If you’ve noticed these 9-9-9 posters around campus, and wondered what they signify, here it is: CUCR is bringing Herman Cain to campus to speak. More ridiculous than Ahmadinejad take two? You decide. Full email below:

To the editors at Bwog and Spec:

The Columbia University College Republicans are excited to announce that former presidential candidate Herman Cain has graciously accepted our invitation to speak at Columbia this semester!  After several months of negotiations, we have secured Mr. Cain to speak at 7:00pm on Tuesday, April 10^th in Low Rotunda.  As per university policy, Mr. Cain will not be endorsing any political party or candidate; however, we have requested that he speak about his tax reform plan, his reflections on the Republican presidential primary, and his experiences as a black conservative in America.

We would especially like to thank the Young Americans for Freedom for their generous financial and organizational support for this event.  We would also like to thank the Columbia Political Union for their cosponsorship.

Tickets will be available through the TIC on Monday.  Seats are available for free for anyone with a CUID, but hurry — space is limited! Also starting on Monday, tickets can be reserved online at http://www.cuarts.com/calendar/view/type/4/event_id/13364.

Sincerely,

The Columbia University College Republicans Executive Board

Photo by Mike Discenza

Watching Jersey Shore can make you feel like a sociologist studying a foreign world of super tan “juiced” fist-pumpers. Professor Diane Vaughn’s Mistake, Misconduct and Disaster class got to observe the subject up close when one of the show’s stars, Vinny, stopped by earlier today (better or worse than Natalie Portman?). Unfortunately he didn’t talk about GTL (Gym Tan Laundry, obvs!!) or “T-shirt time” (choice Vinny quote: ”My V-neck is so fresh that it defied the rules of T-shirt time.”) Instead, the celeb guest told the class about his work with an anti-bullying group called Do Something. Back in the pre-Jersey days, he got teased by hot girls.

Believe it or not, UChicago just hosted a conference on Jersey Shore studies, and NYTimes wrote about it for the cover of the Arts section. One speaker titled a slide in her presentation “Bodily Discipline: Foucault + Snooki = BFF.” Another was “The Jersey Saga: Honor Culture in Medieval Iceland and Modern Seaside.” And apparently there’s this thing called “the branded hybrid person- character.”

He tweets:
Just spoke to a class at Columbia University on behalf of @dosomething about #antibullying. Shocked?

Update: A tipster has informed us that the student who invited Vinny was Shoshana Bar-David (BC 12), an intern for Do Something.

Photo by Rebecca Eis

Nostalgic already

We’ve been telling you guys as they’ve been announced, but the final list of all Commencement and Class Day speakers, and the recipients of various other honors, has just been sent out. It does not include Barack Obama. It does include the professors who’ve won the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching, the largest university-wide prize for faculty. This year’s winners are:

• Mary Sheila S. Coronel, Toni Stabile Professor of Professional Practice in Investigative Journalism, (JSchool)
  
• Kenneth B. Frampton, Ware Professor of Architecture, (GSAPP),
• Richard Locke, Professor of professional practice in writing, (SoA)

and two you might actually have had, or at least heard of:

• Richard A. Korb, senior lecturer, (Dept. of Germanic Languages)
  
• Jill S. Shapiro, lecturer, (3EB).

We’ve compiled a lot of useful information about Commencement on the right-hand sidebar, as well as various tools for “aiding” the last of your cramming. We’re almost there guys!

Read the full press release

UPDATE: REGISTER HERE

From a super-top-secret email sent out to only French majors, Bwog has learned that Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, will be gracing Low Rotunda next Monday, March 29. Registration for the event starts online at 9:00 am tomorrow, and will probably end at 9:01 am. The email gave no address for registration, but we’ll keep you posted.

The email doesn’t specify what Sarkozy will be speaking about, but Bwog highly doubts his speech is going to include a discussion of the subjunctive mood. So who didn’t tell us? Why didn’t we get invited?

Update: A similar email was sent out to the general population tonight, and now the registration site is up!

Here’s the full (original) email:

Dear French Majors,

This is to let you know that Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, will give a talk at Columbia next Monday at 10am in Low Library.
You will receive an official announcement via email later tonight. If you wish to attend, you must register online tomorrow starting at 9am.
Registration will be on a first-come first-serve basis.

Cordially,

Pierre Force

Bwog Daily Editor and Fervent Snazzy Attire Supporter Julia Mix Barrington stopped by the Spectator’s Blue Pencil Dinner last night.  The keynote speaker was Dean Baquet, former editor-in-chief of The Los Angeles Times, who currently works for The New York Times.

Dean Baquet | Image via huffingtonpost.com

The Blue Pencil Lecture — an evening of opportunities for the Spectator to dress up nice and fancy  — held last night in Low was quite a ritzy affair.  Walking into the lecture room, an energetic Spec photographer snapped a picture of me and my friends; alumni, some quite prominent indeed, abounded.  The keynote speaker, Dean Baquet, currently works as the Washington Bureau Chief at the New York Times and has previously served as that paper’s national editor and as the managing editor and editor of the Los Angeles Times.  He spoke about the future, and charm, of journalism as a craft.

Baquet repeatedly encouraged his audience — the majority of which seemed to be bloodthirsty recent graduates seeking to make names for themselves at major papers (in Q&A, they name dropped the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, New York Post, and the New York Times, to name a few) — about the joy involved in covering and creating news.  If you can steer away from careerism, Baquet said again and again, the job will bring you “loads of fun,” “adventure,” and “travel”: in short, you’ll “have a blast.” (more…)

Seems that Hillary Clinton can’t get enough of Barnard: Barnard President Debora Spar just announced via email that the new Secretary of State (and former Senator, presidential candidate, and first lady) has agreed to give the commencement address at Barnard this spring.

Clinton will also receive the Barnard Medal of Distinction – past recipients include Toni Morrison, Mario Cuomo, Madeline Albright, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. Now it’s your move, CC, GS, and SEAS. Full email after the jump (photo via Flickr). (more…)

Compiling the best of the meta lists since 2006.

Monday

Paul Muldoon: The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet will read selections of his poetry, followed by an interview.  501 Schermerhorn @ 8:00 PM.

Tuesday

Adam Kirsch [pdf]: The senior editor of The New Republic will discuss the lives of Allen Ginsberg and Lionel Trilling.  501 Schermerhorn @ 8:00 PM.

Wednesday

Greenhouse Gases: They’re bad, yes, but how do we reduce emissions?  A focus group and panel.  David Aud. (CEPSR) @ 5:00 PM.

Thursday

Traditional Japanese Music:  Traditional instruments along with help from the CU Gagaku Instrumental Ensemble.  Followed by a reception.  Low Rotunda @ 6:00 PM.

The Class Council of the Columbia College graduating class of 2009 is urging that all seniors submit nominations for this year’s Class Day Speaker. Using your nominations, the council members will present a “wish list” to Quigley, who will then invite those 5-8 possible speakers.

This is all of course assuming that there are more than 5 names submitted for a list that Bwog predicts will be 99% “Barack Obama” and maybe a “Matthew Fox encore!” thrown in semi-ironically. 

Bwog Daily Editor James Downie reports from tonight’s anti-NROTC panel.

Apologies to those commenters who requested a liveblog — I felt this was one issue where I might want to make especially sure my notes were accurate. Regardless, those who did not join the 50 or so students in Lerner Cinema earlier tonight did not miss huge amounts of drama.

The event itself was in fact a relatively cordial affair, though by the end of the two hours audience members had clearly begun to chafe at having to stay silent during the Q&A. The panel was introduced by Aditya Mukerjee (CC ’12) of the Dems and Ryan Kasdin (CC ’09) of EAAH: Professor David Eisenbach, Ph.D. candidate Manuel Schwab, and Washington Heights activist Claudia de la Cruz. All were against the return of NROTC to campus – the panel, to quote its organizers, was designed as “con panel,” meant to present a larger number of negative effects if  NROTC were to return to campus.  The event certainly suceeded in widening the field of criticism – while Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was part of the conversation, the event often focused on accusations of sexism, classism, and racism in the military. (more…)

Last night in 417 IAB, Professor Alan Brinkley, The New Yorker‘s Hendrik Hertzberg, and The Nation‘s Katha Pollitt came together to discuss the election. Bwog Daily Editor James Downie was there.

If nothing else, last night’s panel discussion between Alan Brinkley, Hendrik Hertzberg, and Katha Pollitt proved that smiles are contagious. Brinkley (who served as unofficial moderator in the absence of a real one) opened the night by joking, “Four years ago, I hosted a similar event, and I never saw a more depressed group of people. Tonight, I suspect most people are not depressed.” The room burst into applause, and a buoyant mood was set for the next two hours.

Perhaps because the panelists had spent the previous 22 hours in a state of bliss, there was little in the way of prepared speeches. When Brinkley asked the guests to share their thoughts, both Pollitt (who recieved her M.F.A. from Columbia) and Hertzberg admitted that they were still absorbing the results of the election. Pollitt’s thoughts were mostly about how happy she was. “I learned that people are not so dumb, and that’s really good,” she said. She also commended in particular Obama’s temperament, comparing him favorably to her original favorite, John Edwards. Unlike Edwards, she said, Obama “communicated being a good person.” (more…)

Aint nothing better than people behind mics (Religion!) (Education!)

Next stop Bonnaroo

Harvard, Brown, Penn > Princeton, Cornell, Yale

Fun with euphemisms (this ran yesterday)

Is that a banana in your costume? Or are you really a banana?

Preview to the protest

Fight! for your right! to… Project Runway!

Want to relive some Bush administration history the day after Election Day? On November 5th at 8 p.m., former CIA counterterrorism leader and current vice-chair of Blackwater USA Cofer Black will be speaking at an event organized by the Columbia University International Relations Forum.

Black became head of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center in 1999, and remained there over the next three years. He is particularly well-known/controversial for his advocacy, both before and after the September 11th attacks, of tough treatment of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. He has often been accused of being one of the main supporters of the more controversial “War on Terror” initiatives, includng the secret rendition and waterboarding programs. 

Since leaving the government in 2004, Black has been the vice-chairman of Blackwater USA. He also was Mitt Romney’s counter-terrorism advisor during the former governor’s presidential campaign.

When we posted about the World Leaders Forum speaker list a few days ago, many of you suggested that more high profile speakers would be announced soon. Well, you were right, though the speakers aren’t for the World Leaders Forum.

A tipster has informed us that, on Wednesday, September 24th, several South and Central American heads of state will be sitting on a panel about poverty in Latin America, including Felipe Calderón of Mexico, Cristina Kirchner of Argentina, Elias González of El Salvador, and Martin Espino of Panama. Joining them will be Columbia’s own Jeffrey Sachs (who just can’t stop hanging out with celebrities), and the pop star/”activist” Shakira. In fairness, Shakira should be used to colleges after taking a class at UCLA last year.

Registration will start on September 17th at 9 A.M.

Well, they moved quickly this time. As we wrote about before, the announcement of a joint appearance by Obama and McCain on campus next Thursday took student government and group leaders completely by surprise.

Just before midnight, though, the presidents of the student councils, club governing boards, and Panhellenic councils have sent an email to President Lee Bollinger, as well as fellow administrators interim Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger, Executive Vice President for Student Services Jeffrey Scott, and Housing & Dining Vice President Scott Wright.

The email asks for two accomodations: “a fair share of the tickets made available are apportioned to undergraduates” and “arrangements, similar to those made for the Ahmadinejad visit, should be made for all students, including but not limited to the installation of a large screen on South Lawn.” In other words, “make sure everyone gets an equal chance at tickets, and give us another jumbotron.” The full letter will be printed in Thursday’s Spectator, but you can save yourself from waiting outside a residence hall until noon and just read it below the fold.

(more…)

While basically just waiting for classes to begin, we found ourselves looking over The Heyman Center’s new fall schedule. As usual, it’s mostly academic events with a few more timely topics mixed in. Some highlights:

• “What Was Democracy” (Sept. 22nd): Joyce Appleby of UCLA discusses early American democracy with Columbia’s own Eric Foner. 
• “Lionel Trilling and His Legacy” (Oct. 3rd): the influence of the famous literary critic/author/Columbia professor is the subject of a day-long conference, including the New Yorker‘s Louis Menand. Free copy of Partisan Review not included.
  
• “An Election Post-Mortem” (Nov 5th): Katha Pollitt of The Nation and Bwog favorite Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker review the election the day after.
  
  
• “%@#?!: From a Ten-Cent Plague to a Ninth Art in 90 Minutes” (Dec. 1st): Journalism professor David Hadju is joined by artist Art Spiegelmann, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus.