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It was breezy, chilly, and wet, but this Monday, the General Studies Class of 2011 diligently filed into the large tents on South Lawn to finally graduate. Dean Peter Awn received a warm welcome and gave the prototypical opening about what it means to be a GS student, followed by remarks from PrezBo, who could scarcely get out the words “Peter Awn” before the crowd burst into applause again for the much-beloved dean. After these speeches came the Class Day speaker, Roger Leeds, GS ’66, who seemed to take the mic just as the elements outside were picking up. At one point during his speech on his experiences with GS (his mother’s disbelief on his attendance) and his life after (his own disbelief at an offer to join Johns Hopkins), a sudden torrential downpour caused him to stop speaking entirely, since no one could hear him. He went on wondering what this meant for the futures of the Class of 2011, but hoped it was a good sign.

Next to speak was the salutatorian, Elliot Shackelford, who praised the diversity of the GS student body and just couldn’t seem to stop smiling. He shared anecdotes about his time at GS and his days as a young pianist: although once he needed to sit on telephone books to reach the keys, through maturation he lost the need (aw)—GS students go through a similar process. The valedictorian this year, Kira Boesch, avoided the snafu surrounding last year’s valedictorian but nonetheless gave a heartwarming speech about her path to GS, her experiences as a professional ballet dancer, and the community spirit.

It also seemed like this year’s GS graduation was particularly popular, perhaps given previous events this year. Earlier in the morning, Fox News showed up to get film for this segment dedicated to graduating GS vets. National media, guys! But no sweat, GS ’11 was lookin’ good in front of the cameras.

And finally, after sitting in a tent for hours and eventually shaking hands with PrezBo himself, the GS Class of 2011 went on their merry ways—although, so we’ve heard, not before first heading to a hidden room full of beer and champagne (aka a “reception,” for those over 21). Most deserved.

Cheers, and congrats, Class of 2011!

Photos by Amital Isaac

We continue to respect our heritage/amorous affair with our mother-magazine, The Blue & White (see About) by posting each issue of the magazine online. The latest issue, available this week around campus, is a cornucopia of delights: the quest for a Columbia quidditch team; drugs, sex and ROTC; and a discussion of the institution of the Columbia presidency. In the Conversation, the magazine locates a cool person, and sits down to talk to them for the benefit of all—simple as that. This month, we sat down with Dean of the School of General Studies Peter J. Awn … and just shot the shit about the place of GS in Columbia and higher education as a whole.

Illustration by Cindy Pan

In recent weeks the debate over ROTC has brought several groups from the School of General Studies into the spotlight. Freshmen pause for a moment when they come to their first lecture class and see a gaggle of grown adults in the front row. But after a time, they come to casually accept GS students without ever really stopping to consider just how unique Columbia is due to their presence.

In the process of hearing opinions offered by the U.S. Military Veterans of Columbia University on ROTC, among others, many students have stopped to scratch their heads and wonder just what GS’s place in the Columbia community is—how our strong adult education program makes us different.

The Blue and White now takes this opportunity to revive an old feature in which staff writer Mike Young sat down with Dean of GS Peter J. Awn to discuss the unknowns of GS, its place in Columbia, and problems the school faces moving forward.

The Blue & White: So you were not quite 20 years here and you became Dean in ’97?

Peter Awn: That’s right, in ’97 I became Dean, absolutely. But I think what’s important is that very early on … I got hired and I start teaching my undergraduate courses, which is what I did for the most part (I had a few graduate course) and I said, “Who the hell are these people in my class?” I thought I was going to be teaching 18-year olds! Or you know 18to 21-year olds. And so it was this much more diverse environment, which I thought was a kick. And I went to my department chair, and I asked her, I said, “Who are these people?” And she laughed and she said, “Go over to Lewisohn Hall and you’ll find out.”

Read more…

Congrats to the academic champs of GS:

Valedictorian: Kira Boesch

• professional ballet dancer, psych honors program, psych TA, Barnard toddler center research assistant, nursery school teacher, heading to clinical psych doctorate program on fellowship

Salutatorian: Elliot Shackelford

• maintains full-time career as a pianist (performed at the White House 19 times!), GS tour guide, GSSC VP Policy, Committee on Instruction, Poli Sci major, Columbia University International Relations Forum, Political Science Students Association, law school bound

And some friendly words of advice—don’t borrow any more jokes.

In an email sent to graduating seniors, Dean Peter Awn just announced that the 2011 General Studies Class Day speaker will be Roger Leeds, a GS graduate (way way back when) and current professor at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He may not have a Wikipedia page, but he does have an insanely impressive bio. Below, read the full blurb on him from Awn’s email.

GS class day will be held on Monday, May 16 at 9 am.

Read more…

There are some new programs about in different schools, so check out what’s up below.

• GS has a joint program with Sciences Po, a French place. It’s a double-BA thing with a lot of languages and internationalism.
• The J-School and SEAS are also currently actively recruiting for their first class for their new dual MS program in Computer Science and Journalism that was announced last year. It will “help redefine journalism in a fast-changing digital media environment.” Fancy.

Everyone had a good time at GS Class Day. There was a brass band, there was a Korean pop star, and there was a Valedictorian named Brian Corman who made a speech. This was not an unusual thing for a Valedictorian to do, but Mr. Corman did something out of the ordinary: he stole a joke, just about word for word, from comedian Patton Oswalt. Corman inserted it into his speech as if that very anecdote had happened to him. Whoops!

Bwog really wishes we could relay the joke to you, but as soon as we signed on YouTube to find the video of GS Commencement, we found that the video had become private. We hear from the lucky few who got a look at the video before it was taken down that the joke centered around a scene in a Physics for Poets class, in which a GS student challenged a question on the exam, showing that GS students always think they’re right because they are always right. Watch Oswalt’s original version of the joke here.

A scan of Oswalt’s Facebook page reveals he is none-too-pleased. “Jesus fucking CHRIST,” he writes in response to a link showing Corman’s bit, “Again?” Oswalt is now figuring out how to get the snippet of video with Corman’s joke back so he can send it to the “several big media outlets” that are asking him for it. You read it here first, folks!

A final piece of advice for our readers: if you’re going to steal comedy bits, don’t steal from living comedians who use the Internet a lot. Steal from Milton Berle, he never tweets! A few pieces of evidence below, we’ll update you as events unfold.

Update, 1:30: And Columbia has put the video back up on YouTube! Scroll to 33:56 for Corman’s speech, and indulge in the barrage of comments. Columbia has added a meaty disclaimer to the video:
It has come to our attention that a portion of our Valedictorians address at this years Columbia University School of General Studies Class Day was taken from a comedy routine by Patton Oswalt. Until today we were unaware of this conflict, and as an institution of higher learning that upholds the highest standards of respect for the works of others, we are deeply distressed that this has occurred. Columbia University and the School of General Studies do not condone the use of someone elses work without proper attribution. Mr. Corman has issued an apology to Patton Oswalt. — School of General Studies, May 25, 2010

Update, 4 PM: Dean of GS and Bwog Hero Peter Awn has issued the following statement about the debacle:

It has come to our attention that a portion of our Valedictorian’s remarks at this year’s School of General Studies Class Day was taken from a comedy routine by Patton Oswalt. As an institution of higher learning that places a core value on respect for the works of others, we were surprised and disappointed to have learned of this matter today. Columbia University and the School of General Studies do not condone or permit the use of someone else’s work without proper citation. The student speaker has appropriately issued an apology to his classmates and to Mr. Oswalt for failing to provide such attribution.

If you’re in GS, send along that apology right quick using our tip form.

Corman has also apologized directly to Oswalt, which the comedian related in a blog post on his website that he titled “Sloppy and Desperate.” Still, Oswalt writes that Corman “owned it all.”

Update, 5/26 2PM: Corman’s email to his GS ’10 classmates:

Dear Seniors,

I would like to apologize to the Senior Class for my actions on Class Day. As many of you know, I used one of Patton Oswalt’s jokes in my speech (the one about the Physics for Poets class). I sent an apology to Mr. Oswalt yesterday, and he has responded on his website. My intention was to have a funny story amidst the more serious parts of the speech to get a few laughs, and I was completely in the wrong for thinking that it was OK for me to take his story and make it my own. I am extremely sorry to the GS Senior Class for betraying their trust and embarrassing the school, and please know that I never meant to harm anyone by this.

My sincerest apologies,

Brian Corman

Jon Edelman reports from GS Class Day this morning.

In true GS style, guests were greeted by Howard Fishman and the Biting Fish Brass Band, who marched the graduates in to “Down By the Riverside,” rather than your typical 10-minute rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance.”

The ceremony continued with a rendition of the national anthem by Lena Park (GS ’10), who earned her bachelor’s degree from Columbia after achieving R&B stardom in Korea.

Another, marginally more famous GSer, Jacques Pépin (GS ’70), took the podium after Park to deliver the Class Day Address. Pépin came to Columbia for language classes within a week of his immigration from France. His speech focused mainly on his bio and some follow-your-dream-type lines, it was generally well-received, even “inspirational” according to several graduates.

GS students are crazy!

Valedictorian Brian Corman’s speech was also widely praised. Corman focused on GS students’ non-traditional and often more difficult paths. He illustrated with student examples, including that of Timothy Goebel, who became the first person to land three quadruple-jumps in a figure skating program after falling on the first one that he attempted.

Bwog dubs the ceremony a delight: a beautiful morning, a brass band, a Korean pop star and a famous chef. Congratulations GS ’10!

City doormen cut a deal with the city to avoid a strike. If you still shudder at the thought, though, here’s this handy door-opening guide. (NYT)

Culinary wizard (and GS graduate) Jacques Pepin will speak at this year’s GS class day–bon appétit, or something. (Spec)

British airports reopen, but the volcano whose name you can’t pronounce has made a serious logistical mess. (NYT)

The mob sleeps with the fishes. (Daily Intel)

The diploma in question

For a few years now, the General Studies Student Council has lobbied to receive a diploma written in Latin–like the College and Law School currently give. (GS, along with the other 13 schools, award an English diploma.) Peter Awn, the GS dean, took a break from being totally awesome to let down GS students easily:

Dear GS Students,

In recent years there has been an initiative led by members of the General Studies Student Council (GSSC) to move from conferring a School of General Studies diploma written in English to a GS diploma written in Latin, the language of the diploma conferred by Columbia College. Currently 13 Schools of the University confer diplomas written in English while only 2 continue to confer diplomas written in Latin. (The second school is Columbia Law School.)

I take quite seriously the concerns expressed by members of the student councils past and present, as well as the contributions from many students who have expressed support for the Latin diploma and those who have expressed support for continuing to offer the English diploma. As you know, last January I postponed a decision on the Latin diploma in order to focus the attention and resources of GS on navigating an increasingly complex economic environment. I promised at the time to revisit this issue when the University returned to a more stable financial footing. While the impact of the recession will continue to be felt for years to come, I am now able to make a decision on whether or not we should move to conferring a diploma written in Latin.

After listening to alumni and students’ thoughts and concerns over the past 18 months, I have decided, along with the 13 other Schools of the University, to continue to use the English language diploma-design approved by the University Senate in 2005. I do this for reasons that I have discussed with the GS community in a number of different forums, private and public, over the past year and a half. Let me share with you, briefly, some of the reasons that have led me to this decision. Read more…

We were just informed that Michael Sinnott, an Environmental Biology major, passed away over the weekend due to natural causes.

Memorial and funeral services have been planned and donations are being accepted in lieu of flowers.

Our thoughts are with Michael’s family during this time.

Bwog’s own Sean Zimmermann reports from last night’s meeting. 

In the grand tradition of last year’s CCSC presidential election, this year’s Freshman ESC election is one of the most uncompetitive in recent memory.  Only 5 students are running, and both Presidential candidate Mary Byers and the Vice Presidential candidate Tim Qin, (both of the Fu Fighters Party) are running uncontested. Voting ends at 8 PM Wednesday, and is available here.

GSSC liaison Nathan Levick reported that GS students are complaining that their diplomas are in English when Columbia and Barnard both have their diplomas in Latin. The news brought a chorus of “not again” from the council, especially when announced that it appears this will be one of the primary focuses of the GS student council this year.

Zak Accuradi from Green Umbrella — an organization that coordinates between the different campus environmental groups and the administration — spoke during the meeting about CCSC’s decision to approve a new “sustainability advisor” position on their council, and proposed that a similar position be created on ESC. Though the council encouraged the group to send representatives to council meetings (which are open), they ultimately decided against creating a new position. Read more…

For the sake of your children’s legacy admissions, donate!

CC brother, can you spare a dean?

Gay folks for fighting

Gay folks for loving 

Old-time religion it’s not 

No, you’re not in prison, just a Barnard res hall 

Plus: Spec adds new stuff!  

Nussbaum certainly doesn’t “Wu”

Subway savior can find like-minded saviors outside Tom’s

Probably no Bollinger Halls in our future. Renaming Hamilton goes to highest bidder.

Offers of int’l internships in many fields (in addition to finance) – and students still cry “Finaaaannccee”

Staff agrees: Creative writing major = “Ehh”

Why can’t we all just … you know the rest

Women must overcome shortness, queen bees, and Barbie in their epic quest for tenure

Freshman fornication facilitated? Lactation station rouses male curiosity, Carman pride

Sex columnist informs us being frightened of subway rats not necessarily gay, quotes…other sex columnist, who discusses (why not?) class implications of kinkiness

GS student: I’m not part of a Star Trek villain-race! I’m just “the scruffy Julie over here on the Aloha Deck”!

Masonary decapitation…it’s art!

Media Watch BONUS: NY Times metro section editorial kinda gently blasts M’ville expansion for potential post-gentrification property price hikes…and for using “archaic” word “Manhattanville”

FREE PIZZA in the GS lounge for the next half hour if you go write a letter to PrezBo supporting more financial aid for GS students.

Extra points for those who can find the GS lounge!

(Ok, its in 408 (bad tip!) 300/301 Lewisohn, Bwog wants you to get fed)