The Bwoggers trapped inside Roone managed to get these messages to the outside:

According to an Office of Communications representative, the spots weren’t handed out on a first-come first-served basis. Columbia College was capped at 150, SIPA at 300, and 150 went to Barnard, SEAS, and all other grad schools combined.

That’s ok though, because nobody really got what they wanted. Communications handed out 20 press passes and 10 for camerapeople (Al-Jazeera got one pass), leaving a crowd of 200-300 languishing in the J-school’s overflow room. How’d they decide who got in?

“The magic and power of the Communications office,” she said.

Competition was tough for Columbia staff, too. Communications director Robert Hornsby personally decided who could go. Not so with State Senator Bill Perkins, whom one Bwogger chatted with about life and school–all he had to do was call.

And what are all the kids doing in the two hours they have to spend waiting for PrezBo and Mahmoud? Here are some responses:

“Well I have a clipboard and a pen, and I’m just working on the old-school pen-and-paper games like MASH.”

One guy was reading Philip Roth. “It’s just a book I’m in the middle of, and I don’t want to do work.”

“We’re planning and executing a thumb war. The winner gets to go home with Ahmadinejad.”