AROUND THE QUADS
Jester Holds Court Again
By Laura Butchy

The cover of the October Jester

Around the Quads

• Klein, McDavid, Lung, Johnson to Receive John Jay Awards • September 11 Recovery Efforts Continue • Columbia Expands Online Offerings • Jester Holds Court Again • Columbia Undertakes NCAA Certification • Celebrating WKCR's 60th Anniversary • To Pay Off Her Student Loans, Dunphy Tries for Miss America • Campus Bulletins • Roar, Lion, Roar • Alumni Bulletins • Transitions • In Memoriam

The Columbia Jester, appropriately founded on April 1, 1901, has survived glory years and periods of intermittent publication — make that dormancy — throughout its 100-year history. Now under the leadership of co-editors Mike Weiss '02 and Jon Orren GS'02, Jester is back. Issues were published in October and December 2001, and plans are in progress for March and May 2002 editions as well.

Orren became interested in Jester a few years ago when he began hearing about its glorious past and more recent struggles to find funding. "My interest in Jester stemmed from my lifelong interest in writing humorously, which itself stemmed from my inability to write competently in any other manner," he says. "Resurrecting Jester seemed like a logical way to realize that dream."

Orren worked with Weiss and Art Harris '01 to scrounge up funds for a "Resurrection Issue" in May 2001. Shortly after its release, they teamed up with the Spectator Publishing Company, the parent company that publishes Spectator, for assistance in producing multiple issues each semester. "Mike and I jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Spectator, because we felt that it represented our best chance to achieve our main objective," Orren says. "That is, restoring Jester's visibility and prestige at Columbia and eventually appearing in a flattering Columbia College Today write-up, causing wealthy alumni to ask themselves, ‘What can I do to ensure the long-term survival of Jester?' "

According to Jeffrey Posnick '02, president of Spectator Publishing and the new publisher of Jester, they plan to produce four Jesters a year for the enjoyment of the campus community. "Beyond the historical reasons relating to the importance of maintaining (or, in this case, reviving) Columbia traditions that form a link between the students of today with Columbia alumni," Posnick says, "I think that the more outlets on campus for student creativity, the better."

"Columbia is a school that often takes itself too seriously," Orren contends. "Students need an outlet for laughter that speaks to them, for them, about them and reminds them that, next to penicillin and perhaps Viagra, laughter is the best medicine for whatever ails you."

A one-year (four-issue) subscription is $20. For more information, contact the Jester staff at jester@columbia.edu.