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Ballet tights are pink, Broadway is the Great White Way, and artwork by white men dominates the walls of the Met. It is no secret that the arts have long marginalized women of color. On Monday night, five women of color pursuing careers in the arts, four of them Barnard alumnae, came to Barnard to discuss how they are making space for themselves in the field—and how aspiring WOC artists can do the same.

In a world ruled by questionable politics, one justice perseveres with her dissenting opinions—the notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Law ’59.

Famed lawyer and Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz discussed student impact, leadership, philanthropy, and data transparency at a panel hosted by One For The World on Monday evening.

Wood Auditorium opened its doors on Friday, Oct. 14, for a panel on the "Museum Boom in China." Organized by Jeffrey Johnson and John Rajchman and supported by Columbia's Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (Columbia GSAPP), the panel aimed to discuss the recent phenomena of rapid museum growth in China.

What is the future of education reform in the United States? Prominent education specialists gathered at Teachers College on Wednesday night to debate the question, focusing on how public policy can improve schools by targeting community issues instead of schools themselves. The event, "Beyond the Schoolhouse Doors: Bringing Non-School Factors into Education Policy," was organized by TC's Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis and moderated by EPSA Chair Jeffrey Henig. Panelists advised education policymakers to focus on community issues such as poverty, health care, unemployment, and residential segregation. "We really have created a system where, if you're in an at-risk community with high poverty, the cycle continues in such a way that it's extremely difficult to break," said panelist William Tate, chair of the education department at Washington University in St. Louis. Panelist Michael Rebell, a TC professor and executive director of the Campaign for Educational Equity, expressed support for "comprehensive educational opportunities, such as health services, extensive early childhood services, summer and extended day programs." "With No Child Left Behind, the idea is all kids can achieve at higher levels," Rebell said. "Implicit on that is that you have to give them the resources to do so." TC President Susan Fuhrman called education reform "an old topic at Teachers College," but one that has recently re-emerged due to new research on the subject. TC sociology and education professor Aaron Pallas, who was not one of the panelists, said before the event that researchers will continue to seek viable solutions for educational disparities in America, keeping in mind that social issues impact education. "In the long run, there will be a recognition that combining the resources for schooling with spending on other services for youth will have a synergistic effect," he said. "The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, educationally. This is something that does cry out for creative solutions." But while the panelists extensively discussed evidence that non-school factors play a crucial role in student achievement, they touched only briefly on how to solve educational problems in practice. Bronx resident Shelly-Ann Bennett said that while the panelists talked about several impediments to education reform, they didn't say what people who don't work for think tanks can do to help. "It was a very interesting seminar, but it lacked in talking about solutions," she said. "There wasn't a lot about what we can do." Doctoral student and TC Student Senate President Vikash Reddy, on the other hand, said he was pleased to see researchers presenting their findings to the general public. "There's this notion that after you publish your research, that's it," he said. "But in reality, it has become part of the dialogue and discussion for reform." The panelists also broached the issue of political will and the upcoming presidential election. Rebell, a member of the Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission, seemed optimistic about the possibility of a more holistic education agenda in Washington. "You do get conservatives and liberals coming together to move in this direction," he said. "People are seeing this not as a cost increase, but a cost saver. They're seeing the advantages of consolidating and engaging various government agencies." Panelist Greg Duncan, who co-wrote the book "Whither Opportunity?: Growing Inequality, Schools, and Children's Life Chances," presented data showing that the U.S. has fallen from first to 19th among Organisation for Economic Co-operating and Development member countries in high school graduation rate. "This issue really threatens fundamental American values," he said. "Will the U.S. be a leading economic power in 25 years? Will children who work hard do better than their parents?" news@columbiaspectator.com

Outside, Barnard members celebrated the Diana Center's opening with ribbon—cutting and speeches. Inside, they celebrated with a panel discussion. The event, sponsored by the new Athena Center for Leadership Studies, featured Mallika Dutt, the Founder and Executive Director of Breakthrough, an international human rights organization, and Jane Golden, Executive Director of the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program. In describing her goals, Dutt said that culture was at the heart of her endeavors. "The idea [behind Breakthrough] was that we could take cultural expression and create human-rights culture. Rights as culture became the experiment that I embarked on." Breakthrough aims to change public attitudes and bring about fairness and justice through popular culture, media, and community mobilization, according to its official website. Golden spoke about her experience recruiting young graffiti artists to paint graffiti professionally. With graffiti-spraying prevalent in the '80s, she said she found an opportunity to make a difference. "I could put kids to work, I could offer them actual jobs. ... They could get paid to paint," she said. Golden founded the Mural Arts Program in the early '90s as the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network. She also played a role in the mural renaissance in Los Angeles, C.A. in the '80's. Students said they thought the speakers were bold in their portrayal of social issues. Eli West, BC '11 and a visual arts major, said that "for somebody who wants to do visual arts in a way of interacting with others," she liked how both speakers used art as a way of expressing their work. Regardless of the challenges she faced in convincing people to paint graffiti professionally, Golden said that it was a chance for people to play a role in the community. "What I love about murals and community public art is that it happens in an organic way," she said.

"The bizarre aspects of covering race as America's neuroses show themselves is in high relief in an election year," Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, said as he opened an address to an audience gathered for a panel discussion at the Graduate School of Journalism Thursday evening.

Although some of the promised faces were absent Friday at "The Real Face of Immigration," about 125 students from a broad coalition of campus and city groups offered up their own stories in what became a open forum on Latin American immigration.