Valeria Escobar

The fifth annual 1vyG Conference, held last weekend at Princeton University, saw the greatest number of delegates from the School of General Studies in attendance in the conference’s history, bringing to light the nuances of the first-generation, low-income community that exist within Columbia’s entire undergraduate community to the forefront of student discussion, and placing emphasis on the need for diversity within student mobilization and advocacy.

During the first ever Campus Hunger Awareness Week, the Food Pantry at Columbia hosted discussions about food insecurity on campus, provided students with resources to apply for food stamps, and called for greater attention to food insecurity relief through student-led activities and discussions.

In collaboration with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, a group of six student facilitators will be hosting a dialogue series—titled Respecting Ourselves and Others Through Empathy & Dialogue—with the goal of building “solidarity, empathy, and authenticity” amongst the Columbia community. The first day of the series will focus on discussions about racism, white supremacy, and the Core, in direct response to the bias incidents at the end of last semester.

When Jesus Mancilla, CC ’22, came to Columbia, he realized that identity would play a larger role in his relationships than it had back home in his predominantly Latinx community in Northern California. Mancilla, who identifies as a Latino first-generation low-income student, said he felt more anxious about his experiences with consent due to the racialized rhetoric of sexual misconduct accusations.

In light of the official release of the Department of Education’s new proposed regulations regarding sexual misconduct, the University will stand by its values that emphasize student safety and support, according to Executive Vice President of University Life Suzanne Goldberg. Under federal mandate, however, Columbia’s own policies and procedures—particularly those regarding adjudication processes—may be forced to change.

Columbia’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action received 174 allegations of discrimination and discriminatory harassment from individual complainants in the 2017-18 academic year, a number that has increased by 54 percent from the 2016-17 academic year, according to first-ever annual report from the EOAA. The number of gender-based misconduct reports made to EOAA also increased by 46 percent from the prior academic year.

Panelists broke down the implications of Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation to the Supreme Court, at an event hosted by anti-sexual assault advocacy group No Red Tape on Monday.

The Office of University Life has released a statement in solidarity with Columbia’s transgender community, two days after the Trump administration’s announcement of a newly proposed interpretation of Title IX that would effectively erase the federal recognition of transgender Americans.

Following Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, Columbia and Barnard students have voiced their fear that Kavanaugh’s example—including public hearings on his alleged misconduct as a teenager and college student—may perpetuate misunderstandings surrounding consent and discourage survivors from reporting sexual assault at Columbia.

First Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans spoke about the potential collapse of the European Union and outlined means for remedying its fragmentation during an address in Low Library on Monday.