137 Comments
Bwog yawns itself querulously out of hibernation for the first post of the year 2007. There’s this one bothersome blank spot on our SSOL grades report between our C+ in Principles of Economics and our B- in Music Hum. We want it filled.
Call it activist Bwogging, but here’s a list of the tardiest professors culled from the bwgossip alias and beyond, for all the world to see.
David Rothman, Medicine and Western Civilization
Jill Shapiro, Human Species: Our Place in Nature
Thomas Bernstein, Chinese Politics
Jeremy Waldron, Terrorism and Civil Liberties (Spring 2006. Yes.)
Greg Smithsimon, Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration in Urban America
Sonia Pereira, Barnard Economics Professor
James Trask, Urban Studies Junior Colloquium
Michael Seidel, Joyce
Elizabeth Irwin, Thucydides
Carol Rovane, Methods and Problems of Philosophical Thought
Eric Foner, US in the Era of Civil War and Reconstruction
Micheal Shaevitz, Physics 1200
Deborah Mowshowitz, Intro to Molecular Biology
…and one tipster tells us all of the TAs from Physics Lab are tardy…
Get on it, folks! Those grad school and internship apps can’t wait!
Keep us updated — let us know which of your profs belongs on the Wall of Shame, and which should be crossed off as grades trickle in.
ADDENDUM: Bwog has been informed that the phone grade system will, allegedly, have grades available earlier than those posted on SSOL. For those willing to endure touchtone agony (and the awkwardness of hearing your grade robotically read aloud), the number to call is x4-7373. The daring can put this on speakerphone and invite their friends over for a good drinking game…
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137 Comments
@yo bwog Can we have this shit again? Where my grades at?
@if... you’re still updating this post, rovane’s grades are in
@apparently some of the missing grades are due to “an outage on the main server” which was experienced sometime prior to the grade due-date. Supposedly the tech people emailed the professors whose grades had been affected, saying “We can recover all # grades that
you intended to submit.” I guess just because they *can* doesn’t mean they *will* ….
@dave 20 C BRIT LIT 1950-PRESENT; Instructor: Maura Spiegel;
@finally Smithsimon posted
@google says: http://www.observer.com/20060313/20060313_Anna_Schneider-Mayerson_pageone_newsstory2.asp
@Waldron is.... gone. he left for nyu. he’s never coming back. and he’ll probably never submit those grades because he didn’t exactly leave columbia on a “happy” note.
@specifically... “he didn’t exactly leave columbia on a ‘happy’ note.”
inquiring minds want to know…
@You get a 4,4 You get a 4.4 by thinking outside of the box. That’s what you learn as an Investment Banking major.
@hah …bitch
@it's impossible to get A+ in most humanities courses, especially core.
dammit i’m still waiting for some grades.
@ditto me too
@Still waiting for my damn grades in two classes.
@i think the highest you can get is around a 4.2 This factors in core classes which are harder to get an a+ (although i think easier to get an a or a minus) and someone taking a major where a+ can be earned (such as pysics and math.)
@oh yeah? i got a 5.0. booyah.
@O NOES 120TH U R PAST COLUMBIA CAMPUS LOL
@gentrification it’s ok we still have teacher’s college and JTS to protect us then there’s that nice liquor store on 124th
@haha if you post your grades, have the decency to give your name too. otherwise no one cares. even if you give your name they won’t care, but they’ll have a name to shit on.
@4.4 I had a 4.6 last semester. Obviously I’m an investment banking major
@uh oh The number of comments has risen above 116, and I’m scared to go above 125.
@methinks 4.4 is impossible. please, tell us major. but more importantly, tell us how many classes you’ve p/d/fed.
thanks. also, sonia pereiras grades are in.
@question Random question: does anyone have any concrete idea of what the highest gpa in the graduating class (CC,SEAS, whatever) typically is?
Reading some of these comments makes one wonder..
@I got a 4.4 I got a 4.4
@oh? A 4.4? Nice. Shame you’ll be blind from the collective number of times your professors’ve nutted in your eyes.
(In all seriousness, isn’t a 4.4 impossible? I thought even straight A+es only bring you up to 4.33. Whose cock did you suck for that extra .07? The overachievers association of Investment Banking demands names, dates, and venerial diseases!)
@what an asshole You are ridiculous. Nobody cares about your grades so just shut up and quit making everybody feel inadequate. We all go to Columbia. Just shut up.
@James Brown I got mine
Don’t worry ’bout his
Get up!
Get on up
Get up!
Get on up
Stay on the scene
Like a sex machine
@WTF Jeremy Waldron, Terrorism and Civil Liberties (Spring 2006. Yes.)
???
@Still waiting for Spivak
@well if you got all As in 6 classes, you’re quite boring.
new post!
@The comment count on this post caused me to audibly yell “OH, SHIT”
This is what happens when boredom strikes. Daaaaaaamn.
@DHI Gregory? Pflugfelder, Intro To East Asian Civilizations: Japan
(I think his name is Gregory)
Also, if David Albert taught a class, I am pretty sure he hasn’t handed in his grades yet, but maybe he has changed.
@jer that bwog’s not on the ball
@bwog isn’t going to be responsible for perpetuating the minuteman news cycle in perpetuity as the wackos marching around campus would have us do. the shame is on cnn.
idea: columbia rarely gets good media coverage…and the adage “no publicity is bad publicity” doesn’t always hold. can’t security be a little more aggressive with the cameras colonizing college walk? why is columbia so anal about not being mentioned in films, but can let fox news trot it cameras around willy-nilly and link the columbia name to whatever horrific cause pas-celebre they’re featuring that week?
@hmm “isn’t going to be responsible for perpetuating the minuteman news cycle in perpetuity as the wackos marching around campus would have us do. the shame is on cnn.”
if you were right, then they shouldn’t have covered it in the latest update. but they did. so shame on bwog too?
no, shame on you. bwog is here for the gossip (at least that’s why i read it), no matter how smelly, stinky, and shitty, or for that matter, racist, the gossip may be.
@Actually BWOG should be completely crude and exploitive this coming semester- blatantly insult other students, trash the faculty, run sardonic GS beauty contests etc.
@How about Professors to avoid: I’ll start, perennial worst Jack McGourty
@euughhh man, I got metaphorically raped this semester. Ironically I took 7 courses last semester and had my best semester on record.
Ah, the joys of double-majoring in unrelated departments… with a minor on top… at least classes this semester were interesting.
Any recommendations for “hidden gems” in the humanities departments this spring? Course selection seems to be universally poorer for this next block.
We could post “hidden gems” in math and science too, just so everyone gets a shot. It’s tough to slog through the “gold stars” on CULPA and realize they’re all idealistic TAs for core courses you’ve already taken.
@tsk tsk, bwog http://www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/01/05/columbia.fracas.ap/index.html
@um i dont get it? whats so tsk tsk about that article? please expound
@stamenka antonova CC. for cryin out loud. how difficult can it be to turn in grades for CC.
@maybe you’re just an oh so smart smarty pants
@,,, lol at anyone willing to pay that kind of money to see the arcade fire. or seeing the arcade fire in general.
@Changing topic Anyone else pissed about The Arcade Fire selling out so quickly?
@AHAHAHA!!!!!! all A’s! OH MY GOD! I AM KING! six fucking classes and all A’s!!!! Eat it! EAT IT ALL OF YOU! KING! I AM KING!
@KING!! …OF THE BWOG COMMENT BOARD!
@um i think i speak (eh.. write?) for everyone when i say: what kinds of classes we be talking about, fooool?
details, please.
@... probably barnard classes
@hmmm no, probably not. you ever see someone get that excited about an A in a barnard class?
@skeptic Have you ever taken a Barnard class? Science, in particular?
In my experience, Columbia professors with their huge lectures and tons of grad students have been far more lenient.
@yes i agree in my 3.5 years here i have definitely experienced far greater grade inflation and more lenient curves in columbia classes. no joke.
@well I’ve had 3 barnard classes so far and gotten an A- or A in all of them. If you get a copy of your transcript, it lists percent A’s next to each class. My non-seminar classes had percentages of 40 for an intro humanities class and 38 for a major-related class. Despite the low percentages, the A grades were almost laughably easy to obtain so I have no idea what the other 60% of the class was doing, because I sure as hell wasn’t working.
@I dont get it What kind of internships require an up-to-date transcript?
@Well None, but you usually want to present yourself in the best light possible, so if this semester’s GPA pulls up your cumulative GPA, then you’ll want to include it.
@Amber Miller's grades have been submitted. Hooray…
@Grade Whore Decent idea, and I’ve considered it, but I didn’t like Principles. I love CC, but my grade sucks. Minoring in a squishy subject will probably bring down my GPA anyway, plus it means I still have to do math for five more semesters. Maybe I’ll audit some classes this semester before I decide whether or not to switch.
@hmm :(…………
@ummm the rabid discussion in here proves how bored everyone is over winter break…
@hmm ???
@ugh Prof. Robert Belknap has yet to submit his grades. Our final paper was due before the final exam and we are his only class. He has no excuse. He just wants us to suffer.
@yay! foner’s grades are posted
@Grade Whore I’m a math major, and it comes naturally, so I’m getting very good grades. I’d much prefer to be studying philosophy or history or poli sci or english or anything else, but I know from my experience in the core that I can’t keep up anywhere near the same GPA (not even close). You have no control over your grades in humanities classes. I want to go to law school, and law school admissions offices only care about my GPA and not what my major was. So it seems like I should stick with my major even though (1) I can still switch, (2) I would like to switch, and (3) any other major would be more appropriate preparation for law school. I hate this.
@yo grade whore dont be so ridiculous. why dont u major in economics? its interesting + its practical + like math, you can control your grades more than humanities class. and you will be able to apply math to it and in the future u will be indispensable at law firms or at financial service companies as a corporate lawyer. and i totally know what you mean about not being able to control your grades in humanities classes. last thing- take up a minor, in english, or poli sci, or any of the other things that you are interested in (after which – trust me – you will be happy that you majored in something practical and non-BS oriented).
@Columbian There’s also the Econ-Math joint major
@YO SONIA GET UR GRADES IN UR MAKING ME MAD
@dean's list is a 3.6 for CC. If you can’t get an A- in most humanities classes, that’s pretty sad. If you’re a science major, that’s a bit more forgivable.
Saliba’s grades are in.
@a naive freshman is it hard to make dean’s list?
should i be happy i did or does pretty much everyone who tries get it?
@Ettelbrick Sexuality and the Law
@Pflugfelder intro to japanese civilization
@daniella Michael Seidel has posted…
@hmmm shake ya money maker like somebody ’bout to pay ya
@moph ssol edit didn’t change web-grading, i don’t think.
@#63 again I think this is a brilliant post, considering that spec beats this topic like a dead horse in their staff editorial every spring.
I love it.
@lets go with George Saliba, Intro to Islamic Civ. Last class I’m waiting on.
Let’s give some props to PrezBo for FINALLY getting his grades in early.
There is a deadline for submitting grades. I don’t know what it is, but it doesn’t matter. There’s no penalty for missing the deadline except getting daily whiny emails about it. A tenured prof told this to our seminar as he laughed at us. To his credit his grades came in over the weekend.
I wonder how many of the complainers are freshmen who’re just starting to lose the rose-tinted glasses view of Columbia?
May I note that SSOL, though now with a slick new GUI is officially fucktarded for taking two steps back with the all-grades-submitted-at-the-same-time rule?
Lastly, with the whole ‘special’ argument raging above, I’d like to say this. I’ve never had a single legit reason for getting a paper extended, but I’ve gotten most of them extended anyway. It’s too easy. Some times I do have a legit reason, but it gets to a boy who cried wolf stage at some point.
And to the poster who bitched about people who never get penalized? You probably hate me.
@ApocLOLypse Now By “PrezBo” I think you mean “his army of overstressed TAs.” Overstressed because they needed to deal with us undergrads.
@well I never harassed them like some of the students in that class who really had a 10 ft steel rod up their arses. or who took themselves way too seriously.
then again, judging by my grade, maybe I shouldve.
@James Brown again And by “money maker,” I mean “tenure contract.” In the breeze. Ever so gently. I love this school.
@James Brown Shake your money maker!
@yaya SALIBA!
@the end
@peaches January 3 is pushing it. I mean come on, do your jobs Professors. If you sat down for one day, you could do it all. It’s not like we didn’t do the same thing during finals week.
@LOLZ It’s amazing how some people can get worked up about this.
CHILL OUT. It’s winter break. If you’re this tight when you’re on vacation, I’d hate to see you during finals.
Though I can confirm that Maura Spiegel takes ages to submit your grades.
@hmm if i know the identity of the poster, they’re always that uptight. and they’re exactly the same way during finals and all other times. i think that’s their auto-pilot. ‘cept when ingesting alcohol. hopefully. god bless the spirits.
@OMG w00p w00p
@Anonymous Ha bwog, Bush administration EPA report card
@gah! carl bettendorf, music hum
@hahaaaa... carl bettendorf… yeah…
@special ~= insult “But this sounds like a special circumstance.”
No shit.
—-
“Why people assume laziness or “special treatment” automatically is odd.”
—-
So it’s not special treatment, but it is a special circumstance?
I don’t know what you meant, but when I said ‘special treatment’ I meant other classes also face cancellations, and they find substitutes or alter the final assignment accordingly. But in this abnormal circumstance, the abnormal decision was made to for an extension for the entire class. It was a special circumstance, and special treatment (not in the less common meaning of additional, extra, or privileged but simply unusual and unique) was given. There was special treatment, as initially conjectured, but in a broad and general sense, not in the specific, negative manner which you are attaching to it.
@blargh Bwog, please learn to spell!
It’s “Mowshowitz”, not the mess you vomitted out after what could only have been an overly drunken New Year’s Eve. Thanks.
@Professor II Also, I’ll have you youngins know that your professors like to get trashed in celebration of the end of the semester, too. Would you rather I graded your exams and papers stone cold drunk? Ok then.
@Hmm Frankly, I tend to assume my profs always grade my exams and papers while stone cold drunk. It’s the only way to explain my tendency to ace classes I put zero effort into and barely scrap a C in the ones I kill myself working on.
@oops oh yeah, my bad, I was going to say the situation the defensive poster describes can actually be understood in a combination of the first and second distinction. It is ‘special treatment’ in the respect that other classes also face cancellations and it is a special situation if so many of the classes are canceled that this paper was that much harder to write (such that it required either changing the assignment or giving the extension). And 2nd distinction (“(2) someone needs to get their shit together for next time.”) doesn’t seem to equate simply to “laziness”. It simply says that a if professor had to miss class, there may have been other alternatives that could have been explored (a sub teacher, changing the final assignment appropriately, etc.). but I would say even that can be an outrageous of a demand if the situation is particular or special enough. This seems to be an irrelevant discussion anyway, since the only heat is on those professors who let a student or two hold up an entire class (not an entire class agreeing to push things off).
@Spivak Gayatri Spivak – Derrida
The annoying thing here is that all the grades have been in since November
@you kidding? it’s spivak. she spits gold.
@Spivak She makes up shit and tells you its gold.
@I hope I hope that you’re referring to the grades she ends up giving…
@another question Isn’t there a deadline when the professors have to have their stuff in? Does anyone know when it is? If I had to get my stuff in by their deadline, seems only fair that they have to get their stuff in in time. It’s been over two weeks for one of my classes and almost the same amount of time for another class that only had about 15 people…doesn’t seem too much to ask to be able to send my transcript to LSAC before the application deadline passes…
@the most important Q Does anyone know the length of the grade submission extensions? That way people need not anxiously check their SSOL every morning (or hour or minute or psychotic tic).
@does anyone else HATE students that always hand stuff in late and dont get penalized for it? unfair
@Probably. But I don’t. Getting extra time doesn’t really help on most assignments — ultimately, you never work for the full amount of time you’re given. Getting extensions is easy, and there’s no reason that anyone who wants one shouldn’t gneerally get one. Receiving grades a few weeks late — the very worst result of an extension — really isn’t so bad.
@usually “Receiving grades a few weeks late — the very worst result of an extension — really isn’t so bad.”
I would have usually agreed with you, except now I am senior and realize how getting my transcript (with last semester’s grades) to grad schools is a time-sensitive issue.
@well I don’t hate them, especially because it’s a good bet that eventually they’ll run into a situation (maybe post-college) where they can’t get away an extension and it’ll hurt them.
@hmm The grade-phone system isn’t working – you type in your personal ID, then it cuts you off telling you hang on, and when you finish it it hangs up.
@G again …explain on your internship app, that is.
@Gia It wasn’t backdoor at all. The professor in question made all of this clear to the class up front, the extension was for everyone and no one protested. I’m guessing that in the cases where there’s no reason for the grades to be delayed and where the professor didn’t explain this ahead of time, they simply didn’t want to spend their holidays grading papers as #20 said. It’s not that hard to explain that some grades, due to the holiday season or circumstances beyond your control, are pending and will be forwarded as soon as they are posted.
@Professor WHATEVER! I have tenure. so suck on it.
@Kyle Haa. If I was a (tenured) professor I’d take forever to grade things just to piss off anal people like this. No, better than that, if they e-mailed me I would pretend to not remember them being in my class. Oh the fun I’d have!
@Seriously Um… it really hasn’t been that long. It seems like professors should be able to grade the papers after the holidays if they wish.
@... Since most people aren’t using ROLM right now, the number is actually 212-854-7373.
@... Before SSOL, instructors could submit grades for students at different times. Now, however, the system requires instructors to submit all grades at once. If doubt a student would be at a loss for any application should a grade not yet be available (and will be in the very near future).
Bwog is not entirely correct about the phone system. It updates alongside SSOL, but usually “rolls over” quicker. Grades on the phone system may pop up a couple of hours before the online system, but neither is in real time.
@ohforcryingout get a life.
@... This is a pretty low-brow post.
Bwog probably isn’t aware that many professors give students time after finals to work on papers and other semester-long projects without having to focus on anything else. Hence, those grades won’t show up for another few weeks. You forget that a number of professors have yet to post grades because they’re still waiting for students to submit work, and cannot post to SSOL unless they’re willing to give incompletes that automatically subject students to academic disciplinary procedures within their divisions.
Not a good post to start 2007, Bwog. Here’s hoping the grade you’re waiting for turns into an F.
@Gia I’m not upset or offended by this post but 12 has a point. My class received extra time for the term paper that’s basically our entire grade. That may well be the case in other classes, there was a student or two that had some emergency and needed that extra week and the professor was gracious enough to work something out.
@lesson learned? I know people in similar circumstances, where one paper determines an entire class grade (e.x.: thesis), that nonetheless turned their shit in on time. I’m assuming this entire-class extension wasn’t for shit n’ giggles (because sure, they could all use extra time, but so could most other people; extensions exist for a reason). So, I assume there is an extension because these students really didn’t have enough time to write a good enough paper (especially in comparison to classes in a similar situation). If this is the case, then someone is at fault, whether it’s the students for not doing their shit earlier, or the professor for not providing the appropriate syllabus or context to allow the writing to occur in a timely fashion. So, to recap, either (1) this class gets special treatment,(in which case, let me know what it is so I can take it in the future), or (2) someone needs to get their shit together for next time.
@purple chill the hell out. As you can see some professors don’t even start grading until after holidays and those are science classes without papers. It’s not special treatment, sometimes the professor makes the assignment more difficult in proportion to the extended time or recognizes that some things weren’t adequately covered due to his absences or for whatever reason. One of my professors had to miss 5 classes (this is aside from a large portion of the class not coming in for a religious holiday, which delayed us another class), hence the extra couple of days for us to sift through that material ourselves. Considering the mostly grad-student make up of the class, it was very appreciated with the onset of finals that he was fair about it when he could have gotten away with not being fair. Why people assume laziness or “special treatment” automatically is odd. Do find out what bug crawled up your ass.
@like a villain “Why people assume laziness or “special treatment” automatically is odd. Do find out what bug crawled up your ass.”
The other poster’s categorizations may have been wrong, but that doesn’t warrant imperative statements or personal commentary. Getting defensive about your silly little deadlines won’t serve much of a purpose (unless your purpose is not to explain your situation to others but to make yourself feel better by posing yourself being appropriately more ‘chilled’, in which case, rock on).
“One of my professors had to miss 5 classes (this is aside from a large portion of the class not coming in for a religious holiday, which delayed us another class), hence the extra couple of days for us to sift through that material ourselves.”
I have no clue what class you are describing, so my response is limited only to what you describe. But this sounds like a special circumstance.
So, I assume there is an extension because these students really didn’t have enough time to write a good enough paper (especially in comparison to classes in a similar situation). If this is the case, then someone is at fault, whether it’s the students for not doing their shit earlier, or the professor for not providing the appropriate syllabus or context to allow the writing to occur in a timely fashion. So, to recap, either (1) this class gets special treatment,(in which case, let me know what it is so I can take it in the future), or (2) someone needs to get their shit together for next time.
@uuh... …is there a reason your last paragraph is just a repetition of a previous post?
@wupp “But this sounds like a special circumstance.”
No shit.
“unless your purpose is not to explain your situation to others”
What more explanation do you need besides the professor needing to miss several classes and failing to adequately cover everything needed? Grad students in my view also have more going on and actually do need that extra time lost during the semester. It’s not defensive, it’s confusion over why people are so riled over this when it’s easily explan-able.
@original “unless your purpose is not to explain your situation to others”
“What more explanation do you need besides the professor needing to miss several classes and failing to adequately cover everything needed? ”
– No more explanation was requested. In fact, it was surmised that given the explanation, one could foresee alternatives to be pursued, but admittedly answering those relies on other information which I have no access to and no place to conjecture about (ex: if there are qualified subs, if the final can be revised appropriately, etc.)
– Your question is not topical to the comment which you quote. For clarification, that comment was made in the context of saying that hyperbolic and personal imperative commands did not further your explanation of the situation.
“Grad students in my view also have more going on and actually do need that extra time lost during the semester.”
– There was no argument on this subject. If anything, it makes you extra special. ;-)
“Grad students in my view also have more going on and actually do need that extra time lost during the semester. It’s not defensive, it’s confusion over why people are so riled over this when it’s easily explan-able.”
– I don’t know about others, but I hope I didn’t provide the impression that I was riled up. I just saw two relevant categorizations of the circumstance, neither of which should have had a pejorative import.
@ahem oh.
my.
god.
@seriously there has to be a better way. the rest of us shouldn’t have to wait a month to receive our grades because of one or two tardy students who brokered some backdoor deal. at the least make this process somewhat transparent (i.e. “due to [euphemism that does not embarrass late students], your grades will not be posted for some time”)…though satisfactorily not all grades would have to be submitted at once…people have deadlines to make for applications and such that require these transcripts to be filled.
@chill a bit? If a student or two can’t do the assignment on time, and there’s a good reason (family emergency, medical, psychological, etc.), then the policy for getting an incomplete exists exactly for these circumstances. It is my understanding that as long as one has some half-ass legitimate reason, an Incomplete is easy to get. All that is needed is the professor’s agreement, and if that is the obstacle, then it’s unfair of the professor to (as another poster suggested) make other students wait/late with grad school applications because the professor doesn’t want to have to write a new final or deal with the incomplete at a later time.
@"then it's unfair" “Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.”
Oscar Wilde
@Jeremy Waldron probably doesn’t care about those grades anymore, since he’s MOVED TO NYU.
@what about Maura Spiegel? She is so slow.
@keb Seriously, Spiegel. There weren’t that many people in the class.
@oh my god. this is really embarrassing.
aren’t there more misguided year-end lists you could do instead of proving yourselves to be complete ivy-league wankers?
@wait sorry i thought taylor was still the bwog editor, not lydia. i take it back.
i
@one last try i can’t do the little less than three heart apparently.
in any case i meant to say:
i (heart) u lydia
– sam
@i like this feature except for the terminal preposition…
@Ivy League Wanker Please try and tell me that NYU kids don´t whine about their grades. Go ahead, try it.
xoxo,
Lydia
@my oh my how unprofessional and bitchy. a crack in the façade!
way to be detached and take the high road.
@seriously lydia is all fire and whiskey when she’s home for break, apparently.
now if you’ll excuse me, i’m going to check my grades yet again, like every other nyu student. if only we had a website to share this experience on
@Waiting for Foner that bear looks so sad.
poor bear, it is flunking environmentalist causes.
one more reason we should shoot them, and stop their contribution to “global warming,” whatever that is!
USA! USA! USA!
@frustrated caterina pizzigoni – Latin American Civ
@Also William V. Harris, Roman Imperialism
@good idea amber miller, physics 1601
@AHHH Dittoooooo
Come on Amber let’s GO!