18 CommentsBwog noted in February that iPods, newly present in Lerner vending machines, had apparently become as necessary to our daily lives as chips and condoms. In today’s edition of Education Life, the New York Times makes the same observation, and discloses that the same number of iPods have been stolen (four) as have been bought. Instead of students, Dining Services director Larry Levitas lay the blame squarely at the feet of the proletariat.
Money quote: “Isn’t the first thing they teach in vending-machine school supposed to be locking the door?”
Also, Bwog doesn’t know what the Times is talking about with its “Cyber Cafe.” “Blue Java” sounds sort of similar; we’re sure it’s an honest mistake.
Thanks to Shira Burton for the tip.
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18 Comments
@R!ck In the spring, the university installed a vending machine that delivers aspirin, batteries, burnable CD’s, iTunes gift cards and iPod’s
I hate gratuitous apostrophes.
@hmm i hate gratuitous exclamation points.
@Ha! Burn. *applauds*
@but yale has an excellent program in foresty. so go figure
@actually gs and school of cont ed are cash cows for the university. thats why they advertise them so heavily. all about generating revenue.
incidentally, thats part of the conflict between gs and cc. the university gave gs the power to grant full bachelors degrees, same as cc. so ar they on equal footing in the university, or not (see cc elitism). the people you’ve dubbed ‘gs militants’ feel they have equal footing and want to cut the crap. the university probably doesnt care about things like that anyway so long as the schools don’t lose money.
@cash cows vs. reputation problem: at what point does having degree programs in construction and sports management make columbia look desperate (and rather down at the heels; how about a class in wine-aging science, chaps?)
@i agree but, the sports management degree seems, at least theoretically to be a serious degree. although, i’m sure athletics will just hand it out to attract better coaches. i think this harkens back to the idea of what is a university. today it is a business. the product is classes that you pay for, and other related services. it really isn’t about educating the person or any of that shit. it is to make money.
and how much money is enough?
@yes but there are different types of businesses. columbia handing out a construction or sports management degree is like louis vuitton selling lumber and footballs. it undermines its cachet, the basis for its success. I mean, does harvard have a degree in construction management? of course not.
@ah. so we should be careful to not lose our elitism and offer education in areas that actually apply to real world. we all know that refernces to weber and the literary creations of nabokov have more merit to them than just cocktail conversation. right?
@fool Actually, yeah, they do.
How about this- I won’t mock super-specific trade industry jobs that cater to tiny niches in the grand scheme of humanity (sports management!?) if you don’t mock literature, art, social theory, history, and high human endeavors and achievement. Even?
@education life why the hell does columbia need five ads in this section? are people not applying to GS or grad programs here? does no one know we exist? when we’re outspending pace and cuny for that shit, something is up.
@the same reason that Harvard spams every high school student (even those with 3.0 GPAs, e.g. myself) with brochures encouraging them to apply and touting how well they would fit in at harvard.
@exactly this year, as a junior i recieved no less than seven transfer applcations to harvard, even though I couldn’t even transfer, having more than 64 or whatever credits. the breaking point came after winter break, when after calling their admissions office to complain (oh, we don’t send ANY unsolicited mail) I found two applcations in my mailbox, while a third had to be picked up at the package center.
@um I’ve never received any brochures from harvard, especially not transfer apps trying to lure me away from columbia! man I must be stupid.
@Not Mr. Levitas “This is where they hang out all night, so we thought we would stock the machines with more convenient items,”
Um. If only Lerner were open all night.
@cyber cafe it’s the lerner administration’s official designation for the bank of computers on the level of the entrances to roone arledge auditorium. if only they actually served coffee (or something) down there.
@kind of like the official designation of lerner is ‘student center’ instead of “outrageously poorly designed building filled with administrative offices and a few scraps for students?”
@at least at least they’re going to be moving all of the eighth floor and part of the seventh floor offices to a different building, supposedly by 2008. guess we’ll see when that actually happens and if they actually use the space for students, though.