Several new student groups are dedicated to health and wellness, including the Student Wellness Project, Active Minds at Columbia and the Mental Health Task Force. Students also organize a new annual “Mental Health Awareness Week/Random Acts of Kindness Week,” held each spring. And this year, Residential Life teamed up with the Bhakti Club — a student group founded in 2001 by a group of Hindu students who wanted to engage in philosophical discussions and learn to cook wholesome, healthy meals — to offer twice-weekly mediation and weekly yoga classes as part of the residential experience.

Several of Columbia’s special interest communities are focused on healthy living, including Wellness House, Community Health House and the vegetarian Metta House. Other new residential community programs include the Residence Hall Leadership Organization, a group of student leaders who work with resident advisors in each building to plan events, engage and connect students to one another, and foster community in residence halls, and the Residence Hall Association, which brings together residence hall student leaders for conversations, projects and social events.