happiness-is-a-cold-pinkberry

“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.

“We all are roses. I think we’re all these beautiful plants waiting to emerge from the soil,” Mamadou Yattassaye, CC ’21, said when asked about the rose imagery in his debut album, “To Stitch a Rose.”

Despite being scattered across the globe, student videographers bridged the gap between dancers in the Columbia University Ballet Ensemble, using digital effects to stitch together a magical forest for the group’s rendition of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” CUBE presented its ballet version of Shakespeare’s play on Dec. 5, featuring befuddled lovers and mischievous fairies dancing across the screen.

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

The registration process can be overwhelming and stressful. From figuring out your registration time to navigating CULPA reviews, waitlists, and conflicting classes, it is challenging to create a schedule with no obstacles. As registration approaches and you scroll through the course catalog, keep in mind that Columbia and Barnard have added intensive courses with alternative schedules. For those of you who want to finish a course before the semester ends, block classes are a perfect solution. As opposed to a standard 12-week schedule, intensive classes are in two six-week blocks for both the fall and spring semesters. Block courses meet more frequently than semester-long courses, allowing students to take fewer classes at a time. We asked a few students about their experience with fall A and B courses to help you decide whether spring A and B courses are right for you.

During the 2010s, Columbia Athletics was able to clinch 33 Ivy League championships and 11 national team titles. Under two athletic directors—M. Dianne Murphy, who served between 2004 and 2015, and current Athletic Director Peter Pilling—Columbia Athletics began toto transform, developing nationally-recognized programs such as fencing, men’s tennis, and cross country. Such teams have routinely found themselves among the top 25 in the nation.

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.

Coming into the decade, expectations were not extremely high for the men’s soccer program. It had not earned an Ancient Eight crown in 17 years, Ivy League Player of the Year since 1993, and NCAA tournament berth since 1991.

The past decade in Columbia lacrosse has seen seven last-place finishes and zero winning seasons, but the Light Blue has still managed to exceed expectations. For the first time in program history, the Lions did not finish the season in last place or tied for last place in the Ivy League—and then proceeded to rank above the bottom of the table two more times.