Mark Holden

Fare forward, travellers
Sun, Apr 26, 2009, 6:51pm

The silly thing about senior columns is that they're supposed somehow to be a coda and capstone on four years spent learning to be wise and mature.

Enough Thinking—Now It’s Time for Action
Sun, Apr 27, 2008, 11:24pm

Today’s is the last episode of the semester. I have sought to clear the underbrush and cobwebs from our collective conception of Columbia, and in the last column I proposed new guiding principles for the institution.

A Constructive Mission for Columbia
Sun, Apr 13, 2008, 10:24pm

This semester I have called for a return to basics: an examination of the root motivators that drive what is quintessentially Columbian. Today’s episode continues this trend in a more constructive vein. Now, the questions we now must ask are the following.

Spring Cleaning for Columbia’s Culture
Sun, Mar 30, 2008, 10:04pm

In episode four we discussed endowments: what they are, why they’re important, and most crucially, why some of their characteristics, including their abstract nature and the large time-frames over which they operate, make their significance hard to grasp on an intuitive or “gut” level, making it

The Real Value of Endowments
Tue, Mar 11, 2008, 9:21pm

Two weeks ago this column concluded by exhorting Columbia’s leaders to inject some verve and vigor into the institution’s endeavors. But you’d be kidding yourself if you thought enthusiasm alone could get us very far.

Envisioning the New Columbia
Sun, Feb 24, 2008, 8:14pm

Our inquiry into “fixing Columbia” began by examining the challenges facing us—a necessary process. While it’s easy to harp on problems, it’s much harder to creatively generate solutions from whole cloth. Yet solutions are crucial to our quest.

'Global' Starts At Home
Sun, Feb 10, 2008, 10:21pm

We need some community ’round here, I reckon. The undergraduate population at Columbia doesn’t have as rich an on-campus life as students at some other schools do—and this is lamentable. Some impute this truth to our location in New York, which they say sucks away students on the weekends.

Becoming a 'Global University' in Truth
Sun, Jan 27, 2008, 10:15pm

Columbia by all rights ought to be a great, world-renowned institution, yet it continually settles for mere excellence. I’ve probably just angered a few people in the admissions office, but it’s true.

In Defense of Libertarianism
Fri, Feb 16, 2007, 12:00am

Libertarians. Yeah, you know, those crazy people. Depending on who you talk to, they're either maniacal liars, maniacal fools, or both. You probably know one and think he's really weird.

Teleport to the Future
Thu, Dec 7, 2006, 12:00am

We need teleportation, and we need it now. You think I'm crazy-you think watching the Sci-Fi channel too much in the wee hours of the morn has addled my brain. But it hasn't, and I'm not.

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