Columbia’s Club Scene Non-Existent for Television

Some of the best student clubs at Columbia aren’t clubs at all. You can find entire floors of dorms huddled up on a weekly basis to watch episodes of LOST or The Office. Yet of the 500 or so official clubs and organizations Columbia University has to offer, none of them involves TV shows at all.

The average student may not immediately notice the lack of TV show clubs on campus, but there are official TV-watching clubs on college campuses across the nation, which raises the question of whether they should be established at Columbia—and why they haven’t been yet.

“It would be nice to have official clubs on campus for popular TV shows,” said Leandra Gerena, SEAS ’12. “It’s a good way to meet people, and you know that they share at least the same taste in TV shows.” She added, “If GW can do it, we can, too.”

Gerena is referring to the Poor Life Choice (PLC) Prevention club , which George Washington University instituted as part of its official club roster earlier this year. Every Monday night, 20 or so students gather together to watch the new episode of Gossip Girl while snacking on food sponsored by the club’s yearly budget of $400. The catch: after every episode, the group is supposed to discuss effects of the media on teenagers who watch shows with similar story lines and examine related teen issues such as sex, drugs, alcohol, and rape.

Unlike Gerena, Roxenna Reyes-Seri, CC ’12, feels that TV clubs are a preposterous concept. “The idea of wasting even more of Columbia’s money so that people can sit and watch television is absolutely ludicrous. Columbia should use its resources for real clubs and volunteer groups who actually benefit society.” When told of George Washington University’s PLC Prevention club, Reyes-Seri scoffed, “But who says they actually stay [after the show]?”

Even if the members of the PLC Prevention club do indeed engage in substantive dialogue after Gossip Girl’s credits roll, some other universities’ TV show organizations have no express purpose other than to sit around and watch TV. In the Tufts University Guide to Clubs and Organizations the “No Homers Club” is described as “a group that focuses on bringing members of the Tufts community together who share the same passion for The Simpsons, The No Homers Club provides a forum where fans can discuss recent episodes, hold discussions on themes that have recurrently appeared and watch old favorites.” Also listed is the “Club About Nothing (Seinfeld Club)” which, appropriately, includes no description at all.

Perhaps Columbia lacks TV-related clubs because no student has taken the initiative to petition for such an organization, or perhaps in the current economic crisis, the school cannot afford a club based on television. So until an intrepid student steps up or the economy starts to improve, Columbia students may have to make due with their homemade versions.