We’re hearing that, just like last year, seniors’ CUIDs were deactiviated at midnight along with the rest of the undergraduate population. Seniors are still living in their dorms, as they haven’t actually graduated yet, while 2013, 2012 and 2011 had to be out of their dorms by noon today. Same deal as last time, 2010: go to Hartley and get your ID reactivated. Let Bwog know if your CUID still isnt working after reactivation or if other Housing snafus pop up.

Congratulations to the both of you!

Valedictorian: Arianne Richard, Biological Sciences Biochemisty

Salutatorian: Jeffrey Spear, Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology

Stay tuned for updates!

Apparently not! Photo via districtline.com

Bwog has just gotten word from the CC, SEAS, BC and GS senior class councils that 40s on 40 will not held be this year. The primary reason, according to class council presidents? Cost: $20,000 for an event that “many seniors in years past had not enjoyed.” Instead of 40s on 40, the class councils are planning a senior BBQ (just like last year) to take place in late April or early May. The councils will also use the money not spent on 40s on 40 on Lerner Pub and Senior Week. The full announcement from Heather Lee (SEAS), Brian Corman (GS), Chelsea Zimmerman (BC), and Cliff Massey (CC):

Fellow Classmates,

One of the many responsibilities of the senior class councils is to organize the many senior traditions that exist at Columbia. There are a great deal of these traditions, many of which occur in the spring semester. One of the most well-known of these traditions is “40 Days”, though in years past it has been known by many different names (such as “40s on 40″ and “Senior Playpen”). This event started in 2005 and became administratively coordinated with students by 2007.

This year, the senior class councils of CC, SEAS, Barnard, and GS have collectively decided not to hold the “40 Days” event. This decision came as we looked at the successes and failures of this event over the past four years, having spoken to administrators and alumni who were invested in the event. To us, we decided that the cost of the event (which came out to close to $20,000) was far too much for an event that many seniors in years past had not enjoyed. To us, the event was no longer worth the expense, when we believe that our classmates would rather spend that money improving other senior traditions, such as Lerner Pub, Winter Gala, and Senior Week.
In lieu of the “40 Days” event, we are in the process of planning a Senior BBQ event that will take place in late April/early May. This way, we can aim to create a new senior tradition that will be meaningful for our class.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to your class president. We would love to speak with you about our reasoning!

Best wishes,
Heather Lee, SEAS 2010 President
Brian Corman, GS 2010 President
Chelsea Zimmerman, Barnard 2010 President Cliff Massey, CC 2010 President

Photo via NAACP

The youngest-ever president of the NAACP, Ben Jealous, CC ’94, will be speaking at Columbia College’s Class Day. At a celebration tonight in Havana Central’s back room, Class Council 2010 President Cliff Massey revealed Jealous’s selection after weeks of speculation that saw names floated including Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan

Jealous, who was involved with the BSO and several other student groups while on campus, got his B.A. in political science at Columbia before heading to Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar for his Master’s in comparative social research. He has worked at the Rosenberg Foundation, Amnesty International, and the National Newspaper Publishing Association. He was among the 2009 honorees for the John Jay Award, given every year to an alum of the College for his or her distinguished professional career.

Massey expressed excitement over the choice, telling Bwog, “Since he graduated sixteen years ago, he’s faced similar challenges to the ones the Class of 2010 will face soon,” citing Jealous’s work in health care litigation and social justice issues. CC Dean Michele Moody-Adams wrote in a press release, “Benjamin Todd Jealous wonderfully personifies the value that Columbians have long placed on active engagement in the world and in finding the solutions to society’s challenges. We will be proud to welcome him back to Morningside Heights.”

Massey also told Bwog that the Class Day committee’s original shortlist also included actress Anna Paquin (who studied at Columbia for a year) and President Barack Obama. Though Obama was the most popular choice among students, the security measures required for a presidential visit (such as the Secret Service securing several Res Halls while students were still living in them) made an invite impossible. SEAS and GS, the ball’s in your court. Full Columbia press release after the jump.

- JCD

Read more…

Ancel Plaza (Image via WikiCU)

Strong, beautiful seniors, rejoice! Last we heard, you were going to graduate out of Levien Gym in Dodge Fitness Center. Thankfully, the Barnard administration has settled on something decidedly above ground.

The 2010 Barnard commencement will take place on Ancel Plaza in front of SIPA, after which new graduates and their families can continue the celebration on their home turf on Lehman Lawn.

DSpar’s email will be sent to the entire Barnard community shortly. The full email message is after the jump.

Read more…

Seniors, you have until 6:00 PM today to trudge up the steps to Low and fill out your degree application. 

We’re told you can’t graduate if you don’t visit.  Or, you could fill out a form.

Too lazy to make the trip?  Think of it this way: this will probably be the last opportunity you’ll have to go inside the Rotunda.

Photo via Flickr

- Anonymous photo of the CC ’10 presidential candidates in friendlier days (aka “last week”)

The 2010 Class Council hopefuls gathered in cramped Lerner 568 to wade through students’ favorite topics this evening.  Guessing, perhaps, that there would be little new and exciting to hear, there were not more than ten people in the audience, including the moderator, Brenden Cline, and Elections Board Head James Bogner.

The debate was between The Party Party (not a typo) and The Clear Party.  Though punsters both, The Clear Party was clearly more tickled with its name, never missing an opportunity to end its alloted time with a flourish of, “I think we’ve been Clear.”

Cline’s questions covered familiar territory and were met with familiar answers.  Both parties responded on topics ranging from engaging and uniting the senior class to student life initiative proposals to throwing parties.

Indeed, engaging the senior class after three years of moderate disinterest was the focus of both parties tonight. AJ Pascua, The Party Party President, was firm in his belief that senior year has to be a turning point: “Senior year is incredibly different,” he said.  “It’s all about traditions.”  Cliff Massey, The Clear Party President, countered that new perspectives were needed; the council should not rely on tradition alone. Read more…

Still can’t wrap your head around the categorical imperative? The 2010 Class Council wants to feed your bodies and your minds at 10:30 tonight, according to an email from President AJ Pascua:

“Take a break from midterm cramming and enjoy free ice cream, toppings,

and CC study guides! Expect condensed versions on the writings of: Kant,

Rousseau, Smith, Olympe De Gouges, Frederick Douglass, Bentham, Marx,

Burke, Wollstonecraft, and Tocqueville. KANT Get Enough Sleep? will take

place THIS Sunday at 10:30pm on the ramps of Lerner. We will not be

emailing these study guides out after the study break so please come and

claim your copy!”

 

AJ Pascua of the 2010 council has eye-smarting t-shirts for sale on the Lerner ramps. Their slogan, obscured in this photo: “Our grass is greener.”

Last night, a sizable and enthusiastic crowd gathered in JJ’s Place to see the three parties running for 2010 Class Council debate (and eat free chicken fingers). While Mark Modesitt’s reconstituted Alma Matters [Remix] Party has the advantage of incumbency, the other two parties, AJ Pascua’s Go Party and Maximo Cubilette’s TOGA Party, seemed to possess far more energy – and focused that energy on ways to improve upon Modesitt’s policies.

There’s not a lot of original stuff you can say as a serious student council candidate – everyone hit on increasing aid to study abroad programs – but debates are the time to make as many promises as possible, and they did not disappoint. Modesitt’s ticket (dressed, inexplicably, in somber black) focused on “class cohesiveness” and proposed a class email highlighting the achievements of class members, while Cubilette’s party suggested further off-campus programming and dinners with constituents at local restaurants, and Pascua’s promised to move back the CC Add/Drop deadline and throw another Winter Wonderland-esque party (Go VP candidate Sue Yang claimed responsibility for the success of the first-year formal).

For probably the first time ever, each party had a green plank in their platform. Modesitt promised to focus on environmental concerns in a second term, going so far as to question other parties as to their plans to reduce Columbia’s “anthropogenic effects” on the environment. The sitting president recommended awareness – “turning off lights when you leave the room” – in his opening statement, which TOGA largely echoed, while the Go Party (dressed in green!) suggested campus-wide dorm room inspections over winter break to ensure windows were closed and appliances unplugged. Read more…

Left Wing Jihad scores funds?

Left Wing Jihadist scores funds!

Spec dreads us having to “likely spend more money on better fakes”

Oh, you didn’t know? Yo’ ass better caaallll somebodyyy!

Man, I forgot how good Giuliani was. Maybe we should have let him cancel that election.

Class of 2010 apparently most athletic in history, too

The results are in, and CCSC has five new members! The Alma Matters ticket triumphed, with a whopping 27.2% of the vote–25 votes ahead of their nearest rival, Party of Five (even with an extended voting period, CC freshmen fell short of the national turnout average by about 10 points). President-elect Mark Modesitt picked up his ROLM phone on the first ring, and Bwog sat him down for an interview.



How did you campaign in the last few days?

Mainly, we reinforced for people to get out and vote. Our main thing is we ran a clean campaign, we weren’t attacking the other parties or candidates, and that was our mission from the very beginning.

Were there attacks?

There were a few attacks, but mainly it was just competitive.

It seems like most of the candidates live on the same few floors in John Jay.

We all get along pretty great. We’re all pretty good friends. AJ and I, we go to church together sometimes.



How do you deal with some of the negative campaigning?

I just know that I’m in the public eye, you just have to deal with it. You’re putting yourself out there to get put down. I really wanted to be class president, I just had to fight for it. If you let it get to you, you’re letting them do what they wanted to do.



Why, exactly, do you want to be class president?

As I came to Columbia the first time, I really just loved the campus, I loved everything about it. I really felt the urge to represent my class, and the more and more I meet people in my class, the more I love Columbia, and everything about it.



You only won a little over a quarter of the vote. How does it feel to be not the favorite of the majority of the class?

It kind of just proves how great out class actually is, we have such great candidates to choose from. I don’t feel that as a negative aspect, I just feel more of an honor, that I was chosen among such qualified candidates. Read more…

This week, Bwog will be featuring candidates for leadership of the Columbia College class of 2010. Tools? Visionaries? You decide–vote next Tuesday!

Name, Party: Matthew Kudelka,  Columbia Undergraduates Supporting Progress

Home town: Houston (TX)/Katonah (NY)

Home Dorm: John Jay

The Man: I’m Matthew Kudelka. I grew up in Texas although for the past two years I’ve lived in Westchester County, New York. I’ve played tennis and soccer most of my life, started Scuba Diving at age twelve, and enjoy improv comedy as well as surfing. In school, I like most subjects, like English, history, and math, although, presently, I want to be a scientist. I’m friendly, kind, and am passionate about whatever I do. Want to meet me? Just say hi. I’d love to chat.

The plan: I want to pull students more into NYC by providing more free and discount event tickets and discount Metrocards. I want to continue to reform financial aid for both students from low-income households and for students from non low-income

households. I want to improve student health services by requiring a student

health services representative to be available on each floor in each dorm a minimum of once a month and ensuring condoms are replenished regularly. And I want to decrease Columbia’s negative impact on the environment by instituting a lower-emissions policy for Columbia affiliated vehicles.

If I were an historical figure, I’d be: Thomas Jefferson, of course!



If I could be an ice cream flavor, I’d be: Snickers, because everyone

loves a good laugh.

So much for party unity–50% of SEAS freshman turned out for the ESC 2010 election this evening, selecting four candidates from three different parties. Your new class officers are:

President – Heather Lee, the SHT!

Vice President – Lili Gu, Nonstop

Class Representatives – Gunnar Aasen, Nonstop, and Kelly Chen, Fuugle

Bwog is confident that bipartisanship will prevail. 

This week, Bwog will be featuring candidates for leadership of the Columbia College class of 2010. Tools? Visionaries? You decide–vote next Tuesday!

Name, Party: Matthew Lemle Amsterdam, Freshmen First

Hometown: New York

Home Dorm: Carman

The Man: I have always felt a profound love for Columbia. One of the first songs I ever learned as a small child was “Roar Lion Roar” when my father would take me to the Lions football games. Now that I am finally here, I want to make a difference and make Columbia even better. I’m from New York. I’m a huge fan of the Yankees, Giants and Knicks. My favorite book is “All the King’s Men,” and my favorite movie is “Goodfellas.”

The plan: Columbia is obviously really great. But we think that there are some things that can be improved on. We want to work on making dorm life better, by fixing the elevators and showers, reexamining the dry-dorm policy, etc. We want to make this year as fun as possible by having some great social events. We’ll work with the administration and Alumni Board on issues such as financial aid and studying abroad. We call ourselves “Freshmen First” because we will always put the needs of the freshman first.



If I was an historical leader, I’d be: FDR, only, you know, without the polio.

If I was an ice cream flavor, I’d be: Rum Raisin. Make of that what you will.

Ian Crone of The Party, who did not send a picture, is after the jump. Read more…