These are fancier than your average bagel.

In keeping with the campaign initiatives of their fellow candidates, the members of Better Columbia want to greet you on this fine morning with bagels and orange juice. Scurry over to the Van Am Quad (you know, that patch of grass between John Jay and Hamilton where people are allowed to play frisbee or football about three times a year) between 11 am and 1 pm to meet the Better Columbia team and get your fill of free food!

“Artisan” Bagels via Wikimedia Commons

How do you plan to start your morning?

The Yale Police Department is currently investigating a possible sexual assault involving Yale undergraduates at a “naked party” thrown by the Pundits, Yale’s senior prank society. Perhaps this is why Columbia never has naked parties…(underwear parties don’t count!) (NYDN, YDN)

We hope your first meal today looks as fun as these breakfasts do. Personally, Bwog prefers its eggs smiling. (City Room)

A slide from a US Air Force Anti-Terrorism Training Course cites universities like Harvard, Columbia, and USF for inviting Islamic professors to their campuses who facilitate the “brainwashing [of] the academic youth in America.” Apparently, university Muslim student groups have also been identified as “prime terrorism suspects in the United States.” (The Atlantic)

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker (R) begins the process for layoffs of 1,500 state employees, stating that layoffs would commence a month from now if his “budget repair” proposal isn’t passed. Should the 14 Senate Democrats return to Wisconsin, says Walker, these layoffs may be avoided. The 14 senators, however, claim they have no such plans. (WashPo, NYT)

Early this morning, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s militia stormed the rebel-controlled town of Zawiyah. Town residents call it a massacre. (GlobalPost, NYT)

For some midterm procrastination: play Rock-Paper-Scissors with a computer! We swear it’s more exciting than it sounds. (NYT)

This Bwogger’s Preferred Breakfast via Wikimedia Commons

Last night in the Roone Auditorium, the Muslim Students Association held their annual Fast-A-Thon. This year benefited Pakistani flood relief. The attendees had mostly been fasting since sunrise, so people came hungry. The program began with a call to prayer, and then those inclined were invited to pray. Following that, food was distributed and the program began, in which speakers brought home the staggering disaster that has taken place in Pakistan.

Students had been invited to fast from sunup to sundown, without food or water. Though the event was not during Ramadan, fasting is still encouraged for six days in this Islamic month in order to emulate the Prophet Muhammad’s fast. Ava Asiaii, BC ’14 explained, “Fasting makes you able to appreciate the freedom to eat whenever you want.” In order to express solidarity with the Pakistani people, the much awaited menu featured Pakistani cuisine, including chicken tikka, biryani, okra and naan bread. For dessert, gulab jamun was served. The food was a fantastic break from John Jay.

Notably, the ambassador of Pakistan to the United Nations, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, spoke. He delineated the extremity of the tragedy—twenty-one million displaced, one million domesticated animals killed, and more than three thousand dead, with all those numbers still rising. At the peak of the flood, the waters of the Indus were fifty to one hundred miles across, destroying the most fertile and populated parts of Pakistan. Says Haroon, “The Indus is a life source. It gives life to millions of people. At times, its damages and hurts those who it sustains with its plentiful waters.”

But the worst is not over. The cotton crop, which was soon to be harvested and composes 70% of the country’s economy, was wiped out. Rice plantations and staple foods are gone Land delineation is unclear, and the ground is too soaked to plant crops. The torrential force of the flood destroyed communications infrastructure, bridges and homes. Haroon commended the world for pledging money to help but, as of yesterday, they have only received $18 million. The UN estimates that it itself can sustain ten percent of the refugees, only 2.1 million out of 21 million people, at maximum efficiency. It is not operating at maximum efficiency. The tragedy is worse than Katrina, the 2004 tsunami and the 2005 Pakistani earthquake combined, in terms of numbers of displaced persons. Haroon concluded with a call for much needed aid to Pakistan

Read more…

Finals got you down? Midnight Breakfast is here “to help you get your groove back” according to the event page. Breakfast food will be in LeFrak Gymnasium for Barnard first years at 11pm, the rest of Barnard at 11:30, and open to the rest of the CU community at midnight. Nothing like the smell of pancakes in the… total darkness.

A Bwog tipster notes that Barnard’s Midnight Breakfast starts at midnight (11:30 for Barnard students) in LeFrak Gymnasium. Barnard administrators will be serving waffles, bacon, bagels, and that most breakfast-y of foods, ice cream!