THE UNDERGRADUATE MAGAZINE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY , EST . 1 8 9 0 THE BLUE AND WHITE Vol. XVI No. V April–May 2010 DOWN FOR THE COUNT When Columbia’s student-athletes lose their footing ENGINEERING INNOVATION The politics of Gateway’s redesign P OSTCRY P T ’ S P REDICAMENT AND CAVA ’ S P RE - EXISTING C ONDITION JON HILL, CC ’11, Editor-in-Chief MISHAAL F. KHAN, BC ’13, Publisher MARIELA QUINTANA, CC ’11, Managing Editor ELIZA SHAPIRO, CC ’12, Bwog Editor ANISH BRAMHANDKAR, SEAS ’11, Bwog Co-editor LIZ NAIDEN, CC ’12, Features Editor ANNA KELNER, CC ’12, Literary Editor BRIAN PHILLIPS DONAHOE, CC ’12, Culture Editor SEAN V. ZIMMERMANN, SEAS ’12, Layout Editor HANS E HYTTINEN, SEAS ’12, Online Editor STEPHEN DAVAN, CC ’12, Graphics Editor MARK HAY, CC ’12, Senior Editor ADAM KUERBITZ, CC ’12, Senior Editor HANNAH LEPOW, CC ’11, Senior Editor SAM SCHUBE, CC ’12, Senior Editor JULI N. WEINER, BC ’10, Editor-in-Chief Emerita ALEXANDRA MUHLER, CC ’10, Managing Editor Emerita JAMES DOWNIE, CC ’10, Bwog Editor Emeritus Contributors Artists MICHAEL ADAME, CC ’13 MARYN CARLSON, CC ’13 SARAH CAMISCOLI, CC ’12 GRANT D’AVINO, CC ’13 COURTNEY DOUDS, CC ’10 HANNAH FORD, CC ’13 JON EDELMAN, GS ’12 MADDY KLOSS, CC ’12 HANNAH SERENA GOLDSTEIN, BC ’13 MARA KRAVITZ, GS/JTS ’12 DAVID HU, SEAS ’12 ELIZABETH LEE, CC ’12 PETER KRAWCZYK, CC ’13 WENDAN LI, CC ’12 MEGAN MCGREGOR, BC ’13 LOUISE MCCUNE, CC ’13 ITTAI ORR, CC ’12 ELOISE OWENS, BC ’12 NINA PEDRAD, CC ’11 CINDY PAN, CC ’12 CAROLYN RUVKUN, CC ’13 NORA RODRIGUEZ, CC ’11 CLAIRE SABEL, CC ’12 ABIGAIL SANTNER, SCE MAHRAH TAUFIQUE, CC ’12 ADELA YAWITZ, CC ’12 Copy Editors HANNAH FORD, CC ’13 KATHERINE KORNMAN, CC ’13 ELAINE BAYNHAM, CC ’13 THE BLUE AND WHITE Vol. XVI FAMAM EXTENDIMUS FACTIS No. V COLUMNS 4 BLUEBOOK 6 BLUE NOTES 9 VERILY VERITAS 10 CAMPUS CHARACTERS 38 MEASURE FOR MEASURE 39 DIGITALIA COLUMBIANA 40 CAMPUS GOSSIP FEATURES Claire Sabel & Hannah Goldstein 12 AT TWO SWORDS’ LENGTH: SHOULD YOU ACT YOUR AGE? Our Monthly Prose and Cons. Nina Pedrad 14 HAMILTON HELLIVATOR Forget it, Jake, it’s Hamilton. Gavin McGown 15 PAINT BY NEIGHBORHOODS Chashama’s new installation at 126th Street. Jim Downie 16 F.C. ECONOMICS Sunil Gulati’s double life. Anna Kelner 17 COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS The lifetime Columbian may be a thing of the past. Sam Schube 18 DOWN FOR THE COUNT When Columbia athletes throw in the towel. Maddy Kloss 20 A FICTIONAL CENSUS OF MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS Your guide to the fictional characters of Morningside Heights. Sean Zimmermann 22 ENGINEERING INNOVATION The politics of Gateway’s redesign. Mark Hay 26 PRE-EXISTING CONDITION CAVA’s continuing battle for university support. Liz Naiden 30 OUR VILLAGE VOICE A conversation with Bryonn Bain. Adam Kuerbitz 34 SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES Postcrypt fights to stay underground. CRITICISM Brian Phillips Donahoe 36 THE MYTH OF HISTORY & Jon Edelman Two looks at New York’s past. theblueandwhite.org f COVERS: “Cram-Dunk” by Stephen Davan NOW AVAILABLE TO CHAT Professor Gchat Statuses Gayatri Spivak: By reading stories intended to be fictive or mytho-historic, I train my imagina- tion. A trained imagination can see the outlines and layers of what we are given to know; rather than be at the mercy of rational choice minimally defined by what sells. A trained imagination can judge, a faculty intrinsic to democracy. Why do we need to minimize the role of the imagina- tion in everything we consume & use the word “reality” to endorse fiction (“reality”-tv, virtual “reality?”). These matters will not be discussed. I will read, and describe what I do when I read, n recent weeks I have found myself pondering a passage learning rhetorical terminology as I do so. from a letter by Epicurus: “The truly wise man is the one Peter Awn: Worshipping the albino marsupial I who can be happy with a little.” that lives in the basement of Low Library Jenny Davidson: A sabbatical combining the Though I know Epicurus was writing about material wealth and luxu- acoustical elegance of the aphorism with the ries, I have come to realize that he may just as well have been advising force and utility of the load-bearing, tractional the staff of The Blue & White this semester, for the freshly printed sentence of a more or less traditional vacation: issue you now hold in your hands, dear reader, is our final issue of the http://jennydavidson.blogspot.com/ academic year. We wish the facts were otherwise, but these pages— Kenneth Jackson: Bring me a bagel, you can do representing only our second publication of the Spring—will have to my index! hold us until the end of the summer months. Joseph Massad: Considering the Palestinian question Given these limitations, the staff and I decided the best way to “be happy with a little” was to pack this small issue full of our finest report- Dorthy Denburg: <3 Hewitt Fro-Yo!! ing, best writing, and loveliest illustrations—and I daresay we have. Sudhir Venkatesh: Underground for the week, contact Barksdale to find me Beginning with a specially expanded “Blue Notes” section, we take a Dan O’Flaherty: http://icanhascheezburger. look at the treasure trove of 1020’s lost-and-found (pg. 6), Colum- com/ bia’s nationally known oral history department (pg. 7), the univer- Jeffrey Sachs: In Kenya developing millennial sity yearbook (pg. 8), and a custom-made, Columbia-run “Dental goals, spotty connection Van” (pg. 8) that brings oral hygiene to underprivileged New York City children. Next, Senior Editor Sam Schube tackles the issue of Robert Thurman: Communicating student-athletes who struggle to balance sports and studies (pg. 18), but before writer Sean Zimmermann examines the past and present REVELATION OF THE to learn more about the future of Gateway, the freshman engineering MONTH course (pg. 22). Illustrator Maddy Kloss charts a map of where to find Morningside Height’s best-known fictional characters (pg. 20). Also, Columbia’s private emergency medical service -- don’t forget to read Senior Editor Mark Hay’s fascinating investiga- formerly known as CAVA -- started with a bang. A rag-tag band of quick thinkers decided to join up tion of CAVA’s neverending battle for university support (pg. 26)—it after shepherding an injured SEAS faculty member has big implications for the quality of student health services—and a to the emergency room, but afterwads CAVA spent thought-provoking conversation with poet-activist Bryonn Bain, CC its first ten years languishing with little university ’95 (pg. 30). support. They proved their mettle in 1972 when a rogue student, freshly suspended and wholly Of course, no issue would be complete without all your regular favor- disgruntled, shot--shot! with a gun!--the dean of ites like At Two Swords’ Length and Campus Characters. They’re Columbia College outside Hamilton Hall. Nascent here, too, though we won’t be for much longer—like good Epicureans, CAVA-ers rushed to the dean’s aid, commandeer- the staff and I must soon depart for the summer, but we hope you are ing a nearby station wagon and hauling him to St. Luke’s. The organization was widely credited for the as happy with this little issue as we are. See you in August! dean’s quick recovery and has enjoyed university- wide recognition since. Two years later, the SEAS Jon Hill staff pulled a Ghostbusters and had a van retrofitted. Editor-in-Chief CAVA had its first ambulance. PAPER PUSHERS (HUMANIZING THE ORGANIZATION) Recognize some familiar inbox fodder? Match these real live human beings to the department listservs they represent. 1. Cynthia Cogdill a. Senior Associate Director g. Associate Director Intercultural Resource Center Columbia College 2. Monika Kowalczykowski b. Director h. Undergraduate Creative Writing 3. Janine deNovais Center for Career Education Columbia University 4. Christina Rumpf c. Administrative Assistant i. Program Coordinator Department of English and Comparative Office of Academic and Research 5. Michael Mallick Literature Programs The Earth Institute 6. Marta Esquilin d. Program Coordinator Heyman Center for the Humanities j. Assistant Director 7. Darleny E. Cepin Office of Pre-Professional Advising e. Associate Director 8. Niamh O’Brien CC/SEAS Division of Student Affairs 9. Nathalie Neptune i. Administrative Assistant Department of Political Science 10. Jonah G. Cardillo ANSWERS: 1j, 2i, 3g, 4h, 5c, 6a, 7e, 8b, 9f, 9f, 8b, 7e, 6a, 5c, 4h, 3g, 2i, 1j, ANSWERS: POSTCARD FROM MORNINGSIDE Compiled by B&W Staff Postcard by Stephen Davan B L U E N O T E S t’s just like an Ivy League Eugene O’Neill play,” says Tim IMonaghan of the trails of lost luxuries left behind weekly by Columbia students. While bartending 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., Monday to Thursday, Monaghan witnesses students leave behind every- thing from keys to computers after their “weekly performances of privilege and waste” at 1020. “They leave some really nice stuff here,“ explains Monaghan. “London Fog leather jackets, umbrellas you buy at Saks Fifth Avenue, expensive jewelry, oh you name it.” He spills a beer cup of keys onto the bar. “Where are they going without these?” he asks, holding up an electric car key. “And these, these are the best,” hey says, as he pulls out a stack of credit cards accumulated since New Year’s. A ring bejeweled with a diamond rose slips into his hand when he removes the rubber band-bound wad of plastic. One of the most recurring left-behinds is the laptop -- a sure sign a Columbian was here. “They never claim them,” sighs Monaghan, “they just don’t give a shit.