Memories tagged “Commencement”

Beautiful Site Although many of the gardens on campus are lovely throughout the year, my family and I especially appreciate the beds of Columbia Blue iris that bloom just once each year around the base of Low Library. A long...

Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation 1990

Commencement Beer Run One of my favorite memories of Columbia was Commencement Day, when friends and I brought several bottles of bubbly, both beer and wine, to the ceremonies. It was a hot and sunny day, and, as Kofi Annan’s...

Columbia College 1998

Meaning of Commencement Before Columbia, graduation ceremonies were meaningless exercises. In elementary and high schools, everyone who kept their warm bodies in their seats for the required time was guaranteed a spot at the commencement party. So I questioned the...

Columbia College 1979

Scowl New York at its meanest - circa 1986 Infested with Goetzes, panhandlers and pricks “God Save the Winos” said the man with the stick And what did we do, journo-stars of tomorrow? Grew stubbly chins a la “Miami Vice”...

Graduate School of Journalism 1987

Securing a Seat at Commencement 1980 Desmond Tutu was to have been the Commencement speaker in 1980, but he was unavoidably detained, apparently assisting the police with their inquiries back in South Africa. I forget who spoke in his place....

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences 1980