Every semester since 1975, on the first midnight of final exams, the Columbia University Marching Band has played music and a comedy skit in the school library at an event called “Orgo Night.”
At midnight on “Orgo Night,” the night of the organic chemistry (a.k.a. “Orgo” for short) final exam, the band marches into the main room of the library to distract students from studying.
According to campus lore, the main reason the band does this is to “lower the curve” of the organic chemistry exam, which is a notoriously difficult test.
This year, the 41-year-old tradition has come to an end. The administration has banned the Marching Band from playing in the library. This means that they’ll be compelled to play their comedy skit and music on the steps outside, forcing spectators and band members alike to endure the freezing cold NYC weather.
The high for this Friday will be 27° Fahrenheit.
Why would the administration end a 41-year-old tradition?
Chief Librarian of Columbia, Ann Thornton, allegedly made the decision for the band to be barred from the library. She cited that the event would be a disruption to students studying, according to campus news source BWOG.
However, Orgo Night is one of the most prominent traditions on campus. Thus, it’s unlikely that the event would legitimately disrupt any students. Students have weeks of warning to avoid the school library if they don’t want to attend.
A closer analysis of the situation reveals that the event may have been canceled because of its controversial nature—however, the administration will not admit to that.
Because of the comedy skit that they play and the posters they put up promoting the event, the band is subject to frequent protests and op-eds denigrating it for marginalizing and being microaggressive to minority students.
Jokes and posters for the event often mock campus anti-rape activism, cultural appropriation, consent, anti-Semitism, the gender-pay gap, administrators, campus stress culture, the middle eastern crisis, and the lack of free speech on campus.
For example, one recent poster saw Orgo Night written in red tape over an image of a mattress. This was meant to mock “Mattress Girl” Emma Sulkowicz, who carried a mattress around campus for a year, and the anti-sexual assault club No Red Tape in the same go.
Two years ago, one particularly biting op-ed that was written claimed that “If you go to Orgo Night, You’re Part of the Problem.”
The article was written by Dunni Oduyemi and Tracey Wang, two Columbia students, who lamented that the administration refused to protect students of color from the hurtful jokes made during the comedy skit.
“[The administration] should have canceled [Orgo Night] outright. Our safety [as students] is not up for negotiation. We asked administrators to listen to us, to acknowledge us, and to protect us [from the jokes made during Orgo Night]” said Oduyemi and Wang.
“Orgo Night is an unsafe space, and it is an unsafe space that extends beyond Butler 209… Orgo Night tells us that this campus will never be a place for us to feel safe or to feel supported” they explained.
That year, 23 Columbia/Barnard student groups also organized a silent protest during Orgo Night. They passed out a flyer that said: “Above all… Columbia University must truly be a safe space for all its members, as it promises to be.”
Columbia has not responded to request for comment on whether the controversial nature of the event had anything to do with the 41-year-old tradition being banned.
