Pret getting ready for business

The Pret A Manger storefront next to Shake Shack has become increasingly developed over the past couple of weeks, since we discovered that this chain would be opening a store just off campus. And it appears that those renovations will be complete very soon: Pret will be opening this Friday, December 1, a representative told us earlier today.

The eatery has also planned a soft opening for this Thursday, November 30, with giveaways taking place from 8 to 10 am and from 11 am to 1 pm. What will they be giving away? How many of those mystery items will be available? Why the break from 10 to 11 am? We don’t know, but we’re excited to find out.

Photo via Bwog Staff

Gender-neutral Barnard

Following the Thanksgiving break, Barnard Bwogger Dassi Karp is back with updates from the latest SGA meeting. This weeks focal point resolved around providing various support mechanisms for trans and gender-questioning individuals on campus.

At this week’s Rep Council meeting, Barnard’s Student Government Association continued with its goal of reaching out to student groups and administrators on campus to increase communication, dialogue, and see how they can all work together to support students. For the first time this semester, neither of the visiting groups were strictly Barnard-affiliated (I know, you just spent all of Thanksgiving break explaining that Barnard is one of the four undergraduate colleges of Columbia University, look we even play on the same sports teams and take classes together. But you also explained that the relationship is ungodly complicated, I’m sure). While clubs at Columbia are certainly open to Barnard students, SGA has tended to invite groups incorporated under the Governing Board at Barnard (GBB), and not the Student Governing Board (SGB) at Columbia. Nevertheless, the groups who sent representatives to last night’s meeting are relevant to Barnard students, and they had interesting information to share.

So what did these groups say?

Athena would be proud

While all of us were gearing up for Thanksgiving break last Tuesday, Barnard announced the fall Phi Beta Kappa inductees from the class of 2018. The list this year is particularly short; only thirteen students. Congratulations to these seniors!

• Megan Cerbin (Spanish and Latin American Cultures)
• Milena d’Ornano (Political Science)
• Allison Hand (Psychology & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality)
• Lauren Hayashi (Environmental Science)
• Doha Tazi Hemida (Asian and Middle-Eastern Cultures & Religion)
• Aliza Holstein (Psychology)
• Rebecca Jedwab (Economics)
• Ana Shindell (Anthropology)
• Danielle Silber (Psychology)
• Kyra Spence (English-Writing)
• Teresa Tracy (Political Science & Spanish and Latin American Cultures)
• Erin Low Li Wen (Philosophy)
• Lingke Xiao (Economics)

Barnard’s favorite statue via Barnard’s website

A National Historic Landmark

Have you ever gotten so bored that you just read Columbia University’s Wikipedia page in its entirety? No? Well, here are some of the funnest fun facts about Columbia from Wikipedia. (Disclaimer: everything in this article comes straight from Wikipedia, and we don’t guarantee that everything is entirely accurate. This is Wikipedia’s words, not ours!)

• Columbia was the first school in the US to grant the M.D. degree.
• The Pulitzer Prize is administered annually by Columbia.
• Columbia has the second most Nobel Prize-winning affiliates in the country (the first being Harvard).
• Columbia College didn’t admit women until 1983.
• Columbia University is the second largest landowner in New York City, after the Catholic Church.
• As of 2012, Columbia’s library system was the 8th largest library system and the 5th largest collegiate library system in the US by the number of volumes possessed.
• Low is a National Historic Landmark because of its architectural significance.
• Pupin is also a National Historic Landmark because the first experiments on the fission of uranium were conducted there. (Never mind that random sulfuric smells waft into my CC class in Pupin 425 once in a while.)
• The FM radio was invented in Philosophy Hall by Edwin Armstrong, class of 1913.
• Columbia has a campus in Palisades, NY (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) and one in Irvington, NY (Nevis Laboratories).
• CC and SEAS didn’t accept the Common Application until 2010, making Columbia the last Ivy to switch to the Common App.
• Columbia was the first North American site where the uranium atom was split.
• The laser was invented at Columbia. (Its invention is widely but not universally attributed to Gordon Gould, who was then a graduate student at Columbia.)
• Many other inventions were and are being born at Columbia, and the university made $230 million from patent-related deals in the 2006 fiscal year: more than any other university in the world.
• ADP, which was established at Columbia in 1836, was the first Greek life organization on campus.
• The Columbia Review is the nation’s oldest college literary magazine.
• In 1870, Columbia’s football team played the second football game ever in the history of football against Rutgers.
• They (the football team) also hold the record for the longest losing streak for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision: 44 losses in a row between 1983 and 1988.
• Apparently, our archrival is Princeton.
• The Columbia University Orchestra, founded in 1896, is the oldest continually operating university orchestra in the US.
• The Columbia Queer Alliance, founded in 1967, is the oldest gay student organization in the world.

Low via Bwog Archives

Dr. Klepfisz’s Wikipedia page describes her as a “Yiddish lesbian author and activist”. We’re here for it.

Bucket List represents the intellectual privilege we enjoy as Columbia students. We do our very best to bring to your attention important guest lecturers and special events on campus. Our recommendations for this week are below, and the full list is after the jump. If you notice any events that have been left off the list, or if you have a correction, please let us know in the comments.

Recommended

• “Meet a Yiddish Celebrity” Tuesday, November 28, 6:00 pm. Deutsches Haus.
• “Action and Allyship: Taking Action Against Anti-Blackness” 8:00 pm. Diana, Room 502.
• “Iran: Deal or No Deal” 8:00 – 9:30 pm. Law School, Room 101.
• “Barnard/Columbia Dances at New York Live Arts” Thursday, November 30 through Saturday, December 2, 7:30 – 9:30 pm. New York Live Arts, 219 W. 19th Street.

Tuesday, November 28

• “Behavioral Economics and Innovation in Cities: Increasing Fiscal Revenues and Improving Public Policies in Latin America” 2:10 – 3:30 pm. IAB, Room 1512.
• “Premiere Screening of “Above the Drowning Sea”” 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Butler Library, Room 203.
• “Religion and the State in China: Restrictions, Revival, Possibilities” 5:30 – 7:00 pm. IAB, Room 918.
• “Global Leadership in the 21st Century” 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Casa Italiana, Teatro.

Wednesday, November 29

• “Modernity and Policy Toward the Urban Poor in China” 12:10 – 1:50 pm. School of Social Work, Room C03.
• “Author Boris Fishman In Conversation with Anna Katsnelson” 2:00 – 4:00 pm. IAB, Room 1201.
• “Roundtable on Maya Jasanoff’s “The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World”” 5:00 – 6:00 pm. Heyman Center for the Humanities, 2nd floor common room.
• “Monica Azzolini – Saints and Science in Early Modern Italy: Filippo Neri and Francesco Borgia as Patron Saints of Earthquakes” 6:00 – 8:00 pm. Fayerweather Hall, Room 513.
• “Book Launch: “The Time of Mute Swans” by Ece Temelkuran” 6:15 – 8:00 pm. Schermerhorn Hall, Stronach Lounge.
• “Writers at Barnard 2017: Creative Writing Students” 7:00 pm. Barnard Hall, Sulzberger Parlor.

Thursday, November 30

• “FACE for voice and ensemble by Pierluigi Billone (2016, U.S. premiere)” 7:30 – 9:30 am. Casa Italiana.
• “Data Science Institute-Industry-Innovation Seminar: Capital One” 11:00 am – 12:00 pm. Schapiro CEPSR, Davis Auditorium.
• “Book Talk. American Girls In Red Russia: Chasing The Soviet Dream, By Julia Mickenberg” 12:00 – 2:00 pm. IAB, Room 1219.
• “Analyzing Russia and the Changing Ideas Industry: Addressing the Decline of Regional Expertise in Academia and the Policy World” 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Pulitzer Hall, World Room
• “Uprising 5/13: Satyagraha” 6:45 – 8:30 pm. Buell Hall, East Gallery.
• “Impossible Harms: A Conversation with Prof. Henry Theriault” 7:00 – 8:30 pm. Pupin Hall, Room 301.
• “The Tableau Vivant: Across Media, History, and Culture” 7:30 pm. Deutsches Haus.

Image courtesy of Columbia Events

Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree metaphorically. I’m actually in Butler. One does not rock in Butler.

Happening Around the World: In case you’ve been living under a rock, America has a new princess. Actress Meghan Markle, best known for her role as Rachel in ‘Suits’, is engaged to Prince Harry of Wales. The engagement has been subject to significant media attention as Ms Markle is biracial which has been seen as shattering of some of the class and racial taboos associated Britain and its monarchy. (Washington Post)

Happening in the U.S: Whilst the Flint Water Crisis made national headlines and garnered international attention when it was exposed three years ago, it appears the U.S. continues to have an ongoing and growing water problem: more than 1,000 drinking water systems across the U.S. have failed basic safety standards. (BBC)

Happening in the NYC: Before you sink into the post-Thanksgiving blues, remember it’s nearly Christmas and thus the annual tree lighting ceremony at the Rockefeller center is here. Head on down to Rockefeller Plaza between 7-9pm to see the lighting, performances and more! Or stay warm and watch it on NBC.

Happening Around Campus: There will be a screening of ‘Law and Order’ producer Carolyn H. Balcer’s new film ‘Above the Drowning Sea’ in Butler 203 at 5pm, followed by a meeting with Balcer.

Food of the day: I tried something new so you should to. Grab fresh samosas for three dollars at Roti Roll Bombay on Amsterdam Avenue (they also deliver until midnight).

Image via Wikicommons