These mules are not in Moscow.

To the thirstiest of our friends, never fear. Drinking with Bwog has returned—with a Russian accent! Read on as the Columbia Bartending Agency’s Slavic enthusiast Nick Miyares teaches you how to get your drink on with a Eurasian twist.

Although not among the stiffer drinks, the Moscow Mule still gets the job done—don’t mistake the deceptively great taste for a weak drink. Plus, it was super popular in Berlin when I was there over Spring Break, so if you want to impress your Euro friends, this is the drink to do it! And if you order a Moscow Mule at a bar, try to get some cucumbers added to the drink. They mix well, taste great with the ginger beer, and are fun to eat.

Ingredients:

1.5 oz vodka (the original used Smirnoff)

3 oz ginger beer

¼ oz lime juice

1 slice of lime

1 sprig fresh mint

2 slices of cucumber—optional, but HIGHLY recommended

Read more…

Bwog respects our heritage/amorous affair by posting each issue of The Blue & White. The latest issue, available this week, is a cornucopia of delights: a gripping debate on the merits of shaving, tales of Columbia’s forgotten protests, and profiles of two truly awesome students, among others. Here, the staff of Bwog and The Blue & White presents a collection of brief personals. Valentine’s Day is long gone, but they are presented nonetheless, because even magazine writers need to find love.

Seeking Men

Illustration by Maddy Kloss

Artist wants to spread her creative juices all over your canvas. (5553)

I’ll swallow anything organic. (5233)

London native ready to influence your Strokes with her Kinks. (6317)

Always looking to recruit new staffs. (3025)

Do you want some candy? (3025)

Francophile wants more than Frenching. (4336)

Be my coxswain, and I’ll stroke your boat. (5558)

Put your rabbit into my hat, and we can make some magic together. (5608)

Hey, actually, I’m all set. Great. Tanks! (6290)

Religion major seeks someone to uncover her mystery rites. (6411)

London export interested in trade negotiations. (3270)

I prefer “law stylist.” 30 Rock enthusiast seeks one last college fling before professionalism sets in. (3223)

Don’t miss my Times announcement! (6290)

Be my Chaplin, and I’ll be your table dance. (6434)

Never schmaltzy, up for waltzing, so take her home to meet your Bubbe already. (6313)

Episodically erotic, unfailingly neurotic. (2491)

Sweater vest up! (4925)

Choli ke piche kya hai? Let me show you. (2051)

Ladyplayer seeks game, videogame. (4710)

Dinosaur lover searching for bone. (5482)

Electrical engineer wants to feel a spark with a boy who won’t charge. (4981)

Read more…

How will you decide???

If the candy overload from housing selection left you hungry and cranky, we have some good news. Tonight there are TWO events that provide the opportunity to eat your sad feelings about the Woodbridge double you really, really wish were a Hogan suite.

The events occur in roughly the same time frame, so it’s a real Sophie’s choice. The first—a closing ceremony for Women’s History month—begins at 6 in the James Room (4th Floor Barnard Hall) and boasts Kitchenette catering (!). The other—an opening ceremony for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month— will be in Earl Hall from 6:30 to 8:30 and offers the following menu:

Pad Thai
Thai rice
General Tso’s Chicken
Malay Satay Skewers
Spring Rolls
Mini Cupcakes

Good luck making what will undoubtedly be the most important decision you’ll face, at least until 2012 Housing begins.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

HEY JUNIORS, come get these

We’ll try to answer as many questions as possible, but we may not be able to tell what what your specific lottery number means at a certain moment. General debate, advice, and chatter about the housing process is highly encouraged. Plus, you can always stop by in person! We’ll be cheerfully chomping on Reese’s Minis, grooving with Housing staff, and neglecting our studies with abandon. Bwoggers will be more than willing to chat about the current situation and/or our hopes for the Bacchanal lineup… and of course, we’re still handing out Housing stickers. Happy picking and best o’ luck, all!

Mobile viewing

Need to check in during class? Just point your mobile device to http://bit.ly/bwoghousing2011-day3 for our chart and go to http://coveritlive.com and search for “Bwog” for our streaming liveblog.

Read more…

Yesterday, the new ABC executive board was elected! The ABC funds (non-political, -spiritual, or -activist) student groups on campus. It’s the opposite of SGB. Winners are below. Congratulations! Start groveling for money folks.

• President: Daniel Brown, CC ’12
• VP: John O’Shea, CC ’13
• Treasurer: Chloe Ruan, SEAS ’13
• Secretary: Christine Byun, CC ’14

The Senate has released its final resolution regarding military engagement, building off of last week’s draft resolution. It’s going to be presented to the University Senate at tomorrow’s plenary meeting–Bwog is waiting for word on whether or not it will be voted on.

The preambulatory clauses are phrased and ordered slightly differently, but the operative clauses are exactly the same. Those are below.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED

That Columbia University welcomes the opportunity to explore further mutually beneficial relationships with the Armed Forces of the United States, including participation in the programs of the Reserve Officers Training Corps; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED

That Columbia University reaffirms University Statutes III § 35 (Powers of the Faculties Excepting Arts and Sciences and Health Sciences), XXIX § 293 (Powers of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences), and XXXIII § 333 (Powers of the Faculty of Health Sciences), that questions of academic credit, faculty appointments, academic governance, and space allocation shall remain the sole and exclusive domain of the Provost, of the faculties of the affected schools, and of their several deans, as shall not contravene the Charter of Columbia College (enacted 1787, amended 1810), the University Statutes, or any resolution of the Trustees or of the University Senate; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED

That any further relationships with the Armed Forces of the United States, beginning with relationships that may arise as a result of this resolution, shall be subject to periodic review by the appropriate committees of the University Senate …

You can read the full text here.

Remember campus character Phillip Dupree, snowball-fight purveyor extraordinaire? He’s back in action, but this time he’s throwing shots at something much more deserving than a freshperson.

Dupree and fellow Columbians Megan Armstrong and Lucy Herz have started a project to combat what he calls “the world’s 27 million dirtiest secrets”—slavery in the modern world. Their I Am An Abolitionist Campaign kicks off tonight, and includes documentary screenings, panel discussions, and a benefit concert in the future. CNN’s Freedom Project has even expressed interest in profiling them! Their blurb:

“Some of us know that the industry of human trafficking has grown to an appalling size, a few of us even know that there are 27 million people being trafficked today, more than there ever were at the height of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. However, some don’t. And those who do know about it don’t know how to respond. Starting March 31st [that's tonight!] at 8pm in 309 Havemeyer, Columbia Intervarsity Social Justice is launching the I AM AN ABOLITIONIST Campaign that aims to inform and inspire college students to be modern-day abolitionists.”

There will be a screening of the “rockumentary” Call + Response, followed by a talk and Q&A session with Justin Dillon, musical artist and director of the film.

The University Senate will probably vote on their draft resolution for ROTC’s return on April 1st, although it’s possible they’ll delay until the following plenary meeting on April 29th. Barring a veto of their decision by the Trustees, the USenate’s vote will be the final decision. Reviewing our coverage of the ROTC proceedings, here is both a recap of the process so far, and a summary of the Task Force On Military Engagement‘s 228 page-long monster of a report and draft resolution.

• The whole thing got started with the Senate’s repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the Cinton-era policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the armed forces. The very next day, the University Senate created the Task Force On Military Engagement. In the same press release they laid out the plans for three town hall style meetings, solicitation of opinion by email, and a student survey, which together would inform the Task Force’s opinion. On January 28th, 2011, the Senate released a more specific version of that plan.
• The Task Force held its town hall meetings, not without controversy.
• Between the second and third meetings, the Senate released its non-binding survey to BC, CC, GS, SIPA and SEAS. Bwog helped clarify some points of the issue.
• Survey results came in. Of 11,629 eligible students, 2,252 students voted. 60% voted in favor of ROTC’s return to Columbia.
• The University Senate met on March 4th, and Ron Mazor and Roosevelt Montás presented the Task Force’s report.
• Some faculty held their own panel discussion which was classier than ours.
• The University Senate released a draft resolution which would tentatively allow ROTC to return.
• The next meeting of the University Senate—at which they will likely vote—will be April 1st. Failing a vote then, they will decide April 29th. Though a Trustee veto is technically possible, one has never been exercised since the Senate was founded. it is very unlikely given recent history. The last time the Senate was overruled was in 2009 when they voted to change the date of commencement. There have only been a few other cases in the last decade.

Keep reading after the jump for a summary of the Task Force’s report and the draft resolution. Read more…

Maybe we're the center of the universe. Probably not, though. MetaBwog...

Drug busts don’t just happen at our school! These guys stepped it up a notch, and now they’re down $8 million and 8,000 marijuana plants. (NY Post)

And it looks like we’re not the only ones with new admissions stats—kindergarten hopefuls continue to wait for a spot at their elementary schools, but the lists just keep getting longer. (CityRoom)

Remember when James Franco went here? Now he plans to teach at NYU, and we plan to feel scorned. (NYU Daily News)

Plus, someone else who went here—Columbia Alum Kelley Gasper—just scored a New York Times blog post. (At War, NYT)

Image via WikiMedia Commons.

Barnard has reached its housing cap—that is, the maximum number of Barnard students who can live in Columbia housing. For Barnard students who picked a backup room are OK-ish, but those who didn’t are going onto the ominously-named Guaranteed Wait List.

We are investigating just what this means for Columbia students who went into Suite Selection with Barnard students. Full email below.

Dear Barnard student:

According to our records, you registered as part of a group over at CU Suite Selection.

Unfortunately, we have reached the the point at which the maximum number of Barnard students who may select at Columbia (i.e. the ”cap”) has been reached.

We apologize for not being able to know in advance what the final cap would be, but the number depends on a formula which takes into consideration how many CU students who registered at Barnard were able to successfully select with their BC group (the total number of Barnard students who get to live at CU may not exceed the number of CU students who live at Barnard).

Hopefully you registered for Barnard Room Selection and selected your backup room at Barnard. If you did not select a backup room at Barnard (or did not register for Barnard Room Selection), your option now is to sign up for the Guaranteed Wait List.

We’re attaching a Guaranteed Wait List form for you to fill out and submit by 4pm on Monday, April 4 (if you need to do so). When you submit the Guaranteed Wait List form to the Residential Life & Housing office (110 Sulzberger), you will need to additionally sign a Barnard Housing Contract. Students on the Guaranteed Wait List have until August 2 to be able to cancel their housing contract, should they wish, without incurring the $1000 late cancellation charge.

Please let us know if we can answer any questions — Residential Life & Housing

Most students are content to sit through Music Hum, listen to some great music, and get the easy A. But not so with the members of Columbia Classical Performers and fourbythree. These students, with the help of a few special guests, organized and performed Music Hum in a Day. Bwog reports on the musical madness.

Music Hum in a Day was successful because of the talented student musicians, but also because of the generous support of the Miller Theatre Fund. The fund provides the recipient group with a bit of cash, and most importantly, the Miller stage, the best stage on or near campus. All other performing groups (besides the V-show, because they get more than enough money to buy their own solid gold stage) should be jealous.

The opportunity given to CCP and fourbythree was rare, and their performance more than lived up to the billing. I should say first, though, that I am by no means an expert on the history or appreciation of music. I do pay attention in class more often than not, so that gives me some liberty to claim the title of expert. Plus, the organizers advertised their event as a quick romp through music history that would be accessible to those with limited musical knowledge. Read more…

Don't be this guy. There's cool stuff to do this weekend!

Bwog’s Wednesday feature, Where Art Thou?, is here to keep you posted on what’s going on in the A&E department in Morningside Heights and beyond (basically all the cool events your friends are in/on/at). If you would like your production entitled One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Orchesis  posted on Bwog, now you can! E-mail us atevents@bwog.com.

Thursday

• Barnard Echoes: Open Mic Night, Thursday at 7 pm in the Diana Cafe. Free.

Friday

• Columbia Senior Thesis Show I, Friday at 5 pm in 310 Dodge. Art show. Free.
• Senior Creative Thesis Dance Concert, Friday and Saturday at 7 pm in Minor Laytham Playhouse at Barnard. $5 CUID, $10 without.
• Nazaara presents: CHAOS THEORY, Friday at 7 pm in the VagBox. A theatre production $5 CUID, $10 without.
• Osekre and The Lucky Bastards@The Village Underground, Friday at 7 at 120 W. 3rd St. CU alum band. $10.
  
• FOLK for the Soul: Postcrypt Coffehouse, Friday and Saturday 8 pm in the basement of St. Paul’s. Friday is also the opening of the art show Art as Protest: The Politics Show. Free.
• Melancholy Play, Friday at 8 pm in Lerner Black Box. Running through Saturday. $5 CUID, $10 without.
• hear me rORCHESIS: a dance work, Friday and Saturday at 9 pm in Roone. $5 with CUID, $10 without.

Sunday

• CUNNUF 2011, Sunday at 6:30 pm in Roone. Columbia University Undergraduate Film Festival .$5 CUID, $10 without.
• Columbia University Orchestra Spring Concert, Sunday and Monday at 8 pm in Miller Theatre. Free.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Bwog respects our heritage/amorous affair by posting each issue of The Blue & White. The latest issue, available this week, is a cornucopia of delights: an exploration of Columbia’s graffiti sub-culture, a foray into our Facebook pasts, and an introduction to Morton Williams’s ticker, among other delights. At Two Swords’ Length” is a feature presenting opposing opinions on an issue. This month, Mark Hay and Hannah Lepow face off on one of the biggest decisions a college student faces … to shave, or not to shave?

Affirmative

Illustration by Angelique Chandy

I am a heavily forested man and damn proud of it. When a boy starts pushing up foliage, that is when he knows he has become a man, all other activities of the pituitary gland be damned. No offense to those with alopecia areata, of course.

The fact that you could skin me and turn me into a carpet is how I know I am not just a man, but a strong, beautiful beast. But if Disney taught me nothing else, it is that every beast must groom away some of his coarse nature to snag his belle. (That was the point of that movie, right?)

Six months is exactly enough time to see everything you can in another human being and form a rationale for never, ever wanting to see her snaggle-toothed, over-made-up, vacant-eyed face ever again. Sure, I see flaws in my current entanglement, but Buddha knows why, I’ve come to like Hannah’s snaggleteeth. And I know she does not appreciate coming away from an encounter with thick, curly black hairs stuck in her smile.

Maybe there was an allure to my fuzz at first. Running her hands through something with the texture of a Persian rug—that is a luxurious experience you don’t get with most men. Hair, and lots of it, gives you an air of rugged virility and mystery. A grizzled mane with a healthy sheen is the choicest of aphrodisiacs.

But, if that novelty passes, what then? I can admit that hair, everywhere may have some downsides.

The natural bouquet of my skin is a potent pheromonal snare, worthy of inclusion in that Ben Whishaw movie Perfume. Yet I’ll admit hair has a habit of trapping the aroma of anything that enters, exits, or just passes by. It pushes down my musk and mingles it with the basest of odors. And in the heat of passion, all of the stewing scents by my roots boil and bubble, and as her face approaches my flesh I can only imagine that I must sometimes smell like a sewage treatment plant in the dead of summer. Read more…

Admissions Dean Jennifer Fondiller signed each of the 5,154 letters!

This week, accepted Barnard prospies for the class of 2015 are receiving their letters–and they will have to wait, because Barnard holds to tradition in sending out only paper acceptances. So much admissions hoopla going on!

And it was a notable year for Barnard. The college saw a 38% increase in early applications, from 397 to 550. The college also received 5,154 applications, more than ever before; up from 4,618 last year, for a gain of 12%!

This sets their admission rate at 24.9%, also the lowest ever, up down from last year’s 27.8%.

Dean Fondiller attributes the success to targeted recruitment worldwide and the opening of The Diana Center.

Photo by Adrienne Hezghia

Welcome home 2015!

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions has just released the admissions statistics for the Class of 2015! The takeaway: shitloads of people applied to Columbia. The overall admission’s rate for this year was 6.9 percent, compared with last year’s 9.2%. We suspect this has a lot to do with the switch to the Common App, but regardless, congratulations are in order for next year’s freshpeople!

Jessica Marinaccio, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, made the following statement:

The Undergraduate Admissions staff and I take great pride in admitting the Class of 2015 to Columbia College and Columbia Engineering. Chosen from among 34,929 applicants in our most selective admissions cycle ever, admitted students hail from 73 countries and all 50 states, as well as Washington D.C., Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. We admitted 6.4% of students who applied to Columbia College and 9.9% of those who applied to Columbia Engineering, for an overall admit rate of 6.9%.

The full statement and breakdown of the data after the jump!