General Studies Lounge

Here's a short piece to offically state the rationale your Student Council is presenting in our effort to change General Studies diplomas to Latin, as well as, offer some facts about Columbia diplomas to clarify common mispreceptions. The better informed we all are the more productive our conversations will be when discussing this issue.

The classic Latin diploma has always been issued to students of Columbia College.

Columbia University has issued a separate, general diploma to all other graduates for years.

The general diploma is in English and used to look like this.

In the 1980’s two schools decided to make their diplomas unique. Columbia Law School changed theirs to Latin and made it larger, while the College of Physicians and Surgeons decided to issue a portrait orientation instead of a landscape layout.

Columbia Law School diploma

From 2003 to 2005 General Studies University Senator, Matan Ariel worked on an initiative across schools which changed diplomas University-wide. What originally began as push to change GS diplomas from English to Latin resulted in changing the design of general University’s diploma.  

As it stands today, with the exception of Columbia College, Columbia Law School and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, all Columbia University graduates receive the same, general diploma.  That standard diploma is completely identical across schools differing in three ways; the student’s name, the title of the degree earned and the Dean’s signature of the school the student has graduated.

This standard diploma design which is issued to General Studies graduates shares the exact same design as the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and thirteen other schools in the University.

This year’s GSSC is continuing an effort which began years ago—to make the School of General Studies diploma Latin. Just as Columbia Law School and the College of Physicians and Surgeons have moved to differentiate their diplomas to reflect the desires of their students, we wish to do the same with a Latin diploma for General Studies graduates.

We believe GS students have an entirely different respect and reverence for their Columbia diplomas. We've all traveled a long and hard road, coming with "our stories" to accomplish earning our degrees. Not to mention, unlike most traditional age undergraduates, we are self-financing our education. So if we desire for our diplomas to be in Latin, we should have it.

To those of you who are passionately moved for or against a Latin diploma please email me with your thoughts.

If you support a Latin diploma for GS, please visit the GS Latin Diploma Petition page http://gslounge.com/GSLatinDiploma

If you do not support this change I encourage you to also email me (mr2593@columbia.edu) with your full name, UNI and your comments.

Kind regards,

Michael J. Rain
Vice-President of Policy