In the latest installment of Bwog’s OfficeHop series, Senior CEO Expert Hopper Specialist Peter Sterne visited Anthropology Professor Michael Taussig to ask about… his hammock. Taussig happily shared anecdotes and observations about his prized perch, while impatient grad students grumbled outside his office. If you know a professor with a unique office, be sure to email tips@bwog.com!

Michael Taussig lying in his Colombian hammock

Professor Michael Taussig is most famous in his field for showing that South American miners’ fear of the devil is a powerful critique of capitalism, though these days he is more interested in looking at the significance of color in colonialism. Here, he is most well-known for his incredible fashion sense and extremely polarizing teaching style.

And, to the best of our knowledge, he’s the only Columbia professor with a hammock in his office.

“Oh, I’ve had hammocks for decades,” Professor Michael Taussig tells Bwog, “I got this one from San Jacinto, Colombia, in the ’90s. “That was around the time the department reformed, and we were very anti-colonial.”

But wait—isn’t Taussig… still anti-colonial?

“Well,” he pauses, “We were much more so back then. And Joyce Monges [the department's administrator] said we should get hooks put in the ceiling of the student lounge to hang hammocks, but the hooks were never installed.” Arguing that hammocks can be considered anti-colonial symbols, he cites French sociologist Marcel Mauss, who considered the ways that peoples’ bodies and physical habits are shaped by societal and cultural forces. Such forces program Americans to sit in chairs, so going out of your way to lie in a hammock could be considered a subversive act. So are chairs colonialist? With a hint of indignation, Taussig admits, “when you put it like that, it does sounds crazy.”
Read more…

Our dear university, hit hard by the recession, has been searching for ways to cut expenses.

With assistance from consulting firm McKinsey, they’ve been weighing their options, some of which so upset Michele Moody-Adams that (have you heard?) she resigned as Dean of the Columbia College. While these recommendations have not been made public—and perhaps shall never see the light of day—the University has enacted other policies aimed at saving money, including cutting back on payments for professors’ health insurance and their children’s college tuition.

Back in April, the Task Force on Fringe Benefits (advised by McKinsey, which compared Columbia’s benefits program to those of 16 other universities) released a 38-page report. The report recommended sharply curtailing so-called “fringe benefits” for “Officers of the University” (which mostly means faculty, researchers, and librarians).

These are the specific recommendations the report made:

• Only pay 80% (instead of 100%) of tuition costs for professors’ children who attend Columbia, and 40% (instead of 50%) of tuition cost for professors’ children who attend other schools. This one is self-explanatory, but extremely costly: professors would have to pay over $40,000 more for their kids to attend Columbia for four years! …Which is less than a “normal” parent pays for one year. But still.
• Only allow faculty and staff members who are enrolled in a degree program to take one Columbia course (instead of 15 course credits) per semester for free.
• Replace the generous POS 90 and POS 100 health insurance plans with a High-Deductible Health Plan and Health Savings Account. In English: In exchange for a monthly fee, the POS 90 and POS 100 plans cover 90% or 100% of all your health expenses once you’ve spent around $200 (known as the deductible) on health expenses each year. It’s a pretty sweet deal, so sweet that these plans are actually considered “Cadillac plans” and subject to high taxes under Obamacare. The HDHP, on the other hand, has lower monthly fees but a much higher deductible. The idea is that you put the money you would have spent on the monthly payments into a tax-free “health savings account,” instead of paying high monthly fees and relying on the University to pay for most of your medical expenses.
• Stop giving contributions to retired professors and instead encourage them to open retirement accounts when they’re young. The University is basically taking the same strategy they took with health insurance: transition from a system in which the University makes payments to employees to one in which the University only provides accounts for professors to fill with a portion of their annual salary. Read more…

An artistic rendering of what could be in your stomach now...

Update: If apples and honey aren’t enough to satisfy your sugar craving, scamper over to Barnard, where you can find free dessert until 1:30 in the Altschul lobby.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, starts tomorrow night, so the legendary nosh purveyors at Hillel are giving away apples and honey on the Lerner Ramps from 11:30-12:30. Fun fact: apples traditionally represent the cyclical nature of life, and honey symbolizes hopes for a sweet new year. If you’re still curious, back in the day, we hopped the September Jewish holidays. L’Chaim!

Honey just looks more appetizing in person via Wikimedia Commons.

Korilla—yeah, that’s a portmanteau of “Korea” and “grill”—has been known to Columbians for some time now as a purveyor of insanely delicious burritos, tacos, and bowls. Recently, it’s drawn national attention, winning Rookie Vendor of the Year at the 7th annual Vendy Awards and, more controversially, getting kicked off the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race for allegedly exaggerating their earnings. Bwog spoke to Korilla founder and Columbia alum Edward Song about the economy, broken generators, and the secret to happiness.

Dream following, animal-style

Bwog: Tell us how you got started.

Song: Korilla was started when I graduated from Columbia in 2008—the worst possible time. Back when I was at Columbia, Econ was the easiest major, but for me it was something I really wanted to study. By the time I finally graduated in ’08 (I was supposed to graduate in ’07) I’d just missed the boat for I-banking. All the jobs disappeared, and I took about a year to figure out what I was going to do, just chillin’ and enjoying life after college.

In January, I decided I wanted to continue with entrepreneurial stuff; my roommate and I started a frozen yogurt bar. That was our first foray into the food story, and we didn’t open up until April 2009. The only thing that really was a successful motivator in anything that we did was our love of food. When we first opened in Kansas City, the heart of America, it was a great success, and that’s when I decided I wanted to continue to do this. I asked myself, “What else am I addicted to?” And the answer was Korean food.

Bwog: What’s been your favorite part about running a food truck? Any crazy stories?

Song: I would say it’s just that every day’s an adventure, for better or for worse. On Friday, our generator decided it wasn’t going to work, so we had to shut down and try to get it fixed. We had bought a brand spanking new generator, so it was still on warranty. The problem is that there’s a huge backlog of people who are trying to get stuff fixed, so you usually can’t get it back on the same day. Everyone who works on the truck is our friend—we knew each other before and decided to work together. But one of our employees once decided to put diesel in the truck and caused it to break down. Then we realized the generator wasn’t working, since it feeds off the same tank as the gas. So we had to get it fixed again. Shit goes wrong all the time!

Read more…

Professor Kenneth Jackson, clad in spandex and a safari vest, led some 300+ students from his History of New York class on the annual Midnight Bike Ride this past Friday morning. Beaming with Columbia pride not seen since COOP, the cyclists drew confused looks from tourists and jaded New Yorkers alike. In fact, the Wall Street Journal was so intrigued that they embedded one of their own in the ride, and you can watch her report below (or read the print article). She was amazed by how many people were “out at night in Central Park,” which by Bwog’s count was between 2 and 5.

The bike ride was far from dangerous: an SUV and the CAVA ambulance followed the bikers for most of the trip. On the midnight adventure in seminar yesterday, Jackson admitted: “by the way I once sued the police department because I don’t think you should need a permit.” Bad ass.

At one point in time, Frontiers of Science would have dedicated several lectures to the butter churn

Purdue becomes the first of the 27 schools pursuing construction of a NYC science campus to drop out of the running. (WSJ)

Le Monde (the French magazine, not the restaurant you eat at when your parents visit) is fascinated by Barnard and education at an all girls’ school. Oh, can’t read French, can’t you? Well here’s Google’s not-so-perfectly translated version. (Le Monde)

A conservative nonprofit is worried that sex education, including Columbia’s very own Go Ask Alice, is promoting bestiality and S&M role-playing among the youth of our generation. Apparently someone forgot to tell them that no one at Columbia has sex anyway. (Gothamist)

Blew off your LitHum assignment again? Reading Don Quixote might be more important for your intellectual development than you think. (NYT)

Research on the numbers of high school and college graduates indicates that college rankings aren’t the problem with America’s higher education system—it’s that so few students enter the system at all. (Atlantic)

Director of Columbia’s Center for Iranian Studies Ehsan Yarshatar is spearheading the creation of Encyclopedia Iranica to better educate the world on the history and culture of the Middle Eastern nation, and has been doing so for 37 years. Now aged 91, he’s reached the letter K—halfway there. (NPR)

Little schoolhouse on the snowbank via Wikimedia Commons

We aren’t due to see the Sun again til Friday, so hang on to this picture of the last of it from earlier this evening.

A tradition of excellence

Columbia only truly excels at one sport–protesting. Not only are we good at it, but it’s probably our only event with more than a dozen spectators at any given time. And, boy, has this week has been a doozy… Below you can find links to our coverage in case you missed out on any of the flower-powered civil dissension.

Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York created a stir well beyond our gates. Not discouraged by the lack of a Columbia connection, students protested anyway. Sorta like batting practice.

The national level Hillel helped stage this pro-Israel presentation booth. Hardly a week goes by when pro-Israel or pro-Palestine people don’t have something urgent to tell you on College Walk…

The President of the Republic of Guinea apparently did some bad shit, and when he was here for the World Leaders Forum, so were about a dozen angry people.

A vigil was held by Columbia’s Black Students Organization, Amnesty International, College Democrats and the Barnard-Columbia International Socialist Organization for Troy Davis, a convicted cop-killer who was given the death penalty.

A Day of Unity was organized in support of Columbia University employees.

A lengthy protest has smoldered down on Wall Street all week. Along with many other people, a few Columbia students got arrested.

Piece of our history via Gothamist.

Spicing up IR

Talk politics over tea, but talk international relations over Indian food.
There will be an abundance of Indian provisions at tonight’s meeting of the CU International Relations Forum in 602 Hamilton at 9 pm.

Picture to the lame caption via Wikimedia

The folks providing you nourishment tonight

Hello Friends,

Join the editors and staff at the Blue and White meeting tonight at 9 in St. Paul’s Chapel.
There will be food.

Affectionately,
The Editors

Does this look familiar?

The answer to that question is an emphatic YES. We still don’t know who they are, or how/whether we are to interpret their movements, if they are indeed the same people. Feel free to help us figure this one out.

If you give a mouse a cookie...

Rodent Aficionados Michael Menna and Lauren Beck investigate the presence of the conspicuous rodent that occasionally greets you outside the gates of 116th on your way to class.

Last week, Bwog spotted rats on Broadway. While not the only rodents seen in Morningside, the rats at Columbia’s gate may have been the largest. Twelve feet tall and emblazoned with pink spores (thank you, Carpenter’s Union) the rats were stationed at Columbia’s gates to protest what the Carpenter’s Union alleges are questionable construction dealings on the University’s part.

According to the dogmatic one-sheets available beside a sign that reads “SHAME ON THE TRUSTEES OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,” CU leadership dishonorably employs the nonunion contractor, Schulman Industries, for its projects. In doing so, university leadership has committed the no-no of supporting shifty construction companies that do not provide their workers with “the standards they deserve,” fair wages and benefits among them.

In the union’s open letter, they address Columbia’s student body in an attempt to convince students like us to take on President Lee Bollinger and demand that he initiate what they call a “Responsible Bidder Policy” with contractors. Believe what you will about workers’ rights and Columbia’s obligation, we can all admit that the NYCDCC knows how to get students’ attention. Nothing quite shocks the senses like an inflatable rodent, which jarringly synthesizes things we love (moonbounces, balloons, etc.) and things we hate (rats), and seem likely as anything to break through sleeplessness and hangovers toward something like social consciousness. If you’ve seen the rats about before, it’s because unions use them frequently to protest against companies and private citizens who support nonunion construction work. Read more…

Without even an announcement, the powers that be have seriously revamped the Dodge Fitness Center! Bwog thought the changes were so substantial they deserved more than a mere Boringside mention. Last week, we (Emily) posted on how to comport yourself in Pupin’s congested underbelly, and, sure enough, the space was promptly spruced. Pure speculation: perhaps the old stuff is headed for the new Carman gym slated for next semester? Anyways, behold the transformation:

Hawkma was found lounging on a balcony of John Jay yesterday, a spot that she tends to visit often now. Meanwhile, earlier tipsters spotted her hawkadinnerjad, “a substantially-sized bone picked clean outside of Hartley.” Take heed, residents of the general area; Hawkma might have moved on to bigger things.

Where did he come from? Why Broadway? Is this woman wearing any clothing? Filed under: things we'll never know, for sure.

Bwog happened upon a freshman living in an upperclassman dorm who doesn’t have a meal plan and wasn’t pre-registered for Core classes—what’s going on here? That’s what we were wondering, too. Chief Freshperson Scrutineer Alexandra Avvocato investigates.

Bwog: So I hear rumors that you’re currently living in Broadway. How exactly did that happen?

Forgotten Freshman: Columbia isn’t always a place where things make sense.

Bwog: Well…when did you first know about it? In the email?

FF: Yeah, it just said “Broadway” in the email, and I didn’t really think about it ’til I got here.

Bwog: Did you notice that you were the only freshman in the dorm during NSOP?

FF: I wasn’t even here for NSOP. I got here on the first day of classes. My cab here broke down over the bridge and we had to push it.

Bwog: What?

Freshperson calmly repeats his statement.

Bwog: Ok. So, how does it feel to be the only freshman in an upperclass dorm?

FF: It’s pretty cool. The people are nice; everyone kinda thinks it’s funny. But there’s an upperclassman living in Furnald who I might switch with since he obviously deserves the upperclassman dorm.

Matt, Bwog’s associate: Don’t do it! The rooms are shoeboxes!

FF: Yeah, but some of these freshman dorms are awesome. John Jay has all this wood panelling, Furnald’s lobby is awesome. The Broadway lobby looks like a doctor’s office.

A debate ensues on the relative merits of Broadway and Furnald. Topics include room sizes, bathrooms, social life, and how “kinda 70s retro” each dorm is.

Read about it after the jump.