Listen Up, Columbia!

This article is a collaboration between the Columbia Daily Spectator and New York Magazine.

On Friday, April 26, photographers for the Columbia Daily Spectator set up a white backdrop in front of Butler Library, opposite the encampment student protesters had erected days earlier on the campus’s central lawn. They began asking anyone who walked by — students entering and leaving the encampment, professors, counterprotesters, and those just trying to get to the library — if they would stop for a portrait. Those who said “yes” were given tape and a marker and asked to write their message to the university and affix it to their clothing.

Many were apprehensive about being documented in this moment. Some worried about being doxed, others about losing their visas; even some tenured professors were too nervous about the repercussions. To help alleviate their concerns, they were given the option of covering their face or turning their back to the camera.

For the next three days, ending on Monday, April 29, the Spectator staff returned to campus, setting up in various locations to capture a wide cross section of the Columbia community, including at Dodge Hall, where many students attended class on Monday, and at the Amsterdam gate, which, during the height of the protests, was one of the few entrances to the grounds. The backdrop hung against an exterior wall of Hamilton Hall, which would soon be occupied by protesters. Overall, more than 100 members of the Columbia community participated. Whatever their message, the experience of wearing it seemed to transform them: The subjects often stood taller, defiant, empowered.