Columbia Love Stories 2025

When we returned to campus for senior year, my friend Gary ('15CC) suggested I meet his friend Matt. Aside from some light social media sleuthing and Gary vouching for each of us, Matt and I knew virtually nothing about each other. Still, we agreed to a coffee date at Joe Coffee in NoCo. Being the thoughtful person he is, Matt came to pick me up from EC 1802 (two whole floors above his EC 1612 suite!). What started as a casual coffee turned into a four-hour conversation, and before we knew it, seven years had passed. In 2021, we were married at Manhattan City Hall. Life has changed a lot since Joe Coffee, but Matt has always been my steady constant. I moved halfway across the world from Myanmar to New York, and for much of my life, everything and everywhere has felt transient and nomadic. But except for Matt, who always feels like home. Columbia means a lot to our family, especially in the way that it brought us together.

I met my now husband Brad on the first day of student orientation for our graduate program at Columbia. Fresh from Southern California, I had arrived pretty underdressed compared to all of my new classmates, apparently having missed the memo that business attire would've been the most appropriate choice to wear that day. I looked across the crowded room and there was Brad...the t-shirt and flip flops he was wearing signified that he was also underdressed, and also probably from California.

We became fast friends, started dating, survived the winter snowpocalypse of 2013/2014 together in his apartment on 119th Street, and ended up moving back to the West Coast together, where we've lived for the last 10 years.

We first met through a mutual friend and happened to live in the same building. While we were good friends, we didn’t spend much time together at first. However, as we ended up taking the same classes, we started spending more time with each other and quickly realized how much we enjoyed each other's company. By the end of the second semester, we had become best friends. During the summer, all our friends went off to internships in different cities, so we ended up spending more time together after our own internships. As the end of our course and the third semester approached, we both realized that we had developed deeper feelings for each other and wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

The next challenge was talking to our parents. He had long decided that he would move back to India after working here for a few years, while my parents had different expectations for me. After a lot of convincing, a few meetings, and navigating through the struggles, he proposed to me on my birthday, with both of our parents present for our graduation ceremony. We made the decision to marry in December 2024. We recently tied the knot, and after everything we’ve been through, I’m forever grateful to Columbia University. I never would have met the love of my life if it weren’t for that place.

"It was like we'd been chasing after each other across the country, without even knowing, until we finally met in the General Studies Student Lounge."

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It was my first semester and his last. I was wearing a shirt that had my namesake, Montana, the state my parents met, on it when he approached me in the lounge. He gestured towards my shirt and asked, "Are you from Montana too?" but the convo didn't stop when I told him I wasn't. Instead we exchanged numbers and later found ourselves clicking while getting to know each other over drinks at Arts and Crafts. We learned that he was born in the state I grew up in, California, that my namesake state was where he spent his teen years, and that the state I was born in, New York, was where we'd both of course ended up in to study at Columbia after careers in the military (him) and film (me). It was like we'd been chasing after each other across the country, without even knowing, until we finally met in the General Studies Student Lounge.

Three years on and we're still clicking! We've both graduated and begun our new careers in software development (him) and marketing (me). Along the way we rescued a cat named Cheese, traveled to multiple countries together and just this year, moved into our first place together. Columbia will always be a special place for us, as individuals and as a couple.

James and I met as students in Climate & Society. James was originally in the class of '21, which was given the opportunity to complete the program part time in order to have some on-campus, in-person time once we could better navigate the pandemic. I was the class of '22. We met briefly during orientation, but didn't have any formal introduction until we were assigned a semester-long project for our Managing and Adapting to Climate Change course. By the time the end of the semester rolled around, we professed our feelings for each other on a blistery evening on the lawn in front of Butler.

We finished the program and moved to Maine and both are continuing to work in the climate space; he in carbon sequestration and utilization, I in climate and fisheries adaptation. While we are a bit removed from the hustle and bustle of New York City, we remember our time there fondly and frequently and are so grateful for Cathy Vaughan for randomly pairing us together for that project.

My wife and I met the first day of medical school in September 1966 at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. However, our "origination" stories vary slightly. Judy says that the 12 women in our class (total class size of 120, pretty obviously 10 percent) met the night before classes started and looked over the class picture book together....and that she selected me out of it.... My recollection is that she approached me the next morning on our way to breakfast while I was buying the New York Times and asked if I would share it with her. I happily complied and we have been happily married for 56 years. Alas, only one of our two children went to P&S, the other attending medical school in Chicago.

I was a Columbia sophomore and Leslie was a first-year Barnard student. We met at a mixer in Ferris Booth Hall. I asked her to dance and we enjoyed talking to each other. Our first date was the Yule Log Ceremony—Professor Moses Hadas lit the fire and read “T’was the Night Before Christmas” before a moderate sized group of students. It wasn’t love at first sight. For some time we both dated others. But by my senior year, we knew we were meant for each other. We got married by Rabbi Isador Hoffman, Columbia’s counselor to Jewish students, the day after my last final, in Earl Hall. It was a small wedding, followed by lunch at Butler Penthouse and a honeymoon trip to Europe.

Following the honeymoon, I went off to med school. Leslie had another year at Barnard and then attended Columbia grad school to get her MA in Chinese literature. After my residency, we spent three years in Japan (I was in the Air Force), 40 years in Oregon and the last seven years in Vermont to be near our grandchildren, who live in Montreal. We have many fond memories of our time on Morningside Heights.

We graduated from UCI together, applied to Columbia together, and made the decision to come here together. At the time, we didn’t know what the future would hold, but we knew that no matter what, we wanted to take that step side by side.

From the day we arrived in New York, we explored the city together, pulled all-nighters writing papers, walked past Low Library in the cold morning light, and dreamed about the future under the cherry blossoms in the spring. Columbia witnessed our growth, our challenges, and how our bond deepened from something uncertain to something unshakable.

Standing next to each other in our caps and gowns, we realized that earning our degrees was only part of the journey—what truly mattered was that we had made it together. Columbia isn’t just our alma mater; it’s the place where our story truly began.

We met in a King’s Crown Shakespeare Troupe production of “Troilus and Cressida” in which we had the two smallest roles. He was a freshman and I was a sophomore. After hanging out with the KCST group for two years, we ended up alone at dinner one night and discovered a mutual love of Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.” We decided to read “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and compare notes while I spent the summer in NYC and he spent the summer in Minneapolis. We exchanged email analyses of the book carefully crafted to impress the other with our cleverness and insight. Then we read another book and called it a book club. It was very nerdy and very Columbia. By the time we returned to school in the fall, we were ready for an actual date. We ate at Tom's Diner and rented a movie from Kim’s. We’ve been married for 18 years.

While a third year medical student on a summer medicine rotation I admited an elderly women with hematologic problems. The nursing students caring for her had an instructor I was attracted to, in spite of the social mores which defined nursing students as within my purview, not their faculty. Being shy, I asked her on a date by means of a note, signing just my first name.

Unbeknownst to me, she also had lofty aspirations outside the social boundaries and was interested in, not the appropriate house staff, but rather their faculty, an attending physician. Fortunately we shared the same first name. Hiding her disappointment when I showed up, all went well frow there. We married two days before graduation and will celebrate our 53rd anniversary in June.

When I was working at a non-profit start up a couple of years after graduating, I called one of my best friends from SIPA and asked her if she knew anyone who would be a great candidate to head our finance department. That's what we did pre-internet! She said she was working with a great guy who graduated a year ahead of us who would be perfect. I knew he was from a distance, and was intrigued.

A phone interview followed by in-person interview lead to a job offer. Thirty-five years later we have much to celebrate—a marriage, two amazing daughters, and decades of exploring the world together.

“Why do you think the Industrial Revolution began in Europe instead of China?”—probably not my best attempt at flirting, but it did the trick.*

Allie and I met during the pandemic lockdowns a year before, and I remembered her being the only student in the class who always kept her Zoom camera on. By chance, we registered for four of the same poli sci courses in the fall of 2021.

One night later that week we rode the Staten Island Ferry and walked around the Lower West Side until 2 a.m., just talking beneath the bright lights. Allie offered me a Kona Big Wave at her apartment, my first beer, as if she knew we would move to Hawaii together and get married.

The following nine months at Columbia left me with too many vivid memories to count. My senior thesis was that lying in the South Lawns on a sunny day, stopping by JJ’s at midnight, and speed-writing term papers in Butler are all experiences made better when shared.

I met my husband Jack Morava in February 1969 at a coffee shop on 116th St. and Broadway (not Chock Full of Nuts—another that no longer exists). I sat at the counter next to a guy reading The Third Policeman, a quirky novel by the Irish writer Flann O’Brien, said to be comparable only to Alice in Wonderland. It’s not that well known so I exclaimed, “Wow, you’re reading The Third Policeman!” He looked at me in surprise and said “You’ve read The Third Policeman?” From the other side Jack chimed in, “You’ve read The Third Policeman?” For a few minutes we enjoyed the idea of three people sitting in a row who had all read this obscure book, then the guy in the middle finished his lunch and left. The rest is history.

I was working out at Dodge Fitness Center one day in Spring 2022 when a very tall, very fit-looking guy doing leg raises at a nearby captain's chair caught my eye. I thought he was really cute, but I was too shy to approach him. I forgot about him, until months later I was swiping on a dating app and I recognized his face. We matched, realizing we had both been completing our Master's degrees at Columbia (his at GSAS, mine at Teachers College) at the same time, and set up a time to meet. Our first date was a 90-degree day in July 2022, where we awkwardly each drank a single beer at Ellington in the Park in Riverside Park, but then spent hours talking on the Low Library Steps. I was amazed at how easy our conversation was. I think he was upset when I initially didn't text him back for a few hours after the date because I was gushing to my roommate about it, but it has been smooth sailing ever since.

Cahlin and I have been together for two and half years now, and even though we have both graduated, we have stayed in the Morningside Heights neighborhood and call the area home. I'm so grateful that Columbia brought us together.

On Sunday, May 27, 2012, I was traveling uptown on the 1 train with a friend who got off at 125th St. “Weren’t you in that play?” I looked up and saw that a blond guy in a salmon-colored tank top and aviator eyeglasses had asked the question. I was momentarily taken aback—not because of him, but because he was the second person that day to ask me about a role I’d had three months prior. In March, I’d played Oberon in A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream—a Bard Hall Players production. Not exactly Broadway.

Normally, I’d increase the intensity of my mean mug in the case of an unsolicited subway conversation, but this guy seemed innocent enough. Have you ever locked in on a new face and, for a split second, had the inexplicable feeling that person would somehow become important in your life?

I affirmed his question, and he sat down in the still-warm seat beside me. We chatted briefly about his Memorial Day plans and how I’d be moving to Rio de Janeiro in about a week until the train arrived at 145th St., and he stood and said goodbye. I figured that was that.

Back in my Washington Heights studio, I opened my laptop.

Wingo, Matthew <[email protected]>

To: “Jacobs, Jasmine Lindsay” <[email protected]>

27 May 2012 at 20:30

“hi jasmine,

I was the sunburned medical student that you met on the train...i hope you don't mind that i looked you up on the directory. I enjoyed meeting you and I would like to see you again at some point and hear more about your plans in Brazil before you leave. Let me know if you are available sometime this week. Or... if you think you'd rather not meet up, it is totally fine to pretend that you never received this email and not respond : )

happy memorial day!

matt”

Through a few emails, we exchanged availability laced with attempted wittiness. We were close to finalizing a date for Monday when I let my inner saboteur have her way. I canceled, blaming packing stress (in reality, I just wanted to watch Emily’s season of The Bachelorette with a friend).

His reply carried the first of many clapbacks I’ve experienced over the years signaling he’s a true Scorpio; he guessed he’d have to be satisfied by our new Facebook friendship, he retorted:

“I’m sure that clicking the ‘like’ button on your Brazil photos will be every bit as fun as a date (that was a joke, but don't interpret it as passive-aggressive, I am just expressing remorse that I didn't ask you out sooner).”

Once again, I figured that was that.

On the day of my flight, I made my final rounds before heading to JFK—hugging friends goodbye and stopping at Hammer (now Long) to make a copy of my passport (yes, I should’ve done this sooner). Someone descending the stairs made eye contact with me, but I wasn’t wearing my glasses. Was this the same guy I met on the train? If I waved, would he think I was crazy? He spoke first. Phew. “Aren’t you leaving for Brazil today?”

Yes, we had our subway encounter, but I think the moment in the stairwell was actually the beginning—at least for me. Even after he got rejected, this man still remembered my moving day (the first of many actions I’ve experienced over the years demonstrating his kind-hearted nature).

Here we are in 2025—married for nearly 10 years with new job prospects, a high-spirited toddler, the pain of two miscarriages, a Tabby cat that doubles as my shadow, and all the other ups and downs that constitute a shared existence. Our partnership certainly hasn’t been easy or even always enjoyable, but our love has withstood. Thank you, God. Thank you, MTA. And thank you, Columbia student directory.

Our friendship started with our mutual interest in environmental science. We crossed paths in our Earth's Environmental Systems: The Solid Earth course in the corner classroom in Schermerhorn. What started out as a simple “save me a seat” text, blossomed into a beautiful friendship that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. We grow so close in such a short amount of time that we feel like we have known each other for our entire lives. Although we have thousands of miles between us now, we still fill little moments in each other’s lives.

My girlfriend and I met at my community college. She was my lab partner in my biology class. During my first semester at Columbia, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had to take a medical leave of absence to go through treatment, and she took off work for two weeks to make sure I was okay. I became cancer free, I just graduated, and now she's a Master's student at Seton Hall University.

Francesca and I met at a pre-MBA happy hour on the Upper West Side in April 2014. We did not exactly hit it off in that first meeting, as I promptly embarrassed myself. I had another shot to impress a few months later in July, once we had both moved to our new apartments on the Upper West Side. We got re-acquainted at another pre-MBA networking event and immediately took a liking to each other, as friends at first. Since we both did not know many people in New York at the time, we decided to explore our new neighborhood together, which included a trip to the Natural History Museum; neither of us knew at the time that this was really our first date. We discussed upcoming travel plans and both realized that we were heading to Europe as a part of the pre-MBA World Tour, and would be crossing paths in Turkey. From that trip forward, we were inseparable. We traveled the world together during our time at Columbia, from the Great Wall to the Northern Lights, and eventually moved in together after graduation in 2016 in Chelsea. Unfortunately, this is where our first chapter ends. We separated in the spring of 2017.

We stayed in touch from time to time while we both lived in New York, always seeming to find each other every few years. In January 2022, we found each other again, but this time was different: we both decided our time in New York was coming to a close. I was moving to Los Angeles, where I am from, and Francesca was moving to Chicago for work. We spent much of our last few months in the City together until I left in April. Our time was up, and it felt like the closing of a chapter in our lives. It was truly time to say goodbye for the last time.

Thankfully, this was not the case. We reconnected a year and a half later when I sent a five-page, hand-written letter expressing my feelings for her. In the package, I included pictures of us and a plane ticket from Los Angeles to Chicago. Thankfully, the feelings were shared by Francesca and my offer to visit and get back together were happily received. We got engaged in February 2024 and stayed long distance for eight months until she got a job that allowed her to move to Los Angeles. We were married in October 2024 in Charlottesville, Virginia, surrounded by Lions.

In April 2017, a taxi dropped John off on 116 and Amsterdam. John was excited to interview for a position within Columbia Residential Life and was told to meet his interview host, Cliff, at the Gates on Amsterdam. Little did they know, they were about to meet their future fiancé.

Cliff (a Columbia School of Social Work alum) had such an amazing time at Columbia that he decided to stay and begin his professional career Between the Gates. A few months after the interview, John was offered the job and took the role, not knowing how it was going to change his life. Columbia holds a special place in John and Cliff's hearts as it is where their love began and continued to grow through COVID, new jobs, and long distance. Cliff and John are set to get married in June 2025 and many of their Columbia colleagues and friends will be in attendance, a testament to the amazing connections they made while on campus.

We met while at Columbia in 2019, and have been together since. Our love survived the challenges of long-distance, the COVID-19 pandemic... and we are now happily married with a beautiful two-year-old daughter. We can confidently say that Columbia is such a special place in our hearts 🙂

I remember rushing into Watson Hall for Professor Kai McBride's Photo II class in Fall 2013. I was rustling through my backpack before class, pulling out a sticker sheet I got from my internship, when I heard someone say, "hey, where're my stickers at?" in a distinctive New York accent. I look up at my classmate: a GS student turned around in his seat, the sleeves of his Columbia University hoodie rolled up, exposing the sleeve of tattoos on his forearm. I'd never even talked to this guy, and he's asking me for stickers? Well, I'm lucky he did. Thanks to him, I not only had a partner for visual arts projects, but also—with him being a native New Yorker—a partner to explore the city.

Fast forward to a couple of days before commencement, we became official. We ended up tying the knot in 2019, and we just welcomed our second baby this past October.

It was freshman week at Columbia University in the fall of 1966. I stood by my window in Carman Hall, watching students stroll along College Walk, the campus alive with the excitement of new beginnings. Then, in the golden afternoon light, I noticed a group of young women crossing the plaza, their laughter drifting through the crisp autumn air as they made their way up the steps of Low Library.

My roommates and I quickly realized—they were Barnard freshmen, heading to President Grayson Kirk’s reception. Without hesitation, we grabbed our freshman beanies, dashed down the dormitory stairs, and made our way to the event, eager for an introduction to our new classmates.

And that’s where I met Brenda Eng. A psychology major with an beautiful smile and an intelligence that instantly captivated me. Winning her over wasn’t easy—it took persistence, charm (or so I hoped), and a fair bit of luck. But somehow, I did.

Six years later, on a cold December day in 1972, I found myself walking up those same steps again. But this time, I wasn’t heading to the library. I was making my way to St. Paul’s Chapel, where Brenda and I stood before our families, our professors, and the friends we had made at Columbia and Barnard, ready to begin our life together.

Now, 52 years later, with two children and a grandchild on the way, I often think back to that moment—the instant I looked out my window and saw the love of my life walking up the stairs to Low Library. And I’m forever grateful that I followed her there.