Center-for-Student-Advising

What started as a group of disparate songs in voice memos and dog-eared notebook pages collecting dust was masterfully strung together by Christina Li, CC ’24, culminating in her debut EP, “Strings,” released on August 22. Li was originally inspired by the pressures of the college application process. However, as the pandemic set in and brought with it the abrupt end to her senior year, Li needed to change course.

Over 2,700 students have signed a petition declaring a tuition strike until Columbia meets its demands to reallocate the University’s spending. The tuition strike petition calls for a 10 percent reduction in tuition fees, a 10 percent increase in financial aid, to defund Public Safety, and to stop the University’s expansion into West Harlem.

Between September 2018 and May 2019, six migrant children died in Border Patrol custody. In July of that same year, the New York Times reported on horrendous conditions at a Border Patrol detention facility in Texas: overcrowding; unsanitary conditions; children forced to sleep on concrete floors; parentless babies being cared for by migrant teens; and heartbreaking stories of children hearing their family members’ voices on the phone for the first time in months. This September, a whistle-blower report alleged that multiple women in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Irwin County Detention Center—operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private company—were pressured into invasive surgeries without proper consent. As recently as October, the country learned that ICE had lost track of the parents of over 500 migrant children. Despite its short history, ICE has managed to amass a significant record of human rights violations. In addition to the abuses detailed above, sexual abuse, violence, and family separation run rampant within the agency.

Content Warning: This episode of The Ear discusses sexual violence and rape.

The miniature chapel is pushed into the river by the beach guardians. Standing inside, the animated character Sankyo watches as it quickly fills with water. “Is that normal?” he asks Cressidia, the chapel’s guardian, to which she replies, “No, Sankyo.”

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.

A hammock swinging in the wind. Slides from a computer science lecture. A pair of mangoes. All are scenes that Gloria Hui, CC ’23, features in her bite-size Instagram music videos, as she layers footage of daily life on top of her singing, both covers and original songs.

With over 1500 spring courses across the University to pick from, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. With registration week underway, it’s not a bad idea to browse the CU Directory of Classes and make a list of courses you want to take. Barnard and Columbia academic department websites are also good places to look for classes for majors, minors, or concentrations you’re interested in.

I stood in front of the mirror analyzing whether or not my mom jeans and crop top gave off friendly, cool-yet-chill vibes. My roommates didn’t want to go to the fifth meet-up organized through the “Transfers in the City” GroupMe, so I plucked up the courage to ask my neighbor upstairs if she wanted to come with me. The week prior, I had flown to New York from Michigan in my hazmat suit that I bought from Amazon for $20. Now, I was in a hot, sticky apartment just off of Broadway and La Salle, eager to make new connections.

Director, writer, editor, photographer, first-generation college student, music lover, Instagrammer, daughter, storyteller. Just like her, the films Mariah Barrera, CC ’24, creates cannot be pigeonholed. They explore everything from the devastation of incarceration to the lighthearted simplicity of teenage joy.