Hannah Story Brown

It was at the turn of century, on the threshold of an era first of prosperity and then of world tumult, of globalization and elite gentlemen commanding the global stage, that Nicholas Murray Butler came to power. One might not always describe the appointment of a university president as a "coming into power," the way that one describes the reign of a distinguished national political leader. But those words are right to describe Butler: Indeed, they came straight from his pen.

Every Columbia student has experienced being transplanted from our homes to college, and from bedrooms shaped by years of growing up within it to blank, white rooms. How we choose to decorate our rooms and cultivate our belongings speaks both to where we've come from, and where we hope to be going. The ways in which we try to craft homes from our dorm rooms can be reflective of the way we see, what we feel passion for, and even the world we want to live in. Here we explore how five Columbia students have created their spaces.

The sun sets and rises on Morningside Heights. The air grows frigid and then warms again, the Journalism School reflecting squares of light on Butler Library's windows as you sit behind them. Then suddenly, there's only weeks left, days left. Four years on this campus behind you before you've quite grasped the time's passing.