Yikes! This was in the 80’s?
Actually, it was in the late 1970s, and I became most aware of it in 1977 (not for any particular reason, except that maybe I was spending more time on the steps than I used to). I went across to try to meet some of the people there and met one guy who came to Columbia to be with his girlfriend, who dumped him shortly after he came as a freshman. He had lost his motivation and at that time was a senior who had no idea what he was going to do. I got the impression he didn’t go to many of his classes and didn’t do much of anything except hang out. In general, I didn’t feel welcome on that side of College Walk.