About 40 students met on Barnard’s Lehman Lawn to discuss issues that are often overlooked at Columbia, in a Tuesday night forum partially inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests.
At the second meeting of the Columbia University General Assembly, participants discussed issues ranging from the competitive campus atmosphere to work-study students.
“It is an open floor for anyone at Columbia to voice any opinions they have,” Ana Christina Taveras , CC ’12 and facilitator of last night’s assembly, said. “This group brings to light anything that needs to be discussed.”
Organizers planned the general assemblies to provide students with an open space for discussion and direct democracy. The assemblies are modeled after the format used at “indignados” camps in Spain and the Occupy Wall Street protests downtown that have become a worldwide phenomenon, though they are not directly connected to OWS.
“This is not a subsidiary of Occupy Wall Street,” Taveras said.
Students came together on the lawn without a clear agenda, and the discussion took on a “people’s mic” format, in which one person speaks in short phrases that are repeated by listeners. As the meeting developed, though, distinctive themes emerged, including a competitive campus atmosphere which values success in terms of monetary gains.
The group also discussed Columbia-related issues like OWS continuation Occupy Harlem, Columbia’s expansion into Manhattanville, overworked graduate students, the creation of business-related majors, limitations on free speech on campus, and students with marginalized identities, including work-study students.
“As a work-study student, I felt there were no options that I had to work in a valuable way,” Colette McIntyre , BC ’12, said at the assembly. “I know no other work-study students. We are invisible. We are ignored. How do we expect our institution to know what to do with poverty in the city if they don’t know what to do for students in their own school?"
Speakers at the assembly stressed the importance of talking and recognizing that these issues exist at any type of public forum, whether at the general assemblies, in panels, or through student groups.
The group plans to stay active on campus in the coming weeks, even though it has few finalized plans. The students will meet this Friday and continue with biweekly meetings, and some said they will participate in other events both on and off campus.
“We can create things that keep this going,” Josh Faber , GS, said. “It’s our responsibility to do that.”
The group discussed participating in protests and petitions throughout the city; holding more people’s mics around campus for students, faculty, and staff; organizing alternative tour groups for prospective Columbia students; and possibly attempting to restructure New Student Orientation Program activities to promote a more inclusive community.
“Let’s get everyone involved,” Faber said. “This isn’t a student movement—this is a human movement, and we’re bringing it to the world.”
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