judith-butler

While walking through the streets of Manhattan, Harlem resident and Columbia College first-year Zenayah Roaché comments, “It’s like a whole different world. When you go up the blocks, you enter this world much where everything is separated, so now you continue to live in this ‘story.’”

Columbia College, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Barnard are rated among the top 20 colleges that are most accessible for students from socioeconomically diverse backgrounds. Despite this, students have repeatedly cited the high costs of their textbooks—a basic requirement for most courses— as a barrier in their daily academic lives.

While there are some people who say there are never any open seats in Butler, there’s always space—you just have to wait long enough to find it. Stumble in after midnight and most of the crowds will be gone; you’ll begin to identify a pattern of people and phenomena that beholds itself to only its most devoted patrons.

Water and the treasured manuscripts archived in Butler’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library don’t usually mix, and for good reason. On Tuesday evening, however, the library combined the two in an exhibition titled “Awash in Books: Books for the Year of Water,” featuring a variety of pieces to celebrate and explore how we use Earth’s most precious resource.

Though Butler and Milstein may be some of the most familiar of Columbia and Barnard’s libraries and study spots, they also tend to be among the most packed during finals season. Instead of going through the familiar struggle of trying to find a seat, get off the beaten path by trying out these hidden (and not-so-hidden) gems, courtesy of Spectrum.

It’s 4:00 and my brain is fried. After spending all day on Butler’s fifth floor—arguably the worst place on campus—I need a pick-me-up.

Broadway legend Patti LuPone has donated her personal theatrical archive to Columbia’s Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Containing scrapbooks, scripts, sheet music, programs, and more, the collection chronicles the life and illustrious stage career of the performer.

In what can only be referred to as a local tragedy, Columbia student Thomas Mayer camped out in the stacks for 72 hours and no one hooked up with him.

“It’s just one image that gives us all of those complicated questions,” professor Zeynep Çelik said of Baris Gokturk’s “The Pavilion,” a mural created by an MFA student in homage to Çelik’s “Displaying the Orient: Architecture of Islam at Nineteenth Century World’s Fairs.”