Natural Disasters: Columbia University researchers have said that the retreat rate an Antarctic glacier will be sped up 20 years, thus increasing global sea levels. (RedOrbit)

Monsters: The protagonist of the prequel to The Thing that is being released this week is a Columbia University graduate student. (Craig Daily Press)

Finance: Bloomberg has rated Columbia the most expensive university of 2011. (Bloomberg)

Hunger: Upper West Side police are taking an initiative to crack down on illegal food vendors. (DNA Info)

War: 13 Americans are said to have been killed by a Taliban suicide car bomb in Kabul. (NY Times)

Disease: The government is considering testing the Anthrax vaccine on young children. (NY Daily News)

Ghosts: The etymology of the the word “Boo” reveals it won’t work for scaring people in other countries. (Slate)

Vintage Spookies via Wikimedia Commons

If you’re one of those types that does nothing over the summer but obsessively check the academic bulletin on the CC website you’ve known about this for a while, but way back in late June the Econ department dropped a bombshell: the introduction of a new “Financial Economics” major replacing Econ-Operations Research.

The ostensible rationale behind the change is to spare all the Wall Street-aspiring Econ majors who dream sweet dreams of Lloyd Blankfein from having to worry about things like Rational Choice Theory and welfare economics so they can spend more time worrying about the Black and Scholes formula and corporate accounting (and hopefully bigger checks to the Annual Fund). The major adds a “finance core” to the Econ major and allows electives from a number of departments outside Econ including Math, Stats, IEOR and the B-School.

According to Econ Director of Undergrad Studies Susan Elmes, “the department had contemplated adding the major for a number of years due to strong student interest in the subject,” and the final major came about through cooperation with the business school. Additionally, the major is currently “predominantly quantitative,” but Elmes hopes that “over time other departments will offer classes suitable for the major now that there will be a demand for them.” Sociology of Finance, anyone?

SIPA students are unhappy, and not just because they have to smoke their cigarettes in that weird little buried courtyard. No, it’s something bigger: they’re unhappy with the school’s choice of graduate and trustee Vikram Pandit, the embattled CEO of Citigroup, as graduation speaker. While it may be harsh to call Pandit “One of the 20 Worst American CEOs of All Time,” he’s certainly an interesting choice for a public affairs program–and the rumored Zen garden and $38 million 2008 salary can’t help matters. So, like any good 21st-century protesters, they’re taking to the web. The “We don’t want a bank executive to speak at our commencement” Facebook group is now private, but at last check had over 200 members, impressive for a 500-person class. We’ll keep you posted.

Photo via William Munoz’s Flickr