On an afternoon in early October 2021, Dr. Mehmet Oz of The Dr. Oz Show taught a lecture on the anatomy of the heart to medical students at Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Human stories are the very core of what we do here at The Eye. They drive us. Our goal as a family of writers and eclectic humans is to wade past the pleasantries of “What’s your major?” and “Where are you from?” in search of the hidden idiosyncrasies that are the stuff of late-night, meaning-of-life conversations between close friends.

This semester, while I’m working toward my English degree, my grandmother will be working toward hers too.

Michael Rebell was growing frustrated. It was October, over 10 months after the trial had ended, and Judge William Smith still had not released a decision on the case. In the 50 years that Rebell had worked in education reform, he had never known a judge to take this long. His career had taught him that change often required patience, but that did not stop him from hoping that Smith’s decision would arrive sooner. The case he had presented, after all, was urgent: He believed democracy was on the line.

When undergraduate applicants to Columbia and Barnard begin their Common Apps this fall, they will be given the option—for the first time in recent history—to decline to submit standardized test scores with their application.