Yes but if OP is afraid of the core, there are other colleges, many of which will have distribution requirements.
In the end, if any school’s requirements bother someone, why would they pick that school? Many colleges offer the PPE or similar degree OP seeks from Columbia - at urban schools such as Pitt or urbanish such as Arizona or smaller, a few miles from downtown like Rhodes or Richmond. And open curriculum Rochester. Wesleyan has their own version in the College of Social Studies. Even urban College of Charleston has a PPE minor to go along with the Politics, Philosophy and Law concentration
I’m not sure what attracted OP to Columbia. It’s obviously a fine school but if someone is uncomfortable with something, perhaps they should either not bind themselves or flat out find an alternative.
They was my only point.
Thanks