Guiding Echoes From the Past

We wrapped up the past semester in an interesting fashion. Exciting chapters were added to the school’s history; new verses were added to the epic. Last semester, Columbia breathed in, held its breath for a second as though it would self destruct, and finally breathed out in exasperation. You could feel the reverberation of the school’s impulse. It was some semester!

Opposing opinions surfaced, high profile personalities clashed, a noose was hung on a professor’s door, hate symbols were at play, changes were resisted, presidents were insulted and confronted, strikes were held in hunger, and gunshots were fired in nearby bars. It sounds like a war zone, but it’s not—it is simply the outcome of a meeting between different opinions, cultures, ideas, and personalities. That is the reality of our world.

Like a bad government under criticism, our school and its issues were presented by the media as an example of the challenges of a modern community. What the media and other critics didn’t emphasize was that Columbia is a school and not a political party. We have all come from different backgrounds to receive an education. The quality of that education is enhanced by contributions from different groups and individuals. Columbia’s position as an educational institution arms itself with a certain responsibility to educate students in a way that will make us relevant to the world around us. That education and solution to the problems of the world begin here on campus.

Last semester, some of us realized that talking about race isn’t easy, that not all dark people are black or fair people white. Some of us learned that the challenges of most black people are not universal. In fact, some black people insist that they shouldn’t and do not want to be represented by the “black community.” In other news, it wasn’t clear whether people opposed the hunger strikers because of their method of confronting the leadership of the school or whether they felt the school had to break into Harlem to meet its growing needs, regardless of who was going to lose his building, property, or house.

We also began to realize that our ideas of right and wrong completely vary, our tastes in leadership and choice of authority are not the same, and that our values are constantly shifting—and that’s okay. We tested the commitment of friends when some of them protested against our demands; we questioned the invitations of some of our guests and were divided on who was qualified enough to be our guest. We realized we didn’t have common foes or friends; we care about humanity but in different ways. We realized we shared sentiments about similar things but expressed those sentiments deeply and differently. I have learned neither to take sides nor to stay neutral.

Just as every Muslim isn’t a terrorist, or white person a racist, or black person with a hoodie a gangster, everything isn’t black and white. Maybe this semester, we will begin to count the colors of the rainbow around us. We might begin to stop seeing everything in contrasts and begin to see some color. Last semester is now gone, but the issues we dealt with might not have been solved yet. In GS, some of us are still dealing with housing and funding related issues. While we wait for another five or six years for proposed mergers, this semester will show how the school plans to deal with housing, funding, and other issues in the short term. Hopefully, the school will show as much charisma in helping students get quality education as it has shown toward its expansion project.

Many campus groups and communities have ideas about how Columbia can improve its environment—to make it more green, to expand responsibly, to fund students ambitiously, to diversify healthily, and to educate properly. Whether these ideas will be realized or not remains to be seen. In the name of democracy, academic freedom, freedom of speech, school spirit, art, and fun; ideals will clash, concerns will emanate, fears will dissolve or not be resolved, and once again, as a community we will be called upon to respond to the challenges in our society. The way we deal with our differences in our small world here will show how willing we are to deal with some of the biggest challenges that our world will be confronted with beyond these walls and ages. Solutions are not easy to come by, but facts always have a way of telling the truth.

Regardless of how heated and well-rounded this semester’s debates become, we must still hope that in civility, with tact and sensibility we can have well-meaning dialogues and foster school spirit without necessarily taking to offensive and destructive forms of engagement. Last semester, I learned that I was too naïve to think that people could come under the same umbrella, regardless of their color or tone. This semester, I am still willing to bet on the good of humanity, the sincerity of people, the intelligence of the minds around us—and even if this semester doesn’t bring our small community closer towards understanding and being able to live with each other, I will bet again on us next year. In the past few years, the world has turned in too many circles for us to take the need for unity for granted. Indeed, competition is healthy, but it’s more fun when it’s under fair play. After all, how are we going to work it out on the day when it’s time to share the gold at the end of the rainbow?

The author is a student in the School of General Studies.