A New York year, not a New York minute

Following this weekend’s concert, Bacchanal is hosting a variety of activities on campus, from yesterday’s Taste of Morningside Heights to this Saturday’s Malama Hawai’i Luau. Columbia organizations ought to follow Bacchanal’s success and sponsor more frequent campus-wide events to foster the same sense of community seen in the past three days.

As a university in New York, Columbia struggles constantly to retain the same sense of community as many of its peer institutions. Cornell’s annual Slope Day, for example, is just one of the many high-profile events that brings Cornell students together. Bacchanal events this past weekend provide examples of how the Columbians can celebrate as a community. The Vampire Weekend and Talib Kweli concerts, for instance, attracted a large number of students rarely seen on Columbia’s campus, including in its athletic venues. Taste of Morningside Heights, a well attended event whose proceeds were donated to charity, showed that relatively inexpensive gatherings can encourage students to interact with one another in new ways.

Other campus-wide organizations should look to emulate the successful programs sponsored by Bacchanal. Programs already in place, such as Glass House Rocks or King’s Ball, are held in venues that cannot easily fit many students at once. Many Bacchanal events are held on Low Steps, where many students could congregate. In addition, the events should be more frequent—Bacchanal is a week concentrated with great programs, but there should be opportunities to come together throughout the year. While frequent programs may seem costly, Bacchanal’s planned activities for the remainder of the week show that interesting events do not necessarily require lots of money. For example, student groups could hold a bimonthly movie-showing on Low Steps or on the South Lawn, similar to this week’s screening of Alice in Wonderland. Additionally, student bands would vie for a chance to garner publicity by playing on Low Plaza.

Students should experience the sense of community that was felt on campus during Saturday’s concert more often. To extend the spirit of the past few days, student organizations ought to follow Bacchanal’s lead and institute similar festivities year-round.