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The Eye

The weekly magazine of the Columbia Daily Spectator. Stories will be told thoughtfully, wholly, and originally.

Our content is meant to inform, challenge, and entertain the Columbia/Barnard student through word and picture with insightful, sophisticated analysis and commentary on some of the most critical issues facing the University. The Eye will take an active and subjective look at the Columbia community while still holding itself to the highest standard of accuracy and truth. It will teach staffers the

skills of writing, curating, and editing narrative journalism. It will challenge their own ways of thinking, managing, and collaborating, and teach them how to tell the stories of others in a voice that is their own better than a college class. When The Eye covers topical issues, it will do more than just present the story—it will give a voice to the various people and perspectives at the heart of the issue. When it comes to perennial topics, The Eye will unearth the complexities and nuances of the Columbia experience that most students previously weren’t aware of. The Eye will be human, and each week it will be an unrivaled media event.

02/03/2023

This isn’t Saphe Shamoun’s first time in media coverage. The fourth-year anthropology Ph.D. candidate has gained national attention for co-founding Laylit—a party hosted across the United States and Canada celebrating Arab/SWANA artists—but Profiles Editor Mayra Kalaora sits down to dig deeper into his musical projects, research, and personal philosophy.

Story by Mayra Kalaora
Photos by Sydney Lee

01/03/2023

“When you go into teaching, you’re prepared to not make a lot of money,” AJ DeFelice, a junior in Columbia College concentrating in education studies said. “And that doesn’t seem like something that Columbia is very interested in.” Although Barnard’s education program offers a concentration and certification, there is no education major at Columbia—part of a trend of elite schools cutting their education programs amid a nationwide teacher shortage.

Story by Caelan Bailey
Illustration by Caroline Niu

28/02/2023

“It’s a really important reminder, I think, for all non-men that we are sufficient among ourselves,” Lizzy George-Griffin said. Event-planning group LionLez creates social and educational events that foster community and support for q***r women and q***r non-binary people.

Story by Sadie May Ellis-Caleo
Photo by Grace Li

26/02/2023

There is a “bone lab” in Schermerhorn Hall with nearly 100 human remains contained inside. The Eye investigates where the remains came from, what the lab is doing with them, and the University’s role in returning them.

Story by Annie Cheng
Illustration by Kelsea Petersen

24/02/2023

“Two days into working at Subway, things weren’t off to a great start.” In this View From Here, Barnard senior Ellie George reflects on her time working at her hometown Subway chain during the pandemic—and on conversations not had with coworkers.

20/12/2022

Revolution Books is more than just a small, local bookstore—it’s the New York City hub of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Just 20 blocks from Columbia’s main campus, the bookstore and its staff have had an increasingly significant presence on campus, bringing the Revolutionary Communist Party, and all its controversies, along with it. 
Story by Itzel Franco and Jesse Levine

Photos by Jesse Levine

11/12/2022

Since 1938, Columbia’s hardware store has been the local go-to spot for dorm essentials. But for students, it creates home in more ways than one. The Eye talks to the owner, Bob Fendell, and first-year customers about how University Hardware and Housewares helps students start a new life on campus.

Story by Ewa Siemiatkowska and Mehreen Zakaria

Photos by Selina Yang and Salem Maru

09/12/2022

“This place has been sort of a microcosm of how we live in New York City.” Roti Roll and Suite—the gay bar next door—are owned by the same trio of friends. Regulars talk to Spectator about the relationship between these two businesses and the culture of inclusion the owners have fostered.

Story by Morgan Desfosses and Haniya Cheema

Photos by Soleil Guevara, Ryan Newberger, and Gabriella Raine Gregor-Splaver

06/12/2022

Thank you, Claudia, Eve, Parth, Rebecca, and Teresa for visiting us at the Spec office last night and speaking on our alumni panel. We loved hearing about your experiences, memories, and careers, and we learned very much from all the advice you shared! 👁❤️

17/11/2022

As he receives his first tattoo, Eye editor Mason Cannon talks about art, identity and life with Barnard senior, history student, and tattoo artist James Perry.

Story by Mason Cannon

Photos by Millie Felder

15/11/2022

In her View From Here, Isabella Farfan explores her relationship to three white marks on her face and how they define her brownness in the past, present, and future. A month or so after she was born, Farfan’s mom noticed the gradual appearance of one, and then two, and then three markings on the right side of her face extending above and below her jawline. They were not so much marks as they were the absence of melanin in oblong swatches with severe, jagged borders where their whiteness met her normal skin tone. She paid no mind to these “birthmarks” until much later in her life. In middle school, faced with the whiteness on her face, Isabella accepted that she was brown for the first time—and reckoned with the fact she might not always be.

View From Here by Isabella Farfan

Illustration by Grace Kim

13/11/2022

Why have Columbia and Barnard adopted different stances in combating COVID-19, and why are Barnard’s policies almost always more strict than Columbia’s? The Eye considers how the institutions’ different COVID-19 policies have affected their respective student bodies over the last two years.

Story by Derek Ng

Photo by Violet Mendelsund

11/11/2022

One viral Twitter thread. 22 SIPA students. A papered-over storefront and a changing collaboration. This fall, SIPA’s Co-Designing Smart Cities course has faced public backlash for allegedly asking SIPA students to redesign Harlem. But beyond the surface controversy, the class reveals a larger story about SIPA’s institutional involvement in Harlem.

Story by Caelan Bailey and Ysabella T**i

Photo by Beatrice Shlansky

10/11/2022

Before he was a talk show host or a Republican Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Dr. Mehmet Oz was a surgeon, professor, and researcher at Columbia. But since the spring of 2022, Columbia has been quietly erasing Oz from its online presence. Is the University trying to erase its ties to Oz?  
Story by Megan Lunny

Illustration by Max Graves

15/10/2022

If you are a current student at Columbia, The Eye welcomes you to publish a personal essay with us. Submit an idea or pitch at this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/u/3/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0a6nnNPwtuW3qoEckk1PTzC0yrv19GSuHsCtzkEJ4qdAQDw/viewform

24/09/2022

Ghosts, asylums, secret gatherings—the tunnels underneath Columbia University seem ripped out of the pages of a gothic novel. But they’re real and full of a deep, complex history older than campus itself.

This article is part of The Eye’s archival Space Issue—link in bio.

Article by Bella Aldrete

22/09/2022

“It looks like a crooked picture, you just want to reach out and fix it.” Lerner Hall’s windowed wall to campus exposes its empty space connected by ramps criticized since their construction. The current student center stands as a flash point for student life on campus, with its predecessor and history caught between University priorities and student control.

This article is part of The Eye’s archival Space Issue—link in bio.

Article by Caelan Bailey

20/09/2022

Once a storage closet in the Furnald Hall basement, Columbia’s Stephen Donaldson Lounge went on to become the first LGBTQ student lounge in the nation. Thanks to LGBTQ student groups on campus, led by Stephen Donaldson and Morty Manford, the lounge facility overcame a lack of institutional recognition. Now relocated to the first floor of Schapiro Hall, the space remains a site of LGBTQ visibility on campus.

This article is part of The Eye’s archival Space Issue—link in bio.

Article by Jonathan Truong

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arts issue

For Halloween, we collaborated with Arts & Entertainment and the Illustrations team to bring you a special themed issue of The Eye where we celebrate the ARTS on campus! Coming out this Wednesday, Oct. 31. Stay spooky! 👻🎃🎉

Behind the Story: Investigating Predatory Landlords in Manhattanville

Juliana Kim, BC '20, discusses City reporting in the wake of the Manhattanville expansion and how she went about investigating predatory landlords, tenant harassment, and the experiences of those being indirectly displaced by Columbia's new campus. Read the Issue 4 Lead Story here: https://www.columbiaspectator.com/eye/indirect-displacement-manhattanville/

The Free Speech Debates at Columbia

VIDEO FEATURE: Have the recent CUCR protests revealed changes in the way Columbia students talk about 'free speech'?

Women Wrestle Too

There isn't a women's wrestling team at Columbia. This first-year wants to change that.

Black and Pantone 292

We asked students to send us video diaries of what it feels like to be Black at Columbia. This is what they sent in.

Tiny Dorm Concerts: WBAR's Unplugged

This week, Tiny Dorm Concert swung by WBAR Radio's Unplugged event to see how student artists are represented on campus!

TINY DORM CONCERT: Jazze Belle explains the meaning of their name, how Columbia both shaped and impeded their music, and what artists to listen to right now.

Tiny Dorm Concert: Alice Williams

TINY DORM CONCERTS: We follow singer-songwriter and Barnard student Alice Williams down Amsterdam to Crown Heights. What does she have to say about singing, sexuality, and her cat?

Tiny Dorm Concerts: Good Night Moon

TINY DORM CONCERTS: This week, in line with our theme of decades, members of Good Night Moon discuss their favorite musicians from every era and grapple with the challenges of restructuring their band. http://bit.ly/2eXuYo3

The Obama Years

In light of the looming end of the Obama administration, 6 Columbians reflect upon the past 8 years. http://bit.ly/2evuitB

Tiny Dorm Concerts: Coldman

Listen to Coldman's experimental sounds in the second installment of Tiny Dorm Concerts, which lets you see artists performing their music where they most often play it—the places they live.

Tiny Dorm Concerts: Bailen

VIDEO FEATURE: Sometimes, Julia Bailen is a Barnard student. Sometimes, she’s a working musician, touring the world with her two brothers, Daniel and David. Check out our first Tiny Dorm Concert featuring BAILEN. http://bit.ly/2dpxzYo

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