The 2011 edition of the US News & World Report‘s “Best National Colleges” rankings just came out (like, a femtosecond ago), and our humble little university In The City of New York has jumped to 4th place from 8th place last year, putting us right behind Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. The USNWR rankings are arguably the most widely quoted college rankings out there, and we’re guessing there’s nothing but pure Cristal flowing through Hamilton right now.

Cheers! Now crack open a bottle! Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

However, we should note that other rankings have been slowly been released these past few weeks, and Alma Mater did not fare so well in their eyes. Forbes ranked Columbia 13th, the Academic Ranking of World Universities puts us at 8th internationally, and the hodgepodge of rankings over at The Princeton Review puts Columbia in the top 10 lists only for best library (5th) and best college town (1st).

I guess you can’t win them all. But we’ll have a hearty swig of that Cristal now, please.

Update: So some of the crazies over at College Confidential believe that USNews miscalculated Stanford’s ratings and that it should actually be at #4, leaving us at #5. We don’t speak this language but you can investigate for yourself on this nutso thread.

Great news for fans of ridiculously good looking Republicans–former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 GOP presidential candidate front-runner Mitt Romney will be speaking at Columbia mid-September.

He shall walk among you! Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

Romney will be speaking at the Millennium Campus Conference, a gathering of 1,000 or so student leaders and leading minds for a candid discussion on matters of sustainable international development. Chuck Roberts, CC’12 and executive director of the event, confirms that Romney will speak on “matters relating to global education and volunteerism.”

“We are expecting some more big names to confirm [their participation] in the near future,” said Roberts. Bwog is just glad to finally have someone other than Jeffrey Sachs headlining a sustainable-anything event on campus (not that we don’t love our Sachs, but variety is the spice of life).

The Conference will run September 17th-19th, and anyone looking to get in on the action should consider registering now.

That’s right, Urban Outfitters has officially landed in the Upper West Side–on Broadway near 100th street. It’s still above 96th. That means it’s close! This is sure to give the 110th-based American Apparel a run for its money in the formerly uncontested onesie/bodysuit market (Playboy Bunny costume sales from Ricky’s don’t count).

These are hipsters. Photo via ret0dd's Photostream.

But if you were worried about UO’s arrival corrupting the serene character of the UWS, never fear! This UO masquerades as four separate storefronts–a hat store, a hardware store, a neighborhood bar, and a bodega. According to Ron Pompei, the creative director of Pompei A.D., the firm that designed the store, ”The whole idea was to do this kind of ironic statement of lining the building with storefronts that would be reminiscent of independent businesses. It’s the story about the streets of New York as they once were.” Oh, hipsters and their ironic facades (in this case, we mean the architectural ones). Just stick with clever t-shirts and go back to Billyburg.

There was a flurry of film crews on and around campus this week, and it looks like some of them are here to stay. So look pretty out there, people… you could wind up in a movie!

Top Left: Film crew setting up shooting for Premium Rush starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. No signs of the man himself yet, but a tipster told us that actor Michael Shannon has been spotted strutting around campus in a suit. And now a commenter informs us Gordon-Levitt has been seen at the 116th subway stop… Quick, break out those cameraphones! This is bigger than Blair!

Top Right: Lerner Hall looks conspicuously bare as its banners have been taken down. A notice has been put up saying there will be filming in the building until Sunday, and we can only surmise that these two are related. Start a betting pool with your friends now as to whose mailbox JGL will be filmed in front of.

Bottom Left: Flashing lights and people in suits can only mean one thing around here–Law and Order: SVU. Filming took place on 111th St. between Broadway and Riverside.

Bottom Right: The Batmobile, outside of Nussbaum. For the remake of Arthur starring Russell Brand.

Related: We’ve also gotten numerous tips that our very own 1020 is featured in a scene in the recent buddy cop comedy movie The Other Guys. According to Bwogger Sam Schube, the bar is “set up as even seedier than a regular cop bar,” and stars Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell partake in many a 1020 tradition: discharging weapons, biting priests’ arms (who, as we all know, are frequent clientele), and of course, urinating off the pool table.

Photos by DCS, HEH, HSG, and RV

Public Safety sent out an alert this morning about two related armed robberies that occurred late last night. On 110th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam, three victims were robbed in two separate incidents around 1:30am. One of the victims was also assaulted and knocked to the ground. The official police description of the suspect is “Male / black / dark complexion / 30’s / 6’ / 300 lbs / stubble on face / red baseball cap / white T shirt / dark pants.”

There is no word on whether the victims are associated with the university in any way. If you have any information that will be useful to investigators, you are urged to contact the 26 Pct. Detective Squad at 212-678-1318.

Full security alert after the jump.

Read more…

Dropping her off at the Barnard admissions office, a mother was overheard yelling to her daughter:

“Don’t forget to tell them you went to Rwanda!”

Mel’s Burger Bar is coming along quite nicely.

And more Morningside dining news: Kuti’s, a new takeout store on 116th between Morningside and Manhattan Avenues, just got a good review from the Times. Bwog sampled the shrimp piri-piri and it is delicious, and just $7 for a plate of shrimp and two sides. Most dishes are between $5-7.

A few things of note happened on campus today.

First, a man named Bryan sat in a kiddie pool and splashed around outside Hamilton. Why’d ya do it, Bry?

Then, embattled Congressman Charlie Rangel provided the keynote speech at the NYC Economic Development Luncheon in Roone. His speech was entitled “The status of the National Small Business Legislation,” but he spoke mostly about Wall Street greed and about the controversy surrounding his 13 ethics violations. Robert Kasdin, Senior Vice President of Columbia, was there too, to talk to small business owners in Harlem about Manhattanville. The audience applauded with each statistic: 6,000 new University jobs, 1,200 construction jobs, and so on.

Next, a bunch of campers ran up and down the Lerner ramps sending orange paper airplanes to the lobby.

The MTA has no money, but is using its no-money to make these little robot machines called subway indicators all along the 1 line (that’s the “red line” to you, Class of 2014) this summer.

Until they actually take away Unlimited Metrocards, we’re not complaining, because this is a fantastic device that allows you to stop asking “When is the train going to come?” and other questions no one knows the answer to. Existentialism: c’est fini.

Media Luna Mexican Deli did not fare so well.

The Health Department is, as of this summer, requiring that every restaurant in New York display the letter grades they most recently received for cleanliness.

This is a nightmare for everyone; it’s rare that any restaurant will sneak away with no health violations. The grades will be assigned during the next year, when the Health Department conducts its next rounds of inspections. The grades will be issued as follows: 0-13 points gets an A, 14-27 a B, and 28 and above a C. You know, like Calc II. This numbered rating system, however, is due to be made more lenient (after all, who cares about burned-out lightbulbs?) before the letter grades are assigned so the correlation between numbers and letters isn’t accurate just yet.

In the meantime, that Health Department has created a website that lists the violations of every restaurant in the city after their most recent inspection. The results from Morningside are occasionally surprising (Hewitt/John Jay) and generally terrifying (there are mice everywhere). Here’s a list of the most popular Columbia restaurants and bars. We note when they were most recently reviewed and pick their most notable violations. Individual links don’t work, but if you want to go through every single one of them, go here for 10025 and here for 10027 and start clicking. These restaurants will probably maybe get their shit together in the next year so that they don’t get big old fat B’s in the window once the next round of inspections starts. We can but pray.

• As of February 23rd, Deluxe, blissfully, has a mere 5 points for its plumbing (which a friend of Bwog’s may be partially accountable for, as she got her pregnancy test stuck in the toilet. Whoops!) Mill Korean has 2 points for plumbing.
• Brownie’s, you are angelic. 0 points as of last September.
• Vareli and Maoz each have 2 points, Maoz because it does not have an “immersion basket.” Noobs!
• As of January, Koronet has a dazzling, sparkling 4 points for plumbing. The Heights also has 4 for mysterious pesticide use as of January.
• Law School’s Lenfest has 7 for bad toilets as of last November.
• Cafe East also has 7 as of May for improper cold food storage.
• Cafe 212 has 8 for inadequate lighting improper “non-food contact surface” construction. So, phew. Last inspected last September.
• As of last August, Symposium has only 5 points, even though the food sometimes tastes like it has been bathed in chlorine.
• After a rough 62 violations in June 2009, Campo bounces back with 4.
• Strokos has 9 violations as of January, one for cold food behind held above 41 ºF.
• Carleton Lounge in Mudd has 9 as of last December for evidence of mice.
• As of January, Dinosaur BBQ has 10 for bizarre internal food cooling/heating measures.
• Ferris Booth gets 12 as of last December for improper cold food storage.
• Lion’s Head gets 11 as of last February. “Evidence of mice or live mice.” Now it begins, friends.
• Thai Market has 14 as of March, for improper cleaning.
• As of May, Uris gets 14 for improper food surface cleaning.
• JTS: 15, for evidence of mice as of February.
• The Diana Cafeteria gets 14 as of April for improper cold food storage and undated or expired milk.
• Heartbreak: M2M gets 15 as of July, for evidence of mice, improper cleaning, “evidence of flying insects” and “inadequate personal cleanliness.”
• Butler Cafe got 18 in March for the thermometer rule and improper cold food storage.
• As of June 4th, Ollie’s also gets 15 for cold food held above 41 ºF and evidence of mice.
• La Negrita, or 999, or whatever, has 15 as of July 8th, but no mice!
• As of June, Taqueria has 17 points (coulda been worse) for cold food held above 41 ºF but no vermin!
• John Jay Dining Hall, the would-be mother of them all, got 18 last July for evidence of mice, rats and flying insects.
• As of last September, Columbia Cottage has 21 points for cold food storage and some weird problem with a thermometer.
• Le Monde was last inspected in April, and got 21 points for spoiled food. Fun fact: Bwog once found a caterpillar in our salad at Le Monde, but they were very nice about it.
• Cannon’s, which the Health Department spells “Gannon’s” gets 21 for improper handwashing, a bad bathroom, etc. Last inspected in March.
• Max Soha has 23 points as of January for mice, flying insects and improper food surface cleaning.
• Kitchenette got 23 last December for roaches and improper cold food storage.
• Some actually shocking news: Hewitt has 5 more points than John Jay, clocking in at 23 as of March, for food unprotected from contamination, improper thawing procedures, and improper lighting.
• Roti Roll, or “Roti Rill” according to the Department, gets a 25 (still not a C, right!) for flying insects and improper cold food storage. Inspected in July.
• Tom’s, last inspected in September 2009, gets 21 for the weird thermometer problem and improper cold food storage.
• Vine, inspected in March, stores neither hot nor cold food correctly, and gets a 22.
• As of March, Nussbaum has 23: evidence of mice.
• Faculty House, fanciest place in the 100-27, gets 25 for evidence of mice and improper storage or usage of sanitized equipment as of March.
• Havana Central has evidence of mice and spoiled food as of March; 24 points.
• Inspected in January, 1020 shocks and awes with 22 points for improper handwashing facility/toilet area.
• Hungarian: 22 points for evidence of mice and rats as of January.
• We knew Pinkberry was made of weird animals. Well, psych, but it is apparently made of unpasteurized milk, earning it a whopping 30 points.

More listings, while we’re at it: in the Princeton Review 2011 college listings, Columbia was listed as being in a “great college town.” Unclear if that’s Morningside Heights or New York, but you make your own guesstimate. The Princeton Review also ranked the Top 20 best college newspapers. Guess who’s missing?

Update: And we almost forgot Pinnacle—21 points as of February, for evidence of mice, milk improperly dated/expired.

Wait just a second!

It’s August, and the countdown has begun. School will, one day not so far from today, start again, and you will need new underwear for the new semester.

More bad news: we, Columbia’s undergraduate population, the very fiber of our school, have failed again in taking steps to increase campus pride, foster any sense of conventional collegiate rah-rah-ness, and to make our return to Alma any easier.

Columbia has claimed the #56 slot in Victoria’s Secret’s PINK “Show Your School Spirit” (via your boldly colored PINK undies) challenge. Luring online shoppers with two models that stand before the slogan “Be True to Your School,” PINK has done quite a job at soliciting universities across the nation to participate in an online competition to brand their panties with their school name.

In the lead, with 113,523 votes (and female population of 47%) is Johns Hopkins University, followed by Cornell with 100,158. Brown has reared its unconventional behind at number 13 and Princeton is making us shine at 226.

Do not be fooled. Petty statistics are not our main concern, as there are already an ample amount of students voting and working to mass-produce undergarments with “CU” (that’s Colorado University).

That CU has been so successful that PINK encourages its online fans to “Meet Our Campus Reps.” Here’s what the CU peer leaders have to say for themselves: Read more…

Very sad news today: Ajeet Singh Matharu, a History student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, passed away in a car crash in India on July 26th.

Beyond Columbia, Ajeet taught 9th, 11th and 12th grade students at the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment. He was also a prominent member of the New York Sikh community.

Watch an interview with Ajeet about his teaching here, some words about his life from a friend here, and a video honoring his life here.

Bwog sends our deepest condolences to Ajeet’s friends and family.

Morningside Heights crime wave!

We heard reports that there was a car crash, and then that there was a shooting last night on 113th Street between 3-5 AM. There was a car crash and an arrest, but no shooting. We just got off the phone with Public Safety, who told us there was an “altercation” and an arrest made by the 26th Precinct at Campo late last night, and that no one was hurt. We called Campo but the night manager was not at the restaurant. Murky details, but we can confirm that no one was hurt and one arrest was made. Details to follow.

Update, 4 PM: McShane confirms that there was an arrest at Campo last night. There was also a separate incident, a car crash, outside the new Book Culture on Broadway and 114th. A commenter below was outside at around 2:30 AM and saw a van “make a U-turn against the light” and crash into a barrier on Broadway. Photo of the accident below.

Photo by HSG