300 CommentsOK, let’s all take a deep breath. Here’s the latest news on Operation Ivy League, and a run-down of what’s happened today, who’s written about it, and what’s next.
The most recent news: as of 7:20 p.m., Bwog has some important updates from the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office. Kati Cornell, the Communications Representative, just told Bwog that each of the arrested students has secured a private lawyer. Christopher Coles will be represented by Curtis Faber, Harrison David by Samuel Felman, Adam Klein by Hershel Katz, Jose Perez (aka Stephan Vincenzo) by Robert Weinstein, and Michael Wymbs by Michael Bachner. Bachner has been involved in several high-profile legal cases recently, including Caroline Giuliani’s shoplifting arrest case, former NY Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik’s federal case, and New York Giant Antonio Pierce’s case involving ex-teammate Plaxico Burress’ accidental shooting.
The University, Cornell confirmed, was not involved in the five-month investigation at all, but Columbia Public Safety was “helpful to the NYPD in facilitating the arrests” made this morning. The investigation will continue. If there is new information about drug dealing at Columbia, the Office will follow that information. However, Cornell commented, “the Office waited until everyone that we wanted to identify and arrest was identified and we made all the arrests we intended to make at Columbia.”
The Office also confirmed that all five suspects were indicted before they were arrested this morning, which is often the case in a long-term investigation such as this one.
Here’s more of what we can expect looking forward: there will be the standard hearing for the five accused students with discovery process, which is the process during which the prosecution turns over evidence to the suspects’ defense attorneys. If the defense lawyers then see any issues with the evidence presented that they wish to take up, they can file a motion to suppress certain pieces of evidence. At least one of the five suspects has made a statement to the police, and defense attorneys can also motion to suppress those original statements.
Although the five defendants have already pleaded not guilty, they may choose to plead guilty to avoid trial, which is potentially a very drawn-out process. If that were the case, the defense and prosecution would discuss the charges and penalty for the five defendants.
The New York Post has video of the students’ arrest.
Just before 6 p.m., we found out that all five arrested students have been arraigned at Manhattan Criminal Court. Their bond and bail amounts follow:
- Harrison David: $75,000 bond, $50,000 cash
- Jose Stephan Perez: $30,000 bond, $20,000 cash
- Michael Wymbs: $35,000 bond, $25,000 cash
- Chris Coles: $40,000 bond, $25,000 cash
- Adam Klein: $35,000 bond, $25,000 cash
Wymbs’ parents arrived at the Court today with a blank check for his bail. The other students will head to Rikers tonight if their bails are not paid.
We checked in with legal expert and Columbia Law Professor Jeffery Fagan, who commented, “I would guess that (a) they have no priors and so they will get a big discount from the Court at sentencing, and the discount will be even bigger if (b) they give up what they know about the suppliers.” The biggest strike against them is the “multiplicity” of drugs the students were selling. This isn’t an informal weed-dealing situation, Fagan noted.
And here’s a synthesis of what happened today, starting at 6:30 a.m. After a five-month investigation by the NYPD’s Special Narcotics Unit dubbed “Operation Ivy League,” five Columbians [Chris Coles (CC ’12), Harrison David (SEAS ’12), Adam Klein (CC ’12), Joseph Stephen Perez (aka Stephan Vincenzo, CC ’12), and Michael Wymbs (SEAS ’11)] were arrested for having and dealing sizable amounts of marijuana, cocaine, LSD, ecstasy, and Adderall. They were arrested between 6 and 7 a.m. this morning. Police unhinged the locks of Mike Wymbs’s EC suite to arrest him.
The full police report can be found here.
Then the Internet exploded. We’re looking at hundreds and hundreds of Tweets (including this one from our own fake-PrezBo) articles from Gawker, Gothamist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal… even the Las Vegas Sun. Reporters and news trucks swamped Frat Row.
The University has issued comment only through Dean Shollenberger’s email this morning, in which he pointed to the student handbook’s rules about alcohol and drug use. Students for a Sensible Drug Policy also issued a statement this afternoon calling today a “sad day, because the real problems related to drug use that desperately need to be addressed, were not” and the events of today the result of “poor policy.”
None of the Greek councils has issued comment yet, but tipsters spotted girls taking down posters for an event with Theta and Pike. We have heard that members of the Greek Life community are meeting tonight to discuss the ramifications of today’s events for the community, but the Councils have not confirmed this.
Some wild cards looking forward: there’s Miron Sarzynski, one of the East Village suppliers currently being held at Rikers Island. Sarzynski asked one of the undercover cops working on Operation Ivy League to help him “kidnap and torture” rival cocaine dealers. Going forward, it seems likely that the sentencing of the “Columbia 5” will depend on how much information they can give about their downtown suppliers. We’ve also heard that Coles’ parents are both lawyers. The arrested students’ decision to plead “not guilty” also opens some questions about how their hearing will proceed. For tonight, we know that they’ll be sleeping at Rikers if their bail is not paid.
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300 Comments
@well hope they had a good night in Rickers!!!! and many more!
@Anonymous I just feel bad for them. We all do make mistakes. Their futures are ruined forever. Have some sympathy.
@Alumna THEY ruined THEIR OWN futures. Play with fire, get burned, etc.
@ruh roh Just did some research…
Chris Coles is being charged with Class C(1), D(2), and E(4) felonies and Class A(1) and B(1) misdemeanors (7 to 17.5 years in prison).
Harrison David has Class A-II, B, E (7) felonies and Class A(1) and B(1) misdemeanors (12 to 32.5 years in prison).
Adam Klein has Class D(2) felony and Class B(1) Misdemeanor (2 to 5 years in prison).
Jose Perez has Class D(4) and E(1) felonies and a Class B(1) misdemeanor (5 to 11.5 years in prison).
Michael Wymbs has Class D(6) felonies and Class B(1) misdemeanor (6 to 15 years in prison).
Now, they haven’t been convicted of anything yet and maybe some charges will be dropped or lessened in degree once they ‘cooperate’. This is just the average jail sentence for a first-time offender added concurrently for each offense.
This is well beyond not getting to come back to Columbia…they’re going to be in prison for a while…some of them maybe well over a decade.
@'11 I talked to my dad who does a lot of criminal work mostly drug related. Sentences will vary a lot depending on the drugs involved. 40 grams of cocaine is a lot and. Typical sentence is on the order of 20 years. LSD and MDMA are around 10 years for the quantities purchased and recovered. Marijuana and aderall around around 3 to 5 years. Parole can shave off about 20 percent of the sentences and they’ll likely get a 30 to 50 percent reduction for taking a plea, I believe they have no priors.
@Chronic Ironic Cheap Laugh – check the industry listed on Wymbs’ LinkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-wymbs/14/a87/651
@Alumna What a horrible way to throw away the type of privilege so many people would give an arm and a leg to have.
If Coles’ parents are both lawyers then I doubt he was selling drugs to pay tuition.
@Anonymous Chris’s parents cut him off last year, actually.
@Anon it’s sad to think that members of the Columbia community have to spend time at Riker’s tonight. our condolences and hopes go out to them and their families.
in other news, i love my girlfriend!
@Anonymous so what about them Yankees?
@If only... they all lived in mary-kanada
http://verymarykate.com/post/2135509584/presentation-2
@Dear Bwog Can you tag this as part of your “War on Fun” category? If it wasn’t for chronic I wouldn’t be watching Aqua music videos on youtube until 4am
@Dear Bwog Can you tag this as part of your “War on Fun” category? If it wasn’t for chronic I’d be one stressed out little guy right now.
@consider: stephan fake-named himself in honor of james vincenzo capone (al’s brother). james was a legendary prohibition agent who locked up a lotta guys who sold alcohol illegally.
huh?
@embarrassed but not for the same reasons as the rest of you.
for all this talk about tarnishing the columbia reputation and all that our ivy league education has afforded us, you seem to have no problem throwing around racial and religious stereotypes. and for what, because it’s funny to you? or worse, because you actually believe it? that is the true embarrassment to this community…total ignorance and irreverence of supposedly educated adults
@dude its god dman fact, every one of those lawyers is a jew, explain that away…
@embarrassed would you feel the need to point out the religion of their lawyers if they were all christians? my bet is no. The prospect of sitting in a classroom with someone so blinded by his own prejudice is far more embarrassing than anything the accused are charged with.
but for the sake of argument, i’ll play along. let’s assume the lawyers are all jewish. what does this mean in terms of their profession? that they worked hard in college to be able to get into law school. that they worked even harder to pay for and stay in law school (given how racist i know you are, don’t even attempt to say their parents paid for it, because you have absolutely no evidence to support that claim). after law school they worked hard to get jobs. and now because of their exemplary work ethic and professional and intellectual success, you feel that this is somehow all because of the religion their parents raised them to practice? if all of that could somehow be attributed to being jewish, why is that such a bad thing for you to live with?
the point is irrelevant though, because at the end of the day, you have no idea what religion they practice. you are racist and an embarrassment to the columbia community.
@Anonymous http://www.the-fed.org/articles/volume24/issue1/stephan.html
@Anonymous “Such a heavenly feelin’ I get when I’m taking fat ass blunts to the brain”
bone thugs and harmony
@Anonymous http://gawker.com/5708551/accused-columbia-frat-boy-drug-dealer-threw-da-sickest-party?skyline=true&s=i
@I don't Really understand why everyone is so shocked. This is how drug busts work. You go all the way down the chain, get a strong enough case against the distributors so that they’ll testify against the suppliers and so on up until you get the real big guys.
@Anonymous I talked to Dee, the security guard, she said they are being expelled and banned from campus.
@Anonymous legalization of ALL types of drugs?
@analum Study boys and girls. Take advantage of the fact that you’re at a fine university, and don’t let anything steal your chance at a fine education.
@Anonymous oops *these are inelastic goods
@Anonymous The drugs that people consume here are tarnished with the blood of the almost 30 000 people who have died in Mexico in the war with the Cartels. It also stenches of the fear of the people in Mexico (and South America) who’s freedoms have been reduced due to the war (e.g. leaving your home not knowing if you’ll be killed in a random shooting or if you’ll be kidnapped).
Reducing consumption (demand) helps more than reducing the supply given that this are inelastic goods.
Think about that.
@I do every time I think about the case for legalization, and how that would end the demand from black market sources like Cartels.
@Anonymous This is not happening anytime soon. Reducing consumption now will help people now.
@but reducing consumption isn’t a useful or productive solution to the problem; there are always going to be more consumers. maybe we _should_ reduce our consumption, but that’s not a replacement for actual, long-term solutions, none of which involve arresting five college kids.
legalization would be a step towards solving the problem, at the very least.
@Anonymous oops * these are inelastic goods
@Inmate Information http://a072-web.nyc.gov/inmatelookup/inmateDetailAction.do?bookcasenumber=3601000319
Change the last two digits in the url to 20 thru 23 for the other guys.
Aw. We can send them money.
@soooo ” “A lot of my friends got involved heavily with drugs, a lot of my friends dropped out of school, ended up in jail, ended up in gangs.””
-Stephan Vincenzo
@HAHAHAHA Oh that is rich. Well, not him, obviously, he’s gonna lose that Gates scholarship.
@Anonymous pregame lolz
@soooo those kids are sitting in prison right now while i pound away at my seminar paper in butler? not so different eh?
@Not really Riker’s Island has TV.
@Bright Side At least this has supplanted the media making fun of the Social Experiment…
@OMG SPREAD THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT IN PRISONSSSSSS!!!!!!
@daaaamn Daaamn that Wymbs kid must have money. Bachner is a pretty big-time lawyer. Can’t be cheap.
@Anonymous http://bwog.com/2009/04/17/from-the-issue-stephan-vincenzo-campus-character/
@Anonymous 11TH CELL ENTERTAINMENT: Butt sex with stephen
@stephan vincenzo has been trying to make a name for himself before he even arrived at Columbia… looks like he finally got his wish.
@Anonymous Oh, I see. So… it’s anti-Semitic to observe that Jewish people give lighter sentences to other Jewish people, but it’s cool and progressive to observe that white people give lighter sentences to white people?
Every group makes allowances for their own. That’s not racism at all, it’s just the way of the world.
@Anonymous it’s the way of the world AND it’s racismga
@Anonymous racism**
@Not just the city room blog... The NYT has a full article up: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/nyregion/08columbia.html?ref=nyregion
@soooo “Mr. Vincenzo, a k a Jose Stephan Perez, according to court papers, wore a bandage over his right eyebrow, apparently the result of a tussle with police.”
@Anonymous Fuck ’em. They were preying on those who needed a supply and hurting themselves, and they were making a profit off it. Let ’em rot.
@Anonymous I understand that a lot of kids here do weed, participate in underaged drinking, and that you guys might be commenting on this posts, BUT there are those of us who don’t engage in these risky behaviors. To say that this happened to these “poor guys” is idiotic! DRUGS ARE BAD FOR YOU! DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY IDEA THAT YOU ARE FUCKING WITH YOUR BRAIN WHEN YOU SMOKE WEED OR BINGE DRINK? Why the fuck do you fuck up your body WHEN YOU KNOW IT’S BAD FOR YOU? DRUGS ARE ILLEGAL UNDERAGED DRINKING IS ILLEGAL YET YOU PARTICIPATE IN IT! I am so glad that they were arrested maybe it’ll set an example for any other fuckers who are dealing drugs on this campus.
@bc '14 …yeah! fuckers. “hmph”
@Original Poster I’m wondering why this has so many thumbs down? Do people really now understand the effects of drugs/drinking?
@Anonymous Drug use is a personal choice and drug dealing a victimless crime. From your “logic” you appear to know very little about drugs and how the vast majority of people who use drugs do so recreationally and are responsible, happy members of society. Many people who throw away their lives use drugs but many of these people would have thrown their lives away on something else if drugs weren’t available. People like you are what is wrong wtih this world. And I’m high. Eat shit.
@yes YES
@Anonymous Drug use is not at all a victimless crime, clearly being high has impacted your intelligence, understanding of economics or you just aren’t that smart to begin with. When you drink or do drugs (and it’s not like these people were just dealing marijuana) you put yourself at risk. One possible consequence of this is hospitalization or emergency treatment and you know where the money to pay for this comes from? Taxes and tuition. I don’t want to spend my money on your emergency room bill so next time you think it’s victimless, think of all the freshman puking after having a few too many that our tuition and taxes are paying for.
@um... you can’t OD on marijuana. also, your tuition does not cover anyone’s hospital visits. nor do your tax dollars.
@Anonymous I never said you could OD on Marijuana. I said they weren’t just dealing marijuana, meaning the stuff they were dealing you could OD on.
@well your syntax is a bit muddled. try to be clearer next time. =)
@Anonymous I don’t see how sitting in my room getting high is victimizing anyone
@Anonymous If tax dollars are a primary concern, think about the huge amount of government money spent on undercover operations, trials and keeping offenders in jail, often for extended periods of time. Not to mention that accidents and resulting emergency room visits would likely be greatly reduced if we had practical drug education (ie not DARE) widely available and accepted.
@original commenter I agree that drug education would be good and reduce costs, but without that we have to do the next best thing, which is discourage drug use through sting operations such as this.
@Anonymous are you kidding? where do you think the money for the War on Drugs comes from?
@j hey douche. it’s “freshmen,” not freshman. thx
@Yeah! Don’t worry, Jesus will save them ;-) Right?
@Anonymous I’m so pissed I’m not gonna see Stephan chilling out at Butler with his legs up on the table– that kid was everywhere. Those kids gave Columbia character. Now it’s just another pissy institution with conservative pricks who stick their noses in the air and say “hmph, they deserved it.” And it’s not the kids who’re bad–we’re all fucking “bad” cause we MAKE THE DEMANDS, AND THEY SUPPLY–THIS IS THE MOST BASIC RULE OF ECONOMICS.
@Anonymous MDaMAzing
@Anonymous I bet the investigation all started when C5’s bank statements were leaked onto wikileaks
@hornyyy admit it though…we still all love pike.
@Anonymous Where the fuck is the rally at? Fucking people need to mobilize and move.
@Uh... Unless this is a rally to throw more of these assholes in jail, fuck off.
@Anonymous Those guys aren’t asshole, and you can fuck off if you have nothing constructive to say, bitch.
@Two things... A Pike in Riker’s Island isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Why do I get the feeling that Columbia is finally going to get that 114th Street office building it’s been wanting?
@i think it was the rival coke dealer who called crimestoppers out of fear of being kidnapped
@question this may be a stupid question, but will they be expelled from columbia?
maybe it will make a difference whether or not they were selling drugs in dorms…
@Anonymous I have a feeling that the last thing CU is going to do is let these five come back, especially after the media explosion.
@I dunno I can’t think of anyone that I’ve ever heard of being expelled of, even people that I know of who broke the law/got arrested/served time. I feel like the school is more likely to kick you out for academic dishonesty than this kinda stuff.
@Blergh Typing coherent sentences is not my strong point apparently.
@so? i do know ppl that were expelled. for much less actually.
@shit. guess i’ll have to go into east harlem to get my cocaine and LSD now.
@Van Owen Welll, Obviously….
They climbin’ in your windows
They snatchin’ your people up
tryna rape em so y’all need to
hide yo Weed, hide yo Coke
hide yo Weed, hide yo Coke
hide yo Weed hide yo Coke
and hide yo Ecstasy
cuz they takin all our shit out here
the Columbia 5 don’t have to come and confess
They lookin for you
They went and found you
They done gon fond you
so you can run and tell that,
run and tell that run and tell that,
homeboys home, home, homeboys they got yo columbia & frat t-shirts
you all done left yo fingerprints and all
you all are so dumb
you all are so really dumb … for real
the man got all yalls cash and yalls weed and you left behind evidence
Run and tell that homeboys…
Columbia…tougher then leather, bitches.
Word
@I wish I could like this a thousand times over!!
@Anonymous genius, A+
@Anonymous genius.. now MAKE IT! with all this publicity right now, you’ll blow up and make a hefty profit on iTunes.
@Anonymous Unfortunately for the others, only one of them was actually dealing any cocaine (and in small amounts, I hear). It was mostly small-time weed dealing for a few bucks. Sad.
@even better data http://www.higheredcenter.org/services/audiences/students/fraternity-and-sorority
@Anonymous To all the people that keep insisting that we support these guys: I’d certainly have an easier time feeling bad for them if they had been only dealing small-time stuff. Personally, I support weed legalization, and some may be able to make convincing arguments about how non-harmful the other drugs may be, but cocaine is serious stuff. It kills people, and certainly puts these kids in a whole different level of dealing.
Also, “Columbia 5” is a stupid name… It makes them sound like political prisoners, which they are definitely not.
@Anonymous they weren’t all dealing cocaine.
@Anonymous MDMA can also kill you.
@This group is way better than C5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiZvE5NZ9cg
@data http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED381054.pdf
Kuh, G. D., Pascarella, E. T., & Wechsler, H. (1996). The questionable value of fraternities. Chronicle of Higher Education, 42(32), A68.
@Anonymous Ha. These kids got what they deserved. It continuously pisses me off seeing these spoiled kids on campus thinking they can do whatever the hell they want.
Some people just don’t appreciate the opportunities and doors that this school can open up for them and instead do something so stupid like this.
Get a job. Learn the value and reap the benefits of good ol’ hard work.
@SOMEbody Has a chip on their shoulder.
@Anonymous Columbia kids are mostly money minded because of the influence of the Business School. Yet these five came up with a much faster way of making big bucks……
@Anonymous high risk, high reward.
too bad they didn’t calculate risk properly. just like business school students!
@Anonymous they’re money-minded because one third of the Columbia population are from a faith that teaches them not to give a sht about anything or anyone but money and power.
@the C5 was NOT using this money for tuition, let me make that perfectly clear.
@c'mon you don’t know. don’t be an asshole.
@FROM THE OVERLORDS COLUMBIA HEAR THIS!
DO NOT SMOKE WEED.
DO NOT SNORT COKE.
DO NOT TRY LSD.
DO NOT DRINK.
DO NOT HAVE FUN.
DO NOT HAVE FUN.
YOU WILL BE PUNISHED.
YOU ARE BAD.
END TRANSMISSION.
@plus DO NOT READ WIKILEAKS?
@damn! michael wymbs is loaded. first he posts 70k+ for bail then he hires michael bachner as his defense attorney? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? something tells me he is going to get off with a slap on the wrist.
@correction michael wymbs’ *parents* are loaded
@Yeah... But he’s still going to get a dick in the ass before this is over – in twenty years.
@wasn't it 25K?
@Anonymous Both his parents practice law don’t they? I’m sure that brings in some nice income.
@Anonymous They weren’t financing their education. They got greedy and wanted to make money fast. And if money is all they wanted, they would have been much better off if they had waited for a couple of more years and made money on wall street.
@Alum These drug dealers’ friends need to step the f off – their friends were not dealing dimes, they have long had their second chance, and this is not ‘good people making one mistake’ this is a long series of stupid mistakes!
Every time a friend posts deluded diatribes about the harmless nature of drugs, and that these 20 year olds are victims of “ignorant” public policies that waste money that could be spent on pre-schools and teletubbies, it further reduces any legitimacy these “Columbia 5” (stupid freaking name, let’s not buy into it) may have.
So many of these Bwog comments talk about the “real world” yet show no understanding of it. Every comment about how great these guys are is just bringing more attention to how screwed up they were! If you’re really their friend, STFU!!!! Before you end up as evidence for the prosecution!
@Anonymous real friends try to talk friends out of doing stupid shit that can ruin them for life.
@Anonymous Don’t pretend that you’ve never smoked weed. WHO’S WORSE, THE PERSON WHO SELLS THE DRUGS, OR THE PERSON THAT SEEKS THEM OUT?
@Anonymous actually i haven’t, nice try though. and if i ever tried to sell OR buy drugs, my friends would kill me. so to all you so called “friends” and “brothers” etc, where were you guys when they were making the hugest mistake of their lives? yeah it’s easy to make comments on bwog defending them but if you knew about it at the time and didn’t try to stop it, what does that make you?
@Fo' Realz?!?! Well let me see if I can get an emergency line to the vatican to make sure you get canonized!
@### “And tuition should be lowered by a few thousand to where Yale, Harvard, Princeton and others have it ($33,000 instead of $39,000) .”
Be realistic, please! We have to pay for the high salary of the President and the Deans using our tuition.
@Have a heart, you assholes Whatever your position is on the legalization of drugs, these kids are people that we went to classes with, partied with and maybe even know as friends. They’re probably scared shitless right now, locked up with criminals who’ve committed far worse crimes than they have, facing the fact that their once glowing futures are irreparably tarnished.
Ive been there, and wouldn’t wish this experience on anyone else: summer before enrolling at Columbia, I was arrested and spent the night in jail. It was a harrowing experience for many reasons–letting my parents and family down, risking my acceptance into Columbia, thoughts of “how did I let myself get to this,” etc, not to mention the terror and intimidation of having to be locked up with actual convicts.
The point is: everyone makes mistakes, and sometimes the temptation of money and profit allows a moral slippage (anyone going into banking, im talking to you…kidding!) that can spin out of control. These people are not “selfish, greedy and inhuman” for selling drugs to other students who are capable of making their own decisions (and would have found a means to procure drugs from other channels, if these kids werent involved). They are certainly not “scumbag pieces of shit” and whatever other heartless, disgusting names that people are throwing at them, under the cowardly blanket of anonymity.
Ive interacted with drug dealers both off the street and in school, and while the former indeed tend to be manipulative, hardened sleazebags (Im thinking in particular about a particular “art teacher” who was arrested last year) who make a living from other people’s addictions, the student variations are pretty much just like you and me, juggling classes and homework, while selling drugs out of the temptation of very lucrative profits. Im not saying what they did was right–but I think it’s important to differentiate these kids from the criminals that put lives in danger (like the psycho East Village dealer). Where these kids went wrong was in giving in to the lure of economic profit–but who hasn’t been there, in some way or another?
so in response to all this mudslinging and name calling (and frankly it’s quite disgusting and self-obsessive that people are worrying about the “tarnished image” of their beloved degrees)–shut the fuck up, thanks. no one is saying that these students are above the law (and they probably told cops that they were selling to make ends meet out of fear. you say a lot of shit under interrogation, hoping to get clemency), but whether they “deserve to go down” or not is really not up to you to judge.
the fact is that they’re all in a seriously fucked situation that will continue to haunt them long after we graduate and get our spiffy jobs. they’re alone and scared in jail cells right now, and as members of our community, the least we can do is not trample them when theyre down and spew vitriolic criticism at kids who made some really dumb mistakes.
@Anonymous “the summer before enrolling at Columbia, I was arrested and spent the night in jail”
Did you get arrested for SELLING DRUGS? Specifically, cocaine, ecstasy, and LSD? I have no sympathy for them. They knew what they were doing. They knew the consequences. If they were short on money, they should have gotten a legit job, like the rest of us schmoes. And considering that Mr. Wymbs’ parents showed up with a blank check, and some are getting high-priced lawyers, some of these kids didn’t need to deal drugs. Fuck them. Put the fear of God or FSM or whatever in them while they take their vacation in Rikers. Fuck them all.
@Take an English class to brush up on your close reading skills.
One of my points was that they probably said they sold drugs to pay tuition out of fear and panic, trying to get an angle that would win them leniency. obviously it’s backfiring because of their upper-middle-class background or whatever, but you cant base your entire criticism on that single statement.
& nope, wasnt arrested for dealing drugz, just for beating some sense into pricks with 0% sensitivity…oops!
@Since when does Stephan Vincenzo know the meaning of “fear?”
Hehehe…
On the bright side, hopefully this will make good V-Show material.
@Thank God... …. the CUMB will do it better first at Orgo Night!
@Anonymous NO. NO. THIS SHOULD NOT BE IN V SHOW.
@Anonymous Public safety aided in facilitating the arrests?! There is something totally wrong with this picture. THIS IS COLLEGE. If there are drugs being sold and used here, that makes us exactly like HUNDREDS OF OTHER LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES where public safety is there to PROTECT the students NOT INDICT THEM. Of all the drug rings in the city, the police have chosen to target Columbia for reasons beyond safety: the fact that it was called Operation Ivy League reveals it was about arresting a few spoiled ivy leaguers as opposed to really doling out justice. This has nothing to do with our safety.
Not to mention, lets talk about the REAL REASON this happened: TUITION IS SO DAMN HIGH! Columbia is the most expensive school in the world, not exaggerating.
PUBLIC SAFETY should PROTECT US, not AID IN OUR ARREST. And tuition should be lowered by a few thousand to where Yale, Harvard, Princeton and others have it ($33,000 instead of $39,000) .
Kthxbye.
@Um Letting the police into EC with a warrant in place of a CUID isn’t “aiding in arrest”
@Anonymous Public Safety was “helpful to the NYPD in facilitating the arrests”
Direct quote
@Anonymous Yeah. Like Public Safety is gonna get in the way of a search warrant and the NYPD.
@Original Poster Yeah I guess my anger about public safety was misdirected, so I will reorient it against the conduct by the police. College campuses are full of drug use and underage drinking: why the crack down? This is an unfair victimization of Columbia students when far more dangerous drug cartels and violent criminals run amok elsewhere in the city!!!
@Yeah Columbia could actually use more drugs.
@alum who worked for da When I was with the DA’s office and needed to reach Columbia students, I worked with Public Safety. They were helpful.
@It's not that tuition is too high, …it’s that the rent is too damn high.
@Anonymous Also – Michael Bachner is a pretty big shot NY defense attorney for white collar crimes – he’s the representation for Caroline Giuliani (Giuliani’s daughter – caught shoplifting back in August).
@OMG I WANT A BATTERING RAM.
@Anonymous wait, what about finals??
@they're cancelled!
@check out this high flying jewish lawyers they hired
@Hey: Don’t be racist, jackass.
@Anonymous LOL anytime anyone says “jew” it’s racism
@Columbia Use Their Columbia Tuitions to Pay For Their Bail
@anonymous annoying law student Hey Bwog, Just an FYI – You don’t “motion to suppress.” You move to suppress. Motion is not a verb.
@Anonymous it can also be corrected by adding the words “file” and “a” before “motion”.
@Eliza Thanks, annoying law students! Will update.
@Anonymous well that’s rude!
@Eliza Nuh-uh! That’s what they called themselves! I was riffin’.
@Anonymous Hey, I didn’t say I was a law student. Or a student. Who am I? Where am I? How did I get here? Where is that large automobile? This is not my beautiful wife!
@anonymous We’re on a road to nowhere.
@INCEPTION amazing
@Don't Feel Too Bad For Them They’re going to get so much ass for this…and I’m not making a prison joke, they won’t be there (nearly) long enough for that, I’m talking about when they get out
@wrong they will most likely be expelled from Columbia.. they are not returning to get ass my man.
@Holy shit! Fogell’s a badass!
@WHOA WHOA WHOA see you should’ve done the prison joke.
@Anonymous Are those public defenders or hired attorneys?
@### Who should resign in responding to this scandal in the campus? The President? The Provost? The Deans?
The parents are very disappointed with the top who gets big salary but not doing the job.
@Bad Boys http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4MRmEPNUxY
@Anonymous Cheap publicity for Columbia. The ranking will go up for sure
@Survey I’m bored, so I’m running a survey to get some real data on this, respond please and I will make really shiny graphs for bwog.
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGxNWXg3bkJuVFdfMGxBZFR4Q3ZxUUE6MQ
@Survey I’m just curious about this group of people, I want numbers to go with these comments so I can quantify the reactions
Note: any survey has errors, but I can calculate the error (I hope, I have to check some conditions/read my stat book over)
tl;dr My brain like numbers, not comments,
@if only they had been arrested a couple weeks earlier they could have been cellmates with WEEZY… just looking at the bright side of incarceration
@bc'11 can we have some more of the other news going on campus? thanks
@Anonymous There is no other news.
@Anonymous just when Columbia moves up to fourth place on the US News college rankings.. this happens. THANKS A LOT
@Anonymous Well, if you don’t like your school’s reputation, make your own.
For real, this rankings obsession is insane.
If you want respect, be respectable.
@Anonymous i just feel that amongst the same columbia community, there are very smart, extremely hard-working students who really bring up the school’s value with their efforts, while there are these douche bags that barely get into the school either through marginal grades/credentials or through money.. and then this.. WTF
@alum/casual drug user extraordinaire news flash: intelligent people use drugs.
@test We must give all Columbia kids a drug test.
Are there more around? Don’t run away before the final. Let’s get arrested.
@Anonymous It could take 24 hours to appear before the arraignment part judge. Manhattan has a night court so its faster than the other boroughs. I’m just saying..
@From personal experience... just because Manhattan courts work almost around the clock does not mean that they are in any way fast or organized.
@Luis I just left the courthouse and they have yet to be arraigned. Bail could not have been set if they haven’t seen a judge. They don’t even have a docket number. Unless you can provide independent verification of these amounts(ie; a docket number) then I would suggest you remove this posting.
@specs got it posted too bud, im pretty sure they know what their doing
@Anonymous does anyone know how many of these guys are jewish?
@anonymous WTF is wrong with you? Why is everyone gonna make this some racist shit? Someone already called Stephan a “spic” on one of the other news outlets and used this as proof that “illegal immigrants” are taking over, another commenter on bwog asked if they were all black, and now you’re asking how many were Jewish?
Get a grip, racist people, get a grip.
@Anonymous wtf are you talking about? I’m just trying to see how many of the jewish suspects will get off with lighter sentences, as is usually the case in New York, with most of the judges and lawyers and the mayor being jewish. It’s really an interesting observation to take part in. You should join in on the fun.
@is Michael Wymbs coming back to campus tonight?
@Mike Wymbs I’ll be back!!
@favorite response.
@meant for lock-lover.
@Anonymous The C5 do not have to turn states evidence because their suppliers were already arrested.
The only people they can snitch on are the folks they sold drugs to.
Think about that!
@Confused Lock-Lover “Police unhinged the locks of Mike Wymbs’ EC suite to arrest him.”
The hinges of EC suites are on the inside of the door. Did they knock the door down?
Also, did nobody tell the NYPD that there are master keys for the EC suites?
@I love... …your sense of humour haha!
@good point Couldn’t the NYPD have just gone to the Hartley Hospitality desk, said that they left their wallet in their room, and signed out a key to his EC suite for 2 hours?
@if I were the C5, i would NOT snitch on the kingpins just to get outta jail time… you really want to live the rest of your life in fear? that shit is real, the drug scene is very very ugly.
@they can go into witness protection? i would try it…
@Anonymous “Where there are rich white people, there will be drugs.”
@lol poor non-white people don’t use drugs
@Anonymous haha, CC/SEAS.
@Anonymous I agree with the idea that the scope of this bust is like bringing a machine guy to a knife fight…but not as a means of getting to the suppliers. The C5 are not hardened criminals and have future careers to think of — as a result they will likely roll over and provide whatever info/assistance is asked of them. It’s probably a lot cheaper and less dangerous way for the NYPD to get higher up the distribution chain. And when all this is done, the C5 will pay fines, honor their probation and likely be productive members of society.
@WHOA WHOA WHOA do not call them C5! not to confuse them with a key substrate in the classical compliment pathway in immunology.
@Anonymous he did benefit from the coke trade here back in the day..he knows what’s up
@Anonymous obama, i mean.
@... it’s fascinating to see how uptight east coast people overreact to such minutia.
hopefully they won’t up up in prison, and hopefully they’ll be given an opportunity to return to their studies. if not, then that speaks volumes about columbia’s true priorities to me.
@Columbia's priorities?q This isn’t the War on Fun. They weren’t busted by Public Safety. NYPD nabbed them after a 5 month investigation and they’re currently in jail. Columbia can’t do anything; they’re in the legal system now.
@Confused Why is Bwog looking to Panhellenic Council for a statement? Doesn’t that only cover the 4 sororities?
It would be Intergreek Council or Interfraternity Council, who oversee the implicated fraternities that I’d expect to make an official comment about this.
@Eliza Yes, sorry, I went too fast. Should be clearer now.
@..I mean, come on has anyone posted the fraternity affiliations of the five? it seems unfair to group all 3 in this equally if one, for example, had 3 of the 5 and the others only had 1 each- not that the others shouldnt be in trouble, but itd serve the public interest to identify the frats.
To all those saying this reflects negatively on ALL the frats at columbia- you think in this many month long investigation they never wondered if other frats were doing the same thing??? They had access to greek life, evidently… this is a pretty good indicator that other frats weren’t linked.
@Anonymous I think Michael Wymbs wrote this after he was released on bail.
@Anonymous this was in response to the long “honestly” post. Failed attempt at reply.
@Anonymous Hey, they took the risk and made the money…now they have to pay the price. They were very open about selling in the frats. They put everyone in the frats in jeopardy for their selfish need to make the big bucks.
Rikers has a beautiful view of the east river!
@Anonymous Room for rent: Beautiful Rikers Island. 1500 bedrooms, 2 baths, free food, uniformed doormen, in-house dating service, religious studies, gymnasium, single bed, no mattress
Ha ha
@soo if they had gotten busted a bit earlier they could have met lil wayne….
@better than wein well that sounds better than wein.
@well... “Wymbs’ parents arrived at the Court today with a blank check for his bail.”
Swag.
@Maybe.. Obama will pardon them.
@Anonymous Too bad that these are state crimes, not federal.
@Ugh President can pardon anyone. For any crime. Because he’s the president.
@Anonymous In the event you’re actually stupid, and not trolling:
http://www.justice.gov/pardon/pardon_instructions.htm
“However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense.”
@wrong nope, most are felonies and are federal laws. btw, i’m pretty disappointed with the amount of haters and ignorant comments on this thread.
@Anonymous honestly, the fact that their college education and prospects for the future have been thrown down the drain to make illegal money, when they would have been better off just sucking it up and taking the debt that comes with a Columbia education, is much more sad and disappointing than the amount of jail time that they will have.
@Anonymous Where is this idea that they were financing their education through drugs coming from? It sounds like a complete fabrication besides the fact the Columbia is expensive.
@from the widely-respected and not-at-all-sensationalist New York Post?
@Honestly I’m sick of the jugement being flung around here today. So this is directed at everyone who mounted a high horse today.
I’m pretty sure more than half of you do drugs yourself and the rest of you have things I’m sure you are not proud of. The point is, the world doesn’t pry into your dirty laundry, so it isn’t hanging out for everyone to see today. I can guarantee if it did you wouldn’t look so good either.
While these kids definitely made mistakes (and they sure as fuck are in the process of paying for them) they are not bad people. Knowing many of them individually I would go as far as saying they are exceptional, stand-up individuals.
The reason they are being singled out today is the result of a misguided process of justice, a process that is attempting to do good but it demonizing and glorifying all the wrong ideals and devoting an enormous amount of resources and time to hurting the lives of kids who are as much victims as they are perpetrators. It is a fruitless system, which in the end only leads to a black market of drugs, and an atmosphere of violence and crime– the very one the are struggling to combat. Even “victories” like today only lead to a brief shake-up in the system, until another person seeking to meet the obvious demand steps up to supply, and I really dare somebody to make a decent case stating otherwise. While this perceived “happy” lull in drug usage may last a couple months, it will do nothing to curb the long-term drug problem on this campus. The lives of these kids, who like I said are mostly well-intentioned people who made a mistake, will be negatively affected for the foreseeable future. While I don’t support drugs, or drug-usage (I am an admitted occasional user), I do support their legalization to avoid tragedies like today, and the tragedies that occur everyday in the black market and underworld fueled by their maintained criminality.
To people who are appalled, disgusted, disappointed, or the less eloquent fuckers who simply put these kids down because they are the scapegoat in the spotlight today, shame on you. This is a spectacle that is meant to humiliate these kids as an example, but will only stand as an example of the failure of the current legal structure of drugs. If you are disgusted by drugs, and have an urge to see their presence diminished in your society, demonizing these kids is not the answer. These are the people you are trying to defend. So man up, look at the facts, and take responsibility for your own contributions to the problem.
@Anonymous thank you. i could not have put it better myself.
@..I mean, come on this text shouldnt be grayed. its a good viewpoint.
@You're argument is terrible They broke the law. They were drug dealers. You say we should defending them. I do not strive to defend them or people like them. You call them “kids”. They aren’t; they are well educated adults. And they knew the consequences of their actions when they engaged in such behavior. And I don’t want to hear sob stories oozing with sympathy about how they were driven to deal drugs because of the cost of tuition. Columbia has a comprehensive financial aid; it isn’t perfect but it works. And I’m sorry, dealing thousands of dollars of drugs over an extended period of time is not a mistake made but some “well-intentioned kids” (as you put it). It’s more than a mistake. These adult men were drug dealers. Pardon my language but I can’t think of a less colorful way to express my sentiments. These scumbag pieces of shit profit off of others’ addictions. Experimenting with drugs and getting hooked, that’s a mistake. Profiting off of it is selfish, greedy and inhuman.
And I’ll grant you that the system is flawed. Some drugs ought to be legal. But guess what? (News Flash) they aren’t. Whether or not you think possessing/selling/dealing/buying/doing drugs is moral or immoral, right or wrong, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s illegal. Breaking the law has legal consequences.
And shame on these students for bringing this sort of negative attention to the University. Everyone knows how the media loves to slam Columbia. We try to pass some progressive policies regarding housing and the media slams us as endorsing couples to live together and have copious amounts of sex on our parents dime. So now, because these morons (and they are morons) decide to do something so incredible stupid, the media, once again, gets to bash the institution that I love and that has provided me with a chance at a brighter future than that of my parents. It’s shameful. And they should be ashamed. And damn you for accusing honest people like myself for contributing to this problem.
@oops *incredibly.
@Ah! And *your
man. I was so frustrated I just ignored the conventional rules of grammar. I’m moderately embarrassed. Excuse me.
@Anonymous well said
@WHOA WHOA WHOA They are not well educated adults, if they were selling drugs to undercover cops. I mean a well educated adult would know at least that.
@Anonymous amen to that.
believe it or not, there are a lot of us here that don’t do drugs.
@Anonymous dork
@Anonymous Amen.
I think most of us will agree that the justice system is far from perfect. But these students chose to break the law, knowing perfectly well what the consequences would be.
@Anonymous The best part of your argument is the fact that whether or not you think they should be legalised, drugs ARE illegal! If you break the law be prepared to suffer the consequences
@YEAH! I’m so glad that the NYPD is spending so much money and time dragging down some kid drug dealers at Columbia! I feel so much safer! There will never be a drug problem here again!
@Anonymous How DARE you claim they are profiting off of others’ addictions! LSD is NOT an addictive drug. Cocaine is a problem, yes, but only ONE of the suspects was selling cocaine. You can’t lump all drugs together and say they’re equally bad, just because they’re equally illegal. In fact, cocaine is still Schedule II (used as a local anesthetic in some kinds of surgery), but it clearly has more addiction potential and health risks than many Schedule I drugs like LSD and psilocybin. This isn’t as cut-and-dry as the law makes it out to be.
I’m really shocked at how negative the feeling toward these boys has been. I just can’t believe it… They were good people and they don’t deserve this.
@LOL Key word, LOCAL anesthetic. Not systemic.
@Anonymous Yeah, I KNOW. I wasn’t saying it’s used in the same way as it is recreationally, I was just giving a brief explanation of why it’s Schedule II instead of Schedule I. And saying that the hierarchy of illegality imposed by the law doesn’t necessarily correlate to actual danger posed by using the drug.
@alum/casual drug user extraordinaire drug dealers don’t principally make money off of others’ addictions, especially dealers who are selling MDMA, weed, and LSD, all three of which are not physically addictive, not matter what your elementary school DARE class taught you. please educate yourself on drugs before you try to have a debate about the drug war.
its people like you, who are so completely devoid of compassion, who make me ashamed of columbia.
@Anonymous Yeah they really seem like “stand up individuals.” Get a hold of yourself. They were selling hard drugs. Marijuana is one thing, but MDMA, cocaine, and LSD are serious and are regulated for a reason. I’m sure the NYPD took them down to get to their supplier. Portraying them as simply “stepping up with supply to meet the present demand” is disingenuous and you know it. I am on financial aid, I work a legitimate job to make ends meet. By the sound of it, at least one of these people is rich enough that he has no need for a supplementary source of income. I agree that the war on drugs is misguided, but the fact is that these kids deserved to go down. I’m glad they are no longer a part of our community.
@i know each of them personally. NONE of them were using this money for tuition.
@Anonymous actually….i know one of these guys from home, his parents did cut him off financially
@Anonymous so the one thing we all agree on is the legalization of weed.
@Honestly I continue to stand-by what I say about their character. If you were known to the college community by your mistakes alone, you would look just as bad. These people are more than just drug dealers, they are people who are friends and family to somebody.
While they each have their own reasons for dealing, I’m not attempting to justify or rationalize any of them. They are wrong and deserve blame for their actions*. I am saying that the unbelievably overblown punishment and backlash they are receiving makes them a victim of a crappy system that creates it’s own enemies with negative feedback loops. You take it upon yourself to judge them via a days worth of news reports. You are creating an individual out of a refined overdose of information on their wrongdoings and equating with people I am honored to call my friends.
*As an aside. With the exception, none of the drugs you listed except cocaine are any more addictive the marijuana. Although alcohol dependency and nicotine addiction is well documented, yet the individuals, corporations and institutions that distribute these products and profit off of real addiction quite lucratively remain generally unregulated and free of criminal charges.
@Honestly *its
@Honestly *With the exception of cocaine
@Anonymous >a refined overdose of information
>overdose
Watch what you did there.
@Okay homes.. lets get past the ‘stop judging them’ argument. Most of us here are open minded enough to not. We’re passing judgment on their actions–wrong. And the humiliation is horrible, yes, and they may be suffering exponentially for a crime that many others commit because of a crappy system, but the fact of the matter is that you sign yourself up for this kind of punishment the instant you *choose* to do these things.
It was a choice they made. While its unfortunate that they got caught and others get away with much worse, it’s something they should have thought about, and I’m sure they did, when they got into the business to begin with.
@Anonymous You’re glad those kids aren’t a part of our community? THEY MADE OUR COMMUNITY. I’m so pissed I’m not gonna see Stephan chilling out at Butler with his legs up on the table– that kid was everywhere. Those kids gave Columbia character. Now it’s just another pissy institution with conservative pricks who stick their noses in the air and say “hmph, they deserved it.” And it’s not the kids who’re bad–we’re all fucking “bad” cause we MAKE THE DEMANDS, AND THEY SUPPLY–THIS IS THE MOST BASIC RULE OF ECONOMICS.
@If by "character" you mean unchecked... douchebaggery, then yeah, these guys brought “character” to Columbia. And you cite Stephan as your evidence? Stephan?! Stephan is the worst! THE. WORST. Many of us knew this long before these allegations. If I were ever to lay eyes on the sight of his goddamned legs on a table in Butler, I would kick the legs out from under the chair while simultaneously snipping his ponytail off. Again, these feelings are in no way connected to his current legal woes.
@speak for your freaking self dude. I don’t demand anything from these guys.
and fyi, the fact that I’m not a drug dealer does not make me an upper class white ‘hmph’er. don’t generalize, please.
@anonymous alum Even Obama did hard drugs, y’all! It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, it just means you’re someone who can’t perceive of being caught (ie under 25).
Personally, I’m judging whoever it was who called Crimestoppers. Really? You were so offended by other people’s business that you skipped over the Columbia administration and called it into the police? Really?! I just find it sad that these kids’ prospects are going to be ruined as a result of some asshole’s petty self-righteousness and offended morality.
If you really can’t control your need to police other peoples’ personal lives, at least keep your snitching at a campus level. I mean honestly.
@Van Owen They are frat boys…cry me a river. Serves them right. 5 douche bag losers. They world needs ditch diggers, so there you babies. These 5 are just stupid. They thought they were Pablo and ended up being FLAVA FLAV. I hope they show and tell their new Rickers Island facial scars to their Frats. PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST!
@Anonymous Totally agree! I mean, why else would MyFoxNY be SOO interested in this?
@UW too long didn’t read
@Get real. Sorry, but the shit I’m not proud of doesn’t funnel money to drug dealers who want to kidnap and torture people.
Just saying.
@Anonymous so based!
@soo i always knew GS was just a bunch of undercover cops.
@GSer *That* is fucking funny. And I’m a GS student. But, no, it’s not true. We’re mostly mafia.
@Van Owen Sucks. I think going to Rickers will give them major street credibility. Jay Z say’s it best:
Came here for school, graduated to the high life
Ball players, rap stars, addicted to the limelight
MDMA got you feelin’ like a champion
The city never sleeps, better slip you an Ambien
New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothin’ you can’t do
Now you’re in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
Big lights will inspire you
Let’s hear it for New York, New York,
New York!
@WHOA WHOA WHOA Thats the drug they SHOULD HAVE sold. AMbien. would have made much sense, they rock all night, but you can have a good night sleep.
@tupac shakur actually i think 2pac says it best: F*ck Jay-Z
@Van Owen 1, 2, 3 a to tha 4
1pac 2pac 3pac 4, 4pac 3pac 2pac 1, hes pac, ur pac no pac none.
@alum/casual drug user extraordinaire actually, NWA said it best: fuck the police.
@Anonymous This shit hurts so bad. More bright futures are darkened. More young people poised to change the world are silenced. All to “get drugs off the streets.” Well done on that, justice system.
ONE IN ONE-HUNDRED AMERICAN ADULTS ARE IN JAIL.
ONE-THIRD OF AMERICAN ADULTS ARE IN PRISON, ON PAROLE, OR ON PROBATION.
ONE-THIRD OF BLACK MEN END UP IN PRISON AT SOME POINT IN THEIR LIVES.
I’m starting to think the consequences of the War on Drugs are worse than the consequences of the drugs, themselves…
@Anonymous “ONE-THIRD OF AMERICAN ADULTS ARE IN PRISON, ON PAROLE, OR ON PROBATION.”
I feel as though this can’t be right.
@the real statistic is 1 in 31 adults are on parole probation or in jail which is 3.2%
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=49398
@Van Owen Were they all black?
@Anonymous What kind of racist idiot would ask that? Why don’t you do the research on your own? And find out that 3 were actually WHITE. What now?
And, what if they had been all black? What would you have done?
@Interesting Statistic, but... look at the ethnicity and socioeconomic background of these guys…
@c Are you serious? This hurts so bad? Those dudes were financing cocaine dealers who were threatening kidnap. Think about the extent of violence and lives affected and people actually ‘hurt’. They deserve everything coming to them.
@alum/casual drug user extraordinaire actually, drug-related violence wouldn’t kill nearly as many people if the government would legalize drugs. and it would keep non-violent drug offenders (like these 5 people and millions of other people) out of the penal system, freeing up resources to go after rapists, murderers, and child molesters. so its really the government with blood on its hands here.
@Uh Well as it stands, drugs are illegal right now. And what, they should be exempt from responsibility or any ties to drug related violence because it is created by the current legality / our government? I’m not against legalizing drugs, but your argument sucks.
@Spec has additionally reported that each of the Columbia 5 is pleading not guilty. How can this possibly be? They must have hard evidence on them after 6 months of an undercover op. what a stupid move. i guess they really believe in their amazing lawyers.
@Anonymous learn some law, idiot
@umm its pretty clear… they should be entering into a guilty plea to get a better deal given how obvious it is that they were guilty
@..I mean, come on shouldn’t they go not guilty so they can negotiate to guilty with a plea bargain? give them a day to talk to their lawyers at least.they can switch to guilty whenever- you dont please guilty to a large scale felony unless you have to.
@alum who worked for da At the arraignment stage, the defendants would only get an offer based on the charges and the judgement of the charging ADA (based on perceived strength of case, severity of crimes, etc), not a plea deal that would drop charges or reduce the sentence. Plea bargaining between the ADA and defense counsel normally begins after the defendant is formally charged.
@ignorant yet another misinformed idiot
@Columbia please pool your money to save the Columbia 5. We can not let them go to Rickers.
@WHAT?!? Why on earth should we support five morons who have sullied our institution and degrees? Let’s hope that none of them are bailed out and have to spend a few days in Rikers. That’ll learn these “smart” and “great” guys. Idiots!
@yep that’ll learn ’em, alright
@Anonymous These guys didn’t “sully” didn’t sully shit. Columbia’s reputation isn’t going to vanish— kids get caught for selling drugs EVERYWHERE.
@Oh no! What is Mr Goldman going to think now?
@that's ridiculous why not? THEY were dealing and broke the law, not the rest of us.
@we must stick up for our classmates and keep them from prison. please pool your money and attend the rally tonight.
@no no
@Anonymous YOU GOT THE RIGHT FUCKING IDEA, thank you
@Why?? Why? We gave them all of our money already…
@uh Rickers you say? I heard it’s like Ricky’s but with dementors
@Anonymous Successful troll is successful
@anonymous redundant comment is redundant?
@Anonymous THE FIRST RULE OF TAUTOLOGY CLUB IS THE FIRST RULE OF TAUTOLOGY CLUB
@Anonymous HOW EMBARRASSING.
@WHOA WHOA WHOA FIrst of all, i like my comments all the way on the top. Second, do not call them Columbia 5, they are not super heroes, seriousla you guys.
@If these kids watched Dexter they’d know the first rule is to never get caught! I blame the university for not providing cable to the dorms.
@Barack Obama I hope you guys realize this totally eliminates any chance of me speaking at Columbia for commencement. I can already see the FOX headlines “Obama to speak and school with drug dealers on student council” I hope the people doing the POTUS project have other hobbies…
@The Columbia 5... …name is going to stick. That sucks. Just make them the Colombia 5 and move on.
@Hey, At least they didn’t have to take finals first.
@Anonymous student Hello, internet: I’m an undergrad student here on full financial aid, but I still work 30+ hours a week for multiple off-campus jobs, work study, and an internship to support myself (and invest for the future, where my parent’s little money will not be there to help). I have a 3.9 GPA (might be bumped up this semester, too), take 15+ credit course loads, and am an active student in class discussions and my respective academic department.
BUT I smoke weed EVERYDAY and partake in ALL the aforementioned drugs (not as regularly as weed, but I have definitely contributed to the black market in my short lifetime). NEWSFLASH: Doing drugs does not make you a bad/stupid person, holy shit! I am not ‘entitled’ to anything in the slightest, but I feel nothing but deep remorse for these guys and complete antipathy for the “War on Drugs.”
Most of these hostile arguments are founded on the presumption that ‘drugs’ are inherently bad by nature, failing to see how this conception is informed, propagated, legitimated by laws whose historical origin are also deeply rooted in xenophobic, racist, classist ideas about the ‘purity’ of the interrelations within the economic market. But seriously? No one should be telling you (yes, even the inescapable government and its mandatory laws) about what or what you cannot put in your own body. Don’t give me some political science/public policy/economics bullshit about a ‘social contract’ with the government or the evils of the underground drug market -why the FUCK does the government have a say in the ‘purity’ of my body? Why the FUCK are drugs illegal?
This situation has stirred up a clusterfuck of arguments: “they deserve it because its against the law… they are smart guys and they knew the consequences… they are entitled greedy frat guys who should have gotten real jobs… they are terrible people because they went beyond marijuana and sold cocaine which kills other people… they were involved with other shady drug criminals…” —> Um, what the fuck? All of these arguments grossly misdirect the real issue and fail to implicate the problem of ethically appalling laws restricting the use, exchange, and proper education of drugs. Moreover, this restriction is forced both on our bodies and our minds -literally and metaphorically. Somehow, this logic seems to be okay for the majority of the population (including my parents, who would be appalled by my drug use).
Yet hopefully there will be a day when human consciousness can claim jurisdiction on its own corporeal existence (and I don’t mean tattoos). Drugs will be legal. Drug education will be supported. The drug market will be regulated. People will know/choose what to do with drugs and their bodies. I could go on with my fantastical idea of a future free of anti-drug laws, but I couldn’t really say what will happen. All I know is that self-consciousness will change, the idea of government power will shift, legal enforcement will focus on more troubling issues, harmless people will not go to jail for selling or using drugs, people will not construct arguments about ‘morality’ based on the unquestioned acceptance of biased laws, my fucking tax money will not be going to fund $11,000 sting operations, my college will not be complicit with the 5-month long presence of undercover cops trying to incriminate drug-dealing, students, and I’ll probably be less paranoid of cops.
…I didn’t mean to divert from the reality at hand with this hopeless philosophical rant, but I thought I’d try to get my feelings across because all of this really made me upset. My heart goes out to these guys and everyone who is caught in the “War on Drugs.” I can only cross my fingers and hope I’m not next.
@omg seriously, save it for uni writing. too many words.
@Well said A solid point of view.
@Anonymous Okay then. All charges against them shall be dismissed. Except for the one where they sold Adderall, a legal prescription drug.
@Anonymous “A complete antipathy for the War on Drugs”? Thousands of innocent people have DIED because of it, you idiot! Try a little exercise called “empathy” and realize that your actions do have effects in other parts of the world, which, in this case are bullets and dead bodies.
You all know that legalization of drugs is not happening tomorrow or next year. Meanwhile, (innocent) people will keep dying this week (if not tomorrow) because of this war.
@Anonymous ‘ “A complete antipathy for the War on Drugs”? Thousands of innocent people have DIED because of it, you idiot! ‘
Is “it” here the War on Drugs? Because if so, doesn’t the poster’s antipathy towards the War on Drugs make sense? Antipathy = dislike for something
@Anonymous i stand corrected, sorry.
@Anonymous student You called me an idiot incapable of exercising empathy because you mixed up the definition of antipathy?… The internet is weird…
@response to long 8 december 12:16am post YES, wholeheartedly agreed!!
@alum/casual drug user extraordinaire thank you for not being just another douchebag on bwog. fuck the drug war.