day (which is entirely of their own making, by the way), but their lives are hardly ruined.
They’ll get kicked out of Columbia? Lose scholarships? Spend a couple years in jail? And because of this, we assume their lives are over?
Columbia community, your privilege is showing.
Look–anyone who’s done research on the drug war for more than five minutes knows the racist and classist policies it upholds. Most drug users are white, most of those in prison on drug charges are black; sentencing disparities between crack and cocaine, etc etc. So the real question here isn’t “Oh boohoo why is the NYPD wasting its resources taking down our best and brightest,” it’s WHY DON’T THEY DO IT MORE OFTEN. Clearly, there is a culture of immunity here. Clearly, drug use is an open secret. So why does the NYPD expend the vast majority of its resources in poor minority areas, locking up black and Hispanic* kids, and not on the Upper West Side?
And no, there’s no good way to try to say “But our drug dealers are GOOD KIDS and BRILLIANT LEADERS while their drug dealers are EVIL VIOLENT CRIMINALS” without coming off as a racist. Because the policy is racist, the whole war is deeply racist, and to try to argue that the cops should get the hell off our nice privileged hillside only mirrors the same.
Maybe it wouldn’t bother me enough to make me want to post if I thought more than one in ten of you here (and on the NY Times website, and the Spec website) who are all angry about this useless stupid drug war didn’t just get caught up to this issue THIS MORNING, because it was your incredibly privileged friend who got caught–and not yesterday, or last year, or the thirty years before that, when it was invisible because it was mostly poor black kids. Drugs ravage poor communities, but so do drug policies–just head down to Prospect Heights and ask around to see who has drug records, and ask them if it’s gotten in the way of them finding any kind of employment. Somehow, I don’t think these kids will have that problem. Anyone whining about how they should legalize drugs just so we can use them with impunity is an asshole.
*I know not all the kids arrested were white, please excuse my simplistic, linguistic shorthand. Privilege is a complicated thing.
The Eye, the Columbia Daily Spectator’s weekly features and arts magazine, celebrates its 100th issue today — and in celebration, they decided to ask various figures around campus about the state of journalism at Columbia University. They asked me to contribute a piece, and they were also awesome enough to include an embarrassing illustration of myself (see above). Thank you, Helen and Devin!
Anyway, I really loved reading what all the other campus journalists had to say. Makes me love my school even more. Happy 100th!
College Catwalk: Hoot Magazine and the print debut of Columbia’s fashion scene
by Noel Duan, CC ‘13, co-founder and editor in chief of Hoot, founder of Miss Couturable, style blogMiss Couturable arguably represented the future of fashion writing: A high school student starts a blog and generates a worldwide following. So why did you start a Columbia-specific fashion magazine catering to a more limited audience?
I started fashion blogging in high school, since no one at my Silicon Valley high school was as serious about fashion as I was, and I wanted to connect with fashion enthusiasts around the world who shared my undying love for the sartorial. It was great—I made friends and connections with people who worked in the fashion industry or who just loved art and fashion, which would not have happened without the Internet.
However, when I arrived at Columbia in my first year, I started to meet a lot of students who, like me, read fashion magazines as frequently as, or maybe more frequently than, they read Lit Hum books. I realized that I didn’t need to write a fashion blog in order to engage with fashion-savvy individuals anymore—they were right on campus with me.
I mean, sure, Hoot serves a “limited” audience, but a powerful one, nonetheless. After doing some research, I found out that Columbia alumnae in the fashion industry include Cecilia Dean, BC ’91, founder and editor of Visionaire magazine, to Kelly Killoren Bensimon, GS ’98, former editor of ELLE Accessories magazine, to Cameron Russell GS ’10, model and entrepreneur, to Tina Chai, another CC alum and freelance stylist for brands such as Thakoon. Hoot co-founder and Beauty and Health Director, Jina Lim, and I wanted to bring the fashion community of our school together—and what better way to do this than to work on a collective project such as a fashion publication?
A lot of other colleges and universities, like UC Berkeley and Northwestern, have established fashion magazines, so it only makes sense that Columbia should have one too. Hoot is unique because of the resources that New York City offers; we work with and learn from experienced professionals, book celebrities for our photo shoots, and borrow clothing samples from the same showrooms as major fashion magazines. Hoot educates students about the nuances of fashion publishing, from learning how to properly steam designer clothes at photo shoots, to interviewing fashion designers, to dealing with demanding public relations officers—that’s something that not many campus publications can offer.
That said, I’m always going to love blogging, but blogging is more personal to me. Hoot is a collaborative project for Columbia, by Columbia.
Also this makes me even more excited for Hoot’s Fall 2010 issue, launching in just a few more days.
116 Things to Do at Columbia
1. Enter the 116th Street gates or participate in the candle-lighting on the first night of orientation.
2. Go to Orgo Night.
3. Make a spare key with an old credit card and an Exacto blade.
4. Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge with your floor-mates.
5. Eat a slice of Koronet pizza and seasoned chicken from JJ’s in the same night.
6. Eat and get drunk with an administrator and your Lit Hum or freshman-seminar professor. 7. Go to a World Leaders Forum event.
8. Go to a fireside chat.
9. Explore the tunnels.
10. Watch a sunrise over Morningside Park after pulling an all-nighter.11. Pretend to be interested in a club to get free shit; get spammed for the next four years.
12. Get sexiled. Sleep in the lounge.
13. Watch the Varsity Show all four years.
14. Spend a night drinking on the Low steps with friends. 15. Go to the campus tree-lighting and yule log ceremony.
16. Dance with one of the belly dancers at Casbah Rouge.
17. Lock yourself out of your room while in a towel and flip-flops. Proceed to Hartley.
18. Pull an all-nighter with the rest of your floor studying for the Lit Hum final.
19. Protest something.
20. Sled down the Low steps on a John Jay tray. 21. Forget to transfer at 96th Street and end up in central Harlem. 22. Actually explore Manhattanville and Harlem.23. Find the owl on Alma Mater. 24. Rock the glass house.
25. Take Freedom of Speech and Press with Bollinger.
26. Bike ride through Times Square at midnight with Ken Jackson’s History of the City of New York class.
27. Take a class with professor Foner.
28. Go to midnight breakfast.
29. Catch someone moving your laundry.30. Make friends with your security guard and janitorial staff (and buy their CDs if they are selling them).
31. Run the PrezBo 5K.32. Watch a football game at Baker Field. 33. Go to a Bacchanal concert.
34. Drink on the Low steps. 35. Quote a Core text out of class and realize that you’re now a tool.
35. Take the walk of shame across campus.
36. Go to a concert for a campus music group.
37. Study abroad, preferably at Reid Hall in Paris or the Berlin Consortium.
38. Change your major.
39. Go to mass at Riverside Church or St. John the Divine. 40. Do a trip with Urban New York. 41. Enroll in a 9 a.m. or Friday class; never go.
42. Volunteer with Community Impact.
43. See a movie star filming on campus. Later, obnoxiously point out Columbia scenes to friends and family while watching movie in theater.
44. Go to frat parties only for free beer.
45. Sneak onto the roof of Mudd or Sulz to watch the sun set.
46. Have your 21st birthday party at Mama Mexico.
47. Get the half-and-half pasta (half alfredo, half marinara) at Ferris Booth.
48. Go to a jazz show at St. Nick’s Pub.
49. Get parents to pay for dinner at Le Monde or Sezz Medi.
50. Get a Broadway Shake at Tom’s.
51. Find your study spot in Butler.
52. Go to Hungarian Pastry Shop; realize Saurin Park is better. 53. Spend a vacation on campus while it’s empty.
54. Go to ADP’s Hot Jazz.
55. Watch the spring outdoor show by King’s Crown or the Fruit Paunch 24-hour show. 56. Learn the fight song.
57. Get a fake ID.
58. Become disillusioned with the Core. 59. Spend a night talking on AIM rather than studying. Realize it’s 7 a.m. and you’ve done nothing.
60. Ignore red flags on South Lawn and play football.
61. Go to the Organization of Pakistani Students’ Hangama.
62. Take free-throws against Joe Jones.
63. Get cited by the RIAA for downloading “MmmBop.”
64. Call CAVA for a friend. 65. Get CAVA-ed by a friend.
66. Go to Fed Bash.
67. Explore all five boroughs.
68. Wade in the Columbia fountains.
69. Participate in the Tent of Consent at Sexhibition.
70. Dress up and go to the Village Halloween Parade.
71. Participate in the Athena games. 72. Regret wearing heels after walking on College Walk.
73. Stay up for 72 straight hours. 74. Write a term paper in 24 hours.
75. Participate in Take Back the Night. 76. Get misquoted in Spec.
77. Watch the “Vagina Monologues” on Valentine’s Day.
78. Lose friends in senior regroup. 79. Make dean’s list.
80. Pass without ever scoring above a 60 on a test (SEAS only).
81. Pass without ever reading a book (Columbia College only).
82. Stand in line all night for L-registration; still get fucked (BC only). 82. Realize no matter how you do on your midterm, you’ll still get a B.
83. Take part in Forty on Forty.
84. Get a sandwich at 212; don’t pay for it.
85. Watch the naked run (extra points if you participate).
86. Take Barnard lab req; almost fail out.
87. Ride the lion and spin the molar. 88. Hide under your bed during a fire alarm.
89. Watch a movie at Ferris Reel. 90. Drink Red Bull for breakfast. 91. Host a prefrosh.
92. Participate in Barnard week. 93. Go to a professor’s office hour.
94. Seriously consider dropping out every year-all the cool Columbians have. 95. Read Orientalism.
96. Use your CUID for free admission to MoMA often.
97. Attend a seder.
98. Have a drunken hookup after a night at The Heights; Awkwardly bump into said hookup everywhere.
99. Go to Health Services for being sick; leave with condoms.
100. Take the M60 to LaGuardia.
101. Go to Shea and Yankee stadiums; be a fan of the Mets or the Yankees, but not both.
102. Every year make a New Year’s resolution to visit Dodge every day. Then don’t.
103. Be an OL.
104. Go for a run in Riverside Park; find your next date.
105. Fall over after Dance Marathon.
106. Go on a citywide scavenger hunt.
107. Facebook-stalk a crush.
108. Hear Jeffrey Sachs or Sunil Gulati speak and experience liberal guilt. Relieve it by protesting.
109. Go to a CB9 meeting and find out what the hype is about.
110. Write a paper based entirely on Wikipedia and Google; get caught.
111. Write a really good paper; realize value of research librarians.
112. Work a campus work-study job swiping cards or stacking books. 113. Work an off-campus internship during the year.
114. Spend one summer living and working in the city.
115. Hook up in the Butler stacks.
116. Take the swim test the day before graduation.
(via Columbia Daily Spectator)
Goal is to cross off at least five more things on this list by the end of next year.
