Julie-Menin

While Columbia’s sports teams may be known more for losing than anything else, the opposite is true of the archery program under head coach Derek Davis, who took the helm in 2004.

In its season’s first homestand, Columbia volleyball defeated Fordham, San Jose State, and Long Island University in back-to-back battles at the Big Apple Tournament on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The three-game win streak propelled the team to its best start in almost a decade.

Columbia alumni were recognized for their accomplishments in film and took home several golden statues at the 2019 Academy Awards hosted last night at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Barnard announced Tuesday that Nobel Peace Prize recipient Leymah Gbowee will deliver this year's Commencement address. Gbowee joins a long list of speakers—including philosopher and activist Cornel West, Internet-Explorer-architect-turned-neuroscientist Thomas Reardon, and President Barack Obama—who have come to this University to speak directly to students. Though their words could have been delivered on any dais, they elected to address Columbia University students. This is, of course, logical because the people who want to be students here are the people who have already decided they want to change the world. Whether we have already garnered the national spotlight or just have big dreams, Columbia has presented itself as a facilitator of our passions.

A Columbia education shows us that there is nothing we cannot do. We can study United States history under Alan Brinkley (who literally wrote the textbook), explore economics with U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati, and learn about indigenous rights from Elsa Stamatopoulou, the first chief of the secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Beyond the heavy-hitters who are undisputed leaders in their fields, faculty across the board share incredible research experiece and a genuine investment in educating our generation at our liberal arts-based institution. As Lauren Haynes, SEAS '13 shares with us, few other schools allow an engineer to pursue rigorous technical coursework alongside interests in the humanities. Similarly, Karim Delgado, GS '14, reflects that the Columbia education "provides a framework through which experience might be distilled to its core substance." Unique majors and programs, such as human rights and sustainable development, show us that lasting change is not just a dream. These programs provide us with the tools to impact the world around us. Dance, archery, and scuba classes remind us to exercise more than just our mental muscles.

Beyond these role models and the knowledge they convey, what makes our Columbia education truly unique is that we surround ourselves with peers who are exceptionally bright and driven. Tampostat, the 2012 Biomedical Engineering Senior Design project of Mikail Kamal, SEAS '12, John Esau, SEAS '12, and Marissa Dreyer, SEAS '12, is now being distributed globally to address postpartum hemorrhages. Thanks to a blog she founded in high school on feminism, Julie Zeilinger, BC '15, has become something of an expert on the subject. She has delivered a speech at the Women in the World Summit 2012 at Lincoln Center, penned a Forbes piece called "Why Millennial Women Do Not Want To Lead," and published a book based on her blog in the two years she's been in college. Just a few places Columbia students have interned include the United Nations, Condé Nast Publications, and Lincoln Center. Every day, one of our peers is founding a new program, creating a new major, or locating a new issue to address—all with the clear intent to improve the world.

Shared among the faculty and students is the understanding that the world really is our oyster and that we should optimize our opportunities. Jeremy Thomas, SEAS '13, notes that a Columbia degree is world-renowned and the cache suggests leverage in the job market, the school has more to offer outside of connections for post-college life. Jessica Karch, CC '15, saw Columbia's "access to applicable training as a science major and access to the resources that help teach me to think critically" as the best path to affecting change. But Delgado chose to follow up his tours as a combat correspondent for the U.S. Marines with a Columbia education to "corroborate those experiences with the academy find any pedagogues whose theory approached my practice in a way that informed and enlightened it." For us, we both came here interested in social justice and searching for a means to actually contribute to the dialogue. Here, like our friends, we have found that we are equipped with the know-how, connections, and support to understand ourselves. We have found how we can realize sustainable change.

Everyone at Columbia has his or her "thing," and more often than not, that thing relates to improving our world. Columbia provides the academic grounding and practical tools to see these aspirations to fruition.

Jennifer Fearon is a Barnard College senior majoring in human rights and political science. She is also a member of the editorial board. Winn Periyasamy is a Barnard College senior majoring in human rights and political science. She is an arts and entertainment staff writer.

To respond to this piece, or to submit and op-ed, contact opinion@columbiaspectator.com

The four candidates for Manhattan borough president discussed their platforms with Upper West Siders at a meeting of the Three Parks Independent Democrats Wednesday evening, touching on local issues including a controversial plan to build market-rate housing in affordable housing projects.

The forum, which filled the ballroom of the American Youth Hostel at Amsterdam Avenue and 104th Street, featured City Council members Gale Brewer, Robert Jackson, and Jessica Lappin, and former Community Board 1 chair Julie Menin, CC '89. Incumbent Scott Stringer is running for comptroller.

While the four candidates, all Democrats, share similar policy positions, they outlined different areas of focus as well as a range of diverse experiences.

Brewer, who currently represents the Upper West Side, said her long-term track record in local politics makes her uniquely qualified for the job, adding that she would continue to support small business, work to prevent "mallization," increase availability of permanent affordable housing, bolster a commitment to recycling and environmental awareness, and emphasize access to quality education and senior care.

Brewer also said that given her political experience, she knows the effort required to make lasting changes.

"They do not happen overnight," Brewer said.

Menin said that 9/11 "turned my life upside down," adding that a key aspect of her role as CB1 chair involved helping downtown recover from the disaster. One of her most prominent actions was to pass a resolution supporting the planned Islamic mosque and cultural center a few blocks from Ground Zero.

Menin said that the most important issues for the next borough president to focus on are reforming the current land use process, combating school overcrowding and the ongoing shortage of affordable housing, and reducing obesity and hunger rates in the city—especially in East Harlem.

Jackson, who represents Morningside Heights, Hamilton Heights, and part of Washington Heights, cited his experience in education policy as a central asset in his campaign.

"Education was my salvation," he said, recalling what he called a life-changing moment when his high school track coach gave him a scholarship application.

Jackson cited his lawsuit against the state for its school funding distribution, an anti-hydrofracking resolution, and his role in securing funding for the Sugar Hill housing project and Boys & Girls club as his major accomplishments.

Lappin, who represents the Upper East Side, said that keeping Manhattan affordable for the middle class is a key concern of hers. She said being raised in New York City by a single mother devoted to advocacy influenced her decision to "dedicate my life to public service."

"I believe in the power of government to help people," she said.

Lappin pointed to her achievements on the council—including pushing through laws regulating crisis pregnancy centers, improving train safety, and introducing a textile recycling program—and to the opening of several public schools.

"I'm a public-school graduate and a public-school mom," she said.

The forum, one of the first leading to the September primary, comes as the campaign is heating up.

Brewer, who signaled that she would run last year but only filed for the office in January and barely campaigned until earlier this month, is behind in fundraising and racing to catch up. According to returns filed Friday, she has only raised $48,000, compared to Jackson's $329,000, Lappin's $703,000, and Menin's $1,017,000.

Despite her fundraising disadvantage, the vote-rich Upper West Side will be a major prize in the race, potentially giving Brewer a boost.

"I think Gale's entering into the race changes the dynamic, because the West Side was up for grabs until she got in the game," State Democratic Committee member Daniel Marks Cohen, who attended the forum, said. "The question is whether she can make up for the lost time, because some of her opponents have been running for six months or a year."

"By the time voters are paying attention, hopefully she will be in a—at least in a stronger position than she is today," Cohen said.

Menin, who has been crisscrossing the borough campaigning for months, is notably ahead in fundraising and organization. She has received the lion's share of endorsements so far—even from some community leaders in Brewer, Jackson, and Lappin's home bases.

Meanwhile, Jackson's status as the only man in the race and the only person of color could give him a demographic advantage.

One of the most pressing issues discussed at the meeting was affordable housing, especially in light of the city housing authority's controversial plan to build market-rate housing in eight affordable housing complexes citywide. One of those complexes is the Upper West Side's Frederick Douglass Houses, just a few blocks away from where the candidate spoke to the Three Park Democrats.

The candidates all voiced concerns about the plan and the lack of resident input that went into the housing authority's plan. Brewer said residents and tenant leaders need legal aid for negotiations.

"These are very complicated negotiations," she said, adding that she hopes the plans would be "be changed dramatically."

Menin also objected to the proposed developments' potential encroachment on playground and park space at the developments, and developers' plans to place the entrances of the market-rate developments facing away from the affordable housing.

"What kind of message is that sending?" Menin asked.

Judy Wood, a Three Parks Democrats member who attended the forum, said she believes that Brewer is likely get the group's endorsement, given that "this neighborhood is very familiar" with and fond of her.

"We love her," Wood said.

avantika.kumar@columbiaspectator.com | @avantikaku

Yelle's third LP, "Complètement Fou," retains the whimsical nature of the band's synth-filled sounds while being their most sophisticated album yet. Although Yelle's electropop music remains all in French, the "Complètement Fou" lyric video comes with an iPhone "Yelle Translator" app—letting you switch between English and French lyrics. Translations, however, are less important to singer Julie Budet, who assures us that as long as we're having fun, it's okay if we don't understand.

What do the Beatles, the Walt Disney Company, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart have in common?

Columbia's Manhattanville expansion—and the approval process that made it possible—is a point of contention in the competitive race for Manhattan borough president.

Children took over South Lawn on Sunday afternoon as the New York Times hosted the Great Children's Read.