Karishma Habbu: CCSC President

The Basics:

Name: Karishma Habbu

Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia

Major/Concentration: Biology/ Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS)

College/Year: CC ‘13

“I don’t think of what I do as politics,” Karishma Habbu says of her work as CCSC president.  “It’s kind of like if you love to play the cello, but you had to get elected to play,” she adds with a laugh. It’s not what you’d expect from Habbu, especially for those of us who know her as the CCSC president and the reason for those “Lion Bytes” emails in our lionmail accounts: the biology major doesn’t think of the Columbia College Student Council’s work as “politics” at all. In Habbu’s opinion, “real” politics are much more bleak: “I see politics as throwing people under the bus to get ahead. [During campaign season], it’s true that I’m trying to win an election, but only so I can continue doing what I love and helping the community that I’ve come to care about.”

And it feels true. I’ve only just met Habbu, CC ’13, for the first time, but it’s clear that she’s dedicated to being involved at Columbia—giving tours around campus, selling Columbia’s high points to high school students, even offering to meet me for this interview after a last minute scheduling change. As she talks about becoming something of an accidental politician during her freshman year, Habbu emanates easy, feel-good vibes, adopting a breezy conversational tone as we establish a back-and-forth repertoire. “I was never involved with student government in high school,” says Habbu, who will be attending medical school in the future. Instead, she continues, Habbu was inspired by a presentation given by Sue Yang, CC’10, about CCSC and it’s role on campus. “I was blown away by how much potential there was for [CCSC] to do good and to be part of real change. I saw [Yang’s] energy and the [other council members’] energy—that was what really attracted me to the student council”. 

An attraction to energy seems fitting for Habbu, whose speech is punctured with a unique kind of dynamism and liveliness that’s infectious. With her words, she leads you to really believe in the unique opportunity of being young in New York City, of being young at Columbia, filled with students she describes as “energetic, involved, and intelligent—really vibrant people”—the kind of people that led her to choose Columbia as a rising college freshman. Even recounting the “overwhelming whirlwind” of NSOP week, Habbu’s words seem laden with a sentimental nostalgia that only becomes more prevalent as she describes her three-and-a-half years at Columbia, calling them, in hindsight, a “roller coaster ride.” A fitting metaphor, considering that Habbu’s time here has not been without its up and downs nor free of regrets.

“I wish that—for me—I’d taken things slower, easier,” Habbu confesses, admitting that her attempt to transfer her high school way of life to the rigors of life at Columbia was ultimately unsuccessful. “I tried to take on the world at a completely new school, and I think that’s a very common self-perpetuating feeling on campus—that you’re surrounded by all these brilliant people and you want to live up to them and all their accomplishments and expectations…you kind of buy into all of it,” Habbu continues, gesturing, vaguely, to the air around her. Still, it’s obvious that Habbu looks at her undergraduate years positively, especially when describing what she considers the “most important part” of her Columbia experience: “I’ve made great friends here…friends that I think will be with me for the rest of my life. I’ve fallen in love…I’ve made great connections with people here.”

Of the future, Habbu says that she will “be traveling with some of [her] good friends—continent unknown” and spending a lot of time with family.  But bringing us back to the present and away from the future that awaits, after a brief pause, Habbu tells me that “[she’s] really enjoyed allowing the people that [she’s] met [at Columbia] to change [her] perspective on things,” suggesting that it’s not enough simply to be here; you have to let Columbia in. From what I can see, Habbu certainly has.