<p>Since Columbia doesn't put a lot of emphasis on school athletics (I hear the Lions are on a very long losing streak), is there still a fair amount of school spirit?</p>
<p>And regarding ECA on campus, is there lots of stuff to do and join happening pretty much daily? Are the students involved enthusiastic and engaged, or is the ECA scene just lame...? I've heard that Columbia is very political and very left. How much of this spirit shows up in the daily atmosphere? (ie. is there some kind of political protest like, once a week!?)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>School spirit.... what's that? ;)</p>
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Since Columbia doesn't put a lot of emphasis on school athletics (I hear the Lions are on a very long losing streak), is there still a fair amount of school spirit?
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<p>No, there isn't any school spirit. That's one of Columbia's major problems, in terms of having a strong and loyal alumni base.</p>
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I've heard that Columbia is very political and very left. How much of this spirit shows up in the daily atmosphere? (ie. is there some kind of political protest like, once a week!?)
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<p>You can't walk to class without some hippie handing you the commie newspaper.</p>
<p>I would argue that there's school spirit; it just doesn't always manifest itself in the "let's all head up to the football game and empty our wallets afterward" sort of way. </p>
<p>There are enough people who do this, though, despite the frequent losses, that one can at least find a traditional school spirit cadre, if one desires it. It just doesn't embrace everyone on campus. </p>
<p>Sooner or later, though, everyone is forced to admit "I like Columbia"...if only because they hate every other comparable school, for some reason.</p>
<p>you might say that the number of students posting on a random online message board, despite already being admitted to the school, is one piece of evidence for our school spirit.</p>
<p>we just don't do school sports.</p>
<p>The "we don't empty our wallets afterward" is an institutional problem. Alumni giving rate is the lowest of the Ivies, right? More money makes the school better. And, the rate is also a significant part of the US News rankings.</p>
<p>Also, Columbia isn't known as having a close-knit alumni network like some of the other schools that are known for that. That's got to be a result of the independence and lack of campus unity that Columbia/NYC fosters.</p>
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I hear the Lions are on a very long losing streak
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<p>i'm assuming you mean the football team....in which case went like 2-5 in ivy play this year and 5-5 in the season</p>
<p>If you read the jaded satirical posts on the bwog... well, I dunno, some people are bitter children.</p>
<p>i really feel like the whole lack of school spirit thing is a widely held misconception about columbia. sure, if having schools spirit has to mean that you are obsessed with your schools sports, then yeah columbias on the weaker side - but in terms of actually having pride in your schools, i think we are just as spiritful as anyone else. people that have this misconception ar egenerally surprised to see how much columbia peripinalia is abundant throughout campus, and how much people seem to like it.</p>
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how much columbia peripinalia is abundant throughout campus,
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<p>Is this a necessarily a function of school spirit; it could be somewhat of people wanting to feel cool/important/prestigious by sporting their Ivy gear?</p>
<p>If I had to rank the school spirit at the Ivies (spirit is MUCH more than sports).</p>
<ol>
<li>Dartmouth and Princeton</li>
<li>Yale, Brown</li>
<li>Penn</li>
<li>Cornell and Harvard</li>
<li>Columbia</li>
</ol>
<p>Columbia has the city and for an urban school its community does exist, unlike NYU. That said, its school spirit is lacking compared to many of the other Ivies. Events are only moderately attended, people tend to go out into the city after their first year, and people don't commonly all hang out together outside of their groups. The dining hall is only first year (students eat throughout campus at places like Uris and Lerner). Even the frat scene is fragmented, people don't tend to "circuit" through multiple frats as they do at other schools. Very rarely is the entire student body hanging out, the only exception are the concerts every semester where the steps are crowded with people. Most weekend nights it just doesn't have the festive energy some of the Ivies have. Much of this is a function of New York City and the absense of student owned space, you just can't have a party with 200 people in a Furnald dorm room. </p>
<p>Go to Dartmouth or Princeton on a weekend night and it seems like 2/3 of the campus is out. </p>
<p>Columbia is a school in New York. At Columbia people tend to go out into the city and hang out in close groups, and they wouldn't have it any other way. Its a different social environment and I know many people who love the ability to go to restaurants in New York with their friends and have a great time in the city. Personally I prefer a barbeque with tons of people in that back-yard of a student owned off-campus house, but that's my personal preference.</p>
<p>First of all, I think arbitrary rankings on such an undefinable ground as "school spirit" is a bit absurd. Based on your definitions of schools spirit, columbia may be lacking compared to its ivy peers, but i personally don't think constantly staying on campus and hanging out in huge groups of people constitutes schools spirit (although, if you have ever seen Low steps on a nice day, we've got that too). Rather, I feel that school spirit is an unspoken appreciation for and attatchment to your school. If Columbia's students only cared about being in New York, they wouldve gone to NYU. Instead, Columbia students do care about their campus and community, and share that spirit throughout their college years and beyond.</p>
<p>seriously. ditto what sourpunch said. and if you're rating school spirit by the "Frat scene" and saying "people don't tend to 'circuit' through multiple frats as they do at other schools", you have zero clue what you're talking about. At least slipper makes his biases clear.</p>
<p>Denzera, </p>
<p>That was one line in a whole long post. What I am trying to say is that the entire campus tends to hang out together at the more "spirited" Ivies while this isn't the case at Columbia. The frat example was more to show that even amongst the frats at columbia there is less unity. Its just the nature of an urban school. </p>
<p>People have more options so they tend to split off in groups while smaller more campus oriented schools tend to be more community oriented and spirited broadly. But campus organizations at Columbia tend to be tight and have some great events, but less "bigtime" events.</p>
<p>For example Columbia has one "big" weekend, Bacchanal, which is basically a bunch of inflatable rides in the middle of the campus. At Dartmouth there are 4 big weekends with scores of alumni returning, campus events everywhere, and the whole campus is out. You just get a "spirited" feeling when there is a 100 foot bonfire and the president of the college is talking about the history of the place in front of 5000 people.</p>
<p>That's the limitation and disadvantage of going to a major urban university where everyone is there to get their stuff done. Somehow, I think the NYFD will protest if 5000 students gathered on like 1 acre of land lighting a big bon fire.</p>
<p>On the other hand tho, I go there every week for a science program and during the spring at least, almost every saturday features these big gleaming white tents set up all over campus that's really nice. Most of the time, I genuinely feel an energy on campus when you see dozens of Columbians advertising various charities/clubs/randomstuff and blasting music. ANd then you see the little kids running all over campus chasing squirrels or playing baseball and the daily bunch of tourists taking pictures of the Alma Mater. </p>
<p>Iono, call me sentimental but standing in front of Low Library staring at this scene towards Butler with those classical geniuses etched into its walls really stirs something in me. =P</p>
<p>What is school spirit? Is it huge attendance at a game? Big, all-campus parties? Liking your school well enough to wear a sweatshirt with its name emblazoned across it? Just being happy to be where you are?</p>
<p>So much of the common meaning of school spirit has to do with traditions created over many years--sports focus, special campus-wide days or traditions, etc. Greek life can also play a strong role. You must take into account the way a place has grown and developed and its size. Columbia has a modest undergraduate population in an urban setting, with no emphasis on Greek life and emphasis on sports to the extent you seek it out. I think that this environment appeals to a whole category of folks just because it is the way it is. These are people who love their school and can't imagine being anywhere else--they are also not necessarily (in general) the sort of people who shout about it. Do people spend as much time debating Chicago or MIT's school spirit?</p>
<p>I'm wondering because a school like Penn is very similar to Columbia in some aspects but they also seem to have a tight knit school community and a sense of school spirt that I am not sure that Columbia has</p>
<p>Penn is not really much like Columbia. It has almost twice as many undergrads, huge spaces in which to congregate, a thriving (although not overwhelming) Greek life, nearby sports facilities (with plenty of people enjoying the rah rah stuff), and an alumni office that is amazing in promoting Penn, Penn's current activities and regional Penn alumni associations. It also has a myriad of traditions and rituals (involving both fun and somewhat silly things) and makes a huge deal out of each and every one as an institution. In fact, you could account for a lot of Penn's school spirit by looking at the institutional leadership for it. Correct me if I'm wrong-- but I doubt that the Columbia administration is handing out styrofoam boaters so that Sophomores can wear them as they march through campus.</p>
<p>And, although Penn is in a nice enough city, it is very self-contained and has a huge physical plant and going to downtown Philly is more of an occasional thing. Philly has a much more provincial flavor than NYC.</p>
<p>I'm not really sure how Greek life contributes to school spirit at all. Is partying at a frat house really all that different vis-a-vis the university than going out to a nearby restaurant? If anything, frats seem to siphon alumni interest from one institution (the university) to the other (the national fraternity or its chapter). Whenever I've visited a frat house, at Columbia or elsewhere, I've had the feeling I was far more "off campus" than if I were hanging out in a dorm, which is where the vast majority of Columbia parties take place, or even at a restaurant across Broadway from campus. </p>
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huge spaces in which to congregate
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<p>If anything, Columbia's small campus clusters people together, enhancing communality. EVERYONE sees what's happening around College Walk/the Steps on a given afternoon. They're unavoidable, and create a certain unspoken bond among those who traverse these spaces often. Penn and other schools with large campuses, by contrast, have far more disjointed spaces. It's possible to avoid large swathes of them for days. Of course Penn has more "school spirit" in the traditional sense, but I don't think it has to do with the design of its campus.</p>
<p>Maybe it's true that it doesn't make a difference that Columbia has one big space and Penn has a number of big spaces. What may matter is that Penn, as an institution, works to make things happen on campus in those spaces that are all about students feeling more bonded to each other and to the school. Some of them are very cheesy--but they are part of the experience of going to a school with 250+ year-old traditions. Does Columbia do this? Maybe it does, I have no idea. But this may be one of the things that accounts for the difference between "school spirit" such as it has been loosely defined.</p>
<p>And don't get me wrong--I think that Columbia is fabulous, whatever the level of school spirit. Penn has a more rah-rah vibe. Maybe it's all of that pre-professional networking? :-) Both are wonderful places.</p>