Science Fiction Club Embraces 'Geekdom'

Eight o’clock—the club’s scheduled meeting time—comes and goes, but the people lounging in the plush armchairs of Lerner club space on March 12 are not concerned. Group members have gathered here, as they do every Wednesday evening, to pursue their passion: science fiction. As for the late start, they explained, this club follows a sense of time different from that of the real world.

The Columbia University Science Fiction Society, or CUSFS (pronounced “cuss fuss”), as it is affectionately known by its members, may at first glance seem to confirm some of those “geek” stereotypes lingering from high school—but that is not the case.

According to its Web site, CUSFS is for anyone who loves “fantasy, horror, comics, RPGs, video games, and just about everything else geeky or fandom-related.” Currently run by Rebecca Bellovin, CC ’08, CUSFS sports a tongue-in-cheek constitution and bylaws dated 1999, which attempt to validate its self-proclaimed status as “the only club on campus that is ready to survive a nuclear holocaust.”

But members would rather avoid nuclear holocausts, and other catastrophes of the sort, if possible.

“We further world peace by keeping the geeks together,” said Vice President Eliza Galbraith, CC ’08, when asked what CUSFS did for the Columbia community.

In addition to such worldly goals, the group provides an outlet and a supportive atmosphere for individual members as well.

“It’s a great way to express your geekiness,” Galbraith said, and indeed, members of CUSFS embrace such labels as positive.

“We’re proud of our geekdom,” Hillary Ford, BC ’11, said. “A lot of people think it’s a derogatory term, but we don’t see it as such.”

The members’ unabashed enthusiasm for science fiction set the tone for the March 12 meeting, which included lots of lively discussion and debate. Fans conferred about “cosplay,” an activity in which science fiction aficionados dress up as their favorite characters. Then they played a rowdy game of Fandom Deathmatch—a debate-style tournament in which participants argue which science-fiction characters would dominate others.

For some time, it looked as though Eeyore (yes, of Winnie the Pooh fame) might overtake other characters simply by making them depressed. But in the end, amid wild debate, a tie was declared between Firefly’s River Tam and V for Vendetta’s V, who club members decided would join forces due to their mutual anti-establishment sentiments.

For Galbraith, these activities give the club its color and reflect its core mission: to unite people with common interests and to create a space in which everyone can channel his or her inner geek.

As for the stereotypes, members had a lot to say about what being a “sci-fi geek” really means.

“For me, it’s taking in the term, and by accepting it, challenging the idea that being a nerd is a bad thing,” said Mia Lewis, CC ’10, who is also the president of Columbia’s Anime Club. “This is what I enjoy, and it’s not a bad thing.”

Members were quick to agree, and rejected the idea that the term was always destructive or that it exclusively defined their identities.

“I don’t consider it so much an identity as an activity,” Emma Candon, BC ’10, said. “It’s just someone else putting you in a category so that they can understand what you’re doing.”

And summing up the organization’s mentality, Galbraith added, “Why should we need to conquer it [our passion] when actually doing it is so much more fun?”

sarah.husk@columbiaspectator.com