South-America

In front of an array of posters emblazoned with red and black slogans, the Columbia-Barnard Young Democratic Socialists of America mounted a rally in support of its tuition strike. The rally began with a press conference in front of University President Lee Bollinger’s 60 West Morningside Drive home and culminated in a march to the steps of Low Library.

A coalition of student organizations led by Columbia-Barnard Young Democratic Socialists of America has come together to call for a tuition strike against Columbia. The strike, which has amassed 3,200 signatures over two months, aims to hold the University accountable to students, staff, and community members for how it handles its wealth.

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.

After two hard-fought wins over No. 20 Oklahoma State and No. 16, Tennessee, the No. 13 Columbia men’s tennis team came home to the Dick Savitt Tennis Center to sweep the University of South Florida 7-0, marking first-year head coach Howard Endelman’s win at home at the helm.

As the Latin music faded out and the lights were dimmed, audience members blew into multicolored whistles and screamed in anticipation. Green light flooded the stage and dancers in gold skirts struck their first pose.

What does feminism mean in a Southeast Asian context? How can theater and performance be used for social change?

Going abroad has always been a goal for me. The summer before attending college, I went to Germany for two weeks, and I loved my time there so much that I vowed to return. I knew that at Columbia, I would have the chance to live abroad for an entire semester. I wanted to reconnect with my German host family, explore other parts of Germany, and a get a fuller sense of life outside of America. What I did not realize at the time was that during college, I would go through a process of deliberation that would lead me to change my priorities for my study abroad experience.

In October 2016, an opinion piece titled "Don’t Teach for America, teach for real” was published in Spectator, reigniting a years-old debate about the controversial nonprofit organization Teach for America. I remember reading this article as a junior—when I was considering applying to TFA—and having extremely mixed feelings about its various claims. I have since applied and accepted a position as a 2018 Teach for America corps member in the South Bronx. Since then, this inflammatory piece of writing has been shared (and even reshared by Spec) several times, and it is for this very reason that I am choosing to respond now, a year and a half later, in defense of TFA.

This past Saturday, over 10,000 protesters rallied in Cadman Plaza, Brooklyn and in cities across the nation to denounce the conviction of 28-year-old Peter Liang. On Feb. 11, Liang, a former NYPD officer, was found guilty of killing an unarmed black man named Akai Gurley in November of 2014. The following protest, which took place in Brooklyn, was the best-attended rally organized by the Asian-American community since the Rodney King riots of 1992.

As my flight from South Africa landed in New York, I thought about the advice offered by several American friends: Do not make eye contact with anyone on the subway. In a city where 8 million people are eking out an existence, avoiding eye contact helps keep your struggles private. As a student, this struggle can be incredibly hard—many of us rely on scholarships, loans, and two or three jobs to live. Although many New Yorkers can barely afford their daily living expenses, the cost of higher education is a burden that seems particularly unjust.