Posts Tagged ‘caroline blosser’
On the tail end of things
The letter to President Bollinger published yesterday contains a moment so remarkable and extraordinary, that I’m going to repeat it for you just to make sure you don’t miss it. It was written:
Representatives and members from all of the undergraduate schools stand in solidarity with graduating seniors of the School of General Studies. Though there are four separate undergraduate schools, we stand as one undergraduate student body—celebrating the experiences and perspectives that every group and individuals add to this community. We wish to move past the animosity that has been presented toward various groups and remind students that we are here to support each other and wish that every member of our community feel included and welcomed.
Since this is an opinion post, here is my opinion of this paragraph: YES!!!!!! More »
My major is better than yours
In light of all the stories this week concerning changing compsci requirements, the creation of a new interdisciplinary major, and how the linguistics major has no department at all, we asked our Opinion writers: What is the best major and why?
Jim Pagels, Blogger: Defense Against the Dark Arts—I honestly don’t see how in these troubling times, anything else could be any more pertinent. Especially when all the courses are personally taught by Provost John Coatsworth.
Noel Duan, Columnist: I’m not a Classics or Classical Studies major, but once I met a faculty member at a party who told me (while inebriated, I believe) that they have the best-looking professors. More »
A comment on comments and the value of words
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes feel that with the explosion of the whole interwebs thingy and new social medias, words have proliferated to such an extent that I fear the very value of verbiage is being re-written (<– pun). If words were once a dime a dozen, they’re now a gratuitous trillion.
Still, I keep coming back to my belief that words are just as powerful as they’ve always been, perhaps even more so now that a voice can be heard from anywhere, to anywhere. Indeed, the power of words persists as it always has. More »
A tale of SS-LOL and the bulletin
For today’s Quick and Dirty, we asked our columnists and bloggers for their thoughts on course registration:
Derek Turner, Blogger: As a senior, I didn’t have to live through registration, but I must say I’m happy to see some of my junior friends signing up for Nobility and Civility, by far the best course at Columbia.
Samuel Roth, Columnist: College is the only time in your life that you can study whatever you want, just because you want to. Choose unwisely.
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, Canon Contributor: Class registration is a funny thing. It’s really about squeezing all the knowledge you could possibly want to gain into a series of temporally and spatially constrained decisions. Things get left out. Roads are left untaken. On second thought, class registration is a really depressing thing. More »
Safe space for spontaneity: part 2
Yesterday I suggested that we need more blanket forts. (I still believe this to be true). I also argued that Columbia needs more spontaneous fun and student interactions, especially those outside of formally organized situations. I lamented the lack “safe spaces” for spontaneity, and concluded by suggesting that because so many student spaces have to be reserved by student groups, the spontaneous connections that are so vital to healthy community are in fact often inhibited. This brings me to my argument here in part two: that the (wonderful!) plethora of student groups sometimes contributes to the culture of isolation on campus.
In order to use space, you often have to reserve it, and in order to reserve space, you must be affiliated with a recognized student group. This policy affects buildings across campus, from Earl Hall to Lerner. And this is a phenomenal problem. It severely limits and even at times prohibits the opportunities for spontaneous social interaction between students outside of formal student groups.
Don’t get me wrong—student groups are rock stars for our campus. The heart of our campus and it’s vibrancy can be found in the passion and vast array of our clubs and extracurriculars, and these groups are often the best ways for Columbian’s to find community on campus. More »
Safe space for spontaneity: Part 1
Columbia needs more blanket forts.
By which I mean 1) we should literally build more blanket forts, and 2) that we should seek more spontaneous interaction among students, and more unorganized use of campus spaces.
The first point is pretty self-evident— let me explain the second.
Last week I hung out on Low Steps for 12 straight hours with a home-painted sign, some friends, and a steady barrage of baked goods. I talked to a wide variety of students from all four undergraduate schools, a security guard, a gaggle of Taiwanese tourists, and some very confused parents of prospies.
I was able to collect a wealth of insights and opinions regarding the state of our student body. And an issue that our conversations kept coming back to was isolation at Columbia. This issue in itself, it seems to me, is tied to a a web of other factors, but there are two that I’d like to discuss that are not always entirely obvious. More »
Not a witty fool
Tomorrow is that wonderous and magical day of the year when families and friends come together to annoy each other with failed jokes, hoaxes, and taunts. Even from a young age, I’ve never been very successful at this holiday—my attempts at pranks usually elicited unconvinced eye rolling or angry tears (pretending your twin is stuck in the washing machine is not so funny to Mom, it turns out).
But I’m due for a blog post and the day is upon us. So, since I can’t give you any advice about this tender holiday, instead I offer a list of things you might be wishing were April Fool’s pranks:
Pass/D/Fail and the Oregon Trail
Trying to confront an administrative issue in a brief blog post is a bit like confronting an angry, man-eating bear-shark: it is ill-advised.
And yet I feel it must be done considering today’s monumental occasion. For today is a big day in your academic career: It is the last day to elect Pass/D/Fail (unless you are a SEAS friend, in which case this is your last chance to drop).
Let me begin with my own cautionary tale. More »
Barnard v. CC: The confrontation you’ve been waiting for
Bloggerheads is a feature in which some of our writers sit down to debate or discuss an important issue at Columbia, or THE important issue at Columbia:
Derek: Alright, so apparently Obama is speaking at Barnard commencement.
Caroline: Baller!
DT: Yes, but for whom?
CB: Everyone Derek, especially Women of America, and of course, Barnardians. Although I would say its great for the entire Columbia Community as well…
DT: Well let me share my two reactions:
1) Barnard? Why not CC?
2) How much of this is politics?
I don’t want to discourage Barnard—I mean I’m its number one fan. I think it has structural benefits that CC doesn’t. But it just seems a little unusual.
CB: To which I will respond that I disagree—it doesn’t seem unusual at all—by addressing your two fine questions.
Wasting wisely
Some people see the immoderate amount of time I spend lounging, or going on long walks or exploring the city, or just sitting and watching four or five movies at a time and, understandably, label me a lazy time-waster. But I do not see it like this.
In fact, I loathe waste, and I hate inefficiency even more. So I drink water straight from the faucet if I just want a sip.
And instead of wasting money, effort, and calories on spreading peanut butter and jelly over (superfluous) bread, I just plop some jam into the peanut butter jar, and eat the globs straight from there. I think this is brilliant—my roommates say it’s why I’m still single. More »