student-activism

After months of YouTube workouts, chilly runs, and reorganizing dorm rooms and childhood bedrooms to make space for a yoga mat or weights, Columbia students will soon have another option. Dodge Fitness Center will reopen for limited student use for the first time in over 10 months on Tuesday. The Dodge reopening will begin with a maximum capacity of 320 online reservations per day, a fraction of its typical usage.

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.

Scrolling through Guerin’s selection of luxury apparel and bags, you will find a logo on many of the products that looks simultaneously like an infinity sign, an ampersand, and the letters “CG.” All three of these interpretations are valid and intentional, as Chase Guerin, CC ’23, works to redefine the luxury goods industry by bringing symbolism and storytelling into his luxury lifestyle brand, Guerin.

What started as a group of disparate songs in voice memos and dog-eared notebook pages collecting dust was masterfully strung together by Christina Li, CC ’24, culminating in her debut EP, “Strings,” released on August 22. Li was originally inspired by the pressures of the college application process. However, as the pandemic set in and brought with it the abrupt end to her senior year, Li needed to change course.

Between September 2018 and May 2019, six migrant children died in Border Patrol custody. In July of that same year, the New York Times reported on horrendous conditions at a Border Patrol detention facility in Texas: overcrowding; unsanitary conditions; children forced to sleep on concrete floors; parentless babies being cared for by migrant teens; and heartbreaking stories of children hearing their family members’ voices on the phone for the first time in months. This September, a whistle-blower report alleged that multiple women in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Irwin County Detention Center—operated by LaSalle Corrections, a private company—were pressured into invasive surgeries without proper consent. As recently as October, the country learned that ICE had lost track of the parents of over 500 migrant children. Despite its short history, ICE has managed to amass a significant record of human rights violations. In addition to the abuses detailed above, sexual abuse, violence, and family separation run rampant within the agency.

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

The miniature chapel is pushed into the river by the beach guardians. Standing inside, the animated character Sankyo watches as it quickly fills with water. “Is that normal?” he asks Cressidia, the chapel’s guardian, to which she replies, “No, Sankyo.”

A hammock swinging in the wind. Slides from a computer science lecture. A pair of mangoes. All are scenes that Gloria Hui, CC ’23, features in her bite-size Instagram music videos, as she layers footage of daily life on top of her singing, both covers and original songs.