A recent study on leave of absence policies at Ivy League universities gave Columbia a D grade, criticizing the University’s lack of guidelines surrounding the duration of leaves and the absence of a contact person for students who go on leave.

When Wilfred Chan, CC ’13, started college, discourse around mental health was largely centered around the absence of it. Campaigns were focused on dispelling stigma around mental health issues and seeking professional help.

In an attempt to improve its leave policies and protocols, Columbia has piloted a new medical leave readmission process to allow students on leave to register for classes before their anticipated return, the first step in a larger effort to create a “simplified readmission” policy.

This week is special for The Eye. For issue six, The Eye partnered with the Arts & Entertainment section and the Illustrations team to create the Arts Issue, where we take a moment to reflect on and celebrate the art scene on campus. This week is a milestone for us. Not only is it our first themed Eye issue of the semester, but it’s a cross-departmental project in a scope and scale that hasn’t been seen in recent time at the magazine.

“The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice.” Anisa Tavangar, a 2018 Barnard graduate, recites Baha’i writing when I ask what beauty means to her. To Tavangar, beauty is a reflection of justice—it is a quality that extends beyond the standards of pretty and it is imbued with larger and deeper truths. During her tenure as its editor-in-chief, Hoot Magazine has become more than a fashion/beauty college magazine—it’s been a platform for the diverse identities on campus to creatively express and embrace themselves.

You could find her riding a city bike with no particular destination or writing poetry at Butler Library instead of doing her homework, but if you’re looking for Aidan Sullivan anywhere between 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the weekend, you’re likeliest to find her behind the bar at 1020.

When I meet Angela Beam, I find her chatting with a student from Millie 10, the NSOP group she led as an orientation leader two years ago. Halfway into our conversation on a porch in front of Milbank Hall, Dean Avis Hinkson emerges out of building and shouts “Angela!”, and the two wish each other a good summer. At the end of our interview, as we leave Barnard’s campus, she exchanges waves and mouthed hellos with Dean Rebecca Grabiner. When Beam started at Barnard, all she hoped for was to be an active member of campus. After four years, it’s clear she’s far surpassed mere campus involvement.

Eye reporter Juliana Kim discusses how she approached her Issue 4 Lead Story that followed one Manhattanville resident’s fight against the neighborhood’s predatory landlords. Read the story here.