A petition to have a fascist speaker banned from campus circulates to no effect. Increasingly confrontational student activists promise to take matters into their own hands. The American Civil Liberties Union calls for restraint and respect. Eventually, tensions boil over and a violent street battle erupts between protesters and the police.

For our orientation issue, we’d like to present you with some Blinks: small anecdotes from our staff members. This time around, we’re looking back to our most memorable NSOP experiences in honor of the end of everyone’s favorite week of the year.

In 2014, a former Columbia student joined the Islamic State.

In September 1952, a new class joined Columbia, finding a campus community eager to welcome it. One student, however, wasn’t so happy with his reception.

The scene: John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jan. 28, 2017. In an instant, “scores” of people are trapped in airports across the country. Disorder reigns as family members wait outside of security cordons to find out the fate of their loved ones. The scene is unreal—it feels like the onset of a national crisis. And the situation at hand is neither an accident nor a pandemic virus, but a poorly implemented executive order signed by President Donald J. Trump.

As activists attempt to place a symbolic gag on the Alma Mater statue, they are attacked by members of a rival group, who grab the black cloth from their hands and drag them down Low Steps. Two camps have formed on opposite sides of campus, representing activists on strike and supporters of the administration. Clergyman and alumnus Eliot White rallies the activists against their adversaries. "You will probably find expert fighters in this crowd, but you must oppose them,” he yells. “Our ancestors died for free speech, and it is up to you to defend it."