First-years

Though some residents of Columbia’s Living Learning Center appreciate its efforts to unite students of myriad backgrounds, the center disserves incoming students who are placed there involuntarily. The administration should consolidate the center into a single building and convert the other dormitory into suite-style housing for upperclassmen.

As I stood in a line full of wide-eyed students and chatty alums waiting to shake the hand of Debora Spar, Barnard’s next president, I couldn’t help but notice the expression on her face. I knew it so well, and after ogling her for an embarrassingly long time, it came to me. She looked just like a first-year student on her first day of orientation.

It happened in elementary school, it happened in middle school, it happened in high school, and it’s happening again in college. That’s right, the Upperclassmen Superiority Complex (UCSC) has made its glorious return.