The autumnal equinox—that day on which nighttime and daytime hours are exactly equal—signals not only the changing of the season, but also many behavioral changes. Wardrobes are augmented with vests and scarves. Flip-flops are discarded for boots. A voiceless generation of crunchy leaves is laid waste underfoot. And yet, all of this pales in comparison to that symptom of the equinox most relevant to Columbia students: Professors get comfortable piling on work. The days get shorter and the nights spent in Butler Library longer, until they get so long that they turn into mornings. As we walk to class from Butler in the same clothes we wore the day before, the autumnal equinox begets that notorious Columbia tradition: the Butler Walk of Shame.
