News: Student Life

Messages between members of the Columbia chapter of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, nicknamed Fiji, have circulated over the past week, implicating several students in racist comments targeting a Black woman photographed in The Denver Post after being tear-gassed by police. One fraternity member’s concerns were dismissed when he expressed disgust with a joke that compared the tear gas—a toxin linked to chronic respiratory diseases and miscarriages that has been used as a weapon against protests—to semen.

Before she left for spring break, Nicole Leon, CC ’20, picked up her cap and gown. It would be one of her last experiences on campus. Just two days later, University President Lee Bollinger announced that all classes would be moved online for the rest of the semester in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further emails announced that all students who could leave must do so. Finally, on March 20, Bollinger announced that Commencement would be canceled.

During a days-long occupation of what would eventually become the Malcolm X Lounge in April 1970, students from the Afro-American Society demanded that Columbia create an official space for Black students on campus. Their demands reflected the momentum from the 1968 protests, during which students occupied Hamilton Hall in protest of the University’s plans to build a segregated gym in Morningside Park.

On Thursday, the United States became the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases, currently reported to be greater than 140,000 nationwide and increasing. Experts have noted that a possible explanation for the increased spread is the inconsistent messaging around the virus, which has led to slow change in preventative behavior meant to “flatten the curve.”

Following the publication of reports and articles on the arrest of Malika Jones, formerly BC ’20 before taking a leave of absence, a group of family members and friends formed a group, Justice4Malika, to support one another and respond to the portrayal of Jones in the media.

Columbia College, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Barnard are rated among the top 20 colleges that are most accessible for students from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. Despite this, students have repeatedly cited the high costs of their textbooks—a basic requirement for most courses— as a barrier in their daily academic lives.

Several acts of vandalism have been reported on the 16th floor of East Campus, according to an email sent by Residential Life to the building’s residents.

A new viral Twitter video features a woman, labeled as “Chinese,” wearing what appears to be a mask covering her face. The woman was exiting Chinatown’s Grand Street station when a man physically attacked her as he called her “diseased,” according to witnesses.

New York City officials are waiting to confirm the first case of coronavirus in the city as the world deals with over 17,200 people who have already contracted the virus, resulting in 362 deaths. This isn’t the first time residents await results: Officials have tested lab samples 10 times in the past—all results were negative.