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WITHIN THE FAMILY

It’s Events Season at Columbia

By Alex Sachare '71

If it’s true that to everything there is a season, then we’re in the middle of events season at Columbia.

The spring semester has been replete with celebrations involving various members of the Columbia family. These range from the John Jay Awards Dinner honoring outstanding alumni — and this year a noteworthy parent — to the Lionel Trilling and Mark Van Doren Awards for faculty, to the festive Senior Dinner under a huge tent on South Field, all culminating in May with the Baccalaureate Service, the Academic Awards and Prizes Ceremony, Class Day and the biggest celebration of all, Commencement.

And there have been many more. Columbia College Women marked 20 years of coeducation at the College by honoring 10 alumnae in higher education with its Alumna Achievement Award. The Athletics Department held its annual Varsity “C” dinner recognizing student-athletes as well as a Celebration of Women in Athletics marking the 20th anniversary of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium. The Varsity Show celebrated its 110th anniversary as the oldest performing group on campus with this year’s show (featuring an appearance by Dean Austin Quigley) plus an award to playwright Terrence McNally ’60. Various affinity groups held events honoring the contributions of outstanding alumni, and other organizations and clubs joined in with additional events.

For alumni, the biggest event comes shortly after the end of the semester — Reunion Weekend, which this year will be held June 3–6. While most of the weekend is geared toward classes ending in 4 and 9, all young alumni (those who graduated since 1989) are invited to an Alumni Dance Party at the Hammerstein Ballroom on Friday, June 4.

One of my favorite events took place on campus on April 3. Dean’s Day gives alumni and parents a chance to return to campus and become students for a day by sampling from among 15 lectures by distinguished faculty. It’s not a fund-raising event; the nominal fee, $25 this year and another $25 for a nice lunch in Low Library, only comes close to covering expenses. The idea is to reconnect alumni with their campus experience and to give parents a taste of what their kids are getting at Columbia, and this year more than 700, a record number, participated. Who knows how many alumni sat in the same seats they had occupied years before, or how many parents sat where their children had sat only days earlier?

Dean’s Day can leave indelible memories. I never took a course with Jim Shenton ’49 when I was an undergraduate, but I’ll always be thankful for the hour I spent in 614 Schermerhorn a few years ago, when the legendary history professor regaled a full room with the story of his days as a young medic entering the Nazi concentration camps with the liberation forces.

My favorite lecture this year was delivered by Duncan J. Watts, a young associate professor of sociology. His topic was “Six Degrees of Separation: The Science of a Connected Age,” and his talk about the small world phenomenon had the audience in the Roone Arledge Cinema enthralled.

Adding to the enjoyment of this year’s Dean’s Day was the unveiling of the latest campus landmark, Scholars’ Lion, which stands on the north campus between Low Library and Havemeyer Hall. As a member of the Class of 1971, this was especially meaningful for me, as it was sculpted by an esteemed classmate, Greg Wyatt ’71, and numerous classmates (led by trustee Mark Kingdon ’71) were instrumental in its funding.

Check out Scholars’ Lion next time you’re on campus. And if you’ve never attended Dean’s Day, why not make a note to do so next year?

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