Event Management Serves as Event Production Partner for President Shafik’s Inauguration

Event Management partnered with the Office of the President to support event production for all inaugural activities earlier this month when Minouche Shafik was welcomed as the 20th president of Columbia University.

October 20, 2023

Beginning early in the day, the team hosted breakfast in Ancell Plaza for 300 people including visitors, dignitaries, and University stakeholders participating in the procession for the inauguration ceremony. The team also catered breakfast in Buell Hall for event volunteers. 

On the South Lawn, Event Management hosted a watch party for 1,600 students complete with a donut wall, homemade crudité, pita chips, apples, fresh-popped popcorn, and beverages.  

Lunch in Lerner Hall for 1,200 guests included an interactive show kitchen where guests interfaced directly with the chefs who prepared their meal. It featured Event Management’s Sustainable Living Menu, and the AV/Technical team transformed the room with seasonal autumnal lighting. It felt like being inside a pumpkin! 

At the VIP lunch in Lerner Hall’s newly renovated Wang Pavilion, a student jazz trio performed while guests enjoyed their food to show off the room’s new state-of-the-art audio system. In addition to President Shafik’s Inauguration, Event Management also threw a last-minute reception in Havemeyer Hall for Nobel Prize winning Professor Emeritus Louis Brus included cheese, crudité, and champagne for 50 people. 

Later in the day, Event Management put on a cross-campus series of dance parties for a total of 1,800 students and guests. Venues included Low Rotunda (400 attendees), Low Faculty Room (200 attendees), Lerner Auditorium (1,100 attendees), and Wang Pavilion (180 attendees).   

The catering theme for these parties was all blue and white treats: macarons, chocolate-dipped pretzels, cake pops, movie candy, and fresh-popped kettle corn. The AV/Technical team put on dance party lighting, including popular light-up letters spelling CU ROAR in all locations. The CU ROAR letters have remained a fixture for social media moments even after Inauguration. 

Each location featured dance-focused student groups like CU China Dance, IJOYA, CU Raas, and Sabor leading dances and teaching attendees how to do the steps. Even President Shafik and members of the Board of the Trustees could be seen cutting a rug in Low Library!