Many of you recently received an email from our bffls, the Columbia Trustees, stating that they decided to charge you more to live here next year. The rates increased anywhere from $25-$35 depending on your dorm, and the new price is already reflected on the StarRez Portal. Before you go lawyer up (read: call your dad), be warned that there is a clause near the bottom of your housing contract stating that the rate is subject to change based on decisions by the Board of Trustees, so this little hijinx is totally legal.

Read the email below—the bracketed text was added by us.

Dear [name],

We write to inform you that the Board of Trustees met last weekend to finalize rates for 2012-2013. As a result, there will be a slight increase in room rates of approximately $25 to $35 per term depending on your assigned building.

The room rate for your Academic Year 12-13 room in [dorm] will be $[a bigger number than before].  This room rate will now be displayed on your Status page or Occupancy Agreement page of your Academic Year 12-13 Housing Portal Application (https://housingportal.columbia.edu).

Since you have already signed your Occupancy Agreement, you do not need to do anything at this time.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Enjoy the summer! [ ;D ]

This first issue of The Blue and White was made with Columbia’s newest inhabitants in mind.

Dearest overachievers: perhaps the humanities is not the way to go for that A+…

If you came to Columbia in search of fat cats, look no further.

They are at the top of student government and the campus music scene.  Take heed future presidents and rock stars.

For the strong and beautiful neighbors across Broadway, a conversation with your new president, maverick economist and baby expert.

Beware of documents named output.xls.

And finally, this is the very best of your prefrosh Facebook encounters.

In which Bwog actually clicks on those homepage links you studiously ignore when checking your email…

Sachs’ crew, rewriting the story of Katrina, confronts existential quandaries

Barnard prof may have saved Sophia Coppola’s latest flick from the deep shame of tiny historical inaccuracies

Über-Greek CC alum (he’s the “Archon of the Holy Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople”!) to represent College in Trustees…we think we know his position on the Core

Nikola Tesla (who is somewhat affiliated with Columbia, at least enough to have a bust of himself donated to Mudd by some random Michigan schoolchildren) may have actually “invented electricity”

Will the administration next claim that Enrico Fermi “invented uranium”, that Thomas Hunt Morgan “invented genes” . . . or bolster ex-Journalism School prof Al Gore‘s claim that he “invented the internet”?