Goodbye, Columbus

On Monday, the New York Post ran a column by Andrea Peyser in which she bemoaned the fact that Columbia University conducts business as usual on Columbus Day. Ms. Peyser apparently finds “holy irony” in the fact that, though this University derives its name from the explorer, students went to class rather than staying in their dorms to commemorate the guy who allegedly paved the way for modern civilization by tripping across the New World that was not so new to those who were subsequently oppressed by the Europeans. She has deemed that our “wimpy administration” has decided to pretend Columbus Day isn’t happening, “rather than nuke” it. (How exactly a private institution could nuke a federal holiday, and what that actually might entail, she does not divulge). Only the College Republicans, she points out, marked this momentous day with a free barbecue.

This column bothers me. Why, then, have I decided to spend time dignifying her sentiments with this article? Perhaps my reasons are similar to Andrea Peyser’s motivations for writing about Columbia at all. Yes, I know: holy irony.

It should be said that no, I was not thrilled to be in class on Monday. No, I do not think that the College Republicans are wrong for having a commemorative barbecue. No, I do not think that Columbus­—or Columbus Day, for that matter—was inherently evil. (Although perhaps the holiday should be renamed “Serendipity Day,” “Misnomer Day,” or “Look, Ma, No Southeast Asian Spices Day”). I don’t really have a strong opinion on Columbus Day. I do, however, have a very strong opinion on this column.

First of all, one might ask why Andrea Peyser cares. She begins by wishing everyone but those who attend Columbia a happy Columbus Day (harsh, Andrea), and notes that everything else closes, from government offices to city schools. She fails to note that all of the places that shut their doors on Columbus Day are public institutions, which are required to close on federal holidays. Columbia University, as a private and rather insulated establishment, is required to do no such thing, in large part because it remaining open doesn’t affect those outside the University. Except Andrea Peyser, apparently.

Furthermore, in what she presents as a cunning bit of underappreciated logic, it is apparently wrong for Columbia to take issue with the fact that Columbus enslaved the people who were in the Western Hemisphere before he was, because those people practiced slavery, too. I’m not going to point out that this is a particularly glaring case of two wrongs not making a right. I will, however, say that on Monday, in my Contemporary Civilization class (which I attended because this University does not close on Columbus Day), we discussed Epicurus’ notion of justice as a compact. Part of this concept states that if there is an understanding of justice, but circumstances and/or consequences arise in indication of injury to some party, we can no longer consider the past action to be just, even though it might have been seen as such at some point in time. In other words, the fact that slavery was common practice among many civilizations at one point in time does not mean that those of us living in the 21st century need to act as though that behavior is still commendable. We are, in fact, free—some might say obligated—to reform our beliefs of what is and is not acceptable.

Beyond the fact that I don’t see how this affects Andrea Peyser or why we should feel that slavery upon slavery makes a holiday better, I am bothered by the column’s general message. I get it, Ms. Peyser: if Columbus hadn’t discovered the West, there wouldn’t be a United States, and thank heavens the College Republicans remember that and stay true to America. It’s possible that I’m misreading this column, but there seems to be an insinuation that Columbia is conducting itself in an un-American fashion in its disregard for tradition.

There is nothing more American than disregard for tradition. When I walked to class on Monday, Columbus Day, that’s what I was thinking about—not out of disrespect for Columbus, but out of admiration for the righteous revisions that followed.

This country was not, in fact, founded by Columbus, despite his “discovery.” Questioning convention brought such American victories as the abolition of slavery and the right to women’s suffrage, to say nothing of that fact that it led the patriots to stage a revolution and establish a republic instead of a constitutional monarchy. Moreover, this prioritization of innovation, progress, and increased sensitivity in light of the passage of time brought about such wonders as the Bill of Rights, protecting, for example, freedom of the press. That, not Columbus, allows me to write and print this article, and for Andrea Peyser to publish her column.
What could be more American than that?

The author is a Columbia College sophomore. She is the deputy editorial page editor.

Tags: Opinion, Emily Tamkin, Columbus Day