The first picture of me as a student on campus was taken unsurprisingly on move-in day, unsurprisingly by my mom. It’s a series of photos, actually, of me tumbling out of a cardboard moving box in my Carman hallway, right onto a handful of the 2015 Orientation issue of The Blue and White. The paper booklet meant nothing to me then, but it’s everything to me now—and I quite literally fell into it on my very first day. I’ve since fallen into a lot of things at Columbia, fallen

Alfredo Dominguez, CC ‘19, does not see what the big fuss is about–he wouldn’t have picked himself as a Campus Character, and does not see why we did. But he is also a newly elected University Senator, an intern with the New York City Department of Education, and an intern at a second job with Congressman Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y. 13th district, so we magazine editors were still confident with our pick. Dominguez is thoughtful in the way that anyone with his deep immersion in

“I’m trying to find that sweet spot between the humanities and sciences.” Judy Liu, BC ‘19, tells me over the phone from India. Liu, who grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, spent her summer doing research in India for an organization called the Comprehensive Rural Health Project (CRHP), in addition to taking a course on practicing cultural sensitivity while administering global healthcare to rural populations. Her independent research focused on village health workers, who a

How The Blue and White came to be By Gaby Edwards The very first issue of The Blue and White dates back to 1890 when it was founded as a weekly journal to compete with the then biweekly Columbia Spectator. The first 14 issues of the magazine appeared much like a newspaper; it was not until the 15th issue that The Blue and White adopted its signature journal size and Columbia blue ink. But after three years of publication, The Blue and White disappeared. Not until 1997—when Il

During daylight hours, I don’t look at the statues around campus much. Warmer bodies rush past me, off to class, to meetings, to whatever must be done today to graduate later, reminding me of my own duty to be scholarly. Only when night falls do I truly stare. Each statue then seems to embody a temporal moment, a snapshot, of the form infinitely suspended in an act between movements. I have all the time in the world to parse the depths of their expressions. I t takes darkness

Start Family Strange thing. To make another person, With another person. Strange thing. To be half of one person And half of another — So that it might seem, All the good that lives in you Is a breathing monument of them. And all that feels Wrong Is an accident of natural dangers Like the graze on your pillow palms When you Tripped And fell, Five years old. Strange thing. To have a slice of yourself Walking up your stairs And through your kitchen Like a

Eight recommendations you actually should do By Jasmine Park Welcome to the Greatest University in the Greatest City in the World™! If your head is not spinning already, it will be soon, and if you are like some of us editors at The Blue and White, you’ll be an upperclassman before you realize that four years isn’t a very long time, and while you were busy “finding your niche,” you missed a huge portion of what this university and this city has to offer. All that said, here’s

Whether you’re new to campus or have been around for a few years but feel like you live under a rock, our handy guide will introduce you to some terms that every informed Barnumbia student should know. Art Hoe: The Birkenstock-footed, Fjallraven- Kanken-toting person in your Intro to Art History section, who “shops exclusively at thrift stores” but drinks $5 Oren’s coffees every day. BCSN: Barnard Columbia Solidarity Network is a coalition of activist groups on campus, which

Stephen Sullivan has almost spent as much time learning at Columbia as he has teaching high school students. With multiple awards and papers related to his work as a high school teacher, he spends his summers (and retirement) at Columbia teaching History of the City of New York. The Blue and White Investigations Editor Ufon Umanah, CC ‘20, sat down with Stephen Sullivan, CC ‘82, in the History Faculty Lounge in Fayerweather to discuss his history, Columbia’s history, and hist

Getting elected is tough; getting re-elected is not Each September brings a sea of new (shining, hopeful, motivated, etc.) faces to Morningside Heights as the youngest classes of each college join their respective communities. This army of newly anointed adults, brimming with academic, social, and political potential, sets old Columbia clichés into motion, too: overcrowded East Campus hallways, furiously recruiting clubs, lanyards galore, and the birth of first-year politicos

With endless possibilities, all these clubs need is your contact info Illustration by Sahra Denner Illustrations by Sahra Denner

The case of the mysterious Riverside house, and why someone built it People go to Riverside Park for three reasons: to feel like they’re in “nature,” to jog, or to smoke weed. The nature revelers, speedy joggers, or high Columbia students might not notice the finer details of one of Manhattan’s few expansive green spaces on their jaunts down the hill from campus, but I am of a more observant type. The first time I went into Riverside Park, I too enjoyed the grass, trees, and

Affirmative By Frank Baring “I don’t need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod; my shadow does that much better.” The joke was made. And before its riskiness could be fully considered, the particles in the air between us had carried it from my mouth to their receiving ears. I guess we’re speaking before thinking today. The ball keeps rolling and new jokes bury mine. It’s great. This could turn out to be a successful amble through Riverside with two frien

BUT HIS EMAILS Columbia’s legal troubles keep piling up In the February 2014 issue of this magazine, Anna Bahr, BC ‘14, unveiled the realities of Columbia’s process for investigating gender-based misconduct complaints. The following December, The Blue and White’s Hallie Nell Swanson, CC ‘16, followed up with a look at the fallout from Bahr’s piece, and the activism surrounding sexual assault on campus. Four years after the issue exploded on campus in 2014, students continue t