Students march for marriage equality, we travel the world inside of Lerner Hall, and the Columbia Football Lions make a stand.

A Wedding March For Everyone

Columbia Queer Alliance gave students a chance to unite for the fight for marriage equality in New York state last Sunday September 26th. Columbia students gathered at the gates and headed to Marriage Equality New York's 7th Annual Wedding march in Brooklyn last Sunday. Participants marched over the Brooklyn bridge to demand that gay marriage be legalized in New York. Although this has become an annual tradition, attendees hope that every year will be the last.

MENY Events Director, Brian Silva, welcomed the crowd with a hopeful statement. "I would like to welcome you to the seventh annual -and hopefully last- march for marriage equality in New York state!"

Students made their way from Morningside Heights to Brooklyn where they joined speakers from congress and the New York State senate to follow a rainbow made of umbrellas over the Brooklyn bridge.

"Gay, straight, black, white: marriage is a civil right!" participants yelled as they marched.

Columbia's Queer Alliance led the Columbia University group, bringing 30 students to the march. Students expressed their gratitude at having the support of the Columbia community in their fight for gay rights.

CQA's Vice President Claire Duvallet expressed her gratitude, "Coming with such a large group from the University is just great to know we have that support there. And people are not just passively supportive, they're actively supportive of the cause."

First Year Eric Schwartz said, "This is why college rocks, so yay! Go CQA!"

With such strong support, Columbia's marchers were the spirit of the march, leading not only with chants, but with school spirit, singing the Columbia fight song.

Columbia Plans New Medical Building

The Columbia University Medical Center announced a fifty million dollar gift from an alumnus, Dr. Roy Vagelos , and his wife Diana Vagelos. Mrs. Vagelos was a key contributor in the construction of the Diana Center. Similarly, this most recent gift will support the construction of a new medical and graduate education building. With this donation, the College of Physicians and Surgeons has raised more than one billion dollars.

Columbia goes abroad

Every year, Columbia students rush to the Office of Global Programs to submit their applications for studying abroad. But what goes into a student's decision to study abroad? Students from all over the world come to Columbia, yet many Columbians are also eager to get away. The Office of Global Programs hosted their annual Study Abroad Fair on Friday. Students gathered in Lerner Hall to get information about studying abroad in one of over 65 nations, including featured programs in Kyoto, Berlin, Paris and Beijing.

Mason Fitch, Columbia College class of 2012, hopes to study abroad next semester, but this won't be his first time abroad. 

"I studied in Beijing, China as part of the 'Columbia in Beijing' program. I studied the summer after my freshman year...I studied Chinese during my freshman year, so this was a chance to get ten credits in a short period of time and to really improve my Chinese skills."

One of students' main reservations when applying to study abroad is the culture gap between living in the United States and another nation. Mason shares his particular experience studying in Beijing.

"It's pretty obvious that you're a foreigner because China has such a concrete culture. But they're very welcoming; you can go out to dinner with them, you can talk to people on the streets, you can go out to bars and you never really feel uncomfortable. You might feel out of place, but you don't feel uncomfortable."

Columbia has one of the most diverse campuses in the world and this exposure to cultures may play a large role in how students adapt to living in other nations.

"I don't think there's a huge amount of culture shock just because everyone I met was very welcoming."

Though Columbia brings the cultures of the world to campus, sometimes it is just better to go out and discover them for yourself.

Rutgers Student

A local story that has gained national attention. A Rutgers University undergraduate is believed to have committed suicide after a gross invasion of privacy. Tyler Clementi, a freshman at Rutgers, entered his dorm room with a male friend. Unbeknown to him, his roommate was using a camera to stream Clementi's intimate encounter live over the internet. On September 22nd, Clementi was found in the Hudson River. Rutgers has issued a statement, saying that Clementi was a "strong student and accomplished musician." Still, this incident has raised concerns over discrimination as well as privacy not just at Rutgers but across the nation.

Latino Heritage and Queer Awareness Months Begin

Here at Columbia, students are fighting such discrimination by raising awareness for these diverse groups. October marks the beginning of two of these efforts, Queer Awareness Month and Latino Heritage Month. Columbia's Queer Alliance invites you to join the discussion by participating in events they will hold throughout the month. Meanwhile, Latino Heritage Month kicked off on Wednesday with an opening ceremony that featured writer and journalist Claudio Ivan Remeseira as well as local dancing icons, Sabor. Queer Awarness and Latino Heritage Month will continue throughout October with many events to come.

In sports this week, the volleyball team snapped its nine-game winning streak, losing to Cornell. After losing the first two sets, Columbia was unable to complete an impressive comeback, ultimately losing in five sets. In soccer, both the men and women teams faced off against Brown University. The men's team lost its three-game winning streak after falling to their nationally-ranked opponent, while the women's team settled for a 0-0 draw, improving their record to 6-2-2. Finally, the Columbia Football Lions trounced Ivy League rival Princeton, winning by the score of 42-14.

Lions tame Tigers

The Columbia Lions defeated the Princeton Tigers this Saturday, winning by a score of 42-14. The game was history-making as a longstanding Columbia record was tied for only the second time. Fans came out to witness the fierce matchup between the Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers at Bakerfield stadium this Saturday.

Carolyn Costa, a sports commentator for WKCR said, "It's two of the most thought of schools in the ivy league, and definitely two of the most highly regarded, so I mean local real rivals you think of New York and New Jersey." She added, "It's a game that's always amazing to watch and filled with passion on both sides it's a lot of fun."

The princeton marching band mocked the Columbia fight song, but the team couldn't back that swagger up.

Princeton struck first after a scoreless first quarter, but the Lions came roaring back thanks to a big game from quarterback Sean Brackett and running back Nick Gerst. Columbia's defense also made sure Princeton's passing and running games were ineffectual.

 Brackett racked up five touchdown passes. Tight End Andrew Kennedy was on the receiving end of two of those passes.

Kennedy, who had a career high 148 yards on seven receptions said, "It's kind of a team effort. It just kind of happened that me and Nick were the beneficiaries of some of that, but everyone contributed today, you know, everyone played well."

Linebacker Ryan Murphy noted, "I think we softened them pretty well, we just had a lot of answers to what they were doing."

The fans were thrilled with the Lions' stellar performance.  

"The offense was doing great today," said  Craig Hormann, Columbia quarterback from the class of '08. "We did really well running the ball, and the defense forced some turnovers."

Still, head Coach Norries Wilson won't let his players get ahead of themselves.

Norries Wilson, who led the team to its first ever pair of victories over Princeton in consecutive seasons, said "We take them one at a time. We have Lafayette coming up and I told the guys downstairs we have to start getting ready Lafayette, cause we've never beat Lafayette. Go enjoy this tonight and tomorrow we're going to start working on Lafayette college."