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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. IV

Orientation 2017

What Is The Blue and White?

A look back at our prestigious origins and the evolution of our dapper look

What's Your GS Story?

Exploring the history of Columbia's coolest school

Also Insi

de:

Let's Talk About Tha

t

esman

Ad Money, Death of a Sal

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

Staff Writers GAGE HODGEN, CC ’19 JASMINE PARK, CC ’20 UFON UMANAH, CC ’20 CASEY DAVIS, BC ’20 OTTILIE LIGHTE, BC ’20 Contributors ALEXANDRA WARRICK, BC ’17 ALEX SALTIEL, CC ’18 SANFORD MILLER, 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 ALEXANDRA WARRICK, BC ’17 KELLIE ZHAO, CC ’19 JOANNA ZOU, CC ’18

THE BLUE AND WHITE Vol. XXIII

FAMAM EXTENDIMUS FACTIS

No. IV

Columns

4 Blue Book 6 Blue Notes 8 Campus Characters 12 Verily Veritas 19 Campus G ossip 20 Centerfold: NYC M ap 22 M easure for Measure 33 Curio Columbiana

Alexandra Warrick & Alex Saltiel

Features 10 At Two Swords Length: Will You Give?

Our monthly prose and cons

Ned Russin

13 What’s Your GS Story?

Exploring the history of Columbia's coolest school

Ufon Umanah

17 Let’s Talk A bout That A d Money

A look at the Spectator’s more peculiar advertising

Virginia Ambeliotis

24 The Sandwich A mbassador: A History

The fall of Columbia’s most unusual student council spot

Alexandra Warrick

27 Contrarianism Over Coffee

A conversation with Phillip Lopate

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Cover by Kristine Dunn

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR To the Class of 2021, allow me to be the 600th to welcome you to our hallowed halls, and to be the first to not follow up my welcome with a needlessly long workshop designed to absolve me of any legal blame, or to awkwardly draw out our forced conversation as we’re trapped in a crowded elevator.

Columbia, for all its reputation, is a place of unbridled opportunity. You will find here any society you might imagine, no matter how quirky, no matter how obscure. I implore you, as the veteran of three quick years, to take advantage of all on offer, embrace all aspects of our school’s cherished diversity, and to have neither embarrassment nor reservation in picking whatever activity or community you best fit in with— especially if that community happens to be our zany collection of authors, poets, artists, and comedians: The Blue and White. Morningside Heights is home to many a campus magazine and paper, but we are unequivocally and unabashedly literary top dog. Look out for our finely printed pages and beautifully balanced sentences three times a semester.

As a brief introduction to this issue: those of you interested in campus journalism should peruse pages seventeen and eighteen, while those who prefer a more lighthearted read will enjoy pages ten and eleven. And then for those fans of creative writing there’s page 22, for those who like celebrities there’s pages 27 through 32, and for you omnivores, our whole issue is yours for the reading. The Blue and White is a celebration of our diverse literary and artistic passions; we truly hope you enjoy our work, and that you have nothing but auspicious starts on the path ahead!

To everyone else reading this: Commiserations— only four months until December.

— David Alexander Swanson

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TRANSACTIONS ARRIVALS Columbia Class of 2021 Fake IDs The joyous yet insidious start of freshman 15 JJ’s 24 hour?!

President Sian Beilock

DEPARTURES Columbia Class of 2017 Sean Spicer Reince Priebus THE MOOCH!!!

Come Again?!

“I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own cock.”

— Anthony Scaramucci, a real New Yorker. Welcome to the Big Apple, kids.

The Blue and White

BLUE BOOK

Disambiguation of Social Cliques Here at The Blue and White, we thought it might be helpful to disambiguate the various social groups you’ ll find on campus, so you know exactly where you fit in. Some cliques you can recognize from their clothing, others their behavior, yet all Morningside species are distinctive in their own special—if not slightly confusing—way. Here’s our guide to Columbia’s social scene: Activists: You’ll either find these troops en masse atop Low Steps or around various recycling depots near campus searching for scrap cardboard. Their presence can be marked by incoherent shouting, slogans that all somehow fit to the same staggeringly annoying jingle, an acute sense of self-righteousness that grows stronger as the herd grows larger, and numerous cardboard signs. Friendly to approach if you share their ideals. And only their ideals.

Fiercely territorial, rival pledges should keep their distance.

Pledges: The caterpillar to the fratboy butterfly, these tragedies can be seen carting 30-racks or low-quality vodka from RiteAid, International, or Morton Williams to either EC or their aspired brownstone. Patterned shirts, particularly of the floral variety, are common, as are a crippling lack of social skills when talking to women, decidedly unimpressive sexual performance, and a constant need for validation from a soon-to-be-brother.

Athletes: Ever heard of athleisure? Drop the leisure, and you’ve found your athlete. No matter the weather, no matter the occasion, you can always spot an athlete by their head-to-toe armor of unfashionable GoLions! printed stock. You’d think that constant losses might decrease the regularity of team gear parading, but let’s just call it “school spirit.”

International students: Just call these students the Chainsmokers. You’ll find them outside Butler at any hour, usually in a large gathering. In winter, expect Canada Goose; in summer, pungent affluent-smelling cologne and laced loafers. Friendly to approach if you’re non-American, or willing to sell your soul to the Eurotrash way of life.

POSTCARD FROM MORNINGSIDE

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Postcard by Jennifer Bi

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BLUE NOTES

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o those of you just entering the wonderful world of Morningside Heights, it may appear as a longstanding culinary cornucopia of well-curated eats.

Yet, it has not always been so. Talk to many a salty, scarred senior, and they’ll tell you of the blandness we were forced to endure prior to this year’s campus dining scene expansion. Imagine a Saturday without avocados on every brunch menu, an 8:40 without five places to choose your artisanal latte from, or, dare I say, non-chain eateries!

Where once there was only one entrepreneur-

ial bodega at which to burn $16 on vinaigretted veggies, now you’re spoilt for choice with suave salad and smoothie bars. And let’s not forget the farm-totable movement. Once the shibboleth of obnoxious crunchies, farm-to-table food has taken the nation, alas, by storm. The Upper West Side is no exception: Dig Inn graced us in 2014, Sweetgreen in 2016, and just a few months ago, Junzi Kitchen—this last one taking over the greasiest yet most loveable diner in local history: Deluxe. If you love deliberately-worn wooden tables and a superfluous adjective before a food item on your menu, you know you’re in the right place.

And more chains are on the way. Shake Shack, in response to a drunken (or more probably high) tweet, is taking over Ollie’s, formerly New York’s least desirable place to eat dumplings. And Panda Express is set to open just next to Mel’s. Who knows: perhaps it will knock out regional heavyweight, Koronet’s, as the late-night stumble-to. If not, there’s always JJ’s—which is now open 24 hours. And accepting Barnard students.

— Alex Swanson

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erhaps, one day, wandering through Mudd’s long, winding hallways or perhaps Hamilton’s upper floors, you’ll hear phrases like “Progression 3,” “interpretive question,” and “writing as a process” chorusing out of a classroom. But the people saying them won’t be the pimpled, wideeyed first-years you expect. They’ll be 30-ish adults who look more like the hifalutin literatis of the Hungarian Pastry Shop than the word-slurring wastrels at 1020.

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Illustration by Kristine Dunn

The Blue and White

BLUE NOTES What you’re hearing is, in fact, “Teaching Writing: Theory and Practice,” a class in which all prospective University Writing instructors must enroll. “Teaching Writing” has evolved significantly in the last couple years.

Administrators have reduced seminars from weekly to seven, added a “teaching demo” with a real UWriting class, and established a TA-like “senior instructor” position to be filled by former UWriting instructors.

“The changes we made last year were more than the usual end-ofsemester changes,” Associate Director of Undergraduate Writing, Aaron Ritzenberg, says.

An expanded workshop program for new University Writing instructors, first instituted last year, balances out the reduction in class time. New programming emphasizes practical topics, like grading, that Ritzenberg says “Teaching Writing” instructors find themselves “having to teach twice” because they don’t feel relevant to students the spring before.

Graduate students in the English department, who can choose to teach University Writing in the 3rd and 4th years of their Ph.D., make up the bulk of the class. The remainder of the students are MFAs who are applying to teach University Writing; for the 10 percent whose applications are accepted, the class comes with a $30,000 annual stipend.

Atefeh Akbari, who was a senior instructor last spring but took Teaching Writing largely before the recent changes, describes the new version of the class as “honestly really fine-tuned to the needs of the students.” Although she adds, “It’s not there to teach you everything. It’s there to to get you you started.”

— Sanford Miller

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inished with roundels representative of each continent’s characteristics, Harmony Hall was built in 1928 by William E. Harmon as the headquarters of New York’s prestigious Explorers Club, a professional society that “promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and

Orientation 2017

biological sciences.” Among The Club’s members are men who boast “Famous Firsts:” the first to travel to the North and South poles, accomplish a solo flight across the Atlantic, summit Mt. Everest and voyage to the Moon. Not simple feats.

The Explorers Club’s flag has been flown at not only every point on our planet but also in outer space, yet, for those interested, they offer a more accessible thrill—The Annual Dinner: a black-tie event where a meat rumored to be mammoth was once served; a dinner pioneered for the not-so-faint-of-heart, where your appetizers of maggot sushi and deepfried tarantula look like they could crawl out of your mouth, and you have to double check that the iguana entree didn’t just move its head—gourmet barbeque muskrat, alligator claws, and mealworm pastry have not made their way into John Jay’s repertoire just yet.

So although your Harmony single doesn’t have a trophy case or a complete three-toed-sloth skeleton, and although you won’t quite get to Antarctica while you’re at Columbia, maybe you can at least think about poaching some cow eyeballs with your eggs next time you make breakfast in your floor kitchen.

— Ottilie Lighte

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

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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 their Columbia class pages.

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

Alexander Birkel

T

here’s a good chance you’re Facebook friends with Alexander Birkel, CC ’18. In addition to being a former president of the Investment Banking Initiative and member of the Multicultural Recruitment Committee in the Admissions Office, the Princeton, New Jersey native is widely known for his prolific social media presence in the Columbia Class of 2018 Facebook group, in which he became known even before his freshman year.

Birkel did not realize the extent of his notoriety until he arrived on campus for NSOP in 2014.

A different member of the class of 2018 had devised

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a game in which students earned points for taking Snapchats with different Facebook group “celebrities” during orientation week.

“I just had random people come up to me on our Intrepid cruise during NSOP and start taking Snaps with me… I didn’t realize until after three or four Snaps in that they were taking Snaps with me for this game. I thought I was just wearing something really interesting,” Birkel laughs.

Despite the fact that Facebook fame rarely translates to real-life social success, Birkel followed up on his virtual interactions and made a conscious effort to use his class Facebook group to meet his fellow new Columbians in person. He organized several meet-ups before his first year, and many friendships that began online (surprisingly) lasted past NSOP. According to Birkel, the core group of frequent posters in his class group are still close, even years out.

Birkel exudes none of the jadedness that the typical Columbia upperclassman exhibits regarding the alleged abysmal social life and lack of community on campus. He cites joining organizations and socializing with students outside of one’s comfort zone and major as the best pieces of advice he has for the Class of 2021.

“Just meet as many people as you can from as many different backgrounds and interests as you can, because that’s really the point of coming here, right?” Birkel says.

He calls Columbia “the diverse Ivy” as he continues. “Everybody thinks differently and everybody has different backgrounds, so if you don’t take advantage of that, you know,

Illustration by Jennifer Bi

The Blue and White

take your $70,000 elsewhere I suppose,” he says with a laugh.

— Esme Ablaza

Thomas Nielsen

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he Facebook class pages are always a way for future students to introduce themselves, ask questions about what sort of bedding they should get and if the Canada Goose is actually worth the investment, and to form tentative friendships. Each year, there are a few students who are noticeably, perhaps aggressively, more active in the group. Such students become celebrated celebs even before the school year starts, eagerly awaited by hundreds to see if the man matches the myth. Thomas Nielsen, CC ’18, is one such student.

Before college, Thomas, from Baltimore, had never learned in a classroom. He was homeschooled from Kindergarten until eighth grade and then attended an online high school. While seemingly unusual for some, Thomas says his particular education played a huge role in his coming to Columbia. The small online classes that he took fostered a love for discussion and humanities-based classes such as the those offered by the Core.

However, considering that Thomas had never learned inside an actual classroom, he was understandably quite apprehensive about college. In order to relieve his anxieties he took to the class Facebook group as he hoped the online forum would help him foster connections that he could carry throughout his college experience. Thomas wanted to make sure that he could reach out to as many people and simultaneously collect as much information about the college experience as possible, and so he figured the class page would be the best location to do so.

Unfortunately, most of the acquaintances he made in the Facebook group did not last into his freshman year. “People form social groups that don’t correspond to the groups they made on the Facebook page,” he says. “Most of the acquaintances I made from that page have not stuck around and my best

Orientation 2017

friends have come from the classes I have taken.”

Additionally, he voiced a regret about being so active on the page. He discussed how “we are all on a learning curve here and we all do embarrassing things. But when people know you from the group there is less wiggle room to make mistakes.” He recommends reaching out to some people who have similar interests to you but not overdoing it and not being disappointed if those initial connections fall through.

Thomas’s advice to new students is simple: get off campus. Stress culture can be destructive at Columbia. Although he believes that his majors are not as taxing, he has seen many of his friends consumed by stress culture. The easiest way to avoid this, he believes, is to explore the city and see more of the amazing environment that Columbia is in. His dream is to become a soundtrack musician and work with Columbia and NYU students to score their films.

— Casey Davis

Illustration by Jennifer Bi

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AT T W O S W O R D S ’ L E N G T H

Is PBR Y

es…

IN THIS WAY: We are very selective about our Who told you? Was it Billy? That little boner. membership. We want scholars, Renaissance men, WOWIE! Well, that boy will get a stern talking to the future intelligentsia! AS SUCH! Each potenand a can of whoopee in his tushee in the morning, tial rushee must recite a poem at the big, fancy but golly, you’re still here, and I guess this is as good dinner party (BFDP). During DP, two prospective as time as any to say: PBR(OS) switch off line by line, and by the time one The brothers of them says “Daddy, at Pi Beta Rho (PBR) daddy, you bastard, welcome you in libI’m through,” we erte, egalite, fraterwill have researched nite! We may not be which of your daddies the most popular, can pay for our dues. the most athletic, That even rhymes! the most Asian. But Isn’t that fun? When we are real—as real we ask you to join, we as the streets, as real also ask your whole as the rumors you family to join. It’s hear about PIKE part of our mission (if I remember corhere: the richer the rectly!). But shh! We better, the richest the are a secret crew, so best. Now isn’t that please, let’s keep this literary! We think between us hermaso! BUT SHHHH!!! nos (and let’s keep SECRETS! THAT hermanos between MEANS YOU SILLY us… appropriation of BILLY OR YOUR certain cultures has ASS IS— not gone well in the past, even if Speaking of LIT! Our first they do have fun hats). rush events are just around the ffirmative All right, sure, we don’t have corner. Come along and play some

By Alex Saltiel a house (due to a certain ritual, pong, while we stare at you with our involving grapes and butts—thanks, cool, dead eyes, clad in black (the Dean Kromm! I bet if we did it color of understated coooooool). on your lawns, you’d be giving us high fives on the We do not like to show off our wealth, but believe me, Lerner ramps). But our walk-through double in Wien we have it. We are looking for a more diverse pool fits us well. And some nights, after particularly rowdy this year—so if you’re a Rothschild or a Cohen, let me evenings of making kissy faces and pounding brews, be the first to say SHALOM brother. Unless you’re a we huddle close, shed down bare to our bathing zionist; God knows we can’t take any more flak from suit parts, and cross paths in our little sink just to this school. So, if you are, keep it to yourself, or join prove that we are men: men who love each other very CCSC - you’ll feel right at home. much and like to make beautiful works of art like the Just, at the very least, please don’t wrestle. Or Bellagio fountain with our supreme bladders and use GroupMe.w massive units.

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Illustration by Alexandra Warrick

The Blue and White

AT T W O S W O R D S ’ L E N G T H

a frat?

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ou absolute jizzhead. wackadoo beverages-as-frats thing? Your mother’s You honest to God, absolute, utter rancid breast milk, honey, and you’ve been tapped. jizzhead. My eyes are like … stinging just looking at The Society of Terrence’s Mom’s Filthy Awful Breast you. I am so mad right now I could crack a steel pole Fluids! How elegant. What else... how about St. Clam in half. I feel like I’m going to start crying blood. Chowder Vomit Hall? That sounds like a… good fit Why, how, in what universe could you—ugh! I wish for you.

I could carve what you just said out of my ears with Terrence, get out of my house. Do not pass a trowel. go; do not collect $200 dollars; get out of my house I invite you to my home, my hearth, my before I start screaming. Here I go: AAAAAAAA. Riverside refuge. We walk up four flights of storied, Wait, you fucker, you just took a damn sip of the Pabst scarred-up wooden stairs—god, the history here—to in the middle of my throaty scream session? There, I sit cross-legged on my fine Persian rug. I offer to give slapped it off the table. Look what you made me do. you guidance, to be your rudder Now the carpet’s fucked. through the mangroves of campus Terrence, have you seen a little social engagement. To be kind, I David Lynch film called Blue Velvet? proffer you a fine libation to sip Only the most Pabst-iest of films? upon as we do so—I am a generous “You know what a love letter is? It's a host as well as a lover, a connoisbullet from a fucking gun, fucker! You seur, and an unfailing gentleman to receive a love letter from me, you’re animals and children. fucked forever.”

I offer to let you suckle at Sound familiar? That’s a quote. the great golden teat that is a Pabst From the film. From #zaddy Dennis Blue Ribbon, that finest of brews.

Hopper. It’s not wrong, my friend, my What a tip-top liquid, what a font pal. I’ll send you a love letter and an of wheaty, umami terroir. And you Edible Arrangement to top it off. By say: which I mean: you better run for your “Is P.B.R. a frat?” life, you lobotomized donkey. Run. Note this: I was holding a ... can of Pabst Blue Ribbon directly Aaaaand—scene! Okay, that’s egative in front of your damn Boo-Booa wrap. Okay, brothers, you can

By Alexandra Warrick the-Fool face. CONTEXTUAL. come out from behind the couch CLUES. INDICATE. now. Terrence, meet the gang– Contextual clues also indicate you’re a genu- boys, say hi! You handled that pretty well, Terrence ine fuckmunch. I don’t know where you’re from, my dude. Sorry for the freaky intimidation spiel, just nor do I care too, but whatever swill piss-drink you gotta see how you handle pressure. It’s part of the Pi hoover down in the podunk shithole from which you Beta Rho rush process. You see, we like you a lot. hail can hardly compare to the clinquant glories of We really do. We’re considering offering you a bid, PaBluRib. The fact that you hadn’t even heard of this actually—you really didn’t sweat that, and I was really fizzy ambrosia boggles the damn mind. A Pabstless coming at you guns blazing. life: I don’t even want to reckon with this idea, even So concludes Rush Process: Phase One. acknowledge it. It hurts too much.

Alright, boys, you got the paddles? You got the whips Is. P.B.R. A. Frat. Yes, Terrence, it is a frat. and chains? You’ve got the live pig? All righty then …

You know what else is a frat, if we’re doing this whole Rush Process: Phase Two.w

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Illustration by Alexandra Warrick

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V E R I LY V E R I TA S

TOLD BETWEEN PUFFS

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In which our hero reflects on a summer in the city

s Verily took a long toke, the surface of the Hudson shimmered in the gentle light of the setting sun. The first day of classes was just a week away, and summer was drawing briskly to a close. He felt overcome by a sense of melancholy, and felt the familiar tug of contemplation as it pulled his mind towards the recent past.

At the end of May, Verily believed that he had undertaken all of the rites that were expected of a proper bourgeois of his age and provenance.

After his Econometrics final, he had summoned an Uber VIP to the East Village to peruse closet-sized studio apartments, the peak of millennial luxury, before composing an email to Richardson Ingram III at Morgan Stanley to ask if anything was required of him before the internship began. “Dear Vary Variance,” Richardson Ingram III had replied cordially, “Thanks for showing initiative. Please try and bring an attitude of deference, and prepare yourself for the sense of inferiority and titanic workload that I will vigorously thrust upon you from the very moment you arrive.”

“Frankly,” Verily concluded, nursing an auburn mezcal mule and trying to muster tenderness as he looked into the sparkling green eyes of a beautiful art history major from Tulane, “the enduring absence of adversity from my life is by far my greatest impediment.” She responded with a fleeting blank look before directing her full attention towards the $20 cocktail he had paid for, which was a captivating shade of fuchsia.

Half the summer flew by, and he loved the intensity of his job and the disposable income it bestowed. The vice and glamor of New York were more available to him than ever before, and he looked to them for a salve to stem the loneliness that stole

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into his thoughts late every night as he returned exhausted from work. This was, as they said, peak: He had the corporate Equinox membership, the unlimited metrocard, the ‘alpha’ tinder profile, the relentless drive to work and succeed.

“The poet Frank O’Hara,” began Verily, overly conscious of the languid dark-haired literature major from Brown sitting across from him, “loved this city so much – he described subways and record stores as signs that people do not totally regret life.”

The lighting was dim, so he couldn’t tell whether or not she was rolling her eyes.

He frequented clubby bars on the Lower East Side, and barry clubs in the Meatpacking District. He visited art galleries in Chelsea, having practiced stroking his chin pensively beforehand. On weekends, he went to brunch in the afternoons and trendy Asian Fusion restaurants in the evenings. He spent freely, but lived within his means. He went to expensive stores and browsed the wares with intent. He stared lustfully at the beautiful women in yoga pants that roamed his new neighborhood toting pressed juices and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. He went to see remastered Fellini movies at the Film Forum. He tried to read on his commute to work.

New York, thought Verily to himself quietly, taking another toke, is so intoxicating because of the sheer number of possibilities on offer. The people and activities are infinite, but those with the money for them have no time, and those with the time for them have no money. His dress rehearsal for life in the city had taught him that New York was an abstract impetus, that the intoxicant of possibility was what kept people moving so frantically.

Verily realized now that in his quest to absorb the city, it had ended up absorbing him.w

The Blue and White

OLD BOYS CLUB

What's Your GS Story?

Exploring the history of Columbia's coolest school

By Ned Russin What’s your GS story?

O

ne of the first questions a student from the School of General Studies (GS) will surely be asked upon the reveal of their academic status is what is their “GS story.” Columbia’s School of General Studies is the university’s school for non-traditional students, defined by the school as someone who is returning to college “after a break of a year or more in their educational paths,” and therefore comes with the expectations of having an interesting reason for taking time off from formal education. The “GS story,” then, is a recounting of that time and those experiences which brought a student to Morningside Heights, and the school loves to flaunt the fact that a lot of people actually did things, whatever they may be. GS is, according to their website, now the home to “actors and musicians, athletes and ballet dancers, veterans and reservists, parents and working people, foreign-born scholars and first-generation Americans, community college alumni and people transferring from other four-year institutions, as well the born internationalists who are pursuing double degrees.”

The “GS story” is an easy and appealing marketing tool; it quickly identifies not only how a student is different (and hopefully interesting), but how the school as a whole is made up of these different (and hopefully interesting) people and therefore is interesting itself. It’s patting yourself on the back and talking about patting yourself on the back at the same time. There are few, if any, other academic institutions where an 18-year-old can discuss such “real world” topics as war, love, and loss with a person

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anywhere from five to 30 years their senior who has actually experienced such things up close and personal. Dean Peter Awn, who retired at the end of last school year after serving as GS’s dean for 20 years, recently wrote in The Owl, GS’s Alumni Magazine, that GS takes “diversity to its logical conclusions by integrating age and experience into the intellectual discourse among students and faculty.”

The School of General Studies celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, being formally founded in 1947. But despite its proclaimed prominence and newly-acquired septuagenarian status, GS still seems to be a misunderstood entity on campus. What is GS’s GS story?

Illustration by Jennifer Bi

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OLD BOYS CLUB journal of contemporary politics, culture, and Jewish affairs at Columbia University, The Current, stated General Studies can trace its history back “Seth Low had the same requirements for entry to two defunct Columbia schools: the University as Columbia College, as well as the same price of Extension Program and Seth Low Junior College. tuition: $380 annually. However, the education was The University Extension Program was established of a decidedly lesser quality; it was only a two-year in 1904 by President Nicholas Murray Butler as program, and was not a degree-granting institution.

Extension Teaching and renamed University Upon completion of the program, students could Extension in 1911. University Extension was set up go on to enroll in professional schools that only to meet the needs of non-traditional students looking required two years of college or they could matricufor part-time courses, and would eventually spawn late into the Morningside campus as ‘University Columbia’s School of Business Undergraduate’ but not as as well as the School of Dental Columbia College students. and Oral Surgery. What it They would receive Bachelors Let University Extension was not set up for, however, of Science degrees instead was the opportunity to earn look to factors other than its of Bachelors of Arts degrees, a degree. As the Spectator were considered less name for an increase in dig- which noted in their February 6, prestigious, and the students nity, and if it must find a new would not be allowed to live 1930 issue, any attempt to do so was not welcomed by the campus.” This was not the name let it refrain from any on Columbia College communimost troubling aspect of Seth ty. They wrote: “If University name that will tend to confuse Low, unfortunately.

Extension is trying now to lay “Because of the demoit with Columbia College.” the foundation for an attempt graphic makeup of the Seth in the near future to dignify Low Junior College student itself by the use of the word body,” Hirt writes, “it was college in its title ... such an attempt should and will predominantly Jewish—and the restrictions placed be combatted by all those loyal to the interests of upon them once they transferred to the Morningside Columbia College. Let University Extension look to campus, some observers... took its real purpose factors other than its name for an increase in dignity, to be keeping Jews away from Columbia.” While and if it must find a new name let it refrain from any Columbia’s anti-semitism was never explicitly conname that will tend to confuse it with Columbia firmed by the school itself, Seth Low is a major blemCollege.” Spec continued noting that “Extension ish on the school’s history and speaks for itself. After gives no degree and possess none of the attributes the formation of Brooklyn College in 1930, Seth of a college in the commonly accepted meaning of Low’s purpose to provide a quality Brooklyn-based the term.” education quickly became obsolete and the school Seth Lower Junior College was also a con- folded soon thereafter. tentious addition to Columbia and, according to After the closure of Seth Low, University Professor James C. Egbert, the Director of University Extension saw continued increase in registration.

Extension, the product of University Extension. Spec wrote on November 30, 1930 that, “In the past “University Extension”, he stated in 1930, “fur- twenty years, enrollment in University Extension nished the two years of collegiate courses which has increased from 1,312 to 27,845 students entaillater became Seth Low Junior College.” Writing ing a rise in budget from $42,500 to $1,822,175.” on the formation of the college, which was based in University Extension would be reorganized after the Brooklyn and conceived in 1928, Spec stated that end of World War II and the return of GIs to form “the requirements for entrance will be substantially an undergraduate college known as the School of the same as those enforced in Columbia College and General Studies. will include the Thorndike intelligence examination.” The college lasted until 1936.

Leeza Hirt, CC ’18, writing for Columbia’s Before GS

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OLD BOYS CLUB obligation, of a great university in a metropolitan region to keep an open door for all qualified men and On Friday December 6, 1946, Spec reported women who seek to attend in its regular academic that “The University trustees have voted to establish programs... whether or not they are degree-seekers a new school at Columbia to be called ‘The School of or full time students or have passed through admisGeneral Studies.’ Spectator is able to report. Details sions gates.” of the plan will be announced for general release The MacMahon report recommended that GS tomorrow, but it is known that the action is the result only admit students who intended on earning a B.S. of complete reorganization of University Extensions.” degree, as well as urging GS to take higher standards The school’s original incarnation seemed to be a logi- in admissions practices, as well as creating an age cal conclusion of its predecesminimum of 23. Once again, sor. In 1948, only a year into the authenticity of the GS GS’s tenure, Spec wrote, “The degree was called into quesWhere I and my colleagues tion. “It is time for Columbia school today presents opportunities for mature adults to admit that it cannot serve at Columbia University are unable for various reasons to the cause of undergraduate parting company is on the attend a college, to receive the liberal education, maintain its benefits of higher education.” high standards of scholarship, role, indeed obligation, of In 1949, Dr. Louis M. and, at the same time, proa great university in a metHacker, an economic historivide an educational service to an, was appointed director of community in the present ropolitan region to keep an the the school, and two years later School of General Studies,” open door for all qualified he was appointed as the first Bruce Shoulson wrote in Spec. dean of the School of General along, regardless. men and women who seek to GS plugged Studies. The school was able During the next to award originally only able to attend in its regular academic decade, while the University award a Bachelors of Science programs ... whether or not was recovering from the 1968 degree but the school was still riots, the trustees approved open to non-traditional stu- they are degree-seekers or full a recommendation from the dents even if they were nontime students or have passed University Council grantdegree seeking. GS was made ing GS the ability to confer through admissions gates.” Bachelor of Arts degrees. up of mainly night classes at this point in time and Hacker “Efforts by the School of was in support of redefining General Studies to acquire adult education “since it strives to present a flexible the B.A. degree [was] met with opposition last semesprogram to the mature student, closely adjusted to ter from some administrators, faculty, and students of individual needs, maintaining scholastic standards the College,” Spec wrote. equal to those in the rest of the Columbia family,” The next major change occurred right before according to an early GS catalogue. the end of the 20th century, as GS finally seemed to The Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program cement itself as an actual part of the school. In 1991, was started in 1955 for already-graduated students the faculty of Columbia College, the Graduate School who decided that they would like to go to medical of Arts and Sciences, the School of General Studies, school. This program is still in place today and cur- School of the Arts, School of Professional Studies and rently has more than 330 students enrolled. the School of International and Public Affairs were The Educational Future of Columbia reorganized as the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. This University, or formally referred to as the MacMahon move would be furthered in 1995 when the school, in Report, released in 1957 disagreed with Hacker’s a move that finally and formally distanced itself from stance, however. Just one year later, Hacker resigned Hacker’s original intentions, split into two parts: stating: “Where I and my colleagues at Columbia degree seeking and non-degree seeking. Programs University are parting company is on the role, indeed such as the Summer Session, American Language, GS Then

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OLD BOYS CLUB and Continuing Education were organized under a separate Division of Special Programs, now known as the School of Professional Studies. “GS’s identity will be strengthened in its mission and will emerge as a stronger college for non-traditional students,” then-Associate Dean of GS Frank Wolf told Spec.

These actions made GS a recognized undergraduate school of Columbia University.

Over the course of the 20th century, Columbia’s attempt to offer education to non-traditional students went from exclusionary, non-degree conferring actions to an attempt at inclusion and a recognition of being a real part of the University.

its website and did not respond to an email request, but according to the website prepscholar.com, GS’s admission rate is 33%, 27% higher than CC and SEAS, and 18% higher than Barnard. GS states that the applicant pool is already highly self-selective due to the fact that most people deciding to go back to school later in life are of certain qualifications. And this may be true, as GS regularly boasts the highest GPA of any undergraduate school at Columbia University.

But high GPAs have more to do with GS’s financial aid situation than anything. As this magazine reported in 2013, GS’s finances are stretched razor thin, especially compared to While GS is up front with that of CC and SEAS. While GS Now their financial situation, stu- GS is up front with their So what is GS now in its financial situation, students dents fight for high GPAs in fight for high GPAs in order 70th anniversary? GS students are held to nearly identical order to receive scholarship to receive scholarship and standards as their Columbia grants which other underCollege contemporaries save and grants which other under- grads at Columbia do not have for a few exceptions. GS stu- grads at Columbia do not have to worry about. dents’ core requirements are While the idea of mergto worry about.” altered in only a few ways: no ing GS and CC has been menswim test; no physical edutioned before, the last time cation requirements; and being in 2013, GS remains Contemporary Civilizations, Literature separate and, more importantly, Humanities, and Frontiers of Science requirements, separated. The fight for GS’s integration has been while available to GS students, can be fulfilled with constant since in its inception 70 years ago and other classes. GS students are allowed to go part- seems to remain despite various improvements made, time, although only 27% of the current student body especially since Dean Peter Awn’s tenure began 20 of approximately 2,000 students do so. The only years ago. Just this last year, General Studies Student degree available to its students is a Bachelors of Arts, Council lobbied for full swipe access for its students, which feature the same majors and concentrations specifically, as Bwog reported, to gain access to the and requirements as its CC counterparts. Started in CPS walk-in hours for GS students. While GS has 2010, GS also offers a dual-degree program between come a long way from its night school, non-degree Columbia and France’s Science Po. ways, it seems that it will be even longer until it is At this point, the main differences between truly equal to its Columbia counterparts.w GS and other undergraduate colleges at Columbia are its admissions and financial aid departments. The admissions department lists scant information on

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The Blue and White

MAKING IT RAIN

Sifting Through That Ad Money A look at The Spectator’s more peculiar advertising

By Ufon Umanah

D

o you want to hear the story of Christian Menchaca? According to an advertisement in a news outlet, he was a Private first class, tortured to death by Al-Qaeda. Testimony in American court against Bashar Assad revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice under Presidents Bush and Obama refused to protect his family after they received a death threat from one John Itali, whose email is deathandlife@biz.by. Parts of the death threat are provided in the book, advertised both as Fruit of the Poison Tree and as Crimes Against Mohammed and Jesus. That death threat, allegedly sent while the Menchaca family was filing for witness protection, is the same death threat that appears in full in an anti-fraud forum, complete with the dollars amounts and grammar consistent with a horrible extortion.

The news outlet that ran the ad, by the way, was the Columbia Daily Spectator.

The story of Christian Menchaca, typically stylized as Kristian in the media surrounding his death, is tragic. It shouldn’t happen to any U.S. soldier abroad. However, he is not the focus of this piece. Nor The question of acceptable advertisements is is the book, which proceeds to allege that Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton tricky. On one hand, advertisements are an important revenue source for a obstructed justice and abetted newspaper. Many items in the nuclear terrorism. The focus is media rely on a combithat the week of October 19th, “The question of acceptable print nation of ads and subscrip2016, this ad was featured on advertisements is tricky. On tions. Subscriptions, howevthe front page of the Columbia Daily Spectator’s website, to one hand, advertisements are er, aren’t really an option for college newspapers. In parthe right of its most recent stoan important revenue source ticular, the Columbia Daily ries. In order to get that spot, Spectator relies on a combinafor a newspaper...

Still, being an advertiser would need to tion of products (Courses@ pay a minimum of $300 to be meticulous with what ads may CU, Eat@CU), donations displayed over an entire week, from alumni, and advertiseair within a market of 80,000 which means the newspaper received at least that amount in viewers can be a self-defeating ments. Still, being meticulous with what ads may air within a exchange for advertising this market of 80,000 viewers can exercise. ” book, possibly more dependbe a self-defeating exercise. ing on how long the ad was Yet, it is an exercise Spectator allowed to run.

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Illustration by Kristine Dunn

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MAKE IT RAIN engages in. At the bottom of the media kit, Spectator’s the website, which is $300 per week for Spectator. official policy is: “We will refuse to publish advertise- Furthermore, the Monkeylung ad appears in the April ments that we judge to be potentially inflammatory, 6th and April 13th print editions of the Spectator. libelous, or offensive. As a general rule, ads where The ad itself is one-twelfth of the page. Were it a the primary intent is to advance an idea or perspec- black-and-white ad, it would cost $147. As a color tive—essentially a paid editoad, it costs $322 instead. rial—will be deemed inapproTwo of these ads would cost priate for publication.” But, “This isn’t to say that Spectator $644. On top of the online Spectator draws the line at Spectator received $944 spends its money irresponsibly. ad, books, stating: “Political ads to advertise Monkeylung’s This is a question of revenue. offer which advertised “legpublicizing an event or promoting a book will usually be success” and didn’t And while it’s possible to main- endary judged acceptable.” Fruit of specify what that was. From the Poison Tree was, and still tain a position that to the high- these questionable ads alone is, a book, and based on writacademic year, Spectator est bidder goes the ad space, last ten policy, its advertisement netted $1244 for the orgathat isn’t Spectator’s policy. is acceptable. One may wonnization, presumably money der, though, the distinction to fund their work-study The newspaper reserves the going between a paid editorial disprogram and their online right to find advertisements operations and occasionally to played and a written editorial advertised. objectionable. Therefore, on boost morale.

That wasn’t the last This isn’t to say that this issue, instead of being strange advertisement to Spectator spends its money appear last academic year. absolute, it lives in a liminal irresponsibly. This is a quesApril 4th, 2017, a “small, well tion of revenue. And while it’s capitalized, central California space, where the ads Spectator possible to maintain a posigroup looking to invest in chooses to run represent as tion that to the highest bidder extraordinary technology and goes the ad space, that isn’t much of a judgement call on Spectator’s policy. The newsgreat product ideas,” had started advertising on Spectator’s behalf of the newspaper as the paper reserves the right to front web page. The group, find advertisements objectionnews it decides to report. ” Monkeylung, claims “legendable. Therefore, on this issue, ary success” in many indusinstead of being absolute, it tries and close relationships lives in a liminal space, where within Silicon Valley. This isn’t a political ad, nor an the ads Spectator chooses to run represent as much ad for an inflammatory book. On first read, it sounds of a judgement call on behalf of the newspaper as the like an InvestHelp clone or a venture capital group news it decides to report. And based on that standard, dedicated to a media strategy in the college market. advertising a book attacking the U.S. government on Though, if you go to their website, there’s no portfo- the premise of a fake extortion letter is debatable. lio from Monkeylung projects, the ones that had such Advertising a company posing as highly successful “legendary success.” The only staff named anywhere yet showing no evidence to prove said case is also on the site is E. Cross McDowell, whose name is on debatable. And if the college media and the news the NDA form you have to fill out before engaging media in general wants to move beyond the infamous with Monkeylung staff. To compare, if an entrepre- refrain of fake news, part of that conversation may neur came to an initial meeting and asked for a NDA, have to revolve around what ads we show to 80,000 said entrepreneur would lose credibility. So as highly readers.w successful investors, they seem to behave like newcomers, which would make the ad at best hyperbole.

This time, there’s evidence that Monkeylung paid for more ad space. Already, the ad appeared on

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The Blue and White

CAMPUS GOSSIP Philip Jeffery, CC ’17, penned his account of life as a Columbia conservative in an online exclusive for First Things, the self-proclaimed most influential journal of religion and public life. Jeffrey discusses sexual assault education about consent (where he uses scare quotes to refer to “Elton John and his ‘husband’”), the rise of identity politics, and the subsequent rise of Columbia’s alt-right. On Milo Yiannopolous, whose CUCR-sponsored visit was exed last semester, Jeffery says that “Milo knows how the world really works, unlike his liberal counterparts.” On the Dark Enlightenment, a secret club who uses Nazi imagery and hid information in a secret book in the Butler stacks, Jeffery, who admits to having contact with club’s leader, says, “They have little respect for any form of authority, be it religion, the university, or the demands of prudence and civility respecting imagery their peers associate with Nazism. They take the same posture towards just about everything.” Jeffery also states that Columbia’s Right to Life is a “safe haven” for social conservatives “despite receiving little support from other student groups—including, unfortunately, Christian organizations.” Despite all of the problems Jeffery sees, he is optimistic. He writes, “The network of conservative Columbia students and alumni is small and informal, but it’s there, for the first time in at least four years.” e Despite Morningside Heights campus getting a 4/5 star “bust” rating on Quartersnacks.com, Columbia

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has recently been featured in not one but two skate videos circulating online. The first is in the “Mean Streets Volume 8” video collage by LurkNYC, a NYC based skate crew who also run Hotel Blue Skateboards, where Gus Gordon powers an ollie over the granite ledges next to Lerner with beautiful form and insane speed. The second is from Yaje Popson, NYC native and a recent pro for the recently reformed Alien Workshop, in his part for Transworld Skateboarding’s feature-length Riddles in Mathematics video. Popson grabs an orange-pantsed fakie nosegrind into the bank by Fayerweather before being taken out by the St. Paul scaffolding. e During the last week of July, the Low Steps became the steps of the Supreme Court thanks to movie magic. Director Steven Spielberg was on campus filming a new movie entitled The Pentagon Papers which deals with the Washington Post’s handling of the eponymous Pentagon Papers. Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and David Cross were on campus, as were a large group of extras posing as Vietnam protesters. e Columbia University, in a bid to appear cooler and to combat stress culture, is giving out branded fidget spinners at NSOP. We hope the trick works!w

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NYC Map Illustrations by Kristine Dunn The Blue and White has gathered the impressive local and veteran knowledge of its members to bring you the following guide to NYC. A lot of Columbians will have their opinions on the best places for certain spots about town, yet we find them all too cliched and lackluster for our liking. Therefore we present The Blue and White city guide, a collection of our favorite haunts, hideaways and hangouts. Enjoy!

The Most Magical Place in NYC Times Square—Here, fairytale neon lights and charming locals join forces for a magical display of New York’s unique spirit!

Authentic New York Westchester—Ask anyone from Westchester and they’ll tell you they live in the heart of the Big City.

Most Diverse Upper East Side—Discover all the 50 shades of wasp.

Least Gentrified Morningside Heights—There’s still one bodega somewhere in the vicinity—allegedly.

Cheapest Soho—$6 for a latte? Steal!

Best Suburb Jersey!

Best Hotel in New York Trump International Hotel—from the moment you lay eyes on its aggressive, all-black, grimy interior, you know you’re staying at a hospitable place.

Best Place For IDs Ferris Booth Lounge—no matter how weathered your ID, all you need to do is present it to get into this swank lounge for those in-the-know. (Yeah, sorry, we really struggled on this one.)

Most Fun Place in New York Wall Street—this iconic New York lane is just begging for The Beatles to stroll down it! Sparks of vibrant color in the form of a red power tie or an equally red MAGA hat keep this place cheerful all summer long! And the local residents have a unique culture that you could just fall in love with every day. Wake up early to enjoy peak fun hours.w

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M easure

for

M easure

5B Nick and I had just finished having lunch. We didn’t hang out too much anymore.

Basic kind of adult shit, not malicious in any way. He and I both had jobs, I’d been seeing this girl (the one with the nose ring I met at the party the month before, she said I remind her of “a young Jack Nicholson”…) and besides that we’d just kind of had our routine. I used to see Nick at least twice a week. I don’t want to say we’re growing apart but it feels like we are on different pages sometimes. I am still in the same apartment down in the East Village. I could probably get a better place for the same amount of money but I just hate moving.

So anyways, Nick and I get to my front door and I start getting my keys out of my pocket. I press 5B, my buzzer.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Nick asked me.

“I’m ringing my buzzer? Why?” “But you live by yourself? Do you expect someone to buzz you in or something?”

“No, it’s for my cat. I buzz up to let him know I’m coming. I figure it’s like Pavlov’s dogs. If dogs can be taught to salivate at the sound of a bell, I figure my cat would learn to expect me coming home by the ringing of my buzzer. I work 40 hours a week, I feel bad for the little guy cooped up in 250 square feet.”

I still hadn’t found my keys yet but I could tell Nick was looking at me in judgment. I don’t want to be the weird cat owner, but I care about Terry. I got him when he was just a kitten from the shelter and he moved with me from the Rust Belt to the big city. I feel like he actually appreciates my presence. Sometimes he sleeps all day, but those moments when I’m trying to read a magazine or a something and he just puts his face right into mine as if to say, “You know I’m alive here, right?” in the most loving way really make me realize he acknowledges my existence as I do his. It’s like my solipsism is cured for just one moment.

“Do you have an issue with me caring for my cat?” I asked Nick.

“No, I just really don’t get it. You think your cat really knows its you ringing the bell?”

“Well yeah, I ring it at the same time every day basically unless I have to do something late. And usually when that’s the case I fill his food bowl up with extra food so that’s his clue that I won’t be back. Cats are smart. When babies play peekaboo they are amazed because they think when they can’t you see you actually disappear, but when a cat is just a kitten and they see a ball go behind a chair or something they know that it’s going to come out the other end. We don’t get that ability until we’re whatever.. 2 years old? I don’t know, but either way, yeah I think Terry knows it’s me ringing the bell. Every time I come home he’s sitting right by the door.”

We walked up the stairs. There were windows at every landing. The last of the

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M easure

for

M easure

remaining daylight on the wall looked like a surrealist painting, a window pane’s shadow became a crooked crucifix.

Nick turned to me. “What about the mailman?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Like the mailman. If they’re trying to deliver a package or something don’t they ring the bell? And if they presumably come during business hours and you are at work then they will buzz but no one will come up. Or even if someone just bumps into it. Or a food delivery person ringing the wrong apartment.”

“Yeah.. but wait, no. I already said I ring the bell at the same time every day.”

“Do you get the idea of animal years? Like a dog is five years old in people years but 50 years in dog years or whatever? Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“Yeah I know what you’re talking about. But if you’re saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks I’m going to have to disagree. I had to get a new litterbox last year and Terry had no hesitation in using it right away, he was like seven years old then.”

“I’m not talking about that. What I mean to say is… think about it like this. You know how time seems to get shorter as you get older? It’s because the longer you live, the more time becomes a variable. Like an hour when you’re a teenager seems longer than it does at our age. Because we’ve lived more hours. And it seems less significant. I mean think about it, there’s 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, and 52 weeks in a year. Every year that goes by that marginal amount of time seems less and less because you’ve experienced, like, thousands of more hours.”

“Yeah, and?”

“If a cat only lives for 10, 15 years, then a cat hour is probably way longer than a human hour. If you’re at work from nine-to-five, then that’s probably like a cat week.

Like imagine if you were a kid and your parents went to work Monday morning and left you unattended until Sunday night. If you knew your parents were coming home because they rang the bell on Sunday night, don’t you think you’d be excited if someone rang the bell on Thursday morning? Like maybe mom and dad came home early.”

“I don’t know. I never thought of it like that.”

“I’m not trying to get down on you. It’s your cat, you can do whatever you want with it.”

“No I know. Now I just feel bad like I’ve set my cat up for this depression. Every time someone rings the bell and I’m not there it probably sits there waiting for me. For like a half of a cat week. Fuck. That’s really terrible of me.”

We finally got to my door. I unlocked the deadbolt and opened it. Terry was sitting right there where he normally is when I come home. Nick bent over and scratched him right behind his ear where he liked it. “Sorry we kept you waiting,” he said.w — Ned Russin

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END OF AN ERA

Death of a Salesman The rise and fall of Columbia’s most unusual student council spot

By Virginia Ambeliotis In a sea of Columbia College Student Council positions with boring names, there exists a rainbow fish known as the Sandwich Ambassador, or Sandbassador for short. But, alas, in a vote held last April, CCSC decided to do away with it in elections to come.

The decision elicited some sadness on Facebook and campus media but was buffered by accompanying news that the newly hatched position of Financial Security and First Generation Representative will assume most of the responsibilities of the Sandbassador.

Because of the new position, the constituents that the Sandwich Ambassador is supposed to serve are unlikely to descend into further neglect. Though for some members of the Columbia community who were familiar with the Sandbassador from its

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birth to its death sentence, CCSC’s decision triggered waves of pending loss, for the position of Financial Security and First Generation rep, while functionally similar to the position of Sandwich Ambassador, is hardly an ontological match. To understand the distinction between these positions, some explanation of the Sandbassador’s origins is required.

I n The Beginning There was no position on CCSC specifically designated to address student inequity before 2014.

The winter of that year, the editorial board of The Columbia Lion, especially Daniel Stone and Sean Augustine-Obi, both CC ’16 (and Editors Emeriti for this very magazine!), began to circulate a petition and a low-quality but heartwarming YouTube video

Illustration by Kristine Dunn

The Blue and White

END OF AN ERA calling for the creation of a position they called “the typical meeting place but on the sundial, as to report Sandwich Ambassador.” on her progress in a location that placed her more in The petition proposed adding a CCSC posi- public view than any of her fellow CCSC members. tion that would work to increase the availability and To be fair, not all observers would go so far accessibility of student discounts and make student as to suggest that the primary intent of the posineeds more of a priority for CCSC. Since Columbia tion’s title was to attack CCSC. While the position’s administrators, unlike others at peer institutions, name was selected in part for its comedic value, Joe were doing little at the time to negotiate student Milholland, CC ’17 (and also editor emeritus for our discounts at neighborhood vendors and make known cherished magazine), who reported extensively on the existence of such discounts, the position’s role the office of Sandbassador for Bwog, thinks that the would be to publish, in the language of the bill, “any title functioned just as much as “a synecdoche for all and all relevant information kinds of food around campus on local eateries, their pricand food insecurity and food ing, selection, and other useful prices at Columbia.” While “From the start, the mecha- “pretty much only Milano’s consumer data in a convenient and accessible manner,” as the $10-and-over sandnisms the creators had built did well as to work with local busiwiches,” “sandwich” was into the position to ward off punchy and to-the-point; the nesses to proactively seek more student discounts. of that humble food career college politicians had choice In an op-ed for Spec, item, versus pricier fare like Stone urged the Columbia the unintended consequence of salad or sushi, conveyed the community to uproot its message that the swathing the electoral race in subliminal assumptions about affordabilholder of the position had the chillness. ” ity in Morningside Heights. interests of all students in He wrote that “most of the mind and would go forth into fare available on Broadway Morningside Heights with simply costs too much for an parameters for affordability undergrad. Sandwiches that cost more than $10 that were actually in touch with student need. are emblematic of this basic unaffordability.” He Stone and the other petitioners garalso brought attention to the dearth of affordable nered enough signatures to get CCSC to hold a on-campus dining options, noting that the smallest Sandbassador ballot initiative for CC students. Two upperclassman meal plan at the time amounted to weeks later, 88 percent of voters backed it. The posialmost $12 a swipe. tion was added to CCSC and Joshua Burton, CC ’18, was elected to the office in September 2014.

Original Sin? The Fall Stone and the other brains behind the Sandbassador had another major goal: to challenge “Joshua Burton actually put some effort into the norms of CCSC itself. This challenge was to it. He gave a State of the Sandwich address on Low at be levied via the position’s name. In contrast to least once. He had a State of the Sandwich after-party wordy and serious titles of other CCSC positions, where I got a Nutella sandwich,” Milholland recalls. the title “Sandwich Ambassador” was supposed to Nevertheless, the Sandbassador developed a sound deliberately foolish. Their hope was to weed reputation as a joke position in CCSC, partly thanks out candidates hungry for résumé-padding and to to its name but also, critically, because “it wasn’t poke fun at CCSC’s reputation for being too insu- quite clear enough what they would do or how they lated and self-absorbed. The creators of the position would do it,” Milholland explains. From the start, the also included provisions in the proposal that were mechanisms the creators had built into the position intended to improve CCSC’s transparency. They dic- to ward off career college politicians had the unintated that the Sandbassador was to give a “State of the tended consequence of swathing the electoral race in Sandwich” speech once a semester, not at CCSC’s chillness. During the Sandwich Ambassador debate

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END OF AN ERA of the 2014 election, for example, only two of the nine the goofy name of the position had an effect opposite candidates running for the position showed up. of its intended one; namely, that some individuals Meanwhile, other campus developments who deeply valued the issues that the Sandwich emerged as rival solutions for Columbia’s food insecu- Ambassador was supposed to address in serious rity problem, with varying results. First-Generation regard might have been discouraged by the lack Low-Income Partnership (FLIP) generated a lot of seriousness surrounding the position. Moreover, of publicity on the issue after launching its Class while the huffy feelings that some CCSC members Confessions Facebook page; Spectator Publishing had toward the position provided amusement for Company created Eat@CU, which tried to con- campus journalists, they underscored a legitimate solidate student discounts to concern that outsiders would local restaurants in an app attempt to address issues of for easy access; Meal Share by adding more posi“Protests to preserve the office inequity and the Emergency Meal tions to CCSC without proFund were created in hopes of Sandbassador that inevitably viding concrete directives of transferring unused swipes followed whenever a motion for each office and explanato students who needed them; tions for which responsibiliwas introduced to amend its ties would be unique to the CCSC released a directory of community kitchens and food wacky name called attention to officeholder and which would pantries in West Harlem and require coordination across some of CCSC’s unflattering offices. Protests to preserve created an Inclusion & Equity Representative whose responstereotypes but did not lever- the office of Sandbassador that sibilities overlapped with the inevitably followed whenever age real criticisms towards Sandbassador’s; and, more a motion was introduced to recently, GS opened a food amend its wacky name called subsequent Sandbassadors bank, prompting CC to begin attention to some of CCSC’s who were failing to fulfill the unflattering stereotypes but to follow suit.

The office of basic responsibilities of the did not leverage real critiSandbassador was coasting cisms towards subsequent position.” somewhat on these outside Sandbassadors who were faildevelopments when it got ing to fulfill the basic responcaught in the crossfire. In sibilities of the position. spring of 2016 during the CCSC elections, Adil Current Sandwich Ambassador, David Shan, Mughal, CC ’17, jokingly entered his friend Ethan CC ’19, cites his lack of prior experience in student Wu’s name into the Sandwich Ambassador race with- government as his motivation for running for the out telling him, pitting Wu, CC ’17, against Jordan position, which he considers “not as serious” as other Mosely, CC ’17, and “None”. “None” ended up win- CCSC roles but still capable of improving student ning the most votes, but Wu came in second place and life. “Somehow consolidating all of these discounts— immediately resigned upon learning that he had been and it might not even be discounts but opportunielected. Mughal explained in an op-ed for Spec that ties—it’s something that doesn’t require a lot of work his aim was to draw attention to the poor outreach but can do a lot.” He adds, “I think part of the job is and monitoring efforts of the elections board, which rehashing certain deals that didn’t go through for he believed to be liable to producing victories for certain reasons.” candidates who did not necessarily have the qualiShan didn’t know that CCSC was debating fications for the job or the heart to really flourish in whether to cut the position of Sandbassador when he the position if elected, but the fiasco resurfaced the decided to run and was “pretty shocked to hear it was debates on the inefficacy of the Sandbassador and the going to be taken away… It’s a pretty weird position to need to more clearly define the responsibilities of the be in, honestly. I guess I’ll just do my best.”w position.

In a Spec op-ed he wrote in the aftermath of the 2016 CCSC election, Augustine-Obi speculated that

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The Blue and White

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

Contrarianism Over Coffee A conversation with Phillip Lopate

By Alexandra Warrick Phillip Lopate wears many hats–he is a critic, essayist, poet, Columbia professor and lifelong movie-mad cinephile. Author of such compilations as the memoir collection Against Joie de Vivre and the film criticism compilation Totally Tenderly Tragically, he has written on everything from the wild and unexpected connections between his youth and the screen, the ever-irritating habit of luxuriating in life, and the experience of ambitiously mounting a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya with a cast of middle-schoolers. Contributor Alexandra Warrick paid a visit to Lopate’s beautiful Carroll Gardens home to chat over coffee about contrarianism, irony, Instagram, the Columbia Spectator and the act of being a scholar of one’s own life.

The Blue and White: Let’s kick this interview off right with a little attack on joie de vivre! You literally wrote an essay collection entitled Against Joie De Vivre, that “knack for knowing how to live” that can be performative at best, and at worst outright insufferable. I think that the current incarnation of the joie de vivre junkie is the Instagram obsessive–people snapping pictures of wine and cheese spreads on marble countertops and gorgeous vacation vistas. Have

you had much exposure to this flavor of joie de vivre?

Why is it such a compulsion with today’s youth?

Phillip Lopate: No, I’ve stayed far away from it! I’m not on any social media, also, but I have a daughter who just graduated from college and so she can do all that. I myself am not really against joie de vivre—it was a kind of posture or dare. Sometimes it’s useful to take a contrarian position and see how far you can play it, you know. I mean, I guess I do feel that there’s a certain amount of pain and suffering that goes with existence and that people, especially Americans, who want to do away with it all, or don’t accept sickness and think that they should be healthy, you know, beyond death–that doesn’t jibe with my philosophy of life. I can have a good time in nature, or at a dinner party–now that I have written that I got it out of my system, you know! And I certainly take pleasure in various things. But I don’t need to broadcast it in an Instagram way.

B&W: While some use Instagram and social media to natter on about their knack for living, others use it as a visual record of sorts–a way to reflect. I personally have a terrible memory, which is why your work astounds me… the sharpness of your recollection of significant moments in your essays and, furthermore, how they may fit together makes me very jealous.

PL: Well, let me just say that I have a writer’s memory, which means that there’s lots that I don’t remember, but I remember details or events that connect effectively to something I can use, you know. So it’s a memory that sorts itself out in order to be useful. But

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Illustration by Kristine Dunn

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T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N I have kept diaries all my life, actually, and sometimes I’ve consulted them in order to write something.

B&W: Would you say you’re a religious diarist?

be random. We project meaning onto a lot of discontinuous material. Again, I don’t see anything wrong with that–you can choose to think that we’re living in a completely random, disconnected universe, or you can say, well, maybe there is some underlying meaning, you know? And something that art does is give us some underlying meaning. I sometimes feel that something has happened, and underneath it there’s a pattern. I’m looking for the pattern. It may be that there’s no pattern, but it suits me as a writer to pretend there’s a pattern and to try to bring it to the surface.

PL: I’m not a religious diarist; I’m an agnostic diarist! But I keep basically writers’ journals, which means not so much a record of what I’ve done every day, just ideas, things that have perplexed me, maybe scenarios. Recently I sold all my papers to Yale to the Beinecke library, all my diaries–so now if I want to write about that period of my life, I have to go to New Haven and be a scholar of my “Sometimes it’s useful to take a own life.

B&W: That’s so trippy!

An academic of your own past experience. “Phillip Lopate: The Phillip Lopate Academic”!

Do you find your recollections ever becoming fuzzy, or do you ever feel unsure of your own retention and the images in your mind?

contrarian position and see how far you can play it, you know.

I mean, I guess I do feel that there’s a certain amount of pain and suffering that goes with existence and that people, especially Americans, who want to do away with it all, or don’t accept sickness and think that they should be healthy, you know, beyond death–that doesn’t jibe with my philosophy of life.”

PL: There’s a lot of imagination in memory, and it doesn’t bother me essentially. I know that I’m not giving testimony in a court case. I’m just doing the best I can to retrieve a sense of what happened and then to shape it. Just in shaping memory on the page, we are already subjectively distorting, and I’m not going to beat myself up for that. I’m just going to say, “Okay, it’s not a perfect system, but it’s the best we have, and I’m grateful for any memories even if they’re not completely accurate.”

B&W: Do you feel literary nonfiction as a mode allows you to apply overarching meaning to life when it perhaps feels without rhyme or reason and sort of existentially troubling?

PL: I definitely think that, in writing literary nonfiction, we supply meaning to a lot that would otherwise

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B&W: Your filmic essays are exquisite–you truly understand that film informs life informs film informs life… no film is watched in a vacuum. So Samson and Delilah and the Kids–wherein you compare biblical epics to the home life of your youth–is a great example, kind of an intricate web of connections. Where do you begin when trying to create this kind of map of a film’s connection to your life?

PL: Most artists have another art that allows them to map out, uncompetitively, their own sensibility. If I start to read a book by a contemporary and I don’t like it, I’ll probably put it down after ten pages. But as far as a movie’s concerned, I might give it a chance and watch the whole movie. I’ve loved movies ever since I was a boy, and they’ve taught me so much. One of the things that they’ve taught me is pace, and how a good movie can breathe–that it doesn’t have to be in-your-face all the time. Also, I guess on some level I go through life thinking about physical spaces as though I were filming them, you know? I used to do this when I was a teenager: I’d be at a party and I’d be very alienated and I’d think, “now where should I put the camera?”

B&W: Oh my god, yes, of course!

The Blue and White

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N PL: So basically, I have this store of movies in my head of build up everything with these large clauses of and I’ve written a lot about movies as you know. I still cause and effect. You just kind of make your percepwrite a lot for Criterion and places like Film Comment. tion. It was true of Nietzsche and it was also true of Without even bothering to think, these movies pop a writer Nietzsche loved, Stendhal. I loved the way into my head, you know. They do provide a sense of that Stendhal, instead of building up to a conclusion, where I want to go, because some of my favorite mov- would just… ies have a sense of fatalism, you could say. They’re shaped, you know. I always look for that somehow. B&W: He’d just throw the grenade.

What I’m really looking for is a kind of wisdom, a kind of sense that–how to put it into words?–that PL: These writers taught me really a lot, and my things are not arbitrary, that, if you’re worldly, you whole education at Columbia I think laid a good can accept the amount of loss foundation. that is going to occur. That’s something that movies gave B&W: In Anticipation of La “When I was a Columbia me.

Notte, an essay partially about your Columbia days, you menstudent, and Columbia was B&W: So, uh—you were one tion that you picked Columbia a really pivotal experience of my early influences as a partially because of a Flaherty young writer and film essayin my life, I was first of all in revival it was hosting, a ist—or film essayist hopeful. promesse de bonheur for the love with the Russians–with Morningside experience. You So which writers and thinkers were yours when you were a Dostoyevsky, especially, and also participated heavily in Columbia student? the film scene at C.U. What Tolstoy, and Turgenev, and was that like, especially in the PL: When I was a Columbia Gogol, and Chekhov. A writer ‘60s, which was such a heyday student, and Columbia was a for film? like Dostoyevsky addresses really pivotal experience in my life, I was first of all in adolescent anguish in a very PL: It was a heyday for film, love with the Russians–with and we would run into our direct way, you know?”

Dostoyevsky, especially, and professors downtown, but Tolstoy, and Turgenev, and there weren’t many film coursGogol, and Chekhov. A writer es! There were almost no like Dostoyevsky addresses adolescent anguish in film courses. So basically you learned film on your a very direct way, you know? And I felt like he was own, which was great–it was like–there shouldn’t be talking about my family. Later on, I became more courses in garage bands in college. You know what I interested while still at Columbia in a more ironical mean? So basically you learned it on your own. And way of writing, so I read Henry Fielding, I stud- during the ‘60s, don’t forget, there were basically… ied some of the English novelists like Richardson, at most 55, 60 years of filmmaking. That was a great Fielding and Smollet… these are writers who were incentive! You could kind of feel that, after a few playful and were not so sorrowful. I felt like, in my years, you could see all the masterpieces that were first few years of college, that I’d gone as deeply into acknowledged, let’s say. the pit of sorrow as I’d wanted to go. Afterwards, I pulled back and started to become more interested in B&W: Like…the canon. a more detached, ironical perspective. I took a course at Columbia in Diderot and Sterne, and they’re both PL: Yes, the canon. I was very interested when I very playful. was in college in film and jazz, and one of the things

The other writer who was very important about both those areas of interest was that they both to me was Nietzsche. Nietzsche taught me to be a had short histories so you could feel that you could do kind of guerrilla essayist, where you get in and you it, you know? snipe and then you get out. You don’t have to sort

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T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N B&W: That you could conquer the terrain!

Letter to Three Wives that was really wonderful. And then someone said, “isn’t it a little trashy?” And I realized I couldn’t even see it was trashy because I loved it so much. And if you see movies from the ‘40s for instance, you’re not just seeing a story–you’re seeing the hats they wore and the dresses women wore and the way people inhabited masculinity or femininity…

PL: You could conquer the terrain. I got ahold of this book The Liveliest Art and I went about trying in a very methodical way to see all of the films that you were supposed to see. I was also seeing all the new films, and what was so exciting about the ‘60s was that you had the French New Wave, you had the Italians like Visconti and Antonioni and Fellini, and yet you had a lot of the oldsters B&W: It’s a time capsule. who were still making films, like John Ford and Howard PL: Yeah, it really is. I really “The other writer who was Hawks and Hitchcock. So it started to become more in love really was a very fertile period. with literature, and my sense very important to me was People were writing seriously was that, if I could attach Nietzsche. Nietzsche taught myself to older literature, I about film; they were looking to film for philosophy in a way, me to be a kind of guerrilla could detach myself from the which is funny because I would obsession with the topical, go to these films and take them essayist, where you get in and the edgy. I went in the oppoincredibly seriously as if they you snipe and then you get out. site direction to a kind of antiwere philosophical texts. And hip thing. Fielding became then years later I would meet You don’t have to sort of build someone whom I really loved. filmmakers and directors and up everything with these large And then I also realized that, I’d think–they’re not so bright, if you write in an older, older clauses of cause and effect. they’re basically opportunists! way, that it will seem innovaThey’re not really intellectutive because people have no You just kind of make your als. We were making believe memory anyway. perception. ” that they were giving us the intellectual texts of our time, B&W: It just reminds me of– whereas they were thinking, if you’re anti-hip, it wraps on oh, you know, I’ll just throw this togetharound to being hip. That’s what er like a pastiche almost. punk is, basically. And now that punk is mainstream,

So perhaps we were overinvesting in film, the punk thing to do would be to wear New Balance the way people sometimes do now with pop music. sneakers.

They attribute too much meaning. What happened for me was that at first I fell in love with foreign PL: It’s impossible to keep up with the hip. So I would film and was disdainful of American film, and then say that my friends at the time at the Columbia Review through Cahiers Du Cinema and French New Wave were much more invested in the cutting edge of moddirectors, they pointed me to Hollywood film and ernism. There was something kind of bullying about then I fell in love with Hollywood film. that to me, so I said no, no, I don’t feel like going in that direction. Samuel Beckett was sort of like the B&W: Yeah. For all its gloss, there’s so much in reigning genius of the hour. So I just didn’t feel–I felt there that’s almost life-affirming. Even the clunkers it was kind of too bleak for me, you know? It wasn’t are very like–you walk out all shivery, excited even amusing enough for me. So I thought, “I’m going to though you’re like, “that was trash.” get off this train of the next best thing, and just do what interests me.” Of course, eventually I became PL: Exactly! Well, that was Pauline Kael’s argument very interested in essays, and essays are sort of a way in Trash Art and the Movies that there’s something of thinking on the page and evading narrative. It’s a to be said for trash. Recently I was at Skidmore and I very old-school form. They’re another kind of narrawas showing a film there, this Mankiewicz film called tive. I would find in everything I was reading patches

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The Blue and White

T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N of essays; I’d read Balzac novels and suddenly there’d as an underclassman as similar to that in Diary of a be three or four pages where he’s just describing the Country Priest–“blessed, poeticized” in their nearchanging Paris or something like that. Tolstoy would filmic squalor. Do you still have moments where this have an essay embedded in one piece and so on. So I creeps up on you, where you see your life as a bit of a began to attach myself to the essay form. movie?

It’s much harder than it looks. It seems to people that oh, well, you’re just rambling and PL: There are moments, but I must say that I now it doesn’t necessarily have to resist the impulse to see have a concentrated form like myself as a hero in a film. My a short story or a poem. But it daughter goes to a lot of romrequires a lot of deftness, it has “I don’t think that the culture coms, and she still wants her a lot to do with tone and voice, life to be like the rom-coms, has gotten dumber–I think creating a credible narrator on you know? And I’m very susthe page, you know? At the that it has remained at a consis- picious of those narratives moment I’m engaged in a proj- tently dumb level because obvi- embedding themselves in our ect, a really large project which consciousness. is that I’m editing another big ously, when it comes to movies, anthology on the American you need a much larger audi- B&W: You wrote a piece on essay from the Puritans to the terrible state of current ence than just a kind of intel- cinema, “The Last Taboo: the present. I’m reading all of American nonfiction litligentsia. You’re going to try The Dumbing Down of erature, I’m reading all of it.

American Movies.” That was It’s vast, and since my previ- to appeal to something larger in 1994–the year in which ous anthology, The Personal many of my friends and I were and sometimes that doesn’t Essay, did so well, I’m hopborn. Have things deteriohave to be compromised but rated even further since then? ing that these could be a kind of set, and that they could be sometimes it does have to be adopted by colleges and uniPL: I do think that that comes compromised.” versities, you know, and I can out of the whole Rotten get some royalty checks.

Tomatoes and worst-filmfestival things. I don’t think B&W: Do you keep up with your old that the culture has gotten dumber–I film-kid gang? If so, how have your relationships think that it has remained at a consistently dumb changed with them as your bonds reach a certain level because obviously, when it comes to movies, you vintage? need a much larger audience than just a kind of intelligentsia. You’re going to try to appeal to something PL: Mostly I don’t keep up with the old film buffs. larger and sometimes that doesn’t have to be comproBut I keep up with film. That is, I completely don’t mised but sometimes it does have to be compromised. agree that film is dead, or anything like that. Every But I still think that there are very able scriptwrityear, I see a lot of really interesting films. I think that ers, directors, crew that bring an extra element of maybe they’re kind of becoming a niche art, but there intellectual pleasure. It’s just like the elections–we still are wonderful films being made, very complex elected our dumbest president–but it’s not the only and interesting ones, so that’s the extent of my invest- thing that’s happening, it’s much more dialectical. ment. A lot of the friends I have from the college There’s pushback against Trumpism, so we can’t just days who were film buffs graduated to the ballet, the say the world is going to hell. opera and so on… and I stayed in the trenches with the films.

B&W: As a cinephile, you’ve written that you’re not a walk-out kind of guy–you allow flawed movies to play B&W: This is for better or for worse–you mention out in a way that a bum novel cannot. Despite this, seeing your bleak, depressing Columbia quarters what’s a filmic plot convention you absolutely can’t

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T H E C O N V E R S AT I O N abide, the kind that will hurl you out of the film?

PL: There are certain kinds of sentimentalities that I don’t like… actually, and it’s funny to say this to you, because you are a young person, but I don’t like movies where the young people are all sensitive and the adults all are dolts. It always bothers me when the adults don’t have a clue and the young people have all the clues.

B&W: Wishful thinking.

PL: Well, playing to a certain demographic, exactly–wishful thinking on the part of the young. It’s weird–any convention can be either obnoxious or could work. It depends on how much sophistication you bring to it. You can’t think that you’re the first person to use it.

B&W: I can tell you are passionate about cities and urban living. What’s your predominant haunt in New York and why? What would you call your base of operation?

PL: I mean, there are favorite places that I go back to again and again, the Lincoln center area. For years I was on the NYFF selection committee and I would go there all the time. I think my favorite institution in the city is the Frick Museum, which I really love.

It’s a doable museum. I wrote this book Waterfront and I walked all around Manhattan and I’m quite familiar with the edge of Manhattan. I still like to walk around a lot. I’m still discovering New York because it’s infinite; a few weeks ago I walked out to Sunnyside, this neighborhood in Queens that Lewis Mumford lived in, sort of like a planned neighborhood with lots of alleys, things like that. It was really beautiful. I still want to explore. There are a few friends I do this with. It never stops being interesting. Walking is the thing to do in New York. When people come to New York and they say, “what should I do?” I say just walk around a lot.w

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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.

The Blue and White

CURIO COLUMBIANA What is The Blue and White?

Exploring the origins of the magazine and its ’90s Renaissance The latter half of the 19th century was a fertile time for Columbia journalism. An anonymous satirical publication called the Columbiana had sprouted up in the 1850’s but was shut down by faculty who found its content disagreeable. In 1869, a monthly publication called the Cap and Gown came into being, which published reporting on campus affairs and writing by students. Another anonymous satirical paper called Facta Columbinaria sprang up in 1864 to parody the Cap and Gown, then known as the Acta Columbiana. This paper was, however, reportedly so libelous that it ceased publication only two issues later. Due to infighting among editors in 1877, several students left the Acta Columbiana to form the Columbia Spectator, spurring a powerful rivalry that would last until Acta dissolved in 1885. Two publications, The Phonograph and The Week, emerged in 1879. The former was a four-page sheet that died after two editions. The latter published strictly news and proclaimed “Richard Roe and John Doe” its editors. A number of publications associated with the graduate schools were established. And finally in 1890, two others of a more literary nature were founded by underclassmen: The Columbia News and The Blue and White.

The first several issues of The Blue and White were published every one-to-two weeks in a broadsheet format that strongly resembled, cough, Spec’s. They were four pages long and contained primarily campus news: information about upcoming events, updates from the various academic departments and happenings at Barnard; athletic updates, especially on the football and rowing teams; athletic and social events transpiring at the other Ivy League and Seven Sisters schools; some creative writing; and several advertisements.

For its fifteenth issue published on March 4, 1891, The Blue and White debuted a new journal-sized format and blue ink for all images and text. Sydney H. Treat, CC 1893, wrote in the introduction: It gives us great pleasure to greet our fellow collegians this issue, with our new form, yet we hope not with any new departure from our aims and aspirations… We started out with the distinct and only purpose of giving bright and newsy items, which are of interest to all of us, combined with truthful comments on the same, in order to show clearly the exact tone of the College each week. We thought that, if by concerted effort and a spirited display of College feeling we could extend the influence of Columbia in any way or raise her to the position which she owns by right of the associations clustered around her name, our work would be accomplished.

Following the makeover, The Blue and White began to flourish. The cover, ornately decorated and emblazoned with thick, illustrated script, lent a quirkiness to the visual presentation of the issue that the newspaper format had never achieved. Inside, the typical class notes and athletic updates remained unchanged, but there were additions. For example, a certain fictitious classmate named Verily Veritas, decidedly more pleasant than the one who graces the pages of this issue, offered humorous anecdotes and sage advice. Delicate illustrations and a larger text size increased the aesthetic appeal and readability of the pages. Poems appeared under a “Measure for Measure” section and were interspersed throughout the issue, some authored by spoofy characters like “Bingo” and “Lord Byron,” like these below from 1892 editions, and others by probably more earnest students.

“I wish I were a bird,” is sung Throughout the livelong day.

“Just so;” replies each neighbor’s tongue.

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CURIO COLUMBIANA “In winter, then. you’d fly away.”

–Krusty Ah, it is spring Great spring it is now Great, great spring­­— Ah, great ­—Basho, translated by Krusty And yet, by 1893, the publication had folded. The archives of The Blue and White and the Spectator provide little insight into why. It could only have been for reasons similar to why others went dormant: creative differences causing students to leave; leadership graduating without finding enough underclassmen to carry on their work; an offensive line that might incurred the wrath of a powerful administrator, sponsor or fellow student; or the allure of other publications.

In their introduction to the inaugural May 1998 issue, the editors explained how they came to the idea of reviving the magazine: One spring afternoon last year, our publisher ventured into “Columbiana,” home to a collection of Columbia documents. Amid its dusty volumes lay a history of Columbia composed in 1914 by the Columbia librarian of that time.

Pouring through this history, our publisher arrived at an account of Columbia’s publications….Amid Spectator news and Philolexian debates, The B&W gave voice to an intangible Columbia spirit: transcriptions of invaluable lectures, professors’ valuable words, thoughts of students, poetic and critical, and College happenings snared by astute eyes and retold by talkative tongues. Delivered with wit worthy of frothy beer and intellection worthy of good discussion, The B&W provided a forum for College conversations of all kind.

The triumphal resurrection of The B&W attempts to capture its ancestor’s spirit, its light feel and weighty goals, while fusing it with a campus situated scores of blocks uptown a world aged one century. We hope to share, each month, a slice of Columbia always present but rarely seen by all.

The May 1998 reincarnation introduced precedents for future issues that are still evident today. The cover and page count were similar to its predecessor’s, though they would in later editions come to be subject to alternations in each issue. The Campus Gossip spoke of subjects just a bit more interesting than its predecessor’s penchant for modest adjustments professors were planning to make to classes and whatever drama ensued between the white boys on the crew team. Measure for Measure published a series of astonishing poems by then-Barnard undergrad Alicia Rabins. Verily Veritas was alive, well and speaking in first person but more similar in temperament to the grumpy figure that we celebrate in our recent issues. Blue J., the progenitor of The B&W’s Blue Notes and Travel Desk sections, made the transition. That series was narrated by a bird who traveled around campus and through various parts of New York City.

The second issue released in October of that year, contained more fiction and debuted a multi-issue series on the Core, the first installment of which was penned by Asian studies Professor Wm. Theodore DeBary, CC ’41, who wrote at length about how Columbia might imbue the Core with multiculturalism without veering into Orientalist territory.

The following issues began to thicken and introduce new sections. “Columbia Conversations” was introduced in the March 1999 as “a running dialogue on matters concerning the college community between Professor Austin Quigley, Dean of Columbia College, members of The B&W, and students directly related to the topic.” Others, like Digitalia and Blue Notes, became mainstays as Blue J. was phased out. Gossip got juicier. Verily became more of a dick.

These evolutions bespoke an openness to experimentation that allowed for moving gestures that would be more out-of-place at strictly news publications, like the open letters to family members of staff writers, still reeling from the events of 9/11, that were published in the November 2001 issue, which are really worth a read.

(You can find that issue and others on our website, theblueandwhite.org.)

— Virginia Ambeliotis

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The Blue and White