Not these kind of records

Update, May 29th, 3:57 pm: According to WKCR’s Publicity Director, Thuto Somo, the trustees will not pay the fine. Rather, “WKCR will pay for the fine out of the money it earns through fundraising. Recent FCC fines against WCKR have been dealt with by the station, and with listener support.” In addition, we’d like to clarify that the fines in question penalize the station for gaps in its records from 1998 to 2005; in recent years WKCR has been more responsible.

Bad news, Phil Schaap enthusiasts: According to Media Decoder, the FCC fined our own WKCR $10,000 ”for failing to maintain a public inspection file, a collection of public correspondence and other records that all stations are required by federal law to keep current and make available to the public.” The FCC’s order judges the station’s lax record-keeping “a pattern of abuse.”

The FCC isn’t taking any chances—their order further stipulates that the “Trustees of Columbia University in New York SHALL PAY the full amount of the proposed forfeiture,” rather than the donation-driven radio station.

Easy photo opp via Wikimedia Commons

Damn those feds! The New York Sun reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has slapped Columbia with a $135,000 fine for failing to test sulfur levels in fuel used for the central steam plant, pushing emissions past levels set by the Clean Air Act. Which means it’s a little harder for us all to breathe in this sweltering humidity-fest.

Bwog is confident this was just an innocent mistake. But the news comes after a damning story in the Chronicle of Higher Education telling of how a University-owned research vessel killed whales with the noise from their air guns in the Gulf of California. People complained and the experiment stopped, but that won’t bring the whales back to life!

All a little ironic, considering this summer’s launch of a new site dedicated to promoting environmental stewardship on campus. “Together, our faculty and staff are committed to ensuring that Columbia University is run in an efficient and environmentally conscious manner,” says PrezBo.

Walk the walk, guys.