Class

The class of 2021′s Commencement ceremony will be held online this April, the Commencement Office announced on its website today. The ceremony will take place on Friday, April 30, at 10:30 a.m.

As I return to Columbia from a semester off, I am confronted with the same jarring culture shock I experienced my first year—the experience of existing in a predominately white and wealthy institution while coming from a predominantly Black and poor community. Unlike many of my peers and many Black students who attend Columbia and other elite institutions, I didn’t attend a wealthy and white school nor was I raised in white picket-fenced suburbia. After spending my summer and fall in the predominantly Black and lower-income community of Crown Heights in Brooklyn, I return to Columbia with the same anxiety and feeling of foreignness.

Just as first-years and sophomores were preparing to move to campus last summer, Columbia abruptly announced the cancellation of all semester-long housing contracts. Students and their families were forced to cancel plane tickets and hotel reservations and reconsider their plans for the semester ahead.

Registering for classes is always a daunting process, and next semester seems particularly stressful. With the delayed registration process and many departments still finalizing next semester’s courses, it seems harder than ever to find classes that are interesting, relevant, and new.

Social media has always been one of those things I’m unable to use consistently. While this may be obvious from my sparse Instagram posts, it is no secret to those who know me that I prefer the familiar intimacy of physical interactions, such as in the parking lot of a local coffee house or after school in my favorite classroom.

Before she left for spring break, Nicole Leon, CC ’20, picked up her cap and gown. It would be one of her last experiences on campus. Just two days later, University President Lee Bollinger announced that all classes would be moved online for the rest of the semester in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further emails announced that all students who could leave must do so. Finally, on March 20, Bollinger announced that Commencement would be canceled.