we’ve all been there

Recently, we’ve been running out of options for our UNI logins. Changing them every 180 days was a hassle in the first place, but on top of that, there’s a load of other requirements that not even our bank accounts require. So, how can you find a good password that fits you?

It used to be so simple: set the same passwords for all your accounts, and leave it that way until about 3 years later when you realize maybe your parents/siblings/exes shouldn’t have access to your Netflix anymore because they keep screwing with your recs. But CUIT won’t settle for that–we must change our passwords every 180 days, and we must tailor those passwords very specific demands. The password requirements/tips are the following, as posted on the CUIT password change page:

Password Rules

• Must be between 8 and 64 characters long.
  (between 16 and 64 for service accounts.)
• Must have at least 3 of the following:
  • upper case letter
  • lower case letter
  • number
  • special character
• Special characters include symbols and punctuation marks.
• Passwords less than 12 characters cannot contain common words or personal identifiers.
• Passwords of any length may not contain your first or last name.
• To set a new password it must be different from the last five that were used.

Password Tips

• Try forming a password from a phrase or sentence. This is a very secure way of creating longer passwords that are both hard for others to crack and easy to remember by you.
• With shorter passwords it might be necessary to remove some vowels from a word, or to to embed some numbers or special characters within a word.

Password Security Guidelines

• Do not share your password with others.
• Do not base your password on personal information that can be easily guessed or discovered on Facebook.
• Do not use the same password for all applications.
• Do not save or store your passwords on browsers and websites.
• Remember to always log out.

So how can you find a password that works for you?

President Beilock – here on campus and ready to listen

A new school year means new classes, new housing, and, for Barnard students, a new President. While our official interview took place over email, EIC Amara Banks and Managing Editor Betsy Ladyzhets (both BC ’19) got a chance to sit down with Sian Beilock (pronounced “see-on by-lock”) for a few minutes today to chat. She told us about her summer meeting one-on-one with faculty members to find out what they love (and don’t love) about Barnard. She’s hoping to have similar conversations with as many students as possible; she has already started by talking to first-years during NSOP, and looks forward to developing relationships with returning students. Barnard students can expect multiple opportunities for face time with President Beilock, including Coffee Breaks and Fireside Chats.

The one answer you will not find below is her response to, “Would you rather give up oral sex or cheese?” We asked her in person anyway, and while she laughed and declined to answer, she did say she is not lactose intolerant!

Bwog: What has been your favorite part of NSOP so far?

President Beilock: I really enjoyed meeting students and seeing their energy. The first years, transfer students and I have a lot in common – we are all getting acclimated to Barnard and getting to know a new environment, so it was fun to share in that excitement.

I had the opportunity to sit in on the second year panel session where second years talked to first years about what to expect. I really enjoyed hearing about everyone’s experiences and was so impressed by our students – those returning as well as our first year students and the questions they asked. I also learned a new phrase, “FOMO.” My guess is that we all suffer from this to some extent and the panel was a good reminder – to all of us – that you don’t have to tackle everything at once.

Bwog: What are you most excited to do in Morningside Heights?

SB: The Morningside Heights community has so much to offer. I love Book Culture and spend a lot of time in there picking out books for my 6-year-old. I am also discovering the other side of Morningside Park. Frederick Douglass Boulevard has some great restaurants, bakeries and grocery stores.

Stress, BCSN, the magnolia tree, and more after the jump

Two olives makes it even more classy

Rumor has it that Columbia’s core and Barnard’s foundational requirements have one ultimate purpose: to provide adequate cocktail conversational skills. This narrative is evidenced by the fact that both Columbia and Barnard have their own respective bartending agencies. If you know a Columbia/Barnard bartender, chances are they have some pretty cool stories about their previous gigs. Events Editor Lexie Lehmann gives you this boozy edition of Night in the Life.

4:00 pm: You get out of your last class of the week. While some of your classmates will rejoice the start of the weekend with a celebratory shot or much needed nap, you rush back to your dorm to prepare for your gig.

4:30 pm: The only thing you know about your upcoming event is that it’s a “birthday party” in Midtown East. Pay is a solid $22/hour. All black attire requested. You dig a pair of black slacks out of the bottom of your laundry basket and fetch a black button down from a crevice in your drawer. You haven’t worn, nor washed, either garment since your last bartending gig about 2 weeks ago.

5:15 pm: The client told you beforehand to bring ice, your waiter’s corkscrew, and a smile. Weird but… cute? He also told you via email to call him when you get to the apartment building. Because of security reasons, you’ll need to bring a photo ID and be escorted up. You note that the email’s signature contains small print tidbits about confidentiality and screening. Also weird? You wonder who’s birthday party this is…

Whose home is this?

Students rallying against the Travel Ban in January

Executive Vice President for University Student Life Suzanne Goldberg released a statement via email to the Columbia community Tuesday afternoon in response to the day’s announcement of the end of the DACA program. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protected “some of our students and… nearly 800,000 undocumented young people nationwide,” but will officially end on March 5, 2018.

Executive Vice President Goldberg’s statement said that DACA’s end “cuts against our most basic sense of fairness and decency.” She assured undocumented students that the university will protect their physical safety and personal information and pointed students towards a new DACA homepage on the Office of University Life website. Columbia will provide pro bono legal assistance for DACA recipients, which is similar to what the university did in response to the Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban. The statement also offered future financial compensation for students losing DACA work authorization.

In addition to University Resources, UndoCU announced today on Facebook that Casa Latin@ will be open today as a safe space for those who “seek solidarity and connection in face of the duress of the day.”

Update, 6:00 pm: Barnard College President Sian Beilock has released a statement supporting undocumented students. Her email, which also touched on other Trump administration issues such as trans rights and federal student aid, pledged support, denounced the rescinding of DACA, and advertised Barnard’s Immigration Updates and Resources page.

You can read Executive Vice President Goldberg’s and President Beilock’s full emails after the jump.

Does anyone actually use the mics in those big lecture halls?

You enter the lecture hall (ten minutes before class starts – the earliest you’ll be all semester), take a seat in the middle a calculated distance from the door, throw a jacket over the chair next to you to provide a sufficient buffer between you and the next person. The professor swoops in and spends far too long figuring out how to pull their slides up on the projector, giving you a few minutes to check your phone one last time before the syllabus spiel starts.

And then, they start talking. This is the defining moment: will this professor wow you with a funny quip, or bore you with a long-winded anecdote? Or will they attempt to show how “relatable” they are by pulling out a meme?

Whether your professors are entertaining or awful, we want to hear what they say this first week of classes. What are they doing to convince you to stay in (or drop out)? Send your professors’ opening remarks to tips@bwog.com or via our anonymous form, or comment them below. Get featured in our upcoming round-up!

Photo via Acclaim Images

How we felt while copy-pasting Excel cells

Over the summer, many of us were out there putting in hours at some swanky internship or job that we thought would change our professional aspirations forever. But that wasn’t quite the reality. These positions were often boring, uninspiring, and tedious. Staff Writer Sarah Kinney compiled a list of just some of the ridiculous shit our bosses forced us to do this summer. 

Kids are good with technology, right?

• Delete duplicate cells in spreadsheets.
• Show my boss how to copy and paste.
• Show my boss how to duplicate a document on Word.
• Show my boss how to use Google translate.

Insincerity is the root of accomplishment

• Write a piece about urban development in the Middle East only to be told that it wasn’t going to be published because it was too controversial.
• Fill out really BS personality tests.
• Take notes in meetings I didn’t understand.

This isn’t what I meant by “networking”

• Create a definitive map of where everyone in the whole company sits on every floor.
• Find people’s LinkedIn profiles​.
• Call doctors to see if they accept medicare.

Menial physical labor

• Highlight textbooks.
• Walk fifteen minutes both ways to print things.
• Print things on legal size paper.
• Deliver cigars and salsa to members of Congress.
• Fold papers.
• Staple papers.
• Put papers into folders.
• Take papers out of folders.
• Shred papers.

Our face when via Devin Stein (Creative Commons)

Classes begin today at C U A University in the City of N RK.

Happy first day of classes! To those of you with an 8:40, we salute you. To the rest of you, check out what’s going on today in our Bwoglines.

Happening in the world: If natural disasters weren’t enough, Wang Naiyan, a senior researcher on China’s nuclear weapons program, warned that nuclear tests could cause a North Korean mountain to collapse, sending radiation across the region. Geophysicist Wen Lianxing, a professor at Stony Brook University, analyzed earthquake data to estimate the location of North Korean tests to within 100 meters. (South China Morning Post)

Happening in the nation:  A Georgia State University student has filed a lawsuit against Michigan State University after the University denied a request to rent a space in which noted white supremacist Richard Spencer would speak. The student, Cameron Padgett, and his attorney, Kyle Bristow, sued Auburn University earlier in the year, for the exact same reason. (Lansing State Journal)

Happening in NYC: The New York Daily News, a tabloid founded in 1919, has been sold to Tronc, publisher of The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune. The sale may reduce the political influence of Mortimer Zuckerman, a real-estate rival of Donald Trump, and opens up The News to future overhauls. (New York Times)

Happening on campus: Kevin Murphy, a research scientist at Google, will come to Pulitzer Hall’s World Room for the Data Science Institute Colloquium. In his talk, “Towards Machines that Perceive and Communicate,” Murphy will summarize recent (2016-2017) work “related to visual scene understanding and ‘grounded’ language understanding.”

Overseen: After a long weekend of sales, EcoReps has finally cleared out the Wien Lounge. Congratulations, and we hope your refrigerator works!

It’s nothing!