Opinion

No faculty can complain about such evidence of superlative student IQ. But what about our EQ—emotional quotient? Certainly there have been few attempts to measure emotional intelligence because it lacks the precision of a grade point average or SAT score.

This is a strange time—and Columbia, a strange place—to be practicing print journalism. “Consolidation” and “do more with less” have become grudging newsroom mantras, while papers have struggled mightily to establish a robust presence on the Web. Student newspapers may be better insulated against this sort of flux than their professional counterparts, but not entirely, and not forever.

There is beauty in learning how to look at the world in a different way, which is what we are told will happen to us in college. Unlike some of the seniors graduating in a few weeks, I did not have a political awakening, undergo a religious conversion, or reinvent myself at Barnard—but I started “seeing” particles and waves in every beam of light, and even dark matter and dark energy. Once I learned about them, there was no going back.

I worry every time I write this column. Will people find it relevant? Do LGBT experiences matter to the people reading it? Is it going to be typecast as the “gay column”? I especially worry about the value of critiquing institutions like marriage, a ritual unlikely to change dramatically in the near future.

A week after the 40th anniversary of the 1968 protests, two alumni involved in those events contribute their thoughts on the evolution of student activism.