How could we enjoy this and Lit Hum?

With the start of the new year, professors are already starting to get under our skin. However, new staffer Paola Ripoll is particularly sick of an odd request professors have been making lately—and she is not alone.

It’s a new year here at Columbia University and for many students, that means a new year of an exorbitant amount of spending. From tuition to textbooks, club fees and nights out, subway fares and late-night food runs, Columbia seems to be going straight for our bank account’s jugular. With all these insane expenses, you’d think, then, that professors would be aware of their student’s monetary restrictions — and well, you’d have thought wrong. Students have been bringing up complaints about professors who, either in an attempt to be the chill professor who lets their students eat in class or the harsh professor who likes to ‘punish’ students for being late, have been expecting students to come to class with snacks for the entire class.

And let’s face it: that’s just ridiculously unfair. For a school that prides itself on its socioeconomic diversity, Columbia sometimes does a shitty job at accommodating the financial needs of its students (I’m looking at you, “summer student contribution”). Snacks are expensive, and for many students, providing food for their entire class is just unfeasible. A student could have been using that money to stock up on winter clothing, for getting food for themselves for the week, or for their own personal savings, as one student mentioned to Bwog. Various students cited being poor, and one brought up that floor hosted study breaks should similarly take finances into consideration.

Other students who spoke to Bwog also felt that these expectations were absurd, and their reactions ranged from annoyed to vitriolic.

•“I’m not paying for that! I’m on a two dollar budget!”
•“Buy the snacks yourself!”
•“Are they gonna give me the money to buy it? The fuck??”
•“I’ll be on a selection committee to choose the snacks if they want.”
•“That’s a lot of money and I would rather spend it on myself. Like, on my own food.”
•“I really like sharing but I completely understand that someone wouldn’t have the money for that.”
•“Wank me off first.” (Bwog’s personal favorite response.)

There you have it, professors of Columbia. Your broke students are pretty pissed, so next time you want to treat your class to some snacks or punish a student for arriving late, you should check your privilege and realize that not everyone comes from the same financial background.

Wishful thinking via Doodybrain