Good news bears! The University expects to raise its original goal, announced in September 2006, of $4 billion nearly a year ahead of schedule. The $4 billion plan was the largest fundraising effort in the history of higher education.

But we can’t stop, won’t stop: the University hopes to raise a total of $5 billion by December 2013. Ca$h money will be roughly distributed to: enhance financial aid ($100 million to CC, $43 million to SEAS), $100 million to faculty support, $300 million to Manhattanville, the new Baker, and the Medical Center, increased funding for global programs associated with SIPA, Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the Earth Institute. Phew!

Let’s take a look back at some of the bonkers donations of the last few years: $400 million from the late John Kluge, $250 million from the late Dawn Greene, $100 million from Henry Kravis, $50 million from Roy and Diana Vagelos.

So, uh, donate to the Senior Fund!

High Voltage!

Columbia ranked as the 19th most dangerous college in the country. (DNAinfo)

Friday’s Tornados murder New York’s trees. (Times)

More money, more problems. (ai5000)

Waitlist woes. (Spec)

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Bagels are eight cents more expensive at Nussbaum as of this past weekend. That’s 98 cents a bagel instead of 90 cents.

In other news, Marla Maples (who is apparently a real person that used to be married to Donald Trump) was seen at a CC info session on Friday with her teenage daughter, Tiffany Trump. The tension in this scene: Donald Trump hates PrezBo.

Learn things about our new basketball coach, Kyle Smith.

OK, back to bagel time.

Satow Room Bureau Chief James Downie reports with the latest from CCSC:

Without President Sue Yang in attendance, CCSC’s meeting proceeded with only a few updates of note (on the bright side, it was also done in time for most of the Oscars). First, the Elections Board discussed the progress of the elections, declaring there to be “more interest this year,” though they still suggested council members encourage people to run for less well-known posts. The only major change this year is that all the debates will be condensed into one three-hour extravanganza, in hopes of increasing attendance–and the chances of campus news outlets overdosing on student government news.

As for that smoking ban, 2011 VP (and rumored 2011 presidential candidate for next year) Sean Udell told the council that nothing “will happen anytime soon,” thanks to more “bureaucratic footdragging.”

After several weeks of noticeably worrying about the application rate for CCSC’s new individual project grants (aka “Free Money for Your Off-the-Wall Ideas”), VP for Finance Nuriel Moghavem proudly announced they had received 36 applications, from which six had been selected. Some of the specific projects include:

• Live and Let Die Another Day: “A humorous Don Quixote story about two best friends at Columbia, Alex and Charlie, who imagine they live in the world of James Bond intrigue and suspense.” Moghavem admitted he actually hadn’t read the script, but that the students behind the project seemed very committed.

Read more…

Bwog’s ESC Correspondent Sean Zimmermann writes from tonight’s meeting:

Chad Miller, the Arts Initiative’s Event and Outreach Coordinator opened ESC’s meeting this week. Miller confirmed that the TIC has been asked to cut 30% of their budget by the Office of the President. The cut was not ordered by the School of the Arts. The Arts Initiative was informed last November that the TIC would be transferred from the Office of the President to the School of the Arts. Miller explained that the cuts will not come out of tickets; the TIC would find other ways to cut costs. He explained that lunch with the Arts Initiative will no longer include lunch; it will be “chat with the Arts Initiative.”

UPDATE: We’ve been informed that it’s actually the Arts Initiative, not the TIC specifically, that is receiving the 30% budget cut. The Arts Initiative includes ArtsLink, Passport to New York, Columbia Alumni Arts League, the Gatsby Charitable Foundation Student Arts Support Fund and Lunch with the Arts Initiative. Adjustments to the Lunch with the Arts Initiative are still undetermined.

Expect updates and details in the next few days.

After an attempted robbery at Banco Popular on 111th and Broadway this afternoon, much of the block as been blocked off. We’ll update you as we get more information.

As you may have heard, Barnard officially announced required meal plans for all students starting next semester year. Initial support for the measure seemed low, so we went on a hunt to find students who were excited about it. We searched high and low, but found not one student willing to praise the plan. What we heard instead:

• Embry Owen, BC ’12 — “[W]hy was the larger Barnard community not asked for their input? This lack of transparency is unacceptable.”
• Cait Levin, BC ’12 — “I doubt that Financial Aid will be taking the higher cost of meal plans and points into consideration when evaluating student need.”
• Victoria Steffes, BC ’12 — “The 800 points that will be required for sophomores is absolutely outrageous. … There is no way they will be able to go through 800 points unless they are giving away their food to the homeless.”
• Katie Palillo, BC ’10 – SGA President — “We’re currently in discussion with the administration on how this will affect students…in an effort to make sure the administration is considering all facets of the discussion.”
• Anna Scaife, BC ’11 — “There may be a wider variety of options available at the Diana, but that doesn’t negate the objections of students who do not wish to eat there.”

No luck there. Owen has created a Facebook group against the new meal plan and, as of posting, it had 331 members.

Read more…

Deputy Price Comparison Correspondent Anish Bramhandkar found this note on Ferris Booth’s comments board:

Mike Bloomberg has broken his own campaign spending record, already blowing through $85.2 million with 11 days still to go. (AP)

When you’re Hugh Hefner, you’re “old enough to be the great-grandfather of some of his girlfriends.” Oh, and old enough to receive front-webpage articles that describe your cultural contributions as “almost quaint.” (NYT)

The new Yankee Stadium now has cracks in the ramps. (NYT)

In this case, the NYPD paid for shotguns that malfunction. (NYPost)

CNN gets a makeover, now looks hideous. (CNN)

Oh, and Gothamist actually makes a rat look sympathetic…for free. (Gothamist)

Update, 11:50 AM: Oh, and that whole swine flu thing?  Turns out that it’s for real. (NY Times)

- Photo: Teamperks/Flickr

Brooklyn reggae artist Major Mackerel was attacked with a sword yesterday after allegedly harassing a neighbor’s wife. Good thing we’re in Samurai-free Morningside Heights. (NYP)

Good thing we’ve got our own subway stop too—a ride down to SoHo will let you see the largest-ever exhibition and sale of works by Maurice Sendak, the artist/author best known for Where the Wild Things Are. (Gothamist)

What kind of real estate can $1 million buy in New York City? Who cares! We’ve got University housing. Besides, we’re probably too busy worrying about lottery numbers anyways. (NY1)

Good thing Columbia can meet demonstrated financial need; students attending state schools on prepaid college saving plans may not be so lucky. (NYT)

Good thing we live right next to a New York Public Library, where… hmm. Well, at least the book sales were good while they lasted. (Spec)

Every year, the various governing boards show off cool Power Points and generally grovel before the Funding at Columbia University committee (known by the almost-scandalous abbreviation F@CU) for a nice cut of your student life fees. This year’s numbers were just released, and the various allocations are as follows:

• Activities Board at Columbia: $366,303.61 ($413,607.22 $473,527.31 requested, $307,516.00 allocated last year)
• Student Governing Board: $184,109.54 ($217,636 requested, $189,620.62 allocated last year)
• Club Sports Governing Board: $176,821.57 ($221,580.00 requested, $198,661.25 allocated last year)
• Inter-Greek Council: $18,254.20 ($34,970 requested, $23,565 allocated last year)
• Community Impact: $68,571.09 $68,511.09 ($104,055.00 requested, $79,917.15 allocated last year)

Sources also tell Bwog that there was an across-the-board cut of 15.08% from F@CU’s original recommended allocations. Letters justifying the various allocations should be on F@CU’s website soon are now on F@CU’s website.

UPDATE: Bwog has received a second tip, this time from CCSC VP for Funding Nuriel Moghavem, correcting two inaccuracies in the numbers we originally received. Most notably, ABC’s request was about $60,000 higher, meaning that they were not given more than they requested before the across-the-board cut. As for that 15.08% cut, Moghavem explains, “we added up all our recommended allocations for the governing boards — $958,582.36, looked at the amount of money that we (CCSC, ESC, GSSC, SGA) were able to contribute — $814,000.00, and cut all GBs evenly at 15.08%.”

- JCD 

PrezBo has decided to close the academic year with a less-than-cheery missive about the University’s budget. Not surprisingly, the numbers have declined more since January: “For the first nine months of the University’s fiscal year ending on March 31, 2009, the value of the endowment declined nearly 22%, with private investments and real assets valued on the normal one quarter lag as of December 31.” But, PrezBo claims, “while hardly good news, my sense is that this constitutes strong relative performance both compared to benchmark averages in the financial markets and university endowments nationally.”

As for cost-cutting measures, “meaningful expense reductions have been set in place.  Additionally, many salaries across the University will be held constant.” Additionally, as already announced in January, new hires will be “reviewed” across the university (read: will be significantly less likely), and no new “capital projects” will be started.

And it looks as if creditors are satisfied so far: “last week both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s reaffirmed their highest credit rating, Aaa and AAA respectively, for Columbia’s debt.” Other revenue streams continue to remain strong, including tuition. Then again, Bwog suspects tuition will continue keeping you poor, but at least no one’s going to be repossessing your room during finals. Full email after the jump. Read more…

-Photo via z-mation.com

In a sign that small, awkward protests (at least some) can get things done, Tsu Yue Wang, the man who seems to own every Asian restaurant around Columbia, was ordered by the State Labor Department to pay $2.3 million in back wages to hundreds of employees at some of his eateries.

The mysterious closing of Tomo, whose management claims was a result of rising rent and old employees claim had to do with their attempts to unionize, remains an open case. Wang alleges he has no affiliation with Tomo, though business documents indicate otherwise. Tomo now owes 100 workers roughly $1 million in back pay from minimum-wage and overtime violations.

“You start to see a pattern, and it starts to get sickening,” said one investigator to the Times. Funny, that’s true of the food as well.

-DJB

- Image via Gothamist

Last September, we reported that PrezBo made a cool $1.4 million in Fiscal Year 2007, and in November we learned that that number ranked him third among all university presidents in the country. Sounds respectable, right?

Well, maybe not: it turns out that Fearless Leader still is not the highest paid university employee. No, that honor once again goes to dermatology professor Dr. David Silvers, who received $4.3 million in compensation in FY 2007, second in the country only to some dude who draws arrows on blackboard for a living (USC head football coach Pete Carroll, who received $4.4 million for winning two national championships and being on national TV way pretty much every Saturday in the fall).

This is at least the fourth year in a row that Silvers has been Columbia’s highest paid employee, and he’s making it count: according to the Daily News, as of last year “he owns a $1.3 million Tribeca apartment, a Park Ave. home and a $1 million pad in Southampton.” Three houses – why, that’s more than Dr. Zizmor! Maybe he can spare a dime.

- JCD

What do you do when there’s an economic catastrophe? Your answer may determine where you get your free food tonight.

For tips from the eye of the storm, try the “Entrepreneurship & Innovation” panel at 6:30 on Lerner Ramp West. They’ll be offering refreshments to distract you from the horror stories you’re hearing, but free food is free food.

If you seek answers on a higher plane, there will be an interfaith Bible study in Earl Hall Auditorium at 8:00. It’s billed as “Muffins and the Meaning of Life,” so if you don’t want to eat and run, why not give the ultimate question a try? What’s the worst that could happen?