Fonda Shen

Katie Cooke, CC ’19, stands at only a little over 5 feet tall. She wears big round glasses, sports a pixie cut, and is almost always smiling. She is, in other words, the absolute antithesis of a common stereotype of a tall, stern, and unapproachable conductor. Yet, a conductor is exactly who she is.

There is something particularly ironic about watching a documentary on the 1968 Columbia protests in the sparkling new auditorium of Manhattanville’s Lenfest Center for the Arts. Sitting as a glistening reminder of Columbia’s gentrification of Morningside Heights and Harlem, Manhattanville is the modern version of the Morningside Park gymnasium plans, one of the sparks of the ’68 protests.

In a school as large as Columbia, it is rare that any event features students from across undergraduate and graduate schools. CU Live: Talent Showcase, hosted by the Office of University Life Events Council, however, managed to produce a wide cross section of students in Miller Theatre on Wednesday night.

It is hard not to laugh at a show that follows its opening fire escape directions with the reminder that there is an open bar in the back. It gets better as a room full of drunk Law School students start laughing, then howling, about all the things that normally keep them up at night: the stiff competition for BigLaw jobs, impossible school honors, and professors that just cannot seem to explain things clearly.

“We’re so DIY that we forgot to print a page!” reads the insert in the middle of the Playbill for

No matter how avant garde the ideas that circulate through Columbia’s campus are, odd looks will still be exchanged if someone dares to claim that whales can talk.

Throughout the weekend, the Athena Film Festival focused on celebrating women in the film industry not just with screenings, but also with panels and talks that gave deeper insight into the unique experiences and work of festival guests.

The eighth annual Athena Film Festival, which took place at Barnard College from Feb. 22 to 25, continued its strong tradition of highlighting female talent and narratives in the film industry with high-profile guests, a string of premieres, and a diverse wealth of films from all over the world.

Violinist Lara Lewison, CC ’20, spent the last few months working side by side with a duet partner that never tired-—a machine. She was preparing her first program that included electronics. After her assiduous preparation, which she did in addition to a full course load, Lewison held her recital last Friday.

On Saturday night, students from prominent universities across the Northeast came together at the Intercollegiate Chamber Music Festival, which held its annual festival showcase in Rose Studio at Lincoln Center.