Four years at Columbia, three with closed gates, and two without a Low graduation. 

It’s bittersweet to be leaving Columbia. Bitter because I’ll miss running into my classmates, going downtown on an impromptu trip, and learning from my professors. Sweet because I am leaving whatever mess is happening right now. 

In my past four years at Columbia, I’ve spent about two and a half years with the gates closed, two years of (sort of) hating my major (that is on me, I know), one year realizing I should’ve left campus more, and five different presidents. 

But I do love this campus. I loved hearing the sirens past my Wallach room as much as I love looking onto campus from my East Campus suite. I love hearing the banging of the Lion Dance drums in Lerner, and I love going to JJs to hear the best playlists on campus. 

Most importantly, I love seeing graduates adorned in Columbia Blue, taking photos with Alma in front of Low. This semester, I’ll be taking my own photos in front of Low, only this time I won’t get that iconic video of singing “Empire State of Mind” with thousands of other graduates on Columbia’s campus. 

Instead, this semester, I’ll be graduating in a field I’ve never been to. 

While I know that school graduation will be held on Morningside Campus, there’s a different charm to be surrounded by multiple schools and celebrating our achievements. 

I truly didn’t comprehend the initial email announcement that commencement would be moving to Baker’s Field. In fact, it’s not even a solution I imagined. First, they’re splitting up undergraduate and graduate programs, but also, it’s removing the intimacy that Columbia claims it’s providing. 

Families and students are getting locked out of Columbia’s campus for the last time. Rather than manage the issue of opening up the gates, which first years now believe is for safety from New York, they are instead forcing students to make deals somewhere else, miles away from the place they’ve called home these past four years. 

I’ve never been to Baker’s Field, and I hope I won’t ever. The Class of 2026 deserves a proper goodbye to the place they’ve called home for the past four years, and a sports complex in Inwood isn’t that.

Commencement on Low via Bwog Archives