Arts-Initiative

On July 10, University President Lee Bollinger announced the opening of the Columbia Climate School. He based the decision on Columbia’s commitment to public life, writing: “We are not free to ignore the issues of our age and pursue whatever we want. We are ultimately responsible to our societies and the world. To that end, we must answer the call to serve.”

Every college student is familiar with the struggles of having to set up a new home base every year. Most of us find ourselves at Target, on Amazon, or on Facebook Marketplace, scouring the shops every time we switch dorms for a suitable mini-fridge and decorative lamp to make our room comfortable and livable. But at some point, thanks to ridiculous storage prices and limited suitcase space, we find ourselves having to prematurely part ways with items that work just fine. This problem of temporary ownership is one that plagues all college campuses; on Columbia’s campus alone, more than 80,000 pounds of reusable items are abandoned every year. Across the country, over 200 million tons of these items fill landfills annually.

For many Columbia students, the last time they ate indoors at a restaurant was in early March. Delivery apps like Seamless and UberEats have become their best friends, along with cherished recipes for banana bread and chocolate chip cookies.

Columbia School of the Arts promotes its film master’s degree program with a skillfully produced trailer that offers a seductive sales pitch to prospective applicants. The school boasts that students’ films play at “every major film festival you can think of: Telluride, Berlin, South by Southwest and Tribeca, Cannes.” Deans and professors tout the program’s focus on practical training and portfolio development set students up for industry success: The school proudly announces that students are “making things from the first day they come here and they’re making things as they walk out the door.”

After over six months of closure, the historic brown and red booths of Tom’s Restaurant are once again occupied by tourists, Seinfeld enthusiasts, and locals. Since June, diners have chowed down on burgers, pancakes, eggs, and Tom’s iconic milkshakes outdoors in the summer heat while sitting at the restaurant’s bright orange tables. However, the inside of the restaurant remained off-limits for dining until now.

This semester, teachers aren’t the only ones struggling to interact and engage with students over Zoom. Clubs throughout all four undergraduate schools now face the challenge of recruiting and hosting events virtually.

Stages are dark, but the show must go on—virtually, of course. Whether you’re a comedian headed for Saturday Night Live, a future Grammy Awards winner, an aspiring Broadway star, a dancer with killer moves, or someone just looking to join a fun community of student artists, Columbia is a great place to explore the performing arts, even during this unconventional fall semester.

After the University transitioned to online learning, many seniors majoring in visual arts struggled to adapt their practices to home settings that lacked the equipment and studio space they relied on at Columbia.