<p>Okay, how is Columbia's school spirit? Please don't just answer: bad or good, etc. If you attend (or have attended a few) football/bball games, how is the school spirit seriously? Is the football game used as a social event? Do you expect a lot of people to be there? What do you think?</p>
<p>That's a funny question. And funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha.</p>
<p>The easy response is, "Columbia has no school spirit. Absolutely nobody cares about the games, our football and basketball teams are a laughingstock, and few people openly proclaim their love or allegiance to the school. People routinely go off-campus, for both entertainment and housing, and there is no strong sense of community."</p>
<p>That would be at least partially correct. The football and basketball teams have a long, storied history of suck, and they've worked hard to get to this epitome of suck. For a while they held the NCAA record for suck (44-game football losing streak, spanning 5 seasons, all without a win). And very few people go to the games, except some alums and the marching band.</p>
<p>A note on that marching band: they're an absolutely crazy bunch of looney toons. And they are the only organization on campus that actually has some by-gosh school spirit. The administration thus 'protects' them in various subtle ways, and funds the alcohol for their parties through a slush fund for uniforms, etc.</p>
<p>But anyway, you could see that on the surface and assume there is no community to be had. Certainly in most parts of America - or at many peer schools, Harvard, Dartmouth, Stanford, etc come to mind - the school's football and basketball programs are the source of a lot of alumni-student togetherness and tribalism. It's fun. But Columbia has a different kind of school spirit, one that isn't as obvious or photogenic. Essentially everybody on campus loves the school, and the campus experience, and makes a ton of friends. People get enthusiastic about the school's academics, and will sit around and talk about it a little self-consciously like the bunch of dorks we all are. Sure, people go off-campus, but it's often with a group of friends they met on-campus. Almost nobody transfers out. And most people who move away after graduation miss the place distinctly and wish they were still around. I personally know dozens in that last category. Years later, you may meet a Columbia alum from another generation, and find you have tons of things to talk about, and you'll greet them and be greeted warmly. In all those senses, Columbia has plenty of school spirit.</p>
<p>When I first visited the school, in 2001, the jock-y tour guide who gave my tour brought up the story of the epic losing streak, and lamented the lack of sports success. But I took the exact opposite attitude from hearing all that, and thought to myself: "So this is truly a University that is a place for knowledge and thought first, and phony and shallow marketability second. Here is a place where non-athletes are not second-class citizens, as I know to be true at places like BC or, god forbid, Ohio State. I know tuition dollars and administrators' attention are going to us first, and not to a big show to please the alums. This is great! This is what college should be." I don't know many others who share that attitude - many go here in spite of the lack of sports culture, not because of it - but I think it's a fair argument in the school's favor.</p>
<p>Some of our other non-glamour-sport teams also are very good. Fencing is fantastic, our sailing team wins a bunch of stuff; I was on our ultimate frisbee team and we were pretty good too (not as good as Brown or Harvard but we kicked Princeton's buttocks soundly a few times). You'll find Columbia students are much more interested in DOING sports than they are in WATCHING sports - even their own school's teams.</p>
<p>So that's a complicated answer to a simple question. Hope I've given you the right flavor of things.</p>
<p>Look at the first slide photo on the link below-THAT is Columbia school spirit</p>
<p>September</a> 11th Service Nation Summit | Columbia Spectator</p>
<p>^great link, thanks for that.</p>
<p>"Some of our other non-glamour-sport teams also are very good. Fencing is fantastic, our sailing team wins a bunch of stuff; I was on our ultimate frisbee team and we were pretty good too (not as good as Brown or Harvard but we kicked Princeton's buttocks soundly a few times)."</p>
<p>ultimate might have gotten even better after you've left, we do well at golf, we have some great squash players because of the new york squash league, a varsity team should be starting this year. Our basketball is not below average for the ivy league we've come 3rd - 4th 2 years in a row. we also won baseball last year, and women's field hockey, women's soccer. Track and field also has stars every year. So there are several decent teams by ivy standards, fencing is obviously our best.</p>
<p>"Here is a place where non-athletes are not second-class citizens, as I know to be true at places like BC or, god forbid, Ohio State. I know tuition dollars and administrators' attention are going to us first"</p>
<p>this captures the essence, i wouldn't want to be at a place where non-athletes are second class. we have really strong extra curricular programs. we have one of the best bhangra dance teams around, music and acapella, needless to say, are fantastic. Our mock trial team was among the best a couple of years back. Our model united nations competitive team is internationally ranked and easily a top 5 team in the country. Debate reached the quarter finals of the national tournament last year. Our clubs also consistently get hot shot speakers in politics and international affairs to show up. There's school spirit abound, just look in non-traditional places.</p>
<p>as someone who attended at least one basketball and one football game i must say that the basketball games are actually better attended....mostly because they are in the evening rather than the morning and you don't have to trek ~100 blocks to get there. The only football game that is well attended is homecoming. For other games however its mostly alums and people from the surrounding area who are bringing their kids...plus a few students.</p>
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Look at the first slide photo on the link below-THAT is Columbia school spirit</p>
<p>September 11th Service Nation Summit | Columbia Spectator
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<p>great post...i completely agree</p>
<p>finding common ground over intellectual curiosity in my view is much more respectable than doing so over a silly game and baseless rivalries with other schools</p>
<p>This is school spirit:</p>
<p>First link is broken.</p>
<p>The crowd in the second link is as large as columbia's last thursday. We just don't dress in the same colors or climb onto goal posts.</p>
<p>There's also a massive cult of personality surrounding some of the professors here. I think people were actually willing to kill to get a spot in Xavier's class this year.</p>
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The crowd in the second link is as large as columbia's last thursday.
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<p>A football stadium holds 100,000 people.</p>
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<p>Columbia's holds 17,000.</p>
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Columbia's holds 17,000.
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<p>That's not "a football stadium." The Horse Shoe, the Coliseum, the Big House, and the Sugar Dome are football stadiums.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding, you completely missed the point.</p>