As the days grow shorter, Ancient Rituals Correspondent Mark Hay reports that in one Milbank stairwell, students have constructed a veritable Stonehenge:

More slightly strange photos after the jump. Read more…

Andrew Cuomo v.  the President of 9/11 (NY Post).

The University Senate gets meta (Spec).  

There’s something in the water at Harvard (Gawker). 

The Office of Multicultural Affairs: Where Everyone Knows Your Name  (Spec).

Rachel Ray saves the world with whole-wheat flatbread and free-range chicken (CityRoom).

Hipsters worry that Williamsburg = Belfast circa 1970 (NY Daily News).

SEAS Classes of 2011 and 2012, be sure to join Dean Peña-Mora in Carleton Lounge in Mudd at 8:00pm tonight for an opportunity to meet him while grubbing on free pizza and drinks. Maybe even get his take on the swim test.

And for the rest of us, Amir’s on 114th and Broadway is having a special 2 for $1 “Falafel Bite” tonight. How big is a bite? It’s $1, who cares!

Dear Friends:

Please join the staff of The Blue and White and the Bwog at our meeting tonight, happening at 9:30 PM in the basement of St. Paul’s Chapel. First-years and new writers/artists/editors are especially welcome and encouraged to attend.

We’ll be planning our upcoming issue and mapping out content for the magazine and the Bwog for the rest of the year, so if you’ve ever wanted to get involved with the magazine and/or the Bwog, please stop by. The meeting will feature the ancient and sacred tradition of finger-jousting, likely followed by baked goods and enlivened discussion among gentleman and ladies. ‘Tis not to be missed.

B&W!

The Editors

A 100% anonymous, gets-stuff-in-discreet-brown-packaging tipster informed us about this little series on erectile dysfunction found on a McBain bulletin board. No word on why the RA chose such a topic, but, hey, the more you know…

Another new week, another Bwog CCSC report, this time about gender-neutral housing and just exactly what Dean’s Discipline is:

Despite the effective absence of President Sue Yang (who was only present via Gchat video from Boston), CCSC focused most of its meeting on discussion of two major policy initiatives for the year. Yang’s absence did put on display the differing motivational approaches of the other executive board members – when urging fellow board members to help promote Basketball Mania (formerly Midnight Mania), VP for Finance Nuriel Moghavem urged the board to “put your money where your mouth is” in supporting traditions, while VP for Campus Life Deysy Ordonez chimed in, “Or in nicer terms, we are all CCSC, and we want everyone to be there.”

The first major policy discussed was gender-neutral housing. The councils are exploring giving students the power to drop the gender restriction on living situations. Students would have to opt in to this living arrangement, which would apply to both housing and bathrooms. CC 2011 president Learned Foote explained that the policy was intended for students uncomfortable with the “gender binary,” especially trans students, but he told Bwog after the meeting that there wouldn’t be any barrier to opposite-sex couples living together (as same-sex couples have been able to do for years).

Some council members expressed concern over the complexity the opt-in system would bring to the housing system, but CC 2010 President Cliff Massey, who has worked in Housing for three years, assured the board that an opt-in process could be implemented easily. The council did vote, though, to only push for gender-neutral housing for non-first years; it was decided that without any ability to pre-arrange roommates, adding gender-neutral housing to the first-year process would be too difficult. Council members expressed confidence that, since 40% of first-years live in singles, the lack of gender-neutral housing would not be a deterrent to prospective first-years. VP for Policy Sarah Weiss and Foote will be meeting with Housing’s Scott Wright on Friday to discuss the policy.

Read more…

Quick, if you head over to Broadway outside of Ricky’s right now, you’ll not only find our favorite Wafels and Dinges truck, but you may even get onto a Food Network show! Shooting a pilot for a new “Street Eats” show, they’re profiling the man behind the truck right here outside campus. You can even sign a release form!

Welcome back to Ask Bwog, where we try to find the answers to Columbia’s persistent questions.

Anyone who has graduated from Columbia in the last 60 years can tell you that to earn a B.A. degree, you must either swim 75 m (three lengths of the pool) or take the beginner’s swimming PE class. The younger graduates can also tell you that SEAS students, strangely, do not share this ritual. Columbia legend offers a logical explanation: if one day Manhattan sinks, CC students would have to swim across the Hudson, but SEAS students could use their engineering skills to build a boat. 

As likely as this theory sounds, this bizarre division between CC and SEAS only came about less than two decades ago, as a result of a combination of misunderstandings, journalistic errors, Columbian bureaucracy, sketchy decision-making and a healthy amount of bitterness.

On September 5, 1991, the Spectator published an article titled “Swim test dropped as requirement.” Kathryn Yatrakis, then the Associate Dean of Columbia College, was quoted saying, “The Columbia College Committee On Instruction (COI) has agreed in principle to eliminate the swim test from the list of degree requirements effective immediately.” This article announced, “As of now, all Columbia College students will be free from the requirement. Students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) are still expected to swim, but the requirement is being review [sic].” Read more…

Thought you had a bad weekend? Not as bad as this cabbie who drove all the way to Long Island, only to be pepper sprayed by his passenger instead of paid. (NYP)

Strangeness occurred downtown as street-level billboards were painted over by artists in an attempt to question their legality, only to be repainted with ads hours later. (NYT)

Start saving up those bottled waters, because starting this Saturday, you can get a nickel back for each bottle you return to a store or redemption center. (Gothamist)

Only in Manhattan is it reasonable to ask the question of which is more precious: a place to park, or a place to live? (Spec)

And finally, not only are Columbia students great at poking fun at pop culture in tune, turns out they’re not too bad at laying down beats about journalistic ethics. (Gawker)

Next week the student councils will be sending a survey out to the student body, to gather opinion on the proposed campus smoking ban. To provide a little background, tonight we present senior editor Adam Kuerbitz’s feature on the ban, from the new issue of the Blue and White.

The cigarette break has changed drastically in the past decade: What was once nothing more than a courtesy to anti-smoking relatives—or even just a good excuse to leave a bad party—has become a mandatory exodus. Since 2003, when New York State banned indoor smoking, a culture of urban smokers has developed under the city’s awnings and streetlights. Smokers at Columbia are no different: Friendships begin around ashtrays outside John Jay and Carman and continue during study breaks and chance meetings outside Butler and Lerner. Last month though, New York City officials led by Michael Bloomberg suggested banning smoking at all public parks and beaches.

Smoking is similarly under fire at Columbia, as the University considers a ban on lighting up inside the Morningside campus. The most recent proposal drafted by the administration prohibits smoking within the gates of the Morningside campus, including the bridge over Amsterdam Avenue and the areas around Wien Hall, the Law School, and the School of International and Public Affairs. But the movement has been tempered by bureaucratic mismanagement, confusion within student government groups, and a dearth of information about whether a smoking ban is even a policy Columbia students want implemented. Read more…

Anyone looking for seasonal frights, an a capella singalong, free food, and puns galore usually has to trek to three or four campus events to complete that checklist.  Tonight, though, look no further–Nonsequitur is throwing their NonSPOOKuitur (pun number one) Fall Study Break Concert in HalloWIEN Lounge (pun number two) tonight at 8:00pm.  Uptown Vocal (why, yes, that’s pun number three) will be performing, too, and free food will be frighteningly, well, free.

As reported, Columbia football had a rough outing in the rain at Dartmouth, falling 28-6. Columbia’s teams struggled through Saturday, but the crew and men’s soccer teams took advantage of Sunday’s summer-redux weather to uphold our sporting name.

Read more…

Living in the city that never sleeps is no good without late night establishments. In this series, we’ll be trolling the wide variety of hangouts (both alcoholic and not) where Columbia students make their worst decisions, looking to capture what makes Columbia nightlife so different. In the first installment, Blue and White Senior Editor Eliza Shapiro heads to Roti Roll to learn what a mess drunk people make.

Some things are complicated: the housing lottery, health care reform, The Nicomachean Ethics. Other things are not. If it is 3 AM on Thursday, and you’ve gotten over Tom’s, you are going to Roti Roll.

And Pramod Silwal is waiting for you. Silwal is one of two Roti employees who works the full weekend shift: from 5 PM to 4 AM on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Silwal, 26, has been working at Roti for a little over two years. “I get sick of the smell,” he admits.

Breathing spice-soaked air for ten hours a night doesn’t always leave Silwal wanting a big dinner, but he does eat in-house sometimes: “the Chicken Malai Frankie is my favorite when I want meat.” The Chicken Malai is Roti’s most popular item, but Silwal notes that sloshed students make a mess of the green sauce.

Silwal and his fellow employees know what we’re up to. “Once people get drunk at the bar…” he trails off, “they come here.” Silwal generally doesn’t mind that Roti Roll is predominantly drunk food: “we are so busy on the weekends!” Read more…

The whole nation is talking about swine flu, but that great pestilence known as midterms has once again been inflicting its ills upon Columbia. There are many strains of this disease, each with its own unique symptoms and varying degrees of severity. In an attempt to encourage responsible self-diagnosis, treatment. and an almost certain hypochondria pandemic, Bwog Self-Medication Bureau Chief Emily Ahn presents a selection of the most communicable, debilitating, humiliating exam-related ailments, and some of the cures.

Carpal tunnel syndrome: According to Web MD, “Carpal tunnel syndrome causes pain, tingling, and numbness in your hand from pressure on the median nerve in your wrist. Illnesses, pregnancy, and obesity can cause carpal tunnel syndrome. Rest and exercises relieve symptoms.” That’s right, go out and PLAY! But don’t have too much fun: excessive Guitar Hero may will aggravate this. See tendonitis.

Cervical radiculopathy: Disk compression in the neck, often caused by repetitive cradling of a phone on the shoulder…or hunching over your notes for an excessive period of time.

Deep vein thrombosis: Inactivity and dehydration (your study schedule prevents proper hydration) raises chance that clots will form in your leg veins. Sometimes, they happen to dislodge and travel to your lungs, causing a potentially fatal pulmonary embolism. So drink something (non-alcoholic, pal!) and save yourself an IV (which would take away study time) or a stroke (in which case you have larger worries than your Econ midterm). Read more…

Think you had a nice day? Well, this Nassau Community College Student was busy WINNING A MILLION DOLLARS. (ABC7)

Guilt, self-loathing, and red tape at the Eden that is the Park Slope Food Coop. (New York Times)

The owner of the oldest Ray’s Original/Famous/Original Famous is making her mobster family an offer they might not be able to refuse, suing for a larger chunk of the chain’s profits. (New York Post)

The city’s traffic cops are cracking down on “hipster Vespa owners.” What will this mean for all those hipster Segway-ists? (New York Post)

Overnight bomb scare in Williamsburg? Stay safe, hipster Vespa owners! (Gothamist)

Photo: www.vespausa.com