Haley Long

You’re studying for finals, trying your best to concentrate on that psychology lecture you put off for two weeks and now have to watch on CourseWorks at double speed. Your pen is in your hand, your notebook in front of you, but your mind keeps drifting off to more mindless, visually gratifying ways to spend your afternoon: curating a Pinterest board for your picture-perfect summer plans in the city or watching those mesmerizing TikToks made by stunningly attractive friend groups on impossibly cool trips. It’s true that combining social media with your summer daydreams is a dangerous game when you have exams to study for and papers to write. Oh well, a few minutes on Instagram couldn’t possibly hurt, could they? And as long as you’re on your phone, you might as well check your For You page too.

As the weather gets warmer, it is the perfect opportunity to go outdoors—keeping in mind COVID-19 guidelines of course. If you are in the city, you’ll find that a number of events and activities will finally be open and available to the public after almost a year of restrictions, though many familiar events still operate under some alterations. To take full advantage of the spring weather and the extra hour of sunlight we get with daylight saving time, here are some events to look out for.

With the world keenly focused on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to forget other pressing issues at hand that need to be addressed. A Zoom webinar held by the Center on Global Energy Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs with Bill Gates on Feb. 23 brings our attention back to the climate crisis that is still ever-present.

This year, Columbia’s summer semester will look different from past years. Due to the pandemic, the University decided to shift the academic calendar so that students could make use of up to three semesters.