Jacob Mazzarella

As I walked into Butler Library a month before my graduation, I saw a fellow senior dressed in Columbia blue, posing for pictures outside Ref. 301. She stood in front of the wall-length canvas that memorializes King George VI and Queen Elizabeth’s stop at Columbia on their 1939 North American tour. Long after the graduate left, I stared at this painting. I had passed by it hundreds of times without ever caring to look. Now, having just seen the senior dressed in Columbia blue, I was able to see the University’s colors throughout the canvas for the first time. From the carpets to the curtain, the painting shows the interior of Low Library covered in blue. Their royal highnesses take center stage. Embroidered onto the curtains, the University’s crown insignia hovers like a halo.

I’ve felt both admiration and pessimism watching the Columbia-Barnard Young Democratic Socialists of America strike unfold.

In March 2020, the world stood still. What would come next, nobody knew. I watched as a bustling community dispersed from Morningside Heights. Friends I had only just made, friends I had known for years, scattered through the air, over oceans and across state lines.

On July 10, University President Lee Bollinger announced the opening of the Columbia Climate School. He based the decision on Columbia’s commitment to public life, writing: “We are not free to ignore the issues of our age and pursue whatever we want. We are ultimately responsible to our societies and the world. To that end, we must answer the call to serve.”

Liam McGrane: A proud Brit, and now for three years a proud New Yorker, he spends his time between classes cartooning, reading biographies, and putting the finishing touches on his first full-length play “Premature Immaculation”. Liam studies computer science. He also serves as vice president of campus life on the General Studies Student Council. Liam hopes that you will enjoy his cartoon windows into the world, and if that happens to be the case, you can find his other cartoons on Facebook and Instagram @liammcgranecartoons.

Brandon Shi is a sophomore in Columbia College majoring in economics-political science and concentrating in ethnicity and race studies. He is a Leo from the San Francisco Bay Area who is still getting used to the concept of distinct seasons. On campus, he serves on the Queer Trans Advisory Board within Multicultural Affairs and is a class rep on the Columbia College Student Council. He spends way too much time in Dodge and Ref, but occasionally balances it out by getting off campus and enjoying the city. Brandon was a former Opinion deputy editor for Spectator.

In early September, I walked into Ferris Booth Commons, one of Columbia’s three dining halls, for the first time. The availability of the food immediately felt overwhelming, and it was in that moment that I became privy to the “all-you-care-to eat” policy of Columbia University Dining services.