Nigel Telman

Most students may only think of Bacchanal when reminiscing on Columbia’s biggest outdoor party each spring. This year, the Bacchanal Committee is making plans to change that.

“Take On Me” by a-ha and “thank u, next” by Ariana Grande do not sound like the songs typically played by classically trained musicians. For Popsicles, however, it’s all fair game.

“CUSH is for the kids!” chanted Columbia University Society of Hip-Hop cypher host Payton Johnson, CC ’21, as he led participants in a freestyle rap game. Passing the mic around the room, participants were encouraged to ad-lib any sound, word, or phrase on the beat.

An enraptured crowd sits on the floor of CU Records, mere inches away from the musical world building before them. Vocals mix with chord progressions as the sounds of singer Jackie Marchal, CC ’22, and singer-pianist Sarah Kinsley Du, CC ’22, flow into the audience, pulling the room into their grasp. This will be a night to remember.

The Leslie Marmon Silko Reading and Open Mic began with an acknowledgment of the stolen Lenape land on which Columbia’s campus resides. This moment of bittersweet resilience, brought forth by the tragedy of Indigenous land occupation and the triumph of reclaiming a lost voice, imbued the room with life. From that complex mix of emotions poetry, music, and art arose.

There’s something about the American higher education system that grants it a unique culture among the global populace. Shows and movies centering on the “typical” college experience are all too common (think Blue Mountain State or 22 Jump Street), and anyone who knows anyone who has gone to college has heard the rose-tinted tales of university days past. I have grown up hearing stories of the “traditional college experience” from my parents, who could not speak more highly of their times chatting up professors, partying, and even studying with their friends. Interestingly enough, when my parents spoke of studying, they seemed to fondly recall paper cramming and all-night sessions before big exams.