It’s on to MIT for outgoing Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo, where he will serve as the Dean for Student Life.

How excited is Colombo about the new position? He’ll tell you how excited: “It is with very mixed emotions that I share with you that I have accepted the position of Dean for Student Life at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ”

While sad Colombo is in Massachusetts, Associate Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger will take over as Interim Dean of Student Affairs.

Full email after the jump

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A smattering of students and a sea of empty chairs confronted Deans Quigley, Colombo, and Friedman (SEAS) about the noose incident at an event this afternoon sponsored by the Columbia Queer Alliance.

The small showing was probably due to the time – noon on a Thursday – and also because the admins agreed to show up on short notice. Bwog itself received a statement announcing the event at 1:23 a.m. this morning.

Organizers decided to merge their scheduled event to unveil a new “safe-zone” campaign with a session of firmly posed questions from the few students present– and mostly plain vanilla answers from the administrators.

Students wanted to know specifics — in what kind of time frame they could expect to hear from administrators with progress reports on the hate crime front, what tangible things administrators now realize they could have done better to create safe spaces for students. Administrators had palpably reassuring, but vague responses.

In his germane way, Quigley acknowledged that administrators should have let students know about the incident sooner, and that Columbia’s policy on hate crimes should be more widely known. In his less-germane way, Colombo said he would like to better “demonstrate to the community we are here to support them.” And Friedman, SEAS’s Quigley, said the three men in collared shirts and ties behind the panel ran “an open shop.”

When students asked why they heard about the noose from student groups and listsevs and not from administrators, Colombo stumbled, explaining he may wear his Blackberry on his belt at all hours, but that not everyone in the administration does. “You guys start your days at a variety of hours,” he said.

But perhaps they are learning. After office hours today when news of the anti-Semetic graffiti in Lewisohn hit, Quigley sent his delicate prose response merely minutes after President Bollinger –
who is himself feeling the heat of student criticism on this point.

At the end of the hour, students had a few commitments to transparency, tolerance, and inclusion to hold on to, and a new symbol to plaster around the school to signify safe-spaces, and perhaps the goal to blanket the campus in one large safe-space symbol.

-SEV

Statement by the CQA after the jump…

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An email from Dean Colombo to Carman residents reveals that some homophobic graffiti was applied to the pillar outside the freshman dorm on February 11th, and was removed about a week later. Colombo’s email, reproduced below the jump, asserts that the slow response time in dealing with such incidents will be looked into in the future and improved. In the meantime, the administration has met with student council representatives and LGBTQ community leaders, and will be hosting events meant to address the issue. An investigation has also been launched with Public Safety.

Bwog continues to look into the incident and is awaiting further details from Dean Colombo. One pressing question: the pillar is visible and accessible to anyone walking through that part of campus, so why have (apart from the aforementioned student leaders) only Carman residents been involved thus far?

-CJS

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Facebook f you

Bwog received several tips regarding the glorious Facebook Flyer displayed at right, which we are sure brought smiles to procrastinators throughout campus (and, perhaps, panic to a certain scarf thief). We wish the flyer’s anonymous poster good luck bundling up, although (s)he probably needs to cool off a little anyway.

Come now, Chris

Okay, Dean Colombo, we’ll take your enrolled student survey for the chance to win a $60 gift certificate to the bookstore (after all, we need some souvenirs to remember this place by beyond drunken photos and loan repayment reminders). But did it have to come from a generic template hosted on the MIT server? Bwog wonders what other schools might be soliciting this information from their students… (hint: one question mentions “secret societies” and ”eating clubs”)

Seth Strikes Again

For those too lazy to read all of CCSC President Seth Flaxman’s latest, greatest email, a FastFlax (by way of highlights):

• On Glass House Rocks: “really, it’s actually fun and people go”
• On Subliminal Advertising: “Books on Campus lets you buy and sell textbooks online. GLASS HOUSE ROCKS. You can log in using your Facebook account and buy or sell books…”
• On the Art of Peer Adivising: “help students make or not make the same mistakes you did”
• On Ulterior Motives ”There is free food inside the attachment.”
• On English Majors: “please keep all grammatical corrections to yourself”

The best parts, however, Bwog will leave for those with the patience to scroll…

-CJS

Looks like Student Governing Board has got a room of their own–in Student Affairs, complete with a new Associate Dean, two advisors, and a financial assistant (although they’ve since been ironed out, SGB has a definite history of fiscal difficulties). According to a press release today, the SGB governing board is happy with how things worked out, and it looks like they played it well: by getting a “financial and managerial” commitment from Provost Brinkley and President Bollinger, they effectively nullified any objections to the staffing hike and independent office from Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo. Financial processes will be preserved–you’ll still be able to get your funding voucher for a hastily-arranged event on short notice, without going through ABC-style paperwork. And the SGB governing board gets a say in the job description and hiring process of the new associate dean.

It worked out “better than expected,” said Brett Murphy, B ’07, a member of SCEG. But, she noted, “it’s not how the administration should make decisions. I’m still wary of it.”

Some groups will be sad to leave the Chaplain’s office, even with the new cozy digs. CU Marching Bander John Shekitka, C ’07, is a little worried about the idea of dealing with religious groups in the bureaucratic universe of Lerner Hall. “In a way such a move, I think, is a statement about the place of religion, suggesting that it can be understood and regulated by the same type of folks who handle ABC and SDA etc.,” he wrote in an e-mail. 

Bwog encourages vigilance! And hope there will continue to be Saigon Grill-catered Town Halls.

 

As the Spec reported on their website yesterday, the Student Governing Board of Earl Hall–that amorphous body that gives your political or cultural group money every year–will soon no longer reside in Earl Hall, under the benevolent eye of Chaplain Davis. If administrators get their way, SGB will move next year to the oversight of the Office of Student Development and Activities (which also houses the Activities Board at Columbia), which means they’ll report to Chris Colombo instead. The administration says the move will afford SGB the financial resources of the College in staffing its advising. Three cheers for synergy. On the other hand, it’s nice having the safety of a satellite office to plan potentially controversial events, like the Finkelstein and Gilchrist speeches. Worth noting: on October 20, the SDA posted a job listing for someone to manage political events.

Next Monday, PrezBo and Executive VP for Student Services Lisa Hogarty will be at SGB’s biannual town hall. The leadership of the SGB has put together a diplomatically worded press release about the change, reprinted after the jump.

- Lydia DePillis

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No more CUnity this year. Orientating first-years, who arrived at Columbia a few years too late to have Edward Said tell them that they have in fact been Occidentating all along, instead had BlaZe–a kind of scavenger hunt / color war hybrid–sending them screaming across campuses on both sides of Broadway. Naturally, Bwog was there, in the form of correspondents Andrew Russeth and Marc Tracy.



The event was everywhere, and nowhere. A hula hoop race—quick, everyone hold hands! now pass a hula hoop around your circle without not holding hands!—in front of the B School. Sudoku in Upper Mac. Beirut and Quarters, at, respectively, Barnard Lawn and the basement of Mac—except with cheap cola instead of cheap beer. Word games in front of Philosophy, posted to The Thinker (get it?). All done by forty teams spread out in five colors ( e.g., Yellow 1, Red 3, Bwog favorite Green 5).

We had been told the name of the event—BlaZe—carried humorous connotations. Puzzled by this, we put on our reporting caps and asked around. “Fire and fun,” an OL offered, on what BlaZe meant to her. “Pouring gasoline on people and lighting them on fire,” another, perhaps the younger brother of the McBain arsonist, told us. “I don’t know,” demurred another student, inexplicably adding, “I don’t smoke.” And then there was the first-year who, as we talked to her during something of a traffic jam behind Earl Hall, insisted, “You know what we’re thinking.” Um, no, not really. Read more…

In which Bwog allows you to feel like you were there without actually having to sit through it.

Chris Colombo, Dean of Student Affairs: lived up to his Sopranos-worthy name by welcoming all ’10-ers to the family.

Cindy Horowitz, head of NSOP: do we even have a pre-law major?  Sweet, but why is there a sophomore running the show this year?

Kwame Spearman, alumnus: kids and parents ate up his facebook jokes and smooth oratorical stylings.  Money quote: “I’ll tell you a few things after your parents leave… but we’ll talk about that later.”  Hitting on the first-years before classes have even started.  Good luck at Yale, Kwame.



Austin Quigley, Dean of Columbia College: killed, as always.  With that accent, he could read the phonebook and the parents would be impressed.

Zvi Galil, Dean of SEAS: he envies you.  And when you engineers are bombarded with his emails, don’t say he didn’t warn you.

Lee “PrezBo” Bollinger, President of Columbia University: plugged Brinkley’s book review in the times before he got around to welcoming the new crop of students, but a very nice speech overall.  The hair looked great, the pop culture references were spot-on, and he actually uttered the phrase “just keeping it real, dawg.”  Gotta love an academic who can quote American Idol and be self-aware about it.

Roll on Columbia, muddled ditty: don’t feel bad freshies, no one knows the words.  And if you avoid pre-Homecoming pep rallies, you’ll never have to hear it again.

Convocation, a “tradition” started at Columbia four years ago, has been the same ever since: always too long, and always humid.  But you’ll never feel so welcome at Columbia.  Congratulations, class of 2010—Bwog’s happy you’re here too.

Oh how quickly Columbia’s wheels of justice turn. A little less than 48 hours ago, I posted on the Bwog a pictures of a bizarre little homemade cracker packet I found.

Then came the increasingly frantic emails from the Class Deans and Public Security to the Blue & White’s editor-in-chief, Avi. By last night, the emails got back to me. We were told by the Administration that “the photographer [that's me!] will be in contact with Public Safety by first thing tomorrow morning.” Will do.

Or will try to do. I called Ken Finnegan, Public Safety’s Director of Investigations and Technology, like he asked. Answering machine. Then I stopped by. Not in. Then I called again. Made some bread pudding. Called again.

Then I got an email from Dean Colombo claiming I have alleged a bias incident. Patted myself on back for fighting the good fight. Checked on bread pudding.

Anyway, Ken, if you’re reading this, CALL ME.

Update: Eyewitness account filed with the proper authorities. Best of luck, Ken, with the investigation. I know you’ll leave no crumb unturned.

-Bethany Milton, Bwog Co-Editor

Email from Dean Colombo after the jump.

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Or, to be more accurate, Dean Colombo knows that you have a first name. It’s a start, Chris, but something to keep working on, along with just how many spaces the word “graduation” has (hint: zero).

From: ccolombo@www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu
Re: Important Graduation Information!
Date: February 2, 2006 2:51:51 PM EST
To: xxxx@columbia.edu

Dear %First Name%,

Believe it or not, graduation is just around the corner! The Dean of Student Affairs Office has pulled together a number of resources regarding Class Day and graduation into a website called
Gr aduation Zone …