We want to frolic!

We love the Columbia lawns. Home to sprawling, beautiful grass and friends playing frisbee, doing homework, or having picnics together, these green spaces are hubs of love and fun. They create a lively atmosphere on campus, and foster community and connection. Do you know what school used to have a lawn like that?

Barnard College.

On March 1, 2021, Barnard constructed a tent on Futter Field in response to the pandemic and a need for outdoor spaces. Much to the dismay of many students, over a year later, that tent is still there. The tent completely obstructs the formerly lovely lawn space of Futter Field. 

Do you know what we could be doing on the field if it were not blocked by an ugly tent? We could be frolicking. Frolicking, we tell you. We could be crafting, making earrings, friendship bracelets, or embroidery. We could have picnics, take naps, play Spikeball, form unions, or eat little sandwiches. And instead? Students can simply sit. In a tent. 

And what does that tent even do? Host meetings that we’ve never even seen happen? Provide outdoor dining? We can not name one occasion where we’ve passed these so-called “events.” Nor can we name any time when we would choose those ugly plastic white chairs and tables and that annoying plywood floor for our meals over the luscious green grass. 

As bold, beautiful Barnard students, we will not stand for this. Why do we have to make the treacherous trek to Butler lawns for our green time? Is this an act of final rebellion from PrezBae before she leaves for the tree school? Who is in charge of this cruel, cruel punishment? We are already tree and fresh air deprived. Now our grass? We are being forced into this capitalist society that values industry over nature. It’s a totalitarian society now where we are being dictated to eat on plywood. What has this world come to?

But we digress. 

We just want our lovely little field back. Please, please, just let us frolic again. 

Love,

Talia Bloom and Jessica Tsang

Tent via Bwarchives