Orgo Night
Orgo Night is held on the day before the Organic Chemistry exam, which is always on the first day of finals. At precisely the stroke of midnight, the Columbia University Marching Band occupies Room 209 (the main reading room) of Butler Library to distract diligent students from studying. Despite the commotion, at least some students attempt to study through the event.
Though the performance doesn't begin until midnight, early arrival is recommended as students begin to file in and claim prime spaces in the room as early as 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time.
Performance timeline
The band begins by telling scripted campus-interest jokes and playing music. After half an hour, the procession moves out to Van Am Quad to entertain the residents of Hartley, Wallach, and John Jay residence halls. The band then plays at various other locations around the campus, including the courtyard of Wien, President Bollinger's House and the residential quadrangle of Barnard College, where students of the all-women's school rain trash - including notes and course packets - and pornographic magazines upon them from their dormitory rooms above.
The band ends their Orgo Night performances in front of Furnald Hall, formerly an all-senior dormitory, where the seniors gathering on the steps of the building are presented with bottles of champagne, and the underclassmen in the marching band serenade them with a singing of the college Alma Mater, Sans Souci. After finishing the song, the singers begin a spirited and entertaining, though vulgar, mock-version of the song, composed of quips that poke fun at the various stereotypes about the Columbia student body.
Typical joke targets
- Barnard College
- Student government
- famous or infamous students like Matt Sanchez, Mark Modesitt and Chris Kulawik
- NY and national politicians
- NYU
- PrezBo
- the university's neglect of undergrads
- sex, especially S&M
- Aleksandr Litvinenko
