The Columbia Chronicle

President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim (center) offers a sneak peek at what life will look like when campus reopens.

Columbia’s new normal: six-foot distancing, face coverings and no roommates

May 13, 2020

With the Spring 2020 semester coming to an end, the college released its first draft of plans to resume on-campus instruction, residential living, student activities and work in the fall. In a Tuesday...

Everything you should know about hand washing during the coronavirus pandemic

April 22, 2020

At the beginning of March as the coronavirus pandemic accelerated in Illinois, Columbia began placing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posters in various bathrooms around campus. These poste...

Vice President of Enrollment Management Michael Joseph said the admissions team has been “aggressively” signaling to prospective students that classes will be in-person in the fall because even entertaining the idea of online courses could negatively impact enrollment.

Columbia ‘anxious,’ while optimistic for Fall 2020 enrollment despite predictions of national decline

April 21, 2020

Across the country, colleges and universities are bracing for expected enrollment declines for the Fall 2020 semester because of the coronavirus pandemic and rocky transitions to remote learning. Wh...

Online music courses ‘not ideal,’ but produce ‘great opportunities ahead’

April 21, 2020

Cords snake along an apartment floor connecting laptops, monitors, amps, pedals, guitars and other equipment needed for an online private music lesson. Luckily, Nick Bilski, a senior music majo...

Columbia's 2020 graduates will be honored in May 2021 commencement ceremonies due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Seniors torn on commencement postponement until 2021: ‘At the end of the day, it’s the four years that you put in’

April 20, 2020

As a 31-year-old senior radio major, Eva Eig’s college experience has been different than most. She worked hard to get her education back on track after taking a few years off from school. What ...

Columbia will receive $6 million in federal aid per Congress' stimulus deal; employees will work from home through the end of May; and instructors will use a special attendance report.

Three coronavirus updates you need to know about Columbia

April 14, 2020

There is a lot going on as Columbia—and the rest of the world—reckons with a global health pandemic and the college enters its second week of online classes. "Inevitably, not everything that we try o...

Columbia part-time faculty union president Diana Vallera.

Part-time faculty to receive additional payment for online transition; college to limit ‘surveillance’ of instructors

April 14, 2020

Part-time faculty will receive an additional week of compensation for their work in transitioning courses online during Columbia's three-week "pause." The union representing part-time faculty member...

Rodney Johnson, a guitarist who has been busking for 10 years, said the musical repertoire a busker performs any given day depends on the atmosphere of the crowd.

Street musicians take ‘hell of a hit’ from coronavirus pandemic

April 13, 2020

While Chicago residents quarantine inside their apartments, venturing out every so often for groceries or to walk their dog, street musicians are struggling to make money amid a global health pandemic...

Opinion: Health care workers need more than applause right now

April 10, 2020

Every night at 8 p.m., balconies and windows across Chicago light up. People hang their heads out windows, clapping and cheering; some sing and some play instruments. It has been dubbed “Solidarit...

Among stark shadows, flowers are seen in the window of an adjacent apartment building.

Column: From Edgewater, with love

April 9, 2020

My girlfriend and I sat in our parked car for an hour on Sunday night. We listened to Harry Styles’ most recent album “Fine Line” in full, discussed ideas for tattoos and home renovations, ...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, shakes hands with supporters in Chicago during his Saturday, March 7 rally in Grant Park.

Sanders drops out of presidential race; Biden the presumed Democratic nominee

April 8, 2020

Sen. Bernie Sanders has ended his bid for the presidency, paving the way for former Vice President Joe Biden to earn the Democratic nomination. “The path toward victory is virtually impossible,�...

Columbia joins other colleges expanding pass/fail options amid coronavirus chaos

April 8, 2020

As college students across the nation transition through the unexpected shift to online learning, colleges and universities are being pressured to offer more flexibility with grading standards due to...