Posts Tagged ‘gender-neutral housing’
Gender-neutral housing: A crash course in marriage?
Can guys and girls live together without children and a ring to keep them together?** At the national level, the numbers do not paint a rosy picture of marital bliss.
But what if you’re an upperclassman at Columbia living in a double with a member of the opposite sex? The numbers aren’t conclusive, but a cursory glance seems to suggest that things have generally been working out.
As Tracey Wang reports in today’s paper, the open housing program (which is open to all upperclassmen) for the 2012-2013 academic year has been progressing without any significant hitches:
“What we saw was exactly what we expected to see: If you find a compatible roommate, the gender element doesn’t really matter,” Edelman added. More »
Small problems, big implications
For a second-semester senior like me, déjà vu is not so much a momentary occurrence as it is a state of mind. Stress about housing, dissatisfaction with CCE in the face of internship and job pressures, the arbitrariness of academic deadlines: all of these important issues have plagued Columbia and Barnard students for years. New scandals pop up from time to time, but they tend to fall back on tired tropes (if you don’t know what I’m talking about here, you might be living under a rock, or perhaps Harmony.)
The duration and persistence of a problem, of course, is not a reason to ignore it, especially if it continues to shape our experiences as students. We should push our administration to reform the aspects of our school that fail to live up to our expectations. We should criticize the parts of our education that we find marginalizing or meaningless. But to move beyond criticism alone, we need to change our approach. More »
Headlines around the Ivy League
Even though most of us don’t have class, Columbia and Ivy-related news continues throughout the lazy days of summer with headlines covering everything from fraternity hazing to lap dances. Because you should be out enjoying the sunshine instead of glued to your computer, here’s a roundup of stories you (probably) missed.
Cornell fraternity sued for alleged hazing-related death:
Seems Columbia’s not the only Ivy with fraternity scandals. ABC News reports that the parents of sophomore George Desdunes are suing the fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon after he died from alcohol poisoning this February. Desdunes was allegedly blindfolded and tied with zip ties while being asked trivia questions, drinking after every incorrect answer. According to the case files, Desundes’ blood alcohol level at his time of death was .409—more than five times the legal limit. The mother is suing SAE for $25 million, and Cornell has already withdrawn recognition of the fraternity for the next five years. More »
‘Open housing’ pilot program approved (UPDATED)
A pilot program for “open housing” (last year’s gender neutral housing) has officially been approved. Six campus dorms—EC, Wien, Woodbridge, Ruggles, Nussbaum, and Claremont—will be available for open housing as part of next spring’s housing lottery. Sean Udell, CCSC 2011 President and author of the original proposal told Spec, “What is probably different is this is a lot less of a ‘dunk tank’…it’s much more of a controlled rollout.”
Full story here.
Today’s paper: that was quick
There’s nothing like a two day week to remind you of the precious time we have left this semester. The weather’s turned cold (and in today’s case, wet), Starbucks has started serving its drinks in those cheery, red holiday cups, and that one over-prepared girl in Music Hum has moved on to phase two of her preparation for the final. It all happened so quickly.
Today’s paper helps us look forward:
- What to do with all that Halloween candy post-Fall Break? Find better ways to eat it! [A&E]
- Now that we’re back at it, when can we expect to sleep again? On Sunday, for an hour. [Opinion]
- The administration will take yet another week to come to a decision about gender-neutral housing. [News]
- Columbia will open its doors to tennis champs, in Flushing. [Sports]
- Another decent pizza option opens on 103. [A&E]
- A student’s plea to change the tuition trend, while we still can. [Opinion]
The eye of the storm
So it’s here. Non-school. The day we’ve all been waiting for. Not quite summer, because, I mean, there’s that ominous cloud of finals-fury racing inevitably towards us. Racing kinda fast, as a matter of fact. So fast it almost makes you wish for a few more buffer weeks of class. But what are you gonna do? The storm’s headed our way, so there’s no choice but to reach for an umbrella. More »
969 Columbia students sign gender-neutral housing petition
The News desk reported earlier today that Everyone Allied Against Homophobia was delivering its “why don’t we have gender-neutral housing yet, hm?” petition to the administration today, but we just now got our hands on the document itself, and it’s a doozy. We’re still combing through it (it’s almost 50 pages and we have this paper to write due in two hours and so the timing just isn’t great), but it’s striking that 969 Columbia students and 20 different student groups came together to support this thing. You can read the petition, as well as the names of everyone who signed it, here (PDF). (Did your friends sign it? Does that make them good or bad people?) You can read the petition, sans signees*, here. (PDF). Help us out by making note of anything interesting in the comments.
Oh, and EAAH’s strongly-worded introductory letter is after the jump. More »
The Twilight Zone: Student rights at Columbia
Over the past couple of weeks, the roars of student dissent have been increasing in volume. Now that the administration has decided to postpone implementing gender-neutral housing, they’re deafening. In addition to the continuing campaigns to reclaim the days before Christmas and fight for/against the smoking ban, the administration faces yet another series of petitions that demand changes in policy. But despite these exciting and optimistic moments of activism, there seems to be a rather fundamental question that isn’t being discussed. More »
Four more days! Four more days!
And another day of clear skies and warm weather will tempt students to reconsider the opportunity cost of studying versus lounging on the steps. Yet to be seen who makes it to spring break with GPA intact and who succumbs to the sun rays. More »
Don’t hate, don’t wait… agitate!
In response to the biggest administrative disappointment of the year, you might expect student groups to get complacent, at least until next year rolls around. But true to Columbia form, student groups across campus are already getting the ball rolling on pressuring administrators to make gender-neutral housing a reality for the 2011-2012 academic year. More »