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The CCRA blog is authored by Columbia undergraduate researchers, who are invited to reflect on all aspects of the research process and their own undergraduate research experiences, beginning (but not ending) with the Core.
Category Archives: courses
Dressing for the Core
You are a typical Columbia College undergraduate student. CDC guidelines permitting, in your first year you live and breathe Columbia’s neoclassical (or Beaux-Arts, depending on who you ask) -style campus; and as far as academics go, the Core is all … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Coursework, Historic Sites, Libraries, New York City, The Canon, The Core, The Humanities
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Some Thoughts on Canons, and A Modest Proposal for Freshman Year
LitHum is not enough. This observation should resonate with two groups of students in the class of 2027. The first group consists of those (there are some out there) who are excited to begin LitHum, who feel keenly the limitations … Continue reading
Posted in courses, The Core, The Humanities
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Modern Approaches to the Canon
On the first day of Literature Humanities or Contemporary Civilizations, you were probably asked to ruminate on what a canon is. Responses to this question vary, yet they typically conform to two distinct categories. Some students hew to the orthodox … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Libraries, The Canon, The Core, The Humanities
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How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Core
While most students really connect to at least one or two texts in the syllabus, many students experience Contemporary Civilization as a painful slog through the dregs of Western philosophy, a subject widely felt to be as stale as it … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Coursework, Life, The Core, The Humanities, Uncategorized
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The Ground Beneath the Deep End
I’m a humanities student: I study philosophy and Italian. I love words and ideas, books and seminars. As an aspiring academic, I dream of being able to flourish in a highly focused academic setting. That said, I’ve always been interested … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Faculty Mentors, major research, Summer Research
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The Politics of The Core
What would Thomas Hobbes say about Covid-19 lockdowns? Would John Stuart Mill approve of the restriction on speech in the form of Twitter and Facebook banning Donald Trump from their platforms after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Coursework, COVID-19, Life, The Core, The Humanities, Uncategorized
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Why Take the Core’s Religious Texts Seriously?
Of what purpose are the Core’s religious texts to the resolutely irreligious? The notion that the works of the Core enable us to understand ourselves and our world is thrown around without substantive analysis or reflection; it’s no wonder, then, … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Coursework, Life, The Core, The Humanities
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Discovering Humanity Through The Core
When reflecting on what is most valuable about the Core Curriculum at Columbia, I always think about the community it fosters. But a closely related benefit of the core, which is both a product of and a contributing factor to … Continue reading
Posted in courses, New York City, The Core
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Why Care about Latin and Greek outside of Classics?
Why did Columbia historically require Latin and Attic Greek, and what can we learned from the annulment of this requirement? And why care at all? As is no secret, Columbia College once enforced a Greek admission requirement and required all … Continue reading
Posted in courses, The Core, Uncategorized
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The Evolution of A Thesis’ Archetype
Every department goes through the senior thesis process differently. Some have their students complete a thesis in junior year, some require 4 semesters of continuous work. In this article, I would like to share how my thesis idea has evolved, and … Continue reading
Posted in courses, Faculty Mentors, Libraries, Senior Thesis, Uncategorized
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