The College of Arts and Dicking Around

Arts & Sciences isn't for slackers By Rebecca Leviton

When most people think of the College of Arts and Sciences, they picture darkly clad underachievers running around the Hall of Languages with overly loved copies of Wuthering Heights, mumbling about the uncertainties of life.

All of the other buffoons think A&S kids must not know what they want to do, and probably most of them don’t have the grades to get into other colleges (I’m talking to you, Newhouse). But not every Arts and Sciences student belongs to a Dostoevsky book club. And not all of the students in Arts and Sciences stayed because they couldn’t get into other colleges. We belong to a real school, with real majors. Better recognize, it isn’t called The College of Arts and Dicking Around.

You might ask what we actually have in common, since Arts and Sciences represents a full spectrum of majors from biology and chemistry to psychology and religion. At first glance, many A&S majors don’t belong together, like philosophy and math, or women’s studies and political science. But one thing unifies us as a definitive, respectable school: the value of our majors in the real world.

We make sure our majors actually mean something while taking in constant ridicule and condescension from our peers. Contrary to the Newhouse and Whitman students of the world, we don’t hide behind an impressive name and overly enthusiastic alumni. Our brains will land us jobs, not the amount of networking we can squeeze in at Chuck’s on homecoming weekend.

So sit and scoff at us while we do everything you can do, only better. Don’t forget that A&S students have headed up The Daily Orange, the Student Association, and University Union. We’re loud, we’re proud, and we’re mad as hell. We are Arts and Sciences, hear us roar!

Illustration by Andrew Casadonte.

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