See you later

This afternoon, Barnard students received their final email from Debora Spar. After nine years of serving as the college’s president, she will continue her career as the CEO and president of the Lincoln Center. It won’t be until sometime next fall when Barnard sees another permanent president; until then COO Rob Goldberg will temporarily take her place.

A notable detail in her email included the news of The Board of Trustee’s plans to divest from fossil fuel companies that deny climate change, making Barnard the first college to do so. This effort came from an extensive review performed by Task Force, which is comprised of trustees, student, faculty, staff and students. Barnard’s divestment is an exceptional victory for Divest Barnard, the student-led campaign that has worked especially close to this issue.

Find the full email after the jump.

Words from the woman herself

A spectre is haunting Levien…

Staff Writer Gloriana Lopez and Guest Writer Abby Rubel have seen a lot of basketball at Columbia, and they’ve seen a lot of fans. The two of them discuss the divide perpetuated between athletes and their fans.

Luke Petrasek is flawless.
He has two Fendi purses and a silver Lexus.
I hear his hair’s insured for $10,000.
I hear he does car commercials… in Japan.
One time, he punched me in the face. It was awesome.

Obviously, none of these things are true. (Luke Petrasek, men’s basketball’s points leader, has a red Lexus and does Nike commercials in Holland.) When a sports team does well, as the men’s basketball team has been doing for the past few years, the athletes who are having that success can come to seem a little more than human, just like Regina George.

In 2013, the Columbia Daily Spectator published an article called “The Dodge Divide.” It explored the relationship between athletes and the greater Columbia community. The bulk of the article focused on athletes’ relationship with their peers. Many people expressed resentment that athletes, who they perceived of as bad at sports and bad at academics, filled up so many slots in their class. But in 2013, Columbia’s most popular sports stunk. The football team hadn’t won on the road since 2009, the women’s basketball team had gone 5-23, and the men’s basketball team had finished in last place in the Ivies.

Four years later, the situation has changed quite a bit. The football team won homecoming for the first time in sixteen years and finished 2-5 in the Ivies, the women’s basketball team will likely finish 13-13, (depending on how things go today at Yale), and the men’s basketball team is currently the CIT Champion and has a better than 50% chance of making it into the first-ever Ivy League tournament.

Click for more observations about athlete-fan interactions at Columbia

Boss ladies in public health.

On Thursday afternoon, Events Editor Lexie Lehmann ventured uptown to Columbia’s Medical School campus to attend the book launch of “Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why?”, written by Chelsea Clinton and Devi Sridhar. At the event, Clinton and Sridhar discussed the governance of leading public health organizations and the process of co-authoring their book.

When I found out that Chelsea Clinton was giving a talk at Columbia on the launch of her new book with Devi Sridhar, I knew it was something I wanted to check out. The event was hosted by Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, where Clinton is an adjunct assistant professor in Health Policy and Management. The introduction for the event was given by Linda Fried, the Dean of the Mailman School. Question and answer were moderated by Michael Sperr, Chair of the Department of Health Policy.

Chelsea Clinton and Devi Sridhar are two incredibly impressive scholars and mothers who have been collaborating on this book for several years. In addition to being an adjunct professor at the Mailman School, Clinton is also the Vice Chair of the Clinton Foundation and holds a doctorate of Philosophy from Oxford University in International Relations. In 2015, she published a positive self-help book titled, “It’s Your World: Get Informed, Get Inspired, and Get Going!” Sridhar also possesses an incredibly impressive resume. After being the youngest person to become a Rhodes Scholar at age 18, Sridhar has gone on to work as a professor in Global Health Politics at Oxford University. She currently serves as Professor and Chair in Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh Medical School.

Their book, “Governing Global Health”, presents four case studies of the world’s leading public health organizations: the World Bank, the World Health Organization, GAVI Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS. Research was conducted to examine how these four organizations are governed, financed, and held accountable for their decisions. The organizations were also evaluated for transparency and accountability. By comparing and contrasting the governance strategies of each of these organizations through specific lenses, Clinton and Sridhar were able to draw conclusions about the influence and effectiveness of their public health strategies.

Click here for more from the talk

what beats shakespeare and good conversation on a saturday night?

New York City is packed with amazing culture and inspiring art, but sometimes it’s difficult to break the Morningside-bubble and experience it all first-hand. “Where Art Thou” is a weekly guide to interesting and notable lectures, events, and performances for the literary/musically/theatrically-inclined on campus.

Monday, March 6th

• People, Place, Purpose | Francine Houben, 6:30 PM, Wood Auditorium in Avery Hall – “With People, Place, Purpose, Francine Houben will present Mecanoo’s designs based on these three fundamental elements. Each project is carefully considered in terms of its cultural setting, place and time, amounting to a unique design statement embedded within its context and orchestrated specifically for the people who use it.” – Free and open to the public

Tuesday, March 7th

• Pop-up Concert | Miranda Cuckson, 6:00 PM, Miller Theatre – “Miranda Cuckson returns to Miller Theatre’s stage with a solo concert. A favorite of audiences for her great range of repertoire and styles, she’s become one of the most sought after performers of contemporary music. Cuckson is passionate about the role of the performer/interpreter in the creative process, which she has proved at concert halls and festivals, galleries and informal spaces alike. Her Pop-Up Concert offers several new violin works by important contemporary voices, including a premiere by Steve Lehman.” – Free admission, concerts starts at 6 PM, doors open at 5:30 PM

Student theater and more after the jump!

Oh John JJ’s… taking us to the frontiers of innovative gastronomy

Happening in the World: A Mexican lawmaker climbed the border fence between Tijuana and San Diego as a message for Donald Trump. (CNN)

Happening in New York City: The director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art resigned this week following concerns about the financial health and direction of the museum. (The New York Times)

Happening on Campus: Today’s weather is going to be a high of 34 and a low of 15! (And we all thought spring was here to stay…) Bundle up, get some hot chocolate from Ferris, and cozy up with a good book!

Overseen: Columbia Dining got oddly creative on Thursday night… (see image)

Bwog as your spontaneous travel agency:
Spring Break is in a week! Bwog has researched the roundtrip travel prices for certain destinations (as of press time):
Montauk (for visiting that rich friend’s home in the East Hamptons): $41 by LIRR
Philadelphia (for the low-key traveller): $49 by Amtrak
Los Angeles (for the glamorous drama queen): $402 by Virgin America
Cancun (for the Bacchic party animal): $448 by Volaris/Interjet