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BFFs for lyfe after one week
The administrative leader of COÖP—a.k.a. the Columbia University Outdoor Orientation Program, a.k.a. that program where prefrosh go into the wilderness and come out best friends—has made the decision that the program will accept Barnard students. COÖP has, since it began in 1983, not been integrated with Barnard, and many COÖP-ers have expressed concerns about the impact of allowing the Barnard student population to apply, given COÖPs limited space for incoming students and its commitment to having equal numbers of each gender in the program. However, it seems that the administrative leaders at least have overcome those concerns in favor of fostering connections between pre-frosh from the different colleges.
Reactions to the decision to incorporate Barnard students were mixed among COÖP leaders. Nathaniel Braffman, CC ’14 and a former COÖP coordinator, says, “This idea is not a new one, but it finally gained traction this year after several Barnard students expressed interest in starting their own version of COÖP.”
Braffman says the debate among current COÖP leaders centered on the pros and cons of full integration into the existing program, or how COÖPers might best support Barnard students in starting their own program. “Personally, I’m a fan of full integration–something similar to the CUE model–but if Barnard students want to start their own outdoor orientation program, I’m confident that future coordinators would be happy to help them.”
Now it’s up to the Barnard’s Student Life office to decide how the integration will take place and work out the financial and administrative details. This means that the change will not be evident any time in the immediate future.
Because this decision was made by the administrative leadership of COÖP and not the student leaders, reactions are mixed. Will there be too many women in COÖP now? Will Columbia College women stand a lesser chance of getting into the program? Is gender real?
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24 Comments
@Columbia Girl/Barnard Ally Of course, one of the only posts on bwog with lots of comments is the one regarding Barnard. Before even clicking on the comments, I thought to myself “oh boy, here we go again.” You all know what I’m talking about, this Barnard/Columbia petty rivalry. Get over yourselves!!!
@-- “barnard ally”
@Anonymous CAN BARNARD PEOPLE BE COOP LEADERS NOW??
@BÖP Coördinator Great article! I think it’s worth emphasizing that this is just a decision made on Columbia’s end, and Barnard’s approval is still needed for integration to take place. We’ve been getting lots of emails from adventurous Barnard students eager to join our leader community, and unfortunately we won’t be able to accept Barnard leaders or pre-frosh this year. It’ll take a while for Barnard’s administration and risk-management office to decide if they want to take on the liabilities and financial risks associated with a program like COÖP.
For now, sit tight and keep your fingers crossed. We’re hoping to see you soon! :)
-JB
@CC 4 lyfe I don’t get why SEAS is allowed in coop..
@CC'13 Whether or not you are being serious or you are joking (in which case, this is a bad joke and in very, very poor taste), I think if you think this way, Columbia is better off without your money. And yes, that Columbia includes Barnard.
@CC'13 in response to ‘trigger warning’ above
@anon Trigger Warning for those who were financially raped by Columbia
@Anonymous CAN SOMEONE IN THE ADMINISTRATION PLEASE CLEARLY DEFINE THE BARNARD/COLUMBIA RELATIONSHIP.
It’s super annoying and confusing and creates too much drama.
@prezbo No.
@Anonymous its really not that confusing.
are you new here?
@Anonymous it’s not that confusing. separate endowment and trustees. separate legal entities.
@Everyone should have equal rights to shit in the woods
@anon Damn i wish i was a freshman next year, dat ratio is gonna be dope yo. Having freshman girls fight over you to get their first college sex is the best thing in the world
@trigger warning trigger warning: I am so not donating to this fucking pussy school. what? were the barnard girls’ feels hurt so they need to be included? well, they should have got into columbia. stop being radical kunts. these barnard girls and affirmative actors are pussifying the columbia administration because they’re too weak to earn things without asking for special privileges. it’s not the world’s job to make you comfortable – especially if you don’t deserve the right to go to columbia, it does not mean you ought to get columbia privileges. even if some pussified columbia affirmative actor says otherwise (since they dont deserve to be at columbia anyway as they don’t understand the meaning of hard work and therefore cant understand why they should feel so ardently about this)
@why do we care? Orientation sucks anyways and you rarely stay friends with those people. Also, if you are going to call people cunts…at least spell it correctly. You really are a shining example of someone with a Columbia education.
@Aunt Jemima I think if you spell cunts correctly your comment awaits moderation before being posted
@Aunt Jemima Indeed, if you spell Kunts with a c, your comment will await moderation. Ain’t nobody got time for that
@barnard doesnt deserve it wtf why. they dont even go here. get your own preorentation program jeez
@Barnard 14 I agree. I wish we had some of our own pre-orientation programs!
@no you earned a downvote at “barnard doesnt deserve it”
@seriously why. really though are they columbia undergraduates or barnard undergraduates. four years later and i’m still really confused.
@They don't even go here sheesh they already can apply for CUE…this is going to mess up the ratios and chances for Columbia students to be a part of the program.
@hah because everyone knows that fun is only possible with equal numbers of penises and vaginas