Columbia Love Stories 2024

Tamar and I met roughly five years ago. I remember that brisk March Friday evening quite vividly. My future roommates were hosting a social gathering at their apartment. I was the new kid on the block at the time, having just started to integrate into the orthodox Jewish community on campus. I remember walking into their Ruggles apartment that evening eagerly yet with some apprehension. I was excited at the prospect of meeting and engaging with new people, yet intimidated by just how conspicuous my jeans and shoulder length hair were in a room full of yeshiva-leaguers on Shabbat. Not long after my arrival, I was accosted by a girl who was dressed rather oddly. Specifically, she donned a unicorn-onesie. This intrigued me, as well as her rather blunt opening address of: “I don’t know you. Who are you?”

My first conversation with Tamar lasted the entire duration of the evening. In that conversation, the differences between our mutual backgrounds and bring ups were laid bare. She explained to me her days in Yeshiva, while I talked about my experience in public school, not so subtly noting that I was the captain of the football and baseball teams, and how most of my Friday nights were spent battling local rival schools on the football field. “What girl doesn’t love a football player,” I remember thinking to myself. I was confused as I noticed the slight shock that flashed over Tamar’s face as I mentioned my activities on Friday nights of days past.

Tamar and I uncovered even more differences as we broached the topic of literature. My praise of Hemmingway was met with an audible gasp. I remember how Tamar’s entire demeanor shifted when she began professing her love for the works of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronë. Her face lit up, the chaos and noise around us seemed to suddenly dissipate, and in that moment it felt as if the two of us were in the corner of the room entirely alone. As our conversation continued and I looked into her blue eyes, the realization gradually swept over me that I had somehow by the grace of G-d stumbled upon the most wholesome, intelligent, and beautiful girl I had ever encountered.

What was not so gradual, however, was the moment I fell in love with Tamar. It had been exactly a week since that first encounter. During the course of that week, I had been riding such a high from our first conversation that when the blunt realities of life finally overshadowed the seeming unreality of Tamar, I found myself in a new low. The stress of school began flooding my thoughts as I began my walk to the guys’ Ruggles apartment on that Friday evening for the second consecutive week. Additionally, my father’s deteriorating health seemed to completely undermine any sense of joy I could have hoped to experience that night. It was enough for me to reason that my differences with Tamar were too damning to overcome. And so, disheartened, I turned around in the direction of Butler library. But as I did, I heard the warmth of a familiar voice call: “Sam?”

As I turned around, and saw Tamar standing there in the middle of west 114th street, I instantly fell in love. Her smile served as a promise for better days ahead. And the prospect of our future companionship lessened the burden of the uncertainty of my father’s terminal illness. I have been in love with Tamar Hoodle Liberman ever since that moment. And on July 3, 2022 we got married.

I met my now husband in Schapiro Hall in 1997 - married 20 years this year. Still debating if this was a good thing 😅

I am an engineer at Ericsson, and my husband is currently serving as head of Asia and Latin America at the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I met my best friend, Kendall, in our first semester at the Columbia School of Social Work. It was like I met my soulmate! We had so much in common. Not only did our long-term career goals align, with opening a private practice in the future. We also had sooo many things in common, regarding our personalities and the way we view the world. We both had the same internships for the two years at CSSW, and now we work together!

I feel like it was meant to be that we met at Columbia. Right place, right time. I'm so grateful to have met my best friend while in school here! The day we graduated, with our families around us, was truly so special!

We met in 2009, at the start of our freshman year when we both auditioned for and made Raw Elementz, a hip hop and break dancing team on campus. We officially became an item in March 2010 on the night of our dance team’s annual showcase, Rawcus, in Lerner Hall. We got to spend all 4 years together and graduated in 2013, Alyson with a degree in Civil Engineering and Nehemiah with a degree in Astrophysics.

We have been living together in San Francisco since 2015 and while we absolutely love being in California, we always make a trip back to NYC at least once a year. When we decided to take a walk around campus in November 2022, Nehemiah (finally) proposed to Alyson in front of Alma Mater! It was perfect to celebrate the next chapter of our lives back where it all started.

We just got married in October 2023 and were so thrilled to celebrate with our family and friends, including a large group of wonderful folks we met while at Columbia. As dancers from the start of our relationship through today, we made sure to put on a full performance for our first dance!

In the quiet echoes of a pandemic, she stumbled upon an unexpected connection, a spark that ignited a profound change within her. As their worlds collided in the virtual realms of video games, he casually mentioned his admiration for business schools, unknowingly setting in motion a journey of love and self-transformation.

Inspired by the prospect of standing beside him, she dedicated a year to GMAT prep, pouring her heart into the pursuit of admission to Columbia Business School. Her motivation wasn't solely driven by societal standards of success; instead, it was a love-fueled quest to become the best version of herself for the person who had unknowingly become the beacon of her heart.

Through the trials and triumphs of her CBS journey, she kept her secret, a tale of love and growth unfolding silently. As the final chapters of her Columbia story approach, she yearns to reveal her heart's journey to her beloved. Moreover, she envisions leveraging the platform Columbia provides to send a powerful message—a message of love, of self-improvement, and of a shared future.

In sharing her story with fellow students, she hopes to inspire, to remind them that the pursuit of education isn't merely a quest for societal success but a profound exploration of love and the true meaning of life. And so, with each keystroke, she weaves a romantic tale, not just for herself, but as a testament to the transformative power of love and education intertwined.

We met on an Art Hum field trip to the Met! We had been in separate sections of the class with the same professor, and had our first conversation in front of Jackson Pollock’s Autumn Rhythm about how that painting somehow as depth 🤣

Then we had our first date on a walk to Riverside, celebrated our 6 month anniversary at Havana Central, and ate Milano Sandwiches on the Steps on our 10 year anniversary before getting married in the city where we fell in love on August 12, 2022.

During his sophomore year, Debayan (CC '15) volunteered to help out at the East Coast Asian American Student Union (ECAASU) conference, a student-run event that was being hosted by Columbia that year. Sophie (SEAS '15) happened to be part of the organizing committee, where she helped check him in. After that chance encounter, the two didn't reconnect until junior year, when Debayan was political chair of Zamana, the South Asian cultural organization and Sophie was secretary of the Asian American Alliance, the pan-Asian political & cultural alliance. After they co-hosted and planned a joint club event on cultural roots, they discovered a shared passion for Asian American identity, social justice issues, and media representation, spending time discussing issues and exchanging articles on current events. Shared interests became an interest in each other. After graduation, they survived through medical school and residency for Debayan, and business school for Sophie. They even rowed together on the Columbia Alumni Dragon Boat team. In May 2022, they got married in New York City. The rest is history!

According to Bob, he saw me across campus on our first day of school, in 1988. (And he’s right, I was wearing a tie-dyed crop top, jeans, and a black bomber.) We flirted for a few weeks, but my roommates and I dismissed him as a muscly meathead (his nickname was BamBam). Fast forward to the indescribable atmosphere on campus after the game that broke our football team’s horrendous losing streak on October 8. We shared a kiss amongst the revelry, and had our first date the next night at Broadway Cottage. I revised my opinion on his intelligence, and we continued to date for the next four years. He was a football player and I was a cheerleader, a combination that felt almost subversive at a school like Columbia. We married less than two months after graduation.

Almost 32 years later, we’ve created 13 homes in 3 countries, and have raised three incredible daughters. We consider Baker Field to be a place where we are eternally 21. We’ve had a life of adventure and laughter, and hope that our love story has a multitude of chapters still to be written.

He was a JD from Massachusetts and I was an LL.M from Ecuador. We didn't have any classes together. We didn't have friends in common. At Law school, the JDs did not mix with the LL.Ms. Our paths crossed in the most unexpected way – a chance encounter in the bustling hallway of Jerome L. Greene Hall. An exchange of glances is all it took.

Our first date was a simple lunch at one of Columbia's Dining Halls. I did not need anything fancy. Getting to know him was special enough. Spring semester unfolded like a blooming love story, breaking the barriers that supposedly kept JDs and LL.Ms apart. My LL.M friends teasingly referred to him as ""the JD,"" as if he were the only one, while his JD companions playfully called me ""the LL.M,"" as if I were the sole representative of my kind.

The prospect of a job working with refugees in Thailand after graduation was enticing, but my heart had other plans. He, a determined 2L, felt like the missing piece to my puzzle. Against all odds, I decided to accept a job in DC, and we embraced the challenge of a weekend commute during his 3L year. Upon his graduation, he made a life-altering decision – instead of returning to Massachusetts, he moved to DC to be with me. A few years later, we stood hand in hand, exchanging vows that sealed our commitment.

The journey of our love led us to Ecuador. Fast forward nearly two decades, and our love story continues to evolve. I now serve as a justice of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, while he has become a partner at a Florida-based Law Firm. Our greatest accomplishment, however, is our son, Lucas, a living testament to the enduring strength of our Columbia love story.

We were first years (me Barnard, him CC) — I had joined a sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) and our spring formal was coming up. I had no idea who to invite, but my big was bringing a sophomore on the Columbia Men’s soccer team, Vana’s teammate and best friend. Since Vana and I are both Armenian, she encouraged me to invite him so the four of us could hang out. Though we had never met, she insisted we would have a good time together. She was right — we met at that formal on the very last of classes, kept in touch over the summer, and started dating in the fall. Our first dates were spent on the steps of Low Library, study rooms in Butler, ice cream shops and all up and down the Upper West Side. We even took an Armenian language course together (we were the only two students). Vana and I graduated together in 2020, and we got married this past June in New York City.

Anand and I (Harleen) fell in love with each other at school. After nearly 22 years, we both joined Columbia University to complete our Master's program in Law and Sustainability Management respectively in 2017. Going to university and studying together once again was the most fulfilling experience that made the fondness for each other stronger and everlasting. A historic and esteemed institution and our legendary love for each other was the best thing that could happen! We are grateful and proud Columbian graduates !

When I met my husband at a bar in Mexico City back in 2019, I was trying to be cool and impress him by telling him about my aspirations to move to the US and study my graduate degree at Columbia. “Oh, I studied at Columbia. I’ll join you in New York”. He replied very nonchalantly. I thought he was joking. Why would anyone follow you abroad for a dream that is not theirs anyway?

One pandemic, an engagement, a wedding, a cat and and lots of teamwork later, we’re now in New York! He is my biggest cheerleader. And most importantly, he had me at "Columbia".

AJ and I met at Columbia fall semester 1979 when I was a sophomore and he was a senior. We were both in the same calculus class and I literally fell for him! After class as we were walking down Low Library steps, he was with his friends and I was with mine, and I tripped and fell down the steps right in front of him! We went on our first date just a couple weeks later to Happy Burger on Broadway and 110th St! I knew almost right away that he was the guy for me.

I spent his senior year going to watch him play football on Columbia’s team and attending all the senior year activities with him. It was truly one of the best years of my life. We were/are so in love and I have to thank Columbia for that.

In the summer of 2003, I visited my future dorm floor - John Jay 8. I walked into a room (838) and thought ""wouldn't it be funny if my future husband was in this room"".. and he was! It's no credit to myself as my rom-com obsessed brain was saying things like that all the time. Come August I moved into JJ-828 and met the inhabitant of JJ-838. He was a tall guy with glasses who wanted to major in physics or chemistry and sported a pi tattoo.

Within a month we were an item and that was that. It's pretty incredible how far we've come. We met as immature teenagers that had a lot of growing up to do! Now life finds us rounding up on 40 with three little ones in tow. I still look back on those four years at Columbia with a wistfulness for times passed and happiness for what is yet to come.

We met in 1948, when I was a senior in the college and Naomi '51BC was a sophomore at Barnard. We were both members of the Columbia Players--she as an actor (Iphigenia in Aulis, Murder in the Cathedral, etc.) and I as a participant in the Varsity Show's Pony Ballet and a member of the Players' management. Our first date was at the Columbia vs Princeton football game (we lost). I never did propose; we just took it for granted that we would spend the rest of our lives together. We were married in 1951 and will celebrate our 73rd wedding anniversary next June. Following graduation from Barnard, Naomi earned a master's degree at Columbia as the first woman ever to win Princeton's Woodrow Wilson's fellowship. I had just finished my first year as a medical student at P&S.

Naomi went on to teach English at Barnard and later was a copy editor for Farrar, Strauss and Giroux and at Consumer Reports Magazine. I practiced medicine with the Scarsdale Medical Group for over six decades and have recently retired. Along the way we had four wonderful children: Barry (a master luthier), Amy ('80BC, '90GSAS--a special-education teacher); Mark (a musical-theater keyboard artist); and Harry ('86CC, '90LAW), an attorney. As a family, we have eight Columbia degrees.

Kim and Whitney share a romance that blossomed within the nurturing grounds of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, where they were lucky enough to be assigned to the same cohort and had every class together their first semester at Columbia. Their love story, set against the vibrant backdrop of New York City, began with Kim, a native New Yorker, introducing Whitney to the city's most enchanting sights and experiences, marking the start of a whirlwind romance. Since 2015, their bond has deepened over shared passions for travel, food, and social justice.

Eight years on, their journey together has been marked by significant milestones: Kim coming out to friends and family, a wedding in Vermont, purchasing their first home, and navigating the challenges of a global pandemic side by side. Through every up and down, Whitney has been Kim's unwavering partner, embodying the spirit of a true “Colum-bae”. Kim's heartfelt message to Whitney, ""I love you, my forever Valentine, thanks for taking that walk with me to catch the train"" captures the simple strength of their enduring love, a testament to the beauty of their partnership.

#kwvallen

Sparkled, But Never Faded

It was December 1993 and the winter tree lights of College Walk were sparkling in her eyes. Judging by the photo we took that night, she was definitely not offended by my…shall we say…”style” in the least (South Beach equestrian was it?). We had no idea, as we headed together to the Low Library rotunda for the annual Winter Wonderland first-year semi-formal, that we’d be spending the next 30+ years together.

After a summer camp wedding in 2005 and the addition of twin Columbia Lion cubs to the pride in 2007, here we are in 2024. Those cubs just turned 17 and may just take a college walk of their own.

Huge shout out to the entire CU grounds staff for taking the time to expertly install those lights every year and for making dreams come true.

Happy Valentine’s Day Allison Jaffin!

xo, Seth Unger

#roarlion #cc97

(photo: Room 601A, Carman Hall, December, 1993)

Thaiza and I didn't meet exactly at Columbia; but the curious turns of life made our paths cross in the fall of 2019 in the busy streets of the West Village. Thaiza was fresh out of her program '19BUS and I was already a few years out '14BUS; a Brazilian and an Ecuadorian getting to know each other and sharing stories of Columbia, single life in NYC and being far from family. It was the perfect set up for a New York love story!

A second date came, then a third, then it was Thursday date nights, weekend bike rides and sunsets by the Hudson, a trip to Tulum and a 4 month lock down in Miami. Along the way we realized we had a Columbia Business School friend in common and suddenly our Columbia journeys overlapped; today we have a big family of Columbia friends that we cherish and love!

We moved to Miami in late 2021, and the following fall we got engaged in New York and were joined by 20+ CBS friends to celebrate! Our wedding became a mini Columbia Business School reunion of our two classes! We can't wait to celebrate together our 10 and 5 year reunion this year!