Philip Jeffery, CC ’17, penned his account of life as a Columbia conservative in an online exclusive for First Things, the self-proclaimed most in uential journal of religion and public life. Jeffrey discusses sexual assault education about consent (where he uses scare quotes to refer to “Elton John and his ‘husband’”), the rise of identity politics, and the subsequent rise of Columbia’s alt-right. On Milo Yiannopolous, whose CUCR-sponsored visit was exed last semester, Jeffery says that “Milo knows how the world really works, unlike his liberal counterparts.” On the Dark Enlightenment, a secret club who uses Nazi imagery and hid information in a secret book in the Butler stacks, Jeffery, who admits to having contact with club’s leader, says, “They have little respect for any form of authority, be it religion, the university, or the demands of prudence and civility respecting imagery their peers associate with Nazism. They take the same posture towards just about everything.” Jeffery also states that Columbia’s Right to Life is a “safe haven” for social conservatives “despite receiving little support from other student groups—including, unfortunately, Christian organizations.” Despite all of the problems Jeffery sees, he is optimistic. He writes, “The network of conservative Columbia students and alumni is small and informal, but it’s there, for the rst time in at least four years.”
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Despite Morningside Heights campus getting a 4/5 star “bust” rating on Quartersnacks.com, Columbia has recently been featured in not one but two skate videos circulating online. The first is in the “Mean Streets Volume 8” video collage by LurkNYC, a NYC based skate crew who also run Hotel Blue Skateboards, where Gus Gordon powers an ollie over the granite ledges next to Lerner with beautiful form and insane speed. The second is from Yaje Popson, NYC native and a recent pro for the recently reformed Alien Workshop, in his part for Transworld Skateboarding’s feature-length Riddles in Mathematics video. Popson grabs an orange-pantsed fakie nosegrind into the bank by Fayerweather before being taken out by the St. Paul scaffolding.
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During the last week of July, the Low Steps became the steps of the Supreme Court thanks to movie magic. Director Steven Spielberg was on campus lming a new movie entitled The Pentagon Papers which deals with the Washington Post’s handling of the eponymous Pentagon Papers. Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and David Cross were on campus, as were a large group of extras posing as Vietnam protesters.
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Columbia University, in a bid to appear cooler and to combat stress culture, is giving out branded dget spinners at NSOP. We hope the trick works!