Admin kills another tradition and then wonders what happened to school spirit

Colleges & Universities A-Z Columbia University
1

<p>Dear Seniors,</p>

<p>A big day is coming up this Thursday. It is one that we only get to experience once in our college career. Thursday, April 5th is 40 Days to Graduation.</p>

<p>To celebrate 40 days there will be an enormous event for all seniors on Thursday from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. Over half of the steps and grass on Low Plaza will be reserved solely for seniors to celebrate.</p>

<p>The event 40 DAYS will have some amazing amenities. Kegs of beer will be provided according to Lerner Pub rules. Loads of delicious picnic food like heroes, pasta salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, soda/water and a Kosher option will be supplied (This includes Kosher wine for those observing Passover). Also, the first 500 people in attendance will get an awesome "40 Days" T-shirt. Don't miss out on this incredible chance to spend the afternoon sitting on the steps eating and drinking with your 2000 closest friends ? It's a senior tradition.</p>

<p>Many of you may have heard of another 40 Days tradition (40 on 40).
This tradition was always an unofficial and unsanctioned event and council never played any role. The administration has recently expressed great concern about past conduct of students and for the safety of students and has informed the council that this unofficial event can not continue in its current format. We were also informed that for the week preceding and following April 5th increased amounts of staff and security will be patrolling the steps with the directive to ask students to leave if they are violating university policy by drinking alcohol on the steps. If students don't comply, disciplinary actions may be taken on all involved parties. With that being said, this also means nothing can be brought into the 40 Days event. As your advocates, we have expressed numerous concerns over this tradition being stopped and not having an opportunity to celebrate as seniors our pending graduation. After a number of conversations, the Division of Student Affairs along with other administrative office did offer to work with us to provide an alternative event.</p>

<p>After much deliberation and consultation, the BC'07, CC'07, and
SEAS'07 Councils have decided to be proactive and create this new amazing event. We have worked hard among ourselves and with various administrative departments at Columbia who have been extremely generous and donated all of the beer, food, setup, etc. Change is hard, but this FREE and inclusive event can transform 40 on 40, where a select group of students sits on the steps, to 40 DAYS where 2000 members of our class celebrate our future graduation.
So,</p>

<p>Do you want FREE beer?
Do you want FREE food?
Do you want FREE t-shirts?
Do you want a day in the sun with your friends?</p>

<p>40 DAYS on April 5th
A Columbia Tradition?redefined</p>

<p>Please email us with any questions, comments, or concerns.</p>

<p>Have a great weekend,
The Senior Class Councils</p>

<p>David D. Chait
CC'07 President</p>

<p>Puja Kapadia
BC'07 President</p>

<p>Jarod Were
SEAS'07 President</p>

2

<p>Is drinking alc on the steps such a cool tradition?</p>

3

<p>you'll understand when you're here. the steps are the hub of campus, and enjoying being out there on pleasant spring and fall days, with all of campus hustling by and the rest of you sitting there chatting with your friends or pretending to work - well, that's one of the joys of being at columbia. you can't expect to understand it from a post on an internet message board.</p>

4

<p>
[quote]
Is drinking alc on the steps such a cool tradition?

[/quote]

no. it's not even a tradition. it started, loosely, no longer than five years ago.</p>

5

<p>Most of Columbia's "traditions" started less than a decade ago. The Tree Lighting Ceremony dates to 1998, Columbia College Days to 2002. Even the Philolexian Society's current incarnation only dates to 1986.</p>

<p>Since they've occurred each of the years we've been here, though, they feel like permanent fixtures, and they can't be dismissed so loosely.</p>

6

<p>Are there any other traditions that we should be aware of?</p>

7

<p>I mean, the tree lighting ceremony and the lit trees on college walk in the winter is pretty freaking awesome. there's the yule log ceremony and Bollinger's 5k run and a handful of others that'll become apparent throughout the year. People don't really get WORKED UP for these "traditions", it just is one more thing that ends up on the calendar as something cool to stop by, take in, and maybe get some free food sometimes :)</p>

8

<p>The Varsity Show and Orgo Night are other big ones. Here's a not-so-comprehensive list. </p>

<p><a href="http://wikicu.com/Category:Traditions%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://wikicu.com/Category:Traditions&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>Hm... sounds pretty good. So I don't remember which college this was, but at some place, ppl had to get ... before they graduate. I think it was under some stairs or something like that. Is there any tradition like this at CU?</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
Hm... sounds pretty good. So I don't remember which college this was, but at some place, ppl had to get ... before they graduate. I think it was under some stairs or something like that. Is there any tradition like this at CU?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>hahaha, and your calling drinking on the steps lame? getting under stairs? sounds absurd!</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
Hm... sounds pretty good. So I don't remember which college this was, but at some place, ppl had to get ... before they graduate. I think it was under some stairs or something like that. Is there any tradition like this at CU?

[/quote]

sort of. there's a another relatively new "tradition" at the college during orientation where students walk out through the back doors of lerner and then around and back into campus. it's called the first year run. here's more information:</p>

<p><a href="http://wikicu.com/First_Year_Run%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://wikicu.com/First_Year_Run&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>awesome, huh?</p>

12

<p>I didn't want to make it that obvious, but I was talking about getting l a i d. So getting (fill in the blanks, ^^) at a certain place was sort of an unofficial requirement to graduate. I dunno, but to me this doesn't sound lame, ^^</p>

13

<p>Many students at Columbia fantasize about getting some in the Butler stacks before graduation...but it hasn't been inflated into an unofficial Core requirement yet. :-)</p>

14

<p>oh. does laid not make it through the filter?</p>

<p>fake edit: sure it does!</p>

15

<p>It does, but I wanted it to stick out, ^^... </p>

<p>Hm... about the Butler thing, I think we def need to make it an OFFICIAL Core requirement. The class would be something along the lines of "Butler Hook-Up 303", lol... And then you get an A for doing it +5 a semester, haha</p>

16

<p>I would definitely support that replacing the swim test.</p>

17

<p>students would definitely get more net exercise... but can you imagine some of the girls we see walking around campus? THAT would definitely be too much like work.</p>

<p>"no, no, I can get it back up, don't worry..."</p>

18

<p>Okay we'll make it a distrubution requirement: Butler hookup OR swim test. The shrinkage from one would definitely cancel out the other.</p>

19

<p>They also killed the beloved (me and most) and much maligned (Pre-Meds with Friday classes :( Intrepid party.....those were the days.</p>

20

<p>come on. EVERY school has some 'lame' tradition for seniors. hard to understand when you're not in college, but its incredible to experience.</p>