New students arrived on campus on the morning of August 29, greeted by a well-choreographed display of move-in magic as NSOP leaders whisked boxes and bins across campus. That afternoon, the Class of 2020 began its Columbia journey under white tents on South Lawn at Convocation. Following a procession of students carrying flags (representing the home states and countries of all College and Engineering students), alumni marched with banners representing their class decades in the Alumni Procession to demonstrate to new arrivals their lifelong connection to the College and Engineering. In his welcome speech, Dean James J. Valentini said: “I am congratulating you on your good fortune in being presented with an opportunity — an opportunity to profit from and contribute to the special experience that a Columbia education offers. That special experience is fundamentally an endeavor to find knowledge, to develop understanding and to gain insight.”
Convocation 2016
The Alumni Procession at Convocation
Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger and Columbia College Dean James J. Valentini at Convocation 2016
Student and families at Convocation 2016
Convocation 2016
Photographs by Eileen Barroso