political-engagement

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined journalist and renowned writer Ta-Nehisi Coates to discuss political activism, the need for urgent advocacy, and the nature of “clapping back” at Twitter followers at an event to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. in Riverside Church on Monday afternoon.

“Young people don’t vote.”

At the Columbia Political Union’s first debate of semester, President of the Roosevelt Institute Ricardo Jaramillo, CC ’19, and President of Columbia University Democrats, Joanna Cohen, CC ’20, debated prison justice reform.

Shannon Marquez, a former vice provost for international development at Drexel University, will serve as Dean of Undergraduate Global Engagement starting in early November, Columbia College announced this morning.

A few weeks ago, I watched Emma Gonzalez address hundreds of thousands of anti-gun protesters in Washington. I was one of millions more tuning in on television to hear her powerful six-minute, 20-second speech, most of which was delivered in silence as she stared fiercely ahead, tears trickling down her cheeks. The intensity of her rage, the righteousness of her cause, the incandescence of her youth brought back memories of a time 50 years ago when campuses across America were on fire. Like cicadas with a half-century life cycle, students were making deafening noises again.

There’s no escaping 1968—even as it turns 50.

The eyes of the nation were upon Morningside Heights 50 years ago this week. On April 23, 1968, Columbia and Barnard students gathered at the sundial to protest the suspension of students who opposed the University’s complicity with the Vietnam War effort and the plan to construct a gymnasium for the private use of the Columbia community in Morningside Park. The protest spiraled into a weeklong standoff between student protesters and the central administration. Students occupied five buildings—Hamilton, Low, Avery, Fayerweather, and Mathematics—while engaging in a protracted battle with the University administration. The campus was shut down. Violent clashes broke out between supporters and opponents of the strikers, and the threat of an impending intervention by the New York City Police Department loomed. After an exhausting week of conflict and negotiation, Columbia President Grayson Kirk made the controversial decision to call in the NYPD to end the crisis. The police forcibly—and violently—removed many students and faculty from in and around the occupied buildings. “The Bust,” as it became known, was an ignominious episode that further delegitimized the central administration.

Omaha was not teeming with individuals wanting to go to Columbia. Those that did were Jewish and driven to succeed. I was merely Jewish. My mother was enamored by the idea of the “Ivy League.’’ Like the clothes she wore and the furniture we sat on, only the best would do. I relied completely on her judgment in picking schools. We assembled a list of distinguished eastern schools; I filled out the forms and took the tests. Columbia was the best––most famous?––school to accept me. Like many Columbians of my day, I didn’t get into Yale.

Candidates focused on increasing resources for low-income students, improving student interactions with campus services, and promoting a diverse student body at the Barnard Student Government Association election debate on Tuesday.

Candidates for the General Studies Student Council spoke about their platforms, highlighting issues of financial accessibility, GS integration, and student body engagement, and answered questions to a full audience at the candidate debate on Tuesday.