John W. Kluge, CC ’37 and a major donor to the University, passed away today. Kluge came to Columbia on scholarship after leaving Germany for America at the age of 16. He went on to become a billionaire primarily in the telecom and media industries. Over his lifetime he made several gifts to Columbia acknowledging his scholarship, most notably a $400 million gift in 2007, which was the largest ever to a University to be devoted solely to financial aid. He also is the namesake of the Kluge Scholars program, and his death is a heartfelt loss to the university community.

We know that almost all of us had to overcome something to get to Columbia, but let’s be honest: some had to overcome more than others.

As the first example of this, the New York Times presents Carrie Montgomery, a new member of the class of 2013, and one of twelve Times scholars this year. Despite growing up in the South Bronxwith 9 siblings and an ailing single mom, Montgomery maintained a 95.6 average in four years at the Bronx School for Law, Government, and Justice, and now joins a group of 12 that will recieve $30,000, a laptop, and (perhaps just as precious in this economy) a guaranteed internship at the Times.

The Times reports that Carrie wants to be a lawyer, and hopes to write an autobiography some day to encourage young people like herself to work hard and succeed despite their backgrounds. We’d say she’s off to a good start. (photo via the Times)

The march of scholarships continues. Three Columbia students have received prestigious Goldwater Scholarships, which are awarded yearly to approximately 300 college sophomores and juniors who are seeking a Ph.D in science and/or mathematics. This year’s recepients are Alex Perry CC ’11, Noam Prywes CC ’10, and Arianne Richard CC ’10.

Each university is only allowed to nominate four students, and this is the first time in six years that Columbia has had three of its nominees selected. Perry is pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics, Prywes in chemistry, and Richard in biochemistry. Congratulations to them!

Our heartiest congratulations to Emily Rose Jordan, CC ’09, on becoming the second Columbian in two days to win the Gates Cambridge Scholarship. Jordan, who is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa, will pursue a PhD in Experimental Psychology at Cambridge next year.

A Chicago native, Jordan studied psychology and anthropology (see, it is practical!) at Columbia and plans on becoming a professor of neuroscience. Her honor thesis project showed how “social enrichment can impact the brain and behavior of mice so that animals with enriched experiences exhibit more appropriate social behaviors.”

Jordan will be taking a step up in the rodent world next year, focusing on the development of impulsive behavior of rats, a species we at Columbia are far too acquainted with in a non-laboratory setting. Huzzah, Emily!  

Caroline Robertson, CC ’09, has been named a Gates Scholar this year.

The Gates Cambridge Scholarship, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, offers full rides to non-UK students for graduate work at the University of Cambridge.

The scholarship is awarded based on “intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society.”  Past winners include four other Columbia undergraduates.

Caroline says, “I’ll be doing a PhD on the neuroscience of autism in Simon Baron-Cohen’s lab.”  If the name sounds familiar, his first cousin is Sacha Baron-Cohen.

If you’re looking for the official word online, the announcement hasn’t been posted just yet just yet.  Caroline is a resident of Potluck House and a neuroscience/religion double major.  She is also an accomplished oboist and a well-known Tibet activist.

Congratulations, Caroline!

The thirteens are coming (really, they are), and everyone is taking notice.

Thirteens cometh, thirteens goeth:

Because without a scholarship, we’re far too expensive.

And there’s always those pesky test scores to stop people.

And the oh so quotable:

Chalfie: “I basically tickle worms.”

CU Neurosurgeon Richard Anderson: “Since there are a million different types of hair accessories, why wear something that poses a risk?”

An outsider and literalist: “I was astonished. My jaw was dropping.”

The results are in! Missourian George Olive is running two for two–following up the Marshall–while Political Science Students Association president and Careless Cook Jason Bello brought home the second Rhodes for Columbia, ending a four-year drought. Other finalists included CCSC President Michelle Diamond, Burmactivist Geoff Aung, and the B&W‘s own Paul Barndt (who will always be a winner in our eyes).

And now for the craven competition part: Columbia beat out Yale, Penn, and Dartmouth, which got one Scholar each; tied with Harvard, Princeton, and the University of Georgia, and fell second only to Stanford’s three winners (although two shared the award).

Hugs and kisses all around.

The College Republicans are up to provocative hijinks, and the media is in an uproar. Another controversy for Alma Mater to be swept under the proverbial rug of genial administrative smiles and cautiously-worded PrezBo emails? Alas, the honor of this scandal belongs to no sons of Knickerbocker, but has been conferred upon intrepid students at none other than that NYU of the North, Boston University- and no elaborate Nobel Prize victory ceremonies are on the way to take the heat off there.

To the chase! In the effort to follow in the footsteps of such legendary GOP Jr. events as Affirmative Action Bake Sales and Global Warming Beach Days, BU’s conservative crusaders have devised a scholarship for caucasians. Well, not just caucasians, but applicants need be at least 1/4th white. In addition, the BUCR’s scholarship app asks for a 250-word essay “describing your ethnicity,” and another concerning “what it means to be Caucasian-American today.” The group denies they are attempting to “give a scholarship to white kids” but, rather, merely start a debate on racial preferences in higher education. Given the scholarship amount is $250, vs. BU’s $33k tuition, that much, at least, seems obvious.

Considering all the, uh, magnitudinous support their own party has given them, however, this tactic doesn’t seem to have generated precisely the discussion they were looking for. The executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party called the idea “misguided and offensive”. His boss in Washington: “highly inappropriate.”

Never fear, BU College Republicans. Bwog has all kinds of great ideas for other stunts. And if those don’t work, we’re sure Columbia’s resident pre-Roves have some inspiring schemes up their sleeves as well.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Bwog is sure that College Democrats nationwide get up to all kinds of wild, crazy, and veritably litigable nonsense, and in the interest of being “fair and balanced,” we looked for some. But, um, we couldn’t find any. Anyone concerned, then, about the political “tilt” of Bwog is advised to send in whatever dirt, muck, or stained dresses they can find on their political opponents, be they Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Trotskyite, Zoroastrian, Amphibian, or what have you, to bwgossip (at) columbia.edu.

EDITOR’S NOTE II: Oh, yeah, and this happened recently too. Bwog is glad CU Security isn’t armed with tasers…but was always kinda nervous about those truncheons swinging from CU Security’s utility belts…

-CJS

Paul Sonne, Editor in Chief of CPR and Rhodes finalist, almost ended Columbia’s six year losing streak on the Rhodes scholarship this year, (even NYU and Duke scored awards—as if basketball and US News rankings weren’t enough). Luckily, he had already landed the Marshall and its free ride to Oxford, where he’ll be getting a Master of Philosophy in Russian and Eastern European studies. Bwog interrupted his celebrations to ask him how the whole thing works.

What did you first do when you heard about the Marshall?

I kind of flipped out, and called my parents. They were obviously thrilled, not only because I won, but because they won’t have to pay for me for the next two years.

What were the application processes like?

They’re really, really intense. There’s just a lot of recommendations, a lot of thinking and reflecting about yourself. We’re at a point in our lives where I think very few of us know what we’re going to do, and to be able to sell yourself as going to be x or going to be y is very tough. But it was actually really not as painful as I thought it was going to be.

What was it like competing with some of the top students in the country?

Everyone was so fascinating, and I felt like to have gotten this far, no one was faking it, it wasn’t like people had been spending their entire lives to win these awards. These are kids who are really dedicated to what they were doing, and whether or not they ended up winning the award, they were going to be successful. Read more…