Faculty-student-relationships-policy

This past year, student filmmakers at Columbia have tried to pursue their craft remotely, struggling to shoot footage and find a platform on which to showcase their films. The Athena Film Festival’s “Discovery: Student Shorts Program” celebrates the works of student and first-time female filmmakers who have directed or shown their films during the pandemic. The films touch on themes of gender-based wage discrimination, racial tensions, sexism in film, and following one’s passions in the face of adversity. Director Amit Lerner’s “Pam,” for example, showcases her creativity and identity as an Israeli-American student filmmaker with a broader audience.

How to become a star overnight? As of late, the answer is simple: TikTok.

“Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Let’s go into this with a powerful collective intention.” Alexandra Watson, a First-Year Writing lecturer at Barnard, said as she led a Zoom call in a breathing exercise. With its participants newly focused, the Cite Black Barnard Faculty Cite-a-Thon began.

During the height of racial injustice protests across the country last September, a group of Columbia student-athletes decided to form the Columbia Black Student-Athlete Alliance. The BSAA aims to provide a space for members to come together, reach out to the community, and educate their peers about the challenges they face as Black student-athletes.

When sophomore Rachel Marsh first arrived at Columbia, she felt like something was off, but wasn’t sure what. Marsh, a sprinter on the track and field team, came to New York from Garland, Texas, and spent her first semester caught up in the whirlwind rhythms of practice, competition, and academics.

With former President Donald Trump out of office, it’s time to focus on what we want President Joe Biden to do during his administration. He undoubtedly has a lot on his shoulders. He is inheriting a country that is going through the worst pandemic in about a century, the worst depression since the 1920s, a high point in racial tensions and wealth inequality, and a climate crisis that is worsening. There are many things that Biden could focus on first, but I am advocating for him to prioritize expanding health care access for all Americans.