February 2017

T H E U N D E RG R A D UAT E M AG A Z I N E O F C O LU M B I A U N I V E R S I T Y, E S T. 1 8 9 0

THE BLUE AND WHITE Vol. XXIII No. I

February 2017

Inciteful Discussion What Milo’s presence will mean for campus discussion

Gravitas in the Glitz A conversation with Victor P. Corona Also Inside: Ides of March, In the Bank

DAVID ALEXANDER SWANSON, CC ’17, Editor-in-Chief CAROLINE HURLEY, CC ’19, Managing Editor ESMÉ ABLAZA, BC ’20, Senior Editor VIRGINIA AMBELIOTIS, BC ’19, Senior Editor NED RUSSIN, GS ’19, Senior Editor LENA RUBIN, BC ’18, Senior Editor AARON SU, CC ’19, Layout Editor JOSEPH MILHOLLAND, CC ’17, Online Editor KRISTINE DUNN, CC ’18, Senior Illustrator

Staff Writers NIKHIL DOMINIC, CC ’18 GAGE HODGEN, CC ’19 GENEVA HUTCHESON, BC ’17 JASMINE PARK, CC ’20 Contributors VIRGINIA FU, CC ’17 BEN SCHNEIDER, CC ’17 ALEX SALTIEL, CC ’18 SAIF MAQBOOL, CC ’18 ALEXANDRA WARRICK, BC ’17 UFON UMANAH, CC ’20

Staff Illustrators RACHEL CHIN, CC ’18 NATHANIEL JAMESON, CC ’18 Artists LANI ALLEN, CC ’18 RANA IRMAK AKSOY, CC ’17 AMANDA BA, CC ’20 JIACHEN FENG, CC ’19 NATHANIEL JAMESON, CC ’18 SARAH GALE, CC ’18 WALLACE KALKIN, BC ’18 ANNA KAPLAN, BC ’18 JACQUELYN KLEIN, CC ’19 MATIAS LIRMAN, SEAS ’18 JACK PIERSON, CC ’19 ANNE SCOTTI, CC ’16 ALEX SWANSON, CC ’18 ALEXANDRA WARRICK, BC ’17 KELLIE ZHAO, CC ’19 JOANNA ZOU, CC ’18

THE BLUE AND WHITE Vol. XXIII

FAMAM EXTENDIMUS FACTIS

No. I

Columns

4 Blue Book 6 Blue Notes 8 Campus Characters 12 Verily Veritas 18 M easure for Measure 30 Staff Personals

Features 10 At Two Swords’ Length: A re You Still P re-med?

Our monthly prose and cons

Virginia Ambeliotis & Nikhil Dominic

13 “Coming Out” at JTS

Anti-Zionists at the Jewish Theological Seminary

Lena Rubin

Esmé Ablaza

16 The Ides of M arch

Columbia's role in the Women’ s March and beyond

Saif Maqbool

17 In the Bank

The future of student council funded food 20 Inciteful Discussion

What Milo’ s presence will mean for campus discussion

Ufon Umanah

24 Sociological Soirees

A conversation with Victor P. Corona

Alexandra Warrick

theblueandwhite.org

f

cover :

“Snowball Fight” by Kristine Dunn

a

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Writing my first Editor-in-chief’s letter a day after the inauguration of President Trump puts me in quite the odd position. The syzygy of my appointment and Trump’s election is fortuitous, for now the public has become once more acquainted with sophistry, the idle and empty lyric of the deranged. This is something that I intend to use fully to my advantage. Like all men of questionable worth but grandiose character, I employ words to dazzle and stun with spectacle. It is my hope, and indeed my dream, that my highfalutin prose will usher in a new era in The Blue and White’s pretentiousness.

I have consulted the portents with Mr. Veritas on this matter and the livers are gloriously red (p. 12).

Our archaic band of sassy writers, poets, journalists who have defected from Spec, creative writers, artists, and groupies, it seems, will this year coalesce into one kingdom, flying one blue and white banner. My time presiding over the magazine, I hope, will be ripe with fresh news, overflowing with scandal, and at all times refreshingly abundant. ‘Tis the season.

This issue centers around discussion: what it means to graft against the current, how to have your voice heard, what free speech really means. This issue, in short, is for you, President Bolliger (big fan, by the way). We tackle the implications of having a controversial figure on campus and the ethics of refusing them a platform (p. 21), while on page 16, we celebrate the American tradition of protest and analyse what the recent political protests mean for Columbia students (p. 16). We also cover the voices trampled underfoot by the majority and seek to answer why, as Mill might put it (I’m a Core man, you see), eccentricity is vital for our community (p. 13).

I end my first and hopefully not final editor’s note with a thank you to my predecessors for their wonderful contributions, leadership, and inspiration.

— David Alexander Swanson

4

TRANSACTIONS ARRIVALS Uncomfy tables outside Ferris Sorority rush “Terrific” Our dashing new Editor-in-Chief (not at all written by said editor) Alternative Facts DEPARTURES JJ’s (indefinitely) Obama Everything Obama has ever done Lionshare

Come Again?!

“Dear fellow members of the Columbia Community, I am pleased to inform you that there will be a new development at the Columbia University that will benefit all of it’s members.”

– Prezbo, a.k.a. gkeesling@nettlecreek. k12.in.us, in a recent phishing email

The Blue and White

BLUE BOOK

Wrestling with Words In the hours prior to this Blue Book’s creation, our hearts were wracked with grief over the cohorts of signups that never gave us a chance and salty, graduated students which submerged our humble listserv in a tsunami of requests asking to be removed from “ bwstaff.” This compilation is a tribute to their time with us. They grow up so fast...

The Original Culprit: “Hope you all had great breaks! Do you mind please removing me from your listserv as well? Best of luck in the future.”

The Sheep: “I’ll hop on the bandwagon! Please remove me too, thanks!”

“This is great and you can take me off as well.”

the listserve!”

“Can you please keep me on your listserv ? would love to get every update about The Blue and White, the undergraduate magazine of columbia university! thanks!”

Ian’s Friend: “(Hi Ian, miss u)”

The Sassy: “Remove me please!”

The iPhone User: “Sent from my iPhone”

The Disaffected: “Please stop hitting reply all for the love of god.”

“Please for the love of all that is good stop hitting reply all!!”

“Please DON’T REPLY ALL AND SPAM EVERYONE JUST REMOVE YOURSELF FROM THE LISTSERV THRU CUIT. You’re all smart people, figure it out.”

The Person Whose Use of “lol” We Still Don’t Know Is Ironic or Not: “(lol sorry about this)”

The Garamond User / Skeptic: “Can whoever is left on the listserv tell me how we got so many people on it?”

The Bwog Affiliate: “Actually, fuck I think it’s the gmail I used for bwog” The Student Who Has Subsequently Been Added to Our Subscriber’s List for This Response: “I’ve looked into it, and I think the only solution is to continually spam the owners’ inboxes until we can get out of reply-all hell.”

The Trolls: “Please like our Facebook page before you leave

POSTCARD FROM MORNINGSIDE

February 2017

Postcard by Kristine Dunn

5

BLUE NOTES

“I

t was supposed to be silly,” Daniel Stone recalls.

However flippant in intention, in March of 2016, Stone together with Jeremy Liss, Alex Randall, and (ex-B&W Editor-in-Chief) Hallie Nell Swanson made indelible marks on Columbia discourse, writing fervently against the installation of Reclining Figure, Henry Moore’s “hideous sculpture,” in front of Butler Library. Their impassioned criticism, incarnated in a co-written Spec op-ed, quickly became national news and was picked up by such venerable publications as The New York Times, The Guardian, Jezebel, and The Odyssey Online.

And it worked. Columbia students united in broad, collective support against aesthetic assassination and administrative overreach. And the administration actually listened: President Lee C. Bollinger capitulated, conceded, and apologized—twice(!)— admitting: “It just wasn't handled in the right way.”

From there, the provost-appointed Committee

on Art Properties proposed—in a similarly noncollaborative manner—a new location outside of Havemeyer Lawn. Reclining Figure was installed on December 14, and Columbia became the second university (after MIT) to possess two Moore works.

If you’re still a Philistine, Art History Professor Robert Harrist Jr recommends that you “try to see it in early morning light, as the sun comes up over Low Library. It’s stunning.” So inspired by the controversy, Harrist and Roberto Ferrari, the Curator of Art Properties, are co-teaching a course this spring on Public Art, centering Reclining Figure as a focus.

At its christening, Columbia’s Senior Executive Vice President, Gerald M. Rosberg, sublimely portended that “a hundred years from now someone is going to see that sculpture and not be able to imagine a time when it was not already here. . . And they will see that plaque and be reminded of the donors whose generosity made that possible.” Examining the sculpture in its new home, I feel I am seeing it not as scandal but as art--or at least a women of sorts—and, wow, is it marvelous. Perhaps “a poorly formed pterodactyl” is “silly;” perhaps it is what transcendence looks like. Yet even if you’re after all this still not in some way inspired by Moore’s modernist masterpiece, I hear that plaque below it is really cool too.

— Alex Saltiel

T

he basement of Watt is full of trash, and also art. Lining the walls of the area where Watt residents dump their garbage are a number of paintings. One finds among them an anarchic range of styles and subject matter, from more traditional landscapes and still lifes to a large, El Lissitzky-like composition of a yellow disk that looks like a closeup of a cat’s eye, or a planet on the verge of nuclear

6

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

The Blue and White

BLUE NOTES Watt resident, who left it hanging on the wall when he moved out.)

“They’re so nice we don’t want to throw them out,” the facilities staff member said. (He wished to remain anonymous.) “People take time on them,” he explained.

— Virginia Fu

O holocaust. This last work is framed by a white cutout decorated with hand-drawn flames and the words "el incendio!!!" The painting’s rhyming circles are echoed by a halo of white plastic flowers that hang slightly above the painting on a white spigot.

Walking down the adjoining hallway yields further treasures: an American flag cunningly suspended from a pipe partly obscures, as if out of modesty, a painting of a mostly unclothed, reclining man holding a guitar and drink, rendered in impressively radioactive chiaroscuro. There’s a lovingly rendered, though slightly mishapen, Sprite bottle, stark against a blank white background. An actual foam parrot dangles from the lapel of a surprisingly faithful portrait of Leslie Knope. Many of the paintings are unfinished. Not a single one (there are seventeen paintings) is signed. When I reached the end of the hallway, I found a door adorned with a skull and crossbones sticker , faint music emerging from behind. I knocked on the door but no one answered.

According to the Facilities worker I ran into the next day, the Watt Basement Art Collection is around six or seven years old. “It started with this one,” he said, excitedly gesturing towards a still life of flowers, above the paper towel dispenser. A student had thrown it out, a girl, he remembered. The snowy landscape next to it was painted by a football player. His favorite was the painting at the very end of the hallway, which depicted hundreds of revelling bears. One bear was eating a watermelon and a few were fighting, but most were dancing, in a long line that stretched into the forest, out of sight. (This painting alone looked like it had not been painted by a student. I had in fact seen it in the room a former

February 2017

n Tuesday, November 22nd, Dean Peter Awn entered Lewisohn Hall at 4:42 PM looking especially scholarly wearing a tightly-wrapped leather trench coat. Awn, who recently announced via email that he would end his 20 year term as Dean of the School of General Studies on June 30, 2017, sends out an annual Thanksgiving message which usually entails a humorous and strange encounter with a turkey and usually gathers such praise as being “pretty fuckin awesome” from Bwog commenters. This year, Awn announced in an email to all GS students that he would be “delivering [his] Thanksgiving message in a dramatically different way” and promised snacks.

The already-small GS Lounge was packed wall-to-wall when Awn entered at 4:59 PM, now wearing a tuxedo and waving his heavy, off-white cardstock pamphlet around. Students and faculty members crammed between tables and were laughing and snapping photos of the packed crowd before the real event even started. The crowd simmered down as Awn wished everyone a happy Thanksgiving and welcomed everyone to The Final Cluck.

Awn began reading his ten stanzas of Poean trochaic octameter about vengeful turkeys when Dean Tom Harford, GS’s Dean of Students, entered to a fit of laughter and applause dressed as “the Turkey Avenger” in a form-fitting turkey costume and wielding a whip. “You lout!” Harford yelled, “You shall suffer grievous pain for your disdain of Turkey lore.” The Turkey Avenger vowed to reenact the “true Thanksgiving tale” where turkeys ate pilgrims, and the poem ended with the Avenger promising that zombie turkeys will “haunt his daily faculty chores; fry his aged mem’ry core.”

After only seven minutes, the Final Cluck ended with Awn stating that “the old dean has fled the floor.” An audible “aw” escaped the crowd before a prolonged period of hooting and hollering. Someone from the crowd professed “we love you!” A smiling Awn stood in the middle of the congregated group and gave a deep, gracious bow.

— Ned Russin

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

7

Campus Characters You might not know the following figures—but you should. In Campus Characters, The Blue & White introduces you to a handful of Columbians who are up to interesting and extraordinary things and whose stories beg to be shared. This issue, we bring you two people with interests in social justice.

If you’d like to suggest a Campus Character, send us an email at editors@theblueandwhite.org.

Jeff Coby

I

don’t know what exactly I was expecting when I met Jeff Coby CC ’17 last month–I knew he would be 6’8” (assuming the Columbia basketball team does not inflate their roster heights), so that was not altogether shocking.

What surprised me the most about Jeff was how smiley he was. I had heard he was outgoing, social and all the descriptors that generally go with those.

There is definitely a difference between being a social person and a happy person; Jeff Coby is both. We met during a downpour in January that neither of us were expecting, and while I was pissed about getting rained on, Jeff was just thrilled to talk about basketball and the intersection between art and sociological trends.

“I’m pretty goofy and I always have a positive, bubbly persona,” he says, “Oh, and I used to be extremely overweight.”

A forward on the men’s basketball team, Coby credits athletics with giving him an opportunity to connect with students on campus who he would not otherwise know.

8

“A lot of people come here for academics but they played some kind of sport back in high school.

With athletics, there is always something to relate to and talk about, whether it’s the early mornings or the sore bodies, it brings people together,” he says.

The communal nature of team sports has colored his Columbia experience more than anything else, whether through facing opponents with hundreds of other students cheering from the stands, or being recognized on campus as a member of the basketball team.

He seemed surprised when I told him that many in the university community do not believe athletics are a worthy use of funds. Raising the issue of institutional stress, he countered critics, saying, “I know mental health is a huge problem here and it’s nice that you can take some time to go watch a sports game and blow off some steam for free. It gives students an outlet to express themselves in a different manner than academics.”

Of his own academics, Coby launches into an explanation of how he merges Art History with Sociology–“I grew up in a household with a lot of art and it’s a great way to express yourself, your opinion, artistic beliefs. It’s great to learn about different artists and artistic movements, because the art world is constantly evolving and welcoming new ideas.” He likens the ever-changing art world to trends in sociology, saying how movements in art, like the impressionist movement, mirror movements in culture.

“There are so many different movements that have happened in history and a lot of the ideas have derived from early sociologists and thinkers.”

Balancing athletics and both disciplines has not always been easy, though, so Coby offers some advice to younger students: “It’s okay to fail. Because the main thing is that if you do fail you have to make sure that you learn from it instead of just harp on your fails.

That’s the main thing I’ve learned here because when

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

The Blue and White

you learn from it you actually get better. And try new things!”

As for taking his own advice, Coby plans to try new experiences in the European professional basketball league after graduation. Until then, though, he welcomes any opportunity to brighten the days of his peers. “I’m very friendly. You can always come up to me and say hi!”

— Caroline Hurley

Gabi Mayers

G

abi Mayers, CC ’17, is a Film Studies major originally from Washington, D.C. “Film has always spoken to me,” she told me. As she grew up, she spent entire days in movie theaters.

“I didn’t know until I was nineteen that you actually can’t stay in a cinema all day if you only bought a ticket for one movie.”

To Gabi, film is crucial to the way society conceives of its own and other cultures. “The way that we understand other people, especially as presented through media, has such a huge influence on the way we live our lives.”

Gabi heads a student organization called the Society for the Advancement of Underrepresented Filmmakers (SAUF) which “focuses on bridging the gap between students on campus and their dreams and aspirations to make films or other sorts of art outside of campus and in the world.” SAUF is dedicated to advancing the work and artistic voice of underrepresented artists in film and television by connecting them to established resources within the film industry. Another primary role played by the SAUF is archival—the society films and documents student activist demonstrations and protests on campus. Gabi says that in SAUF she aims to create a safe space for discussion of the shared life experience of groups typically underrepresented in film, and to provide a platform for filmmakers to create work that reflects their distinct life experiences.

Gabi’s films predominantly focus on the experiences of people of color in different social settings. Gabi’s recently completed series, “(S.A.W.B.) Studying Abroad While Black,” highlights and critiques the experience of students of color in study abroad programs, and her current series, “To the Next Black Girl,” uses the words of successful Black women to exhort and encourage young black women to fight through societal and structural obstacles to achieve their goals and aspirations.

I was particularly impacted by Gabi’s film

February 2017

“Closing Statement: Fight the Power,” which she produced through SAUF. The film alternates between shots of Black students dancing to the heavy rhythm of Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” and shots of the New York protests following the police murder of Eric Garner in 2014. The film is a moving tribute to the people who do not give in to the status quo simply because it is the way things have been, and an encouragement to those who stand up and resist structures and powers where they see injustice.

It is uplifting to hear Gabi talk about the importance of film and her desire to make film that is accessible to domestic and international audiences of all demographics. Gabi’s films have a true-tolife feel: both disturbing, for the injustices they portray, and hopeful, in the sense that they suggest real people can take action to remedy the problems underrepresented groups face.

Apart from her work as a filmmaker, Gabi is a tireless traveler and hard worker. She has been to every continent except for Asia, including Antarctica; she is an RA in East Campus; and, impressively, she has worked an internship every semester since she arrived at Columbia.

After graduation, Gabi hopes to work abroad for a year, gaining experience in film and media production internationally, before returning to the United States to find a job. Gabi is dedicated to following her passion in film and media production—I look forward to seeing where it takes her.

— Gage Hodgen

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

9

AT T W O S W O R D S ’ L E N G T H

Are you Y

es, I’m still pre-med. I’m sick of people who look not 100% emotionally invested in? Can’t they stop at me in a pitying way and offer me some crap trying to have fun all the time and think of ways to about needing to “find myself” when I tell them that make themselves useful for once?

I haven’t given up. They drone on about the path they It kills me, the things they whine about. “Ugh, took to choosing their shishi majors. They talk about I have to memorize 50 slides for my Art History I tough it was, how stressed midterm.” Seriously? Do out they were, but how they know how lucky they now they’re nourished all are to get to take classes the time even though their that aim at understanding four-day week of classes is the human condition and sooooo hard. As if books cultivating an appreciawere real nourishment. tion for the experience of As if they took classes life? They’re complaining that literally required allabout having to look at nighters to get an A. As goddamn pictures? It kills if they busted their asses me. I’d love to learn about in my Soul Cycle class five how to enjoy art if I could days a week and actually find the time. Right now I earned the right to “treat could stare at something themselves” to hot yoga until my eyes bleed and and avocado toast with literally have no emofriends on Friday aftertional response at all. I noons while I’m stuck in have no ability to appreciOrgo Lab. ate anything that doesn’t My peers claim to pertain to my professional be sympathetic toward me ambitions, nor do I know but it’s embarrassingly how to relax. obvious from the expresIf I sound bitter sions on their faces that my ability about my lifestyle, it’s only because ffirmative to make a decision and carry it out the sacrifice I’ve made hasn’t

By Virginia Ambeliotis induces in them feelings of being received the respect it deserves. directionless failures. Were they to Most people predicate their choices confess their insecurities to me, I on what will bring them the most suppose it would be nice to say something about happiness or fulfillment, but if everyone did that shit college being an opportunity to experience personal wouldn’t get done. That’s where people like me come growth and open one’s mind. But I fantasize about in. I’m willing to be miserable because someday I’m telling them that they are right to think of themselves going to make loads of money and save lives, but for as not good enough. They think that they don’t have now you will let me complain about my workload, to worry how they’re spending their time in the pres- constantly, because I derive pleasure from you being ent because someday the universe is going to let them forced to listen to me talk and concede that nobody know what they should be doing. The arrogance suffers more than I do. Masochism is my level. I sugis pathetic—are they that important that they can’t gest you get on it.w waste a moment of their time on something they’re

A

10

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

The Blue and White

AT T W O S W O R D S ’ L E N G T H

still pre-med?

T

he shadow of that great beast Automation hangs a real doctor, I’ll be out there living the best years over us all, a specter who with one swing of a of my glorious youth having written the code that Silicon Valley-designed Chinese-built scythe disen- makes you obsolete (or, at least, funding the person franchises thousands of newly-belligerent white men who does). Hell, picture our lives right now: my work in the Rust Belt. And it won’t stop with the factory today is to go ham on the cheese spread at the next workers. Soon the scourge will start mowing down Faculty House info session, while you Seamless Opai even those farther up the ranks of our meritocracy, Thai for the second time since breakfast because and no job that can conceivably be done by a machine you’re still working on the same problem set. Then will be safe.

I’ll go get drinks with some friends, because I have As we hurtle ever forward into the inevitable, some. Do you even know that there are places you unfeeling embrace of the technological singularity can get drinks besides 1020? Maybe I’ll show you...

I don’t know what kind of when you’re done with the naïve sucker would spend MCAT. several years and tens of And again, fuck thousands of dollars to Orgo. No, it wasn’t too join the service industry. hard; it’s just irrelevant I’m not going to cling to knowledge in the face of the outmoded vision of the imminent post-scarcity. “good job” handed down to Learn your silly formulae, me by my parents; that job your pathetic little anachwon’t exist soon enough, ronisms; the only substituand both of us know it, so tion reaction I care about is unlike you, I’m going to the one that converts Friday take the long-term view afternoon recitations into to maximizing my lifetime avocado toast brunch. No, hedonic potential. And let’s I haven’t taken Advanced cut the bullshit: the only Programming yet, but I’m time either of us cared about saving sure it’ll be fine – there are hunthe children was when we wrote our dreds of lazy CS fucks here. egative application essays.

At the end of the day, here’s

By Nikhil Dominic Now I’m in Principles with the truth: short-term, I’m GPAGulati and taking Data Structures flexible while your whole life-plan next fall, and I have never felt so alive. This isn’t disintegrates at the first A-. Long-term, slicing up just a strategic decision. It was the tenth hour of unfortunate souls to poke at their internal organs studying for the Organic Chemistry midterm when I will never sate your bloodlust as well as abusing finally realized that 1. Fuck Organic Chemistry and shady regulatory practices to game financial systems 2. Financial markets and web development are my (assuming for a second that the organs aren’t already Real Goddamn Passions, and yes, studying them just being poked by robots). Give up all that received so happens to put me on track for a highly lucrative wisdom which led you to pre-med and receive it from career in finànce or tech. me instead: indulge the money-grubbing bastard Picture our lives post-graduation: while you you really are and join us. In the words of Yeezy, spend your late nights washing bodily fluids out of “Wouldn’t you rather be designing the AI-enhanced your unflattering scrubs while training to become carbon fiber dick than swallowing it?”w

N

February 2017

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

11

V E R I LY V E R I TA S

TOLD BETWEEN PUFFS

P

In which our hero is buffeted by political turbulence

olitics had our hero in a very bad way—he hadn’t been able to muster the strength to attend class since at least All Souls.

“How could I?” He dictated to his nurse from the divan, “When the noble tradition of democracy to which I am heir is disintegrating before my very eyes? Surely, there are many who justifiably fear for their well-being in such a political climate,” he continued, wiping away a tear with the tassel of his silk throw, but none so much as the haute-bourgeoisie.

“It is a tragic flaw in our nation’s discourse that such identities—the keepers of Order, Prosperity, and Culture— no longer receive their due deference. As an adjunct professor of American Studies, you should at least have a cursory knowledge of Europe’s greatest tragedy, in which our frères were systematically slaughtered in a populist uprising. Such visions keep me trembling through the long nights. Any day, I believe, agents of the so-called ‘alt-right’ will infiltrate my rooms and take me down to the guillotine.”

So, while he still had a head, Verily decided to Über to a place where noble traditions were still respected. Having surreptitiously left a hundred dollar bill on the back seat of his limousine, our hero ascended the well-worn granite steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Halfway up, he turned to regard the elegant edifices across the street. He had taken ballroom lessons behind those windows, dined with Henry A. Kissinger in a penthouse just down the way, and on that balcony yonder, shared a stolen kiss.

With a profound sense of melancholy, he turned back to the Ionic pillars marking the museum’s tripartite entrance. Paradoxically, the beauty

12

surrounding Verily reminded him that it wasn’t just his country, but also the city of his birth that had gone into decay. Somewhere amidst the opium dens and bordellos to the south, he knew, a society of crazed beatniks decided cement boxes were a proper place to exhibit art. Of course the masses would flock to “museums” that displayed strings of colored lights and television screens; not unlike the matchbox houses Verily passed on his way to and from his summer home.

But now he was safely in the atrium, after a despicably invasive security check, which ended with our hero shouting, “I’ll have you all jailed!” to the multicultural museum guards. He headed straight for the Late Medieval galleries, so as to calm his nerves. As he directed his cool, disinterested gaze at a particularly moving Pietà, he thought of his late Swiss governess, who had taught him how to regard art. “If only every child could be so fortunate,” he murmured under his breath, eyes locked on those of the dying Christ.

And suddenly, as if by divine intervention, the darkness shrouding Verily’s heart disappeared.

He recalled one of Feliciana’s most adept teaching moments, which took place during our hero’s fourth birthday party at the Wormser Dom Cathedral in Worms. “If Christ was the son of the Lord, why did he have to die?” asked the wide-eyed cherub. Feliciana set down her slice of birthday cake on the altar, and then, in Swiss Italian, responded, “He died so the rest of us could live by his example.”

Our hero ran out of the museum and all the way back to his apartment, whose entryway he left wide open. When Pilate and his men arrived, Verily would go with them willingly.w

The Blue and White

N AV I G AT I N G T W O W O R L D S

“Coming Out” at JTS “Closeted” anti-Zionists at the Jewish Theological Seminary

By Lena Rubin

T

his December, the pro-Israel group Students Supporting Israel (SSI) hosted an event entitled “Indigenous People Unite.” The event included a lineup of what SSI leadership described as indigenous activists, including Tibetan and Native Canadian individuals as well as an Israeli citizen.

Shoshana,* a dual-degree first year in Barnard and the Jewish Theological Seminary, was one of many in the politically divided crowd.

An Israeli citizen, Jewish student, and pro-Palestinian activist, Shoshana attended the group not to support the event, but to counter-protest. A member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest organization (CUAD) and Columbia Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), she was surprised and uncomfortable to find out that her JTS classmates were coming out to the event to support it rather than protest it.

“It was shitty. I didn’t realize there would be people yelling at you, and I realized that I had outed myself as an anti-Zionist.”

In an article entitled “Between Politics and Religion: Jewish Activism at Columbia,” first published in The Current, a journal of “contemporary politics, culture, and Jewish affairs at Columbia,” Solomon Wiener, CC ’19, describes what he calls “the spectrum of Jewish activism.” Wiener conceives of pro-Israel groups like Aryeh, which is somewhat more moderate than SSI, as being as much part of this spectrum as groups like JVP, which are vocally pro-Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions.

“Jewish students participate in a variety of activist groups,” writes Wiener, “and sometimes work against each other’s interests.”

While SSI describes itself somewhat vaguely as a “grassroots organization,” Aryeh, however, does not self-describe as an activist organization but rath-

February 2017

er as simply a “student group dedicated to engaging in the campus community.”

Some Jewish anti-Zionists at Columbia believe, meanwhile, that being a Jewish activist means staunchly supporting the Palestinian people and working for progressive change in Jewish communities, and that supporting the state of Israel as a Jew is simply upholding the status quo, not a radical act.

“Coming Out” as a Pro -Palestinian Jew At the Jewish Theological Seminary, pro-Palestinian activists find themselves in an uncomfortable place, hiding their politics for fear of alienation from fellow Jews who support Israel.

I spoke with Sophie Edelhart, a Barnard/JTS sophomore, in her Plimpton dorm room a few days before the beginning of the semester. A California

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

13

N AV I G AT I N G T W O W O R L D S native who was educated in a Jewish day school throughout her childhood, Sophie is considering attending rabbinical school after college, or trying to pursue more work in Jewish grassroots organizing.

She says radical politics and Judaism are “two components of my life that are important and have always spoken to one another.”

I asked her what it was like to “come out” as a pro-Palestinian student at JTS, a traditionally Zionist and conservative institution.

She pauses and says, “I think in a big way I still haven’t come out as a pro-Palestinian Jewish student,” with a laugh. I said, “I should have used different language for that question,” to which she responded “No, it’s ok, that’s the language that a lot of people use. So it’s not just you.”

“I don’t feel that connected to the JTS community for a lot of reasons but also, the administration, in explicit and many implicit ways, is sort of clearly very pro-Israel and anti-BDS [the movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction the state of Israel] and I just never felt a platform or space for me to step up and be like, ‘I’m a BDS pro-Palestinian JTS student,’ because as far as I know there’s like four of us… that I know of.”

“There’s that small community, but I know them mostly through JVP. So, yeah, in a lot of ways I’m still sort of closeted.”

Shoshana, meanwhile, describes that, ironically, mainstream Jewish institutions have in fact been “very progressive about things like letting queer people into clergy and positions of religious authority.”

Even queer, female, feminist, or politically radical Jews must still hide their pro-Palestinian politics in self-proclaimed progressive Jewish spaces, says Shoshana.

This makes finding other pro-Palestinian students, let alone faculty members, difficult. Sophie says she has “no idea” if there are any non-Zionist faculty members, and ultimately finds it unproductive and difficult to try to seek out a non-Zionist community at JTS. Another JTS student adds that often times, people are “so overwhelmed by the workload that they’re really apathetic about any politics or political engagement,” beyond the Zionism that is implicit in the institution itself.

“It goes from the religious text study to history and thought and more general humanities… and then we also have to take Hebrew. And we also have

14

a breadth requirement to cover different historical periods. There’s also a requirement to have a class that covers Jewish women and gender studies,” said Sophie, adding, “There are a lot of feminist theologians at JTS.” Sophie says that JVP, while focusing on faculty and student mobilization at Columbia/Barnard, has found it unproductive to try to work on mobilizing JTS faculty/students per se, and that even progressive faculty or adminstrators are under too much institutional pressure to engage critically with Israel.

“It’s one thing to engage Jewish people in your life, it’s another thing to engage a Jewish institution with financial, academic, and institutional backing.

None of us [in JVP] think it would be productive.”

Progressive Except Palestine?: Exploring Logical and Political Contradictions “Women’s rights are human rights all over the planet,” said writer and activist Angela Davis during her speech at the Women’s March on Washington D.C., during inauguration weekend this past January, “and that is why we say freedom and justice for Palestine.”

But, as some anti-Zionist JTS students point out, the logic of solidarity with oppressed peoples, women and non-women alike, in Palestine, often falls flat in otherwise progressive Jewish spaces.

“I think this is an issue with larger mainstream Jewish spaces in general which would call themselves liberal, is that they’re open and accepting of women and LGBTQ people. They host seminars about it and all this stuff, but when as soon as Israel comes up there’s an exception made, and it’s not held up to the level of scrutiny that a lot of other issues have.”

“I think it’s hypocritical,” says Sophie, “and I guess I can’t really explain the logic of it because I’m not a liberal Zionist.”

Earlier this year, the Movement For Black Lives put out a public platform which explicitly described Israel as an “apartheid state,” describing the injustices of the continued arrests, detainments, and impeded mobility of the Palestinian people in the Israeli state. “[The] Black Lives Matter [movement] is pretty off the table” for most JTS students, Sophie says.

L ived E xperiences Columbia

of

Being

in

JTS/Barnard/

The Blue and White

N AV I G AT I N G T W O W O R L D S “I wanted to do the dual program because I come from a Jewish educational background and I think that education has always been the way that I connected to being Jewish and so I wanted to continue that and continue to learn in that sort of setting,” says Sophie.

At the Jewish Theological Seminary, students must take two Talmud Jewish law classes, two Bible classes, one liturgy class, two history, and two Jewish thought classes, as well as fulfilling all of the requirements for a Barnard degree or a General Studies degree.

Daniel* is a GS/JTS sophomore in the program, studying Jewish literature at Jewish Theological Seminary and “probably” Middle Eastern Studies at JTS. Through JTS, he has taken several classes specifically about Israel, covering topics like “the making of the Israeli national tradition and collective memory.”

He grew in the Habonim Dror movement, which he describes as a “socialist Zionist youth group.”

“A lot of what brought me to JVP was understanding that I don’t want to believe in that ideology,” Daniel says I ask if there have been any stressful or uncomfortable encounters with students when issues of Israel comes up.

“I think that people tend to assume that if you’re Jewish and at JTS that you have certain feelings about Israel,” says Sophie.

While Sophie expresses frustration politically with the curriculum at JTS, Daniel points out that some aspects of a conservative Zionist Jewish education can be useful then as tools toward radical organizing.

The classes that Daniel has taken, mostly in Jewish and Israeli literature, were “not at all particularly leftist or critical.” Daniel believes they have been useful for him in terms of “opening my eyes to a lot of the myth-making of the Zionist movement and the

February 2017

way nationalist movements shape themselves.”

“It’s Not Up To Palestinians To E ngage Jewish Communities:” Organizing for Palestine I n and Out of Jewish Communities “As someone who has a lot of privilege in the state of Israel, I can’t be not thinking about it and not fighting it,” says Shoshana.

I ask what the role of progressive Jewish spaces are in terms of holding a political line on Israel/ Palestine.

“It’s a complicated question which I don’t even know if I have the answers to,” Shoshana says she sees the value of Jewish organizations which are liberal to left on Israel, if not explicitly pro-Palestine. One example of such a group is J Street, an organization with a chapter at Columbia that describes itself as being “pro-Israel and pro-Palestine.”

Shoshana “wholeheartedly believes” that Jewish communities should maintain a certain degree of independence in mobilizing internally toward Palestinian liberation. This goal is “tied into transformation of the Jewish community, and it shouldn’t be up to Palestinians to transform the Jewish community; it should be up to other Jews. That’s where Jewish Voice for Peace comes in.”

If Wiener, the author of The Current article, describes how Jewish activists must straddle the line or stand uncomfortably “between politics and religion,” then these anti-Zionist JTS students confidently, if at times uncomfortably, solidly occupy both spheres. For them, there is no contradiction in being a Jewish theological student and a pro-Palestinian activist; rather, the two go hand in hand.

“I find meaning in Jewish community because it is Jewish,” says Daniel, “and I find meaning in Jewish Voice for Peace because it is pro-Palestinian.”w *Some names have been changed at the request of students interviewed for this article.

15

GIRL POWER

The Ides of March Columbia’s role in the Women’s March and beyond

By Esmé Ablaza

O

n January 21st, hundreds of thousands of women, non-binary people, men, children and dogs (yes, even the dogs had signs) descended upon East Midtown Manhattan to participate in the Women’s March on New York City. The march had a different tone than that of the protests I witnessed and took part in right after election night. The earlier protests were full of grief, shock and anger. The Women’s March, however, was characterized predominantly by hope. There were people of all ages present: old women with large signs hung around their necks, Suffragette-style, to a group of 9-year-olds leading a chant of, “Show me what democracy looks like!” with a group of young men responding with “This is what democracy looks like!”

In the wake of the March, Barnard and Columbia students’ voices have been reinvigorated in the ensuing discussion about gender, race, sexuality, class and ability. Many took to Facebook to echo concerns about vagina-centric signs and messaging. The demonstration has caused some students to rethink their activism and take action beyond the boundaries of Columbia campus.

“With social media being what it is, and how we have so many different networks, at the very least we can post and inform people about when there are local elections,” said Leyla Martinez, GS ’18, founder and President of Beyond the Box Initiative, a criminal justice reform advocacy group. “As a formerly incarcerated person myself, I know that many people who have been impacted by mass incarceration believe that they cannot vote. But that isn’t always the case.

There are over 70 million people in the US with

16

a criminal record and it is crucial for them to be informed about their right to vote.”

At 1 P.M., I was standing with Danielle Fox, BC ’17, and a cohort of Barnard and Columbia students.

While there was not one unified group of Columbia students in attendance at the New York City March, there were small groups scattered throughout the scene. In Fox’s group, Sofia Petros, CC ’19, carried a sign reading “Survivors against a rapist in the White House.” Oddly enough, it was the only sign I saw that used the word “survivors” instead of “grab” or “pussy” in conjunction with the allegations of Donald Trump sexually assaulting over a dozen women.

“Ruth don’t die! Ruth don’t die! Ruth don’t die!” A short-lived pro-RBG chant broke out out as our section of the enormous crowd inched its way to feed into the March. A few minutes later, there was a collective cheer as someone announced via sound system that U.S. Senator of New York Chuck Schumer was about to address the crowd in the plaza.

“I don’t want anybody to lose hope,” he said.

“I don’t want anybody to lose faith. … This is just the beginning. Women and men around the country are rallying in every city. And Donald Trump isn’t going to know what hit him. I am on your side. The Democrats in the Senate are on your side. And we are not going to stop fighting until we take this country back.”

While the March was an unforgettable, historic demonstration, the news that broke a few days later of President Donald Trump’s executive orders to advance the building of the Dakota Access Pipelines and reinstate the Global Gag Rule were a jolt into what the next four years will look like. This news served as a reminder to Columbia students that their work is far from over, whether that means more serious efforts to help get out the vote in the midterm election or grassroots mobilization.

“I think actively contacting local representatives, state senators, congressional senators, and lobbying are things we can do as college students to make a difference,” said Lakshmi Sanmuganathan, BC ’20.w

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

The Blue and White

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

In the Bank The future of student council funded food

By Saif Maqbool

I

n April 2016, the School of General Studies Student Council (GSSC) announced that it was committing an initial $1,000 to the creation of a food bank for undergraduates at Columbia, addressing the problem of food insecurity that has been a longstanding concern for a significant number of Columbia students. Speaking to the Columbia Spectator in September, University Senator Raymond Curtis, GS ’18, outlined the expansive ambition of the initiative, saying, “This isn’t just about feeding you today, this is about setting you up so that you don’t have to think about food and can focus on what you’re supposed to be focused on here, which is your education and your experience at Columbia. We don’t want hunger to be a part of that experience.” The program was launched after months of planning and research, and to date, GSSC has spent just over $6,000 of its own funds on establishing and sustaining it. Curtis, speaking at a GSSC meeting on October 11, asserted that the Food Bank would be available to all undergraduates.

Located in Lewisohn, the Bank encourages students facing food insecurity to get in touch in order to receive a disbursement of food that is subject to the resources on hand and their own dietary needs.

Strict confidentiality is maintained for all students who solicit the Food Bank’s support, and the food on hand is furnished by both donations and funds from what relevant GSSC members hope will soon be all four undergraduate student councils. To date, however, Columbia College Student Council has only committed $1,500 to the Bank, while support from the SEAS student council has been similarly absent. Due to its current inconvenient location, the managers of the Food Bank have emphasized their need for a larger space, and hope to secure a space in Lerner, where they can be most effective. This wellintentioned objective faces stiff competition however, as demand for space in Lerner is, as always, hotly contested.

Alternative measures to combat the problem of food insecurity have existed for some time: Columbia Dining’s Emergency Meal Fund unconditionally provides six free meal tickets to all students, but members

February 2017

of GSSC quite rightly felt that this solution was not effective enough, as many students’ needs far exceed this number, and dining halls are not available during periods such as Thanksgiving, when many affected students remain on campus. CCSC hoped that the issue would be rectified through the implementation of “Swipes,” an app designed by Julio Henriquez CC ’18 and Helson Taveras CC ’18. Swipes aims to, as Henriquez told the Columbia Spectator, “sidestep the administration completely,” though usage of the app has not quite become widespread enough for it to be a sufficiently potent remedy to the problem.

The problem of food insecurity is almost universally acknowledged on campus–the Facebook page CU Meal Share has over 2,250 members, while CCSC’s support of initiatives such as “Swipes” and the administration’s own Emergency Meal Fund suggest that they too are aware of the problem. GSSC’s Food Bank is one of the most promising initiatives to date, but without adequate logistical and financial support from all councils, the problem of food insecurity will continue to vex our community.w

Illustration by Jennifer Bi

17

M easure

for

M easure

A Sonnet in Praise of Ayn Rand

One million dollar suits, the best French wine Cigars with caviar–Today’s splendor, All for the average union leader.

It’s why we need your philosophy, Ayn! With socialism in vogue now, Miss Rand, How can we stop the spread of state welfare, Road safety laws, and subsidized healthcare Without the guidance from your selfish hand?

Embrace Reality, reject all fools And thus allow the greatest men to rise: So force once-public parks to advertise, Go Galt, and make with capitalist tools Autos that don’t need to energize, To crush the state’s anti-tobacco lies!

18

— Joe Milholland

The Blue and White

M easure

for

M easure

Summer She went to the gym every night, buying bruises So that she could watch some part of herself heal.

In the evenings the sun bled in the west, impaled On the buildings and the telephone lines along the road.

When she drove home the stars smiled at her or grimaced, Then disappeared.

Some unnamed god or loving dead guided her wheel And she sobbed, blinded by the weight of absence.

Finally there was nothing except her driveway But the last fifteen steps drained more from her Than the way he’d lounged on his naked blue mattress In a haze of marijuana smoke And laughed when she tried to say goodbye. — Juliet Brooks

February 2017

19

MILO GOES TO COLLEGE

Inciteful Discussion What Milo’s presence will mean for campus discussion

By Ufon Umanah

O

n February 17th, Milo Yiannopoulos, the selfproclaimed “most fabulous supervillain on the internet” and Technology Editor at Breitbart, will, as Columbia alumnus Daniel Garisto put it, “descend upon Columbia to teach you progressive heathens about your regressive ways and the evils of feminism, tolerance and empathy,” like an anti-messiah ushering in the new age of Trump. His host, the Columbia University College Republicans (CUCR), barely blinked when various political organizations on campus declined to co-sponsor their event when it was originally set nine days after the presidential election.

Controversy isn’t new for CUCR. It was only last year that they invited far-right, anti-Islamic activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, or Tommy Robinson, to speak over Skype to an assembled audience in Hamilton 503. There, attendees listened to an hour-long lecture filled with assertions like Islam “promotes violence” and “cannot assimilate” into British, and presumably American, culture. When Bwog wrote a story on that event, the various tags read, “What does CUCR hope to learn from this guy, you wild CUCR but wyd [what you doing?] like really what the fuck are you doing, are you trying to become white nationalists? [sic]” CUCR has refuted this claim multiple times. Margaret O’Neill, the organization’s Communications Director, said in a statement, “If we were to exclude certain prominent strains within the conservative movement because they don’t reflect what we might believe the Republican Party has and should stand for, then we are delusionally ignoring the realities of modern political factions.”

But this raises another question, one posed

by Journalism Professor, Alisa Solomon, during a University Forum on Freedom of Speech hosted November 29th: “What are we actually talking about when we say conservative?”

The deeper we get into the Trump presidency, the harder that question is to answer. For O’Neill, a self-identified moderate Republican, it means viewing Trump’s more populist tendencies “with a lot of

20

skepticism,” and “using moderation in terms of the magnitude of our policies.” For Yiannopoulos, it means resisting “the fainting-couch feminism and race-baiting of the Left.”

In inviting him to speak, CUCR offered Yiannopoulos a platform, but it may be one made of thin ice, one that allows people to question and challenge him. Artistotle Boosalis, the Executive Director, told the Columbia Daily Spectator that for the original event CUCR had reserved, “about 50 tickets for student political groups like the Roosevelt Institute, the Columbia University Democrats, and the International Socialist Organization at Columbia.”

More H arm than Good Co-Director for the Columbia University Roosevelt Institute Human Rights Center, Alison Fraerman, would define Yiannopoulos’ comments as hate speech. She contends that Yiannopoulos shouldn’t have been “invited by a political group in the guise of expressing a political ideology on this campus” because “bigotry is not a political ideology.”

It is not, to her, “conservatism.”

O’Neill would say in response that he “has a vast following and they are Republican voters and they are part of the conversation about what it means to be conservative.”

For marginalized students, this response ignores, as Fraerman put it, “the psychological impact that Milo Yiannopoulos’ comments could have.” But more important is what sociology professor Shamus Khan referred to as “the material consequences of positions,” during the University Forum, where the consequences of Yiannopoulos’ positions on Muslims and Islam, for example, become a continuation of the surveillance state against them. If taken up by the Trump administration, Yiannopoulos’ views then have real potential to do harm to these communities.

When it comes to perpetuating controversy, Yiannopoulos has not been one to hold back until provoked. On the national stage, he gained notoriety

The Blue and White

MILO GOES TO COLLEGE when his Twitter account was suspended after a prolonged period of abuse directed at comedian Leslie Jones. But his brazenness extends to the college realm as well, where he has a penchant for calling out individuals during his talks.

In May 2016, Yiannopoulos spoke at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he ridiculed Adelaide Kramer, a trans woman, for trying to access her preferred locker room. In his remarks, Yiannopoulos said Kramer needed to “man up” and ultimately failed as a “tranny” because he would still “do him.” While Chancellor Mone did condemn Yiannopoulos’ belittling in a letter to the community, Kramer, who was personally in the audience when Yiannopoulos made those remarks, was disappointed with the University’s response, explaining, “Free speech does not cover harassment, and that’s exactly what Milo did to me.”

When asked about the psychological harm Yiannopoulos potentially wages on students O’Neill replied, “I admit my place of privilege—I mean that genuinely—I can’t know personally how that would feel.” But she continued, “We’re not bringing him in to have some type of alt-right rally… It’s a critical political conversation and you don’t have to come if it would make you uncomfortable.”

just coming to do a presentation for our members and to discuss current issues.” President of the College Democrats Michael DeLuca argued, “his words and actions have inspired individuals to harass and demean groups” and that “to give the most controversial figure you can find a platform for their vitriolic speech and toxic ideas…is foolish.”

However, the conversation took a left turn when, on October 15, NYU issued a cancellation email to all ticket holders. In the email, Senior Vice President of Student Affairs, Marc Wais, explained that “on other campuses, his events have been accompanied by physical altercations, the need for drastically enlarged security presence, harassment of community members both at the event and beyond, and credible threats involving the presence of firearms or explosives.”

The NYU Republicans group fought to reschedule the event, writing in a statement that it was “extremely prejudiced against conservatives” to claim “this kind of discussion puts students in danger.” However, the decision has some support from members of the Columbia community. Fraerman

A ir of Suspicion On his part, it seems Yiannopoulos doesn’t even try to reduce potential tensions. All of this leads Fraerman to believe that “[CUCR is] trying to incite something… [Milo] is constantly trying to incite something.”

This air of suspicion isn’t new for CUCR. In 2006, they invited a border militia group, the Minutemen, to speak in Roone Arledge Auditorium.

That led to a rather famous moment in Columbia history, where students stormed the stage to stop Jim Gilchrist from speaking. While almost eleven years out from that flashpoint, comparisons seem inescapable: the national figure, the media scrutiny, the protests that increasingly seem to end in violence.

Downtown, Yiannopoulos was also set to speak at New York University on February 18th, a day after he speaks at Columbia. In Greenwich Village, the conversation around whether or not he should come played out along the same lines. Elena Hatib, president of the College Republicans, claimed, “He is not coming here to threaten or hurt anyone, he’s

February 2017

Illustration by Jennifer Bi

21

MILO GOES TO COLLEGE argued that “there’s room for the university to not student body unafraid to push back against power. In accept the appearance of Milo Yiannopoulos as long an opinion piece, the Washington Square News, said as they do accept conservative views.” that though Milo was “a despicable character,” the Connor Haseley, Human Rights Co-Center fact was NYU had “known about the event for weeks, Director at the Roosevelt Institute with Fraerman, yet failed to plan for adequate security.” Many other contends that “when it comes to these political clubs, comparable schools “including Yale and George they are operating with the full knowledge that Washington University…agreed to increase secuthey are sanctioned by Columbia and subject to rity.” The Washington Square News piece concluded Columbia’s rules.” He also said that administrative by referring to reporting in the Wall Street Journal, pushback on the event would not be signalling that which pointed to the larger issue of “worrisome anti“no Columbia student…can agree with what Milo inflammatory speech policy becoming popular at Yiannopoulos says or hear what Milo Yiannopoulos American universities.” says.”

But what Haseley added does it matter to that rescinding the Yia nnopou los?

Given Yiannopoulos’ tendency towards Did he not warn invitation would only prevent Yiannopoulos that “the ‘crybulharassment and, in Haseley’s words, from speaking in union campus will “manner-based incitement,” it would be lies’ versity buildings, not try to ban [him]?” right of the university to, indeed, stop public places like Low Following news that Steps. In response, his invitation to Yiannopoulos. But this would mark the O’Neill would argue speak at UC Davis start of a slippery slope for Columbia, a that cancelling the had been rescinded talk would not “be university whose president prides himself in response to proconsistent with unifrom students, on being an expert on the First Amendment tests versity precedent” Yiannopoulos and freedom of speech.” and “having somecalmly posted on one speak in a venue Facebook, “My event [does not imply] an at UC Davis tonight endorsement of their views.” But she does admit that has been cancelled after violence from left-wing “[the Columbia administration could] do it legally… protestors. There are reports of hammers, smashed and I would imagine we would host it on Low Steps windows and barricades being torn away. The camthen, but I don’t see that happening.” pus police can’t guarantee anyone’s safety so I’m not being allowed anywhere near the building. Stay safe, Slippery Slope everyone.”

Reason Associate Editor Robby Soave on the Given Yiannopoulos’ tendency towards harass- NYU case wrote that, “Censoring Milo doesn’t stop ment and, in Haseley’s words, “manner-based incite- him, it only proves him right about the state of open ment,” it would be right of the university to, indeed, dialogue on campuses.” stop Yiannopoulos. But this would mark the start of a slippery slope for Columbia, a university whose The Complicated Boat Scheme president prides himself on being an expert on the First Amendment and freedom of speech.

Yiannopoulos has gamed the system. By banIndeed, NYU found itself on such a track after ning him, he becomes a rallying point for his growcancelling Yiannopoulos’ appearance. NYU Local ing fan base. By letting him speak, he plays havoc by reporters Addy Baird and Kyla Bills asserted that ridiculing the fates of marginalized communities.

“NYU cancels speeches so people don’t protest an With the charisma of James Bond and the honesty event with ‘New York University’ written on the of a snake-oil salesman, Yiannopoulos has become flier.” It isn’t about safety or doing the right thing, it’s the Dark Knight’s Joker to many colleges, setting about trying to avoid a difficult a conversation with a Liberals and Libertarians up to kill each other in a

“

22

The Blue and White

MILO GOES TO COLLEGE complicated boat scheme. barian” in confrontation with a hostile questioner.

The only way to not play into Yiannopoulos’ Members of the audience scattered throughout the hand is to be critical of him, but without the law, the room applauded Robinson, presumably rank-and-file university, or the picket signs. The only question is members of CUCR and other sympathizers, whereas how? the front of the room, where “a lot of members of the For the Tommy Robinson event, CUCR allo- executive board sat” were silent. For O’Neill, there cated time for a Q&A and discussion after he spoke is a difference between “advocating on behalf of in order to challenge his views. Robinson spoke for strict immigration laws” and “advocating on behalf upwards of an hour before the Q&A could start, leav- of having a Muslim registry,” the latter of which she ing very little time in which to ask questions. O’Neill called “explicit racism.” It might be the case that the admitted “it was a weird situation. He was speaking executive members of CUCR and other Columbians’ over Skype or whatever.” However, she thought the right-of-center is drifting, and that might become a question and answer problem for CUCR’s format was ideal for mission to be a critibeing critical. “I cal platform of conThis is how Yiannopoulos games the sys- servative discussion. regret people had to leave,” she said about tem. By banning him, he becomes a rallying During the the event, “but peolast Senate plenary point for his growing fan base. By letting ple who stayed still of the fall semeshad 20 minutes to him speak, he plays havoc by ridiculing the ter, a University ask him questions.” fates of marginalized communities. With senator from the For some, that School of the Arts may not have been the charisma of James Bond and the honesty asked President Lee enough. Elise Fuller, of a snake-oil salesman, Yiannopoulos has Bollinger a hypothetCC ’19, a member of become the Dark Knight’s Joker to many ical: If white nationthe Black Students alists like Richard Organization, said colleges, setting Liberals and Libertarians Spencer were invited that she would want up to kill each other in a complicated boat to Columbia, would “another speaker Columbia provide scheme.” with counter ideas them a platform to either sitting across speak? He said, “If from him [Milo] or someone invited the presenting directly after him.” But, depending on the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan to speak on camset-up, even that could be manipulated. In a couple pus, we should protect that.” of Yiannopoulos’ more recent talks, he points to the As a free-speech scholar, Bollinger’s answer people who have questions, instead of a system where wasn’t surprising. But with alt-right figurehead audience members line up in front of the microphone Richard Spencer on his own college tour to revitalize and inquire in order, like at the Robinson event. This white nationalism in America, the statement makes distinction matters; it can be the difference between Columbia a desirable stop. But it also may threaten a friendly and a challenging Q&A. But it would still CUCR. When asked if CUCR would consider invitbe O’Neill’s hope that “it’s not going to be an echo ing David Duke to speak, O’Neill said, “David Duke chamber where everything Milo says reverberates and what he stands for and the modern KKK is repand everyone in there is cheering for him. ” rehensible and has no serious place in the Republican Party.” But new, shadowy players lurk in the woodContested Voice of Conservatism work, and opportunities like a visit from Richard Spencer could be enough to bring the rumored Dark The fear of CUCR’s latest event turning into Enlightenment Club, supposedly an existing underan echo chamber may be valid. In the last minutes ground white nationalist group on campus, out of of the Q&A, Robinson asserted for the last time hiding to contest what was for years CUCR’s title: the that night that the Prophet Muhammad was a “bar- voice of undergraduate conservatism in Columbia.w

“

February 2017

23

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N

Sociological Soirees A conversation with Victor P. Corona

By Alexandra Warrick Nightlife sociologist Victor P. Corona has traveled past the velvet ropes of New York’s wildest clubs, cocktail spots and cabarets, contributing to his field in an irresistibly idiosyncratic–and iridescent–way. In pivoting his academic focus from the military to the world of drag queens and glam scenes, Corona seeks to dissect their hold on our national imagination. As a Columbia professor, he has also sought to bring his interviewees into the classroom to trip the light fluorescent, as it were. To fête the upcoming release of his star-studded book, Night Class: A Downtown Memoir, contributor Alexandra Warrick, CC ’17, welcomed him back from a trip to Los Angeles with a conversation about its flip side–New York City–and its complex underworld.

The Blue and White: Congratulations on the upcoming release of your book Night Class: A Downtown Memoir–the title of which is an apt triple entendre.

You’ve taught at Columbia, the fulcrum of your courses being the world of nightlife; you focus on the class divides inherent in the scene; and you’ve experienced your own series of “night classes,” learning all about the fame game from exploring the club

24

kid jungle. Tell me a little about the inception of this project.

Victor Corona: I did my Ph.D. in sociology at Columbia about a very different subject–about the U.S. Army–and I spent a year in Washington D.C. collecting dissertation data for that project. Since it was a study of an organizational labor market, I foresaw eventually looking at cultural careers where the very rigid stratification system that exists for army officers doesn’t exist–obviously a much more volatile career system. I had the misfortune of finishing my dissertation during the year that the recession hit the academy the hardest. And so, when I was looking for a job and eventually started doing some courses at Columbia, that’s when I really started to explore my interest in pop culture and urban culture.

Little by little through different moments I explore in the book, I ended up becoming really obsessed with the downtown story and its cast of characters. I went from being curious about this group of service members in their olive green uniforms, saluting and marching and working in our Capitol and how that culture developed over our nation’s history, [to being] interested in a much different cast of characters downtown, drag performers and artists and fashion designers and musicians, that

Illustration by Jacquelyn Klein

The Blue and White

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N coalesced around Michael Alig’s club kids but also the Warhol Factory and Lady Gaga’s downtown scene and nightlife hotspots like the Box. That started this six-year journey that I end up discussing in the book.

B&W: Nightlife has been criminally overlooked as a source of serious sociological consideration, but you hold that there’s gravitas in the glitz. You’ve dedicated your career to its development, even contributing the first academic analysis to exist on downtown doyenne Lady Gaga. How do you respond to your peers who perhaps refuse to acknowledge the importance of nightlife studies?

VPC: I think that’s a very close-minded approach. I think what is so fascinating and joyful and stimulating about sociology is that it is interested in human identity, and can apply very different methods to understand why people want the things they want, why people do the things they do, why people chase after the things that they chase after. For any colleague to say that nightlife–which is all about the most augmented, sometimes free expressions of identity–to say that that’s not worthy of sociological attention is extremely close-minded and, frankly, boring.

I think that the reason I’ve always had high enrollment in my classes is because students come to schools like Columbia to be in an exciting urban environment, and they’ve often been to many of the clubs that I’ve mentioned well before even registering for my class. It’s part of not just youth but a part of enjoying what extremely vibrant urban centers like New York have to offer. I think of nightlife as a place where so many of the norms that govern our behavior during the day are stripped away, and that makes for an extremely fascinating sociological laboratory for both the people participating in that scene, drinking or flirting and dancing and dressed to the nines, and to the people who actually make it happen, to the people who populate that social space. I try to make sense of all those different things in the book. Both the notables in the downtown scene that have made downtown New York what it is today, and my own journey through it, having been that dowdy researcher, that cubicle rat, and having become somewhat of a regular in that scene–are the stories that I try to tell.

B&W: How does your history of political activism and work for the military shape the sociological perspective with which you approach nightlife?

February 2017

VPC: I think that the sociological conclusion that I would make is that, at the end of the day, each of those sectors that I spent a little bit of time in–political activism, and the military, and downtown New York nightlife–they’re all the same. When you strip away different ways of dressing and different social spaces, at the end of the day it’s about the same search for identity. Certainly they all involve hierarchies and intrigues and jealousies and pettiness, but also spectacle and fabulousness and theatricality. They’re all different substantiations of the same human impulse for me. If I’ve been surprised by anything, it’s just how remarkably similar these very different social settings ultimately are.

B&W: You recently spoke to the Times of London sharing your intent to tackle “the puzzle of hierarchy.” “Politics, military, nightlife”–all share velvet ropes of some kind. Speak to our contemporary culture’s hunger for this sense of exclusivity, this sense of rank…

VPC: My interest in hierarchy goes back to my favorite work of fiction–and I think it’s timely, given that you and I are speaking on Inauguration Day–1984

by George Orwell. Two of my tattoos reference this extremely important work to me. It’s a book that I remain obsessed with. I’ve often said if you want to understand me, you need to read 1984, because it really ended up framing so much of my own sociological imagination. A lot of people reference 1984 when they’re talking about government surveillance or an all-powerful government but at its heart it’s really an extremely in-depth, nuanced meditation on power.

That’s maybe a deeper question that I would apply to the similarities between politics and the military and nightlife. When you speak of hierarchy, it’s essentially about power and control. So I think today all American culture has always been about hierarchy because it’s always been about stardom–who is the “superstar.” What has changed is only how that’s achieved. We’re going back to the old Hollywood studio system to now, a variety of platforms on which to achieve it–it goes back to that human yearning for meaning and for a sense of status. We all want to know that we matter; we all want to know that people give a damn about our existence.

I think what’s missing is the commitment to hard work. People ask me, “Oh, so you’re writing about nightlife? I bet you’re going to throw some real-

25

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N ly fabulous parties.” In my business, the act of writing ing and singing and songwriting. And at the end of is extremely unglamorous! It’s you, sitting at a desk, the day that’s what culture is supposed to be about. by yourself, hopefully with your attention undivided, I often say I sleep better when I’ve had a and just writing. As my dear Rose Wood, who’s on the good day of writing because that’s how my mind is cover of the book, says, “A writer is one who writes. A most alive. As my old mentor at Columbia, Harrison songwriter is just someone sitting in front of a piano, White, used to say, when those synapses are firing, or whatever instrument they use, and just working that’s an extremely important part of why we do what by themselves”–and that hard work is unglamorous. we do. So the fact that the girls in your example are So what exists today is that mismatch between these just pleading for ideas that they can use to become colossal yearnings for fame and status and adula- famous is just an extremely sad thing to hear. If 1984 tion, especially on things like social media–people is a meditation on power, my book is ultimately a fawning over the likes, so hungry for the likes–and meditation on spectacle, delusion, and fame. Being a commitment to in Los Angeles these past work that is not really couple of days, you just I n s t a g r a m m a ble…

“So what exists today is that mismatch really are confronted If I were to speak to with this question of between these colossal yearnings for contemporary culture fame. It’s a very unnatutoday and what hierar- fame and status and adulation, especial- ral condition for humans chy looks like, I think what’s interesting is ly on things like social media – people and that that is sometimes that, despite all the very missing. That’s when fawning over the likes, so hungry for the cruel consequences that you get these emptylikes – and a commitment to work that we’ve seen fame have for headed reality stars people’s lives, people still is not really Instagrammable…If I were want it so desperately. that are leading us towards a culture I to speak to contemporary culture today don’t think I’m very It’s the great lie of and what hierarchy looks like, I think B&W: comfortable with. our times, right? It’s the that that is sometimes missing.” panacea; it’s the magic B&W: Something you bullet that will solve all of said just now remindour problems. Notoriety. ed me a lot of an [art] piece: [Elisa Giardina Papa’s] “need ideas!?!PLZ!!” She did a mash-up compila- VPC: Yes, absolutely. The idea that this kind of tion of vlogs that she found on the internet… young generalized, anonymous love will satisfy whatever 11-year-old girls would make these vlogs and the pathology is pushing you to seek it is extremely dantitles would always be like “Help… I Need Ideas”… gerous. At best, it’s a fool’s errand, and at worst, it and they would just be speaking into their webcams can lead to some really awful consequences, as I trace saying, “I want to have tons of followers, I want to in my book. Suicide, the killing of Angel Melendez, be famous, I want to have a popular vlog–but I don’t drug addiction… it can lead to many dark places. have any ideas so please, guys, like and subscribe and give me ideas to talk about.” So it’s this all-frosting B&W: On a lighter note–the Box, which features no-cake [approach]… prominently in your memoir, possesses perhaps the toughest velvet ropes in town. First of all, a nutshell VPC: Exactly, that’s a perfect example and it’s pitch: what is the Box and what makes it special to you extremely sad to hear that. Because at the end of the from both a sociological and personal perspective? day, the joy of creativity is supposed to be at the heart of all this! My book discusses Lady Gaga’s career and VPC: I devote a chapter of my book to the Box her deep downtown lineage; the reader will see in the because I think that it is one of the most, if not the book I’m a bit critical about elements of her work, but most, important nightlife spots in New York today in I also know that A) she’s enormously talented and B) 2017. It is part club, part cabaret, part theatre, and I would say that she really enjoys the process of creat- it has found this really great way to marry outrageous

26

The Blue and White

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N performance art that you can’t find anywhere else ding. Either you hone your craft or you don’t. No red really, and a successful business model that has lead carpet photo, no viral image, no number of Instagram to its celebrating its 10-year anniversary next month likes, nothing will secure your legacy or future or in February. I love taking friends or ex-students whatever the hell it is that you want like a true devothere because almost all of them inevitably say, “This tion to your craft. was one of the best nights of my life.”

If you’re doing it for the applause… that’s It’s just this magical journey that you get to when you’ll end up at this huge, yawning abyss where undertake from about 12:30 at night, which I know is you just feel lost. And I think that’s why fame can be way too late for some people, to about 4 in the morn- so dangerous for people, because that won’t satisfy ing, when you end up sitting next to Rose McGowan you in the small hours of the morning when you’re or Sam Smith, as has happened to me, and see really faced with your mortality and who will give art that you can’t see anywhere else, from amazing a shit about your time on this earth. That empty contortionists and firefawning over you will breathers and aerialists not satisfy you: either to the great Rose Wood you enjoy what you do, “If you’re doing it for the applause… who ends up becomand it fulfills you, or it that’s when you’ll end up at this huge, doesn’t. It’s as simple as ing this kind of disco mother to me and who yawning abyss where you just feel lost. that – and that’s what I does things that I didn’t learned from all those And I think that’s why fame can be so people you mentioned. know the human body could even do. There’s dangerous for people, because that this raw shock and awe Nightlife is a won’t satisfy you in the small hours of B&W: that Rose gives you, sociological goldmine, the morning when you’re really faced but beyond that, it’s a and it is in some ways a throwback to previous with your mortality and who will give a complete opera–there periods in nightlife that are victories, tragedies, shit about your time on this earth.” privileged a spectacle. dark horses, unpredictable upsets and conB&W: In Night Class, stant changings of the you speak to the wildest array of nightlife figures. guard. Is there an unsung nightlife figure whose We’ve got legendary vamps like Amanda Lepore story you’ve always found poetic and that you feel and Suzanne Bartsch, writers like Interview’s Bob warrants more study?

Colacello, a slew of inventive members of Warhol’s Factory and the Haus of Gaga... these are people who VPC: In some way, my discussion of Suzanne is that, have experienced this beautiful underworld and come but what’s interesting about Suzanne Bartsch’s story out with brilliant works of art, brilliant things to say is that it’s now at this moment that she’s finally starton the nature of fame. What are some lessons you’ve ing to get our due. There’s this documentary coming gleaned from these illuminating conversations? out about her, she just had this beautiful window at Bloomingdale’s unveiled during the Christmas VPC: When it comes to fame, is it still a success if season, she had the Museum at FIT retrospective… you make, say, one film in your 20s and win an Oscar, [She’s] someone who has created this enduring nightand then you do nothing else worthy of an Oscar for life community by always paying attention to what’s the rest of your career–are you still considered a suc- new, but maintaining a certain set of aesthetic stancess? Rose hasn’t won any awards, but could she still dards for what makes a fun and interesting party. be considered a success? She has zero social media She, too, works very hard and she actually presence…but of course I would consider her a suc- enjoys it…you see that point in the night when she just cess because she’s just had such an impact on people. has that beautiful big smile and you can tell that she’s …I think the main lesson, the main thing that I enjoying this assembly that she has created, that she come away with is something that a few people tease has curated for New York. The right mix of hosts and me about but really it is true: the proof is in the pud- DJs and venues, that alchemy that she has mastered,

February 2017

27

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N is not sufficiently appreciated, and I’m glad to see that institutions like FIT and Bloomingdale’s are recognizing her ability to do that.

stone in your work and in your teachings at Columbia and beyond. What do you find most worrisome about our hyper-accelerated culture today?

B&W: There’s also a kind of social alchemy that takes place when you curate the panels that you’ve been hosting at Columbia, NYU and beyond, on topics ranging from gender to sexuality to politics to modernity with everyone from theorist J. Jack Halberstam to jazz man Brian Newman to “Primates of Park Avenue” author Wednesday Martin. How do you go about matchmaking? What’s your approach?

VPC: I think that short, easy soundbites are the reason that the man who was inaugurated as our president today ended up winning the election. There is the acceleration of our work and personal lives, a hallmark of hypermodern culture that has led us to where we are today. Our aversion to long-term deep thinking and nuanced policy answers have led us to a person who offered easy answers to very serious, complex problems.

VPC: My panels I think of as a highlight of the semester in the sense that I bring the class people that can speak directly to many of the themes and debates that we’ve been talking about in class. Sometimes they are people that I’ve interviewed for my book, sometimes they’re people I know from nightlife, sometimes they’re scholars that I’ve interacted with…and I can honestly say that, in eight years of teaching, no panel has been a disappointment. Every panel yields really great reactions from the students because it’s this safe space where students can really ask whatever the want and we can have some really frank and honest conversations with the people that have been kind enough to visit my classes. It’s gotten to the point now where one other school asked me to curate their panel series and where a lot of people ask, can I come to your class to speak? I feel bad because I can’t just have people every week; I have to be really selective in terms of who gets to be invited.

I always look for a mix of perspectives–mix of age I think is very very important. To have someone who is–even if they’re a little unsteady or unsure of themselves–to have them there alongside great, seasoned thinkers and scholars like Jack Halberstam and Wednesday Martin makes for an interesting conversation. They’re out of their element - these are people who are used to hoisting a vodka bottle at 2 in the morning or performing at 3:45 in the morning in this laser-lit nightclub, and then here they are in front of my undergraduates at 11:30 AM. That in itself I love and I think they enjoy being out of their element. It’s this great frisson, this great energy that comes out of bringing people from downtown New York, or these outside New York worlds, to a classroom.

When you’re on the Subway–to borrow a little from Wednesday’s brilliant Primates of Park Avenue–put on your primatological hat and look at your fellow homo sapiens using their phones. Scroll scroll scroll tap scroll tap scroll…I mean, that is how we interact with our world. Through this lightning-quick consumption of images and characters and bells and whistles, and we’ve just lost so much of our ability to think critically and deeply and that’s extremely worrisome to me as an educator, as an instructor, and just as a person. It’s the reduction, simplification, “memeification” of culture, and I think it’s sad.

Observe it in a museum: these paintings that are just renowned and so valuable both monetarily and their symbolic value… and you’ll see a tourist just hop in front of it, do a quick selfie, throw up the deuce and have someone take a photo, and then walk away, having maybe glimpsed it for three seconds. That is truly tragic...

Musicians talk about this all the time… When you’re a musician, you want people to feel the music, to sway, to look at you, to cry, to smile, to laugh… and having people just holding up their phones to take some grainy, wobbly, few minutes of footage–it’s just so stupid! So these are the things that worry me about hypermodern culture and where it’s going.

Going back to what I said before–the proof is in the pudding. I think it lead us to who became the 45th President of the United States today.w

B&W: Gilles Lipovetsky’s theory of hypermodernity, with all of its fresh new anxieties, has been a touch-

28

The Blue and White

CASUAL ENCOUNTERS

Staff Personals After spending Valentine’s evening drunk at the movies once again, the staff of The Blue and White is ready to return to the world of love. Should these vulnerable, earnest essays (which nonetheless exude sexual maturity [and undeniable potency]) move the reader to the appropriate human response, the ads are followed by our personal mailbox numbers.

Seeking M en: Athlete on a men’s sports team seeking men. (3086) Vinyl lover looking for someone to drop their needle into me. (Altschul 4017) Freshman tired of long distance seeking ~new experiences.~ (Altschul 5262) ISO member looking to seize your means of production. (Altschul 1917) Amateur botanist offering tours of my secret garden. (8271) Freshman with free time seeking someone to flood my inbox—with listerv emails, of course. (Altschul 8271) Seeking Women: GS creative writing major looking for my Lolita.

(Bushwick) Archaic Classics major: if I asked you to conjugate with me, would you decline? (4810) I’m a cis dude studying women and gender studies, but down to discuss how gender is fake. I’ll try to stay in my lane. I’ll also stay in your lane if you want me to. (5757) French international student seeking someone to yell at me outside of Butler. I’ll bring the cigarettes.

(8321) Joe, 21, seeks woman of intellectual and artistic seriousness. (6969)

February 2017

Kingsmen tenor looking for a queen to help me see if my tuning fork is a suitable pitch. (7729) Baroque art specialist looking for a Daphne. (2775) JJs Place might be closed indefinitely, but I’m offering extra late night hours. (8918) Aspiring sculptor seeking my Reclining Figure.

(9696) Seeking Whatever I Can Get: Me: Rising Editor-in-Chief of prominent campus publication.

You: First year stunned senseless by power. (5857) Sassy ungrate looking to be removed from the listserv. (9181) Barnard student who lives off campus. Seeking someone to not have to sign out the next morning.

(Altschul 4470) Looking to sprinkle salt on a Columbia Buy Sell Meme admin. I can do topical (or just top). (3552) Sophomore in full slump and ready to hump. (1731) You can use my mom’s Amazon Prime account. I have the password. (7885) Plimpton resident seeking my pimp. (1837) Newly converted poli sci major seeking prof with pierced ears, shiny head and outdated memes. (8632) If you’re busy I’ll make it quick. (4400)w

29

PAY I N G T H E B I L L S

Book Culture 536 West 112th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Monday-Friday 9am-10pm Saturday 10am-8pm Sunday 11am-7pm 212-865-1588 Book Culture 2915 Broadway at West 114th Street Monday-Friday 9am-11pm Saturday 10am-11pm Sunday 10am-10pm 646-403-3000 bookculture.com

30

The Blue and White

PAY I N G T H E B I L L S

Interested in writing or illustrating for The Blue and White?

WE WANT YOU! Drop by our weekly meeting Mondays at 8 p.m. in Earl Hall.

Or, email editors@theblueandwhite.org.

Sponsored in part by the Arts Initiative at Columbia University.

This funding is made possible through a generous gift from The Gatsby Charitable Foundation.

February 2017

31

E AT I N ’ G O O D I N T H E N E I G H B O R H O O D

32

The Blue and White