The Ideaology of Columbia College

The Columbia College ideology: Create Change. All right, do you want four quarters or ten dimes?

This weekend I worked the Columbia College Open House. I’ve worked it three times before and have gone to it twice. So a grand total of six times, hearing the exact same spiel, watching the excitement in all the new student’s eyes, and the disbelief that a school as cool as this really exists. Maybe just maybe they can do what they love and be successful…

It sounds corny but we’ve all been there. The question is why do we buy into this promising future Columbia ideology, because after a year and a half here Columbia can be a frustrating place with it’s almost total lack of organization and effective communication with it’s students. For example, did you know we have a sports program? A baseball, two soccer teams, fencing, and a cross-country team that went to compete in Rome last year. It’s all true, but who would know it?

The thing that draws the new students here, and make it’s current students feel special is their ideology of an art school. I’m going to compare Columbia with Roosevelt. Let’s start by looking at the actual buildings. You walk into a Columbia building, there’s an art gallery to your left, the third floor is painted bright turquoise, and there’s weird furniture. You walk into a Roosevelt building. The paint is conservative, the furniture is leather, and to your left there is an overflowing bulletin board of happenings around campus. The differences make us feel that since our school building is a little more radical in interior design that we are more creative than the mainstream, but no matter how you look at it a couch is a couth even if it’s made of yellow plastic or leather. Actually the leather one would probably be more comfortable. But I digress.

At the Columbia house, they do exactly what the book says. They lure students in with vague ideologies but when the students get here, they don’t address students problems (like the Health Center, what a joke that thing is). However, since the ultimate ideology is that if you get an education you will be successful Columbia tells students that they can “author the creative future of the country” students go to this school with the hopes of fulfilling their dreams to the fullest. Now I’m not saying that Columbia’s a terrible place. I have learned a lot of things here, but the only way to achieve anything is to work really hard. It seems humorous though that students seem to forget that once they get here.

(Pg 92, Q 1)