Lonely boy makes an appearance on Columbia’s campus… what could he be doing here? XOXO, Gossip Girl.

Last Friday, CORE (Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs) hosted a panel discussion with Penn Badgley and Dr. Nura Mowzoon on Columbia University’s campus. Badgley, an actor known for starring in shows such as “You” and “Gossip Girl,” and Dr. Mowzoon, a psychotherapist and professor at Arizona University, co-host a lecture series called “Can We Talk?” in which they go to different universities and have discussions with students. According to their website, the aim is to “engage in a constructive dialogue exploring how to shift our style of discourse from one of contention to one of cohesion and collaboration.” This goal was to be implemented for a Barnumbia audience. 

In the large Havemeyer classroom, students buzzed with anticipation of seeing “Joe Goldberg” in the flesh. The Partiful RSVP for this event had over 800 people eager to attend, but only 330 were able to come on a first-come, first-served basis. Although the event began at 4 pm, by 3:30 pm, there was a line from Havemeyer all the way to Dodge Fitness Center—a testament to the student body’s excitement for this event. 

I was one of these 330 people and experienced firsthand the conversations that Badgley and Dr. Mowzoon had with the audience. Dr. Mowzoon and Badgley walked into applause. As they sat down, they asked students to take their pictures quickly so that phones could be put away and they could have an honest, vulnerable conversation. 

After introducing themselves, Dr. Mowzoon and Badgley posed questions to the audience to try to make it an interactive discussion, rather than a lecture. The first question, “Can people change?”, was presented above them on the projection screen. Various students shared their thoughts on the question, with Badgley or Mowzoon giving their reactions or understandings of the responses. Other questions included “What makes it difficult to collaborate with others?” and “What do you risk losing if you humanize the enemy?”. The whole conversation lasted around an hour and a half and a majority of the time was devoted to talking about these questions with the students, getting multiple students’ answers to each question. 

Walking out of the classroom, I was left feeling a bit disappointed and underwhelmed. Although I applaud CORE for organizing this event and getting such a high-status and desired celebrity on campus, it wasn’t what I expected. A lot of the conversation felt very surface level, which given the premise, many might find it difficult to get vulnerable in less than an hour and a half with over 300 students in the room. I also personally felt that a lot of Badgley’s responses to the questions were attempts to make meaning that wasn’t there, and he tried too hard to sound intellectual and philosophical in a room of college students, sometimes to the point of losing substance in his responses. Badgley even had an anecdote about his toddler in which he explained the importance of realizing your faults in moments and knowing when to say sorry, but I felt it missed the mark in diving into something deeper (such as generational trauma which he mentions passingly) and wasn’t as profound a story as he made it out to be. 

Despite this, I do value Badgley and Mowzoon’s goal in trying to encourage productive conversation, especially in today’s tense political climate. I just believe this event exemplified the fact that they aren’t the most qualified to do so.

If you would like to watch the entire lecture with Badgley and Dr.Mowzoon, CORE posted a video of the event here.

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