// editor's note //
Fall 2015
In Defense of the College Kid
We, the college kids of America, are a hot topic. According to national pundits, our sex lives are violent, our substance abuse careless, and our passions nonexistent. We appropriate cultures, we stifle speech, and we celebrate privilege. We are insensitive and unjust; we are useless and lazy. We are rapists, racists, and gunmen.
But, are we? America’s obsession with the decaying college campus is not unfounded, but it is incomplete. Certainly, race conflicts, political disagreements, socioeconomic inequality, and gun violence are pressing issues. Matters of mental health, job pressure, and gender-based misconduct demand more discussion and resources than ever before. Students’ access to sufficient food, healthcare, and professional guidance is of the utmost importance. However, the sweeping generalizations and overeager broadcasting of professional and student writers commenting endlessly on these issues portray the American college campus as crippled. The reality is not that simple. These issues are real, but they are not total.
We cannot allow the American college kid’s reputation to be completely soiled by the media’s ceaseless campaign against campus culture. Our character is not entirely dilapidated, and we deserve to be defined as more than just a group of victims and villains. The college communities across America are more complex than any op-ed will admit, and the students who populate them are interested in so many more things than any news article will acknowledge. Students remain diligent workers, skillful writers, and constant thinkers. Minds are molding, and opinions are formulating. All this merits more attention.
At a time when millennial connectivity is heavily criticized for happening exclusively behind a deluge of screens and social media accounts, I daresay that human connectivity is actually thriving at college. To whom and or what we connect is tied up in a network of clicks and comments, shares and likes, claim the naysayers. We affiliate and interact only virtually, we are removed from any real involvement, and we might as well all commute to college by way of the web. But no; college campuses are overflowing with non-screen connectivity. I am referring to a different sort of connectivity than the dinner parties and pen pals long gone in the era before electronics. Rather, this is a connectivity of content.
The assortment of topics to which students feel connected is ever-expanding. From fighting for a cause to participating in a cultural development to studying a moment in history, student involvement is alive and well. We care about each other, we are invested in ideas, and we are eager to problem solve. We are intrigued by art, we are excited about travel, and we take pleasure in food and drink. The media is justifiably aggressive about certain ills plaguing the national student body, but it is foolish to ignore our impressively diverse and energetic set of curiosities and the related conversations that flourish today on campus.
The Current is a testament to the liveliness and richness of student thoughtfulness and debate at Columbia. We offer a window into the relevant conversations occurring on campus, and push forward the ones that aren’t happening yet, but should be. We applaud reason, honesty, and all sides of an argument. And, above all, we are a platform for the students who feel so connected to something that it begs a piece of writing.
In this issue, college kids prove to be pensive and productive, involved and, frankly, interesting. You will read a Columbia senior’s reflection on exclusivity within the campus Hillel community, and Jewish Voices for Peace’s role in responding. You will read an essay by a member of that very Hillel community, critiquing Israel advocacy on campus. Our writers cover a sex-ed revolution, a neuroscientist Nobel Prize winner, and an unusual approach to Auschwitz. In the same pages, our writers argue for the Facebook “Like” but denounce other types of Facebook sharing. And, in honor of The Current’s tenth anniversary this year, our Editors Emeriti put forward their visions of what’s in store for campus in the years to come. Across the board, they threaten an unsettling future for Columbia.
I’m not convinced. Students write because there are serious issues brewing among their cohort, because they saw a phenomenal Broadway show, or because they simply have a flair for creativity. Contrary to everything one reads these days, college is not a totally horrible place; sometimes, it is a rather intellectually beautiful one.
-Lily Wilf, BC '16
Editor-in-Chief
But, are we? America’s obsession with the decaying college campus is not unfounded, but it is incomplete. Certainly, race conflicts, political disagreements, socioeconomic inequality, and gun violence are pressing issues. Matters of mental health, job pressure, and gender-based misconduct demand more discussion and resources than ever before. Students’ access to sufficient food, healthcare, and professional guidance is of the utmost importance. However, the sweeping generalizations and overeager broadcasting of professional and student writers commenting endlessly on these issues portray the American college campus as crippled. The reality is not that simple. These issues are real, but they are not total.
We cannot allow the American college kid’s reputation to be completely soiled by the media’s ceaseless campaign against campus culture. Our character is not entirely dilapidated, and we deserve to be defined as more than just a group of victims and villains. The college communities across America are more complex than any op-ed will admit, and the students who populate them are interested in so many more things than any news article will acknowledge. Students remain diligent workers, skillful writers, and constant thinkers. Minds are molding, and opinions are formulating. All this merits more attention.
At a time when millennial connectivity is heavily criticized for happening exclusively behind a deluge of screens and social media accounts, I daresay that human connectivity is actually thriving at college. To whom and or what we connect is tied up in a network of clicks and comments, shares and likes, claim the naysayers. We affiliate and interact only virtually, we are removed from any real involvement, and we might as well all commute to college by way of the web. But no; college campuses are overflowing with non-screen connectivity. I am referring to a different sort of connectivity than the dinner parties and pen pals long gone in the era before electronics. Rather, this is a connectivity of content.
The assortment of topics to which students feel connected is ever-expanding. From fighting for a cause to participating in a cultural development to studying a moment in history, student involvement is alive and well. We care about each other, we are invested in ideas, and we are eager to problem solve. We are intrigued by art, we are excited about travel, and we take pleasure in food and drink. The media is justifiably aggressive about certain ills plaguing the national student body, but it is foolish to ignore our impressively diverse and energetic set of curiosities and the related conversations that flourish today on campus.
The Current is a testament to the liveliness and richness of student thoughtfulness and debate at Columbia. We offer a window into the relevant conversations occurring on campus, and push forward the ones that aren’t happening yet, but should be. We applaud reason, honesty, and all sides of an argument. And, above all, we are a platform for the students who feel so connected to something that it begs a piece of writing.
In this issue, college kids prove to be pensive and productive, involved and, frankly, interesting. You will read a Columbia senior’s reflection on exclusivity within the campus Hillel community, and Jewish Voices for Peace’s role in responding. You will read an essay by a member of that very Hillel community, critiquing Israel advocacy on campus. Our writers cover a sex-ed revolution, a neuroscientist Nobel Prize winner, and an unusual approach to Auschwitz. In the same pages, our writers argue for the Facebook “Like” but denounce other types of Facebook sharing. And, in honor of The Current’s tenth anniversary this year, our Editors Emeriti put forward their visions of what’s in store for campus in the years to come. Across the board, they threaten an unsettling future for Columbia.
I’m not convinced. Students write because there are serious issues brewing among their cohort, because they saw a phenomenal Broadway show, or because they simply have a flair for creativity. Contrary to everything one reads these days, college is not a totally horrible place; sometimes, it is a rather intellectually beautiful one.
-Lily Wilf, BC '16
Editor-in-Chief