355 Comments
One of our more distinguished alumni (excerpted):
“I’m a liar and a cheat and a thief and the ultimate manipulator. … I tell lies every day, man,” the 40-year-old actor says in the February issue of Men’s Journal magazine. “And when I say I’m phenomenally manipulative, I am.”
Fox, who is now starring opposite Matthew McConaughey in We Are Marshall, a Warner Bros. Pictures release, says he “can be unapologetically vicious” and is “absolutely an instigator.”
“I really enjoy social boozing, and what I enjoy about it is when people I know and care about say and do things they normally wouldn’t say or do,” he tells the magazine. “To make that happen I’ll instigate anything.”
“As for the skinny-dipping, when I was a kid there wasn’t a huge delineation in our family between having clothes on or not having clothes on,” he says.
“And the reason I have so much fun doing it now is people are so shocked by it, and, like, `Oh, my God, Fox just took his clothes off!’ But, I mean, just how long ago was it that we were all wandering around in loincloths?”
…was everyone else remotely affiliated with Columbia busy on May 15th? Why is this man speaking at Class Day? Something must be done…
The following is the opinion of Bwog’s Monday editor, Dan D’Addario.
We’re not anti-entertainer snobs; there are plenty of talented alumni who could have been excellent speakers (as the Class Day speaker must have graduated from Columbia, excepting John McCain, somehow). Anna Paquin is an accomplished stage actress and Oscar-winner, Maggie Gyllenhaal is one of the most talented actresses of her generation, Brian Dennehy is the biggest bad-ass ever. No, seriously. Jim Jarmusch is a brilliant filmmaker, and Brian DePalma one of the most intriguing hit-or-miss filmmakers in the world. Dan Futterman an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Any of these people might have had something interesting to say.
And these are only alternative speakers from the entertainment world. Warren Buffett? George Stephanopoulous? Brent Scowcroft? Kiran Desai? Scooter Libby – okay, perhaps not.
We’re not going to pretend we wouldn’t have bitched no matter who the Class Day speaker was, but seriously. Matthew Fox? Look at his IMDb profile and tell us whether you see any roles that you’ve heard of besides Party of Five – better remembered for introducing America to Jennifer Love Hewitt’s and Neve Campbell’s cleavage – and Lost, a cult show so engrossed with its cult nature that it’s shedding viewers faster than Columbia sheds credibility. It seemed decent up until the polar bears in the forest, and Fox hardly lights the screen aflame with his acting talent. His SNL wasn’t even good!
The man was in We Are Marshall, you say? Okay, perhaps, but a) it flopped in a way that suggests it’ll be as well-remembered ultimately as Fox’s Behind the Mask, and b) it was the McConaughey show anyway. Our Class Day speaker got upstaged by the smelliest-looking man in show business.
We’re not trying to be mean. We’re sure Fox is a great guy. Actually, as we think back to that interview, maybe he isn’t. But we want a Class Day speaker that has accomplished more than being hot and lucking into a role on a show with a bunch of hot girls and then another that was a hit for a season and a half. Fox is hardly one of Columbia’s most illustrious graduates, and, with due respect, should not be treated as such. In light of his comparative lack of credibility, Fox’s invitation to speak should be rescinded.
Bwog invites all Columbia students to protest just as we protested McCain last year. Fox may not have authorized an illegal war, but then, what exactly HAS he done? To quote last year’s anti-McCain buttons, “Fox does not speak for me.”
-DPD
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355 Comments
@tom this is bruce.. go fu*k yourself loser
@jamie this dude never supported any illegal wars. he also never worked against affirmative action, welfare, universal health care, etc. so he had none of the negative things mccain did. in the PLUS column, he’s sexy and kinda good at acting. so what’s the big deal? it’s a step up at the very least.
@CC senior i’ll agree that a public blog is obviously open to everyone for a reason, not just current columbia students. I’d alter 351’s comment to say that it’s not this blog but the 2007 CC class day ceremony has nothing to do with the non-columbians here spewing vitriol at us spoiled fucktards. Honestly, I don’t see what’s so snobby and elitist about (some, not all) graduating seniors carrying certain expectations for their class day speaker, and then expressing disappointment and anger when they don’t think that the chosen speaker quite meets their standards.
If Matthew Fox had been invited to Columbia to speak for any other school-wide event and we had protested because we didn’t think he was good enough, fine, that is snobby and elitist. But come on, it’s finally our year, our graduation festivities and we only get one Class Day speaker, who is actually supposed to represent the graduating class. And if some seniors are upset because they don’t feel like he represents the class very well (re: Fox’s recent interviews), why shouldn’t they be allowed to be upset?
@haha you dumb fuck Jesus Christ. That’s your fucking response? Go have some sex? That’s really pathetic. Maybe you should insult the dude’s mother next!
Fucking loser.
@hegel The sum of his (I should probably say your because you’re obviously not a Columbia student) contributions is declaring everyone assclowns, fucktards, and other such riveting commentary. You don’t get more than you give, “fucktard”. Spending hours on a college gossip bwog that has nothing to do with you is proof positive you need to get laid, so I don’t see what the problem is. Unless of course someone unwittingly unearthed the root of your bitterness.
@possessiveness? Since when does a public blog have nothing to do with any particular person or group?
Current Columbia College students don’t own the interweb or the ebays. Welcome to the real world – that sound you hear is your protective carman/john jay bubble popping in your ear.
@haha i don’t think too many columbia students are concerned with what the “peons” think about the matt fox debate. if you actually went to columbia, you would know that people are not unhappy merely because matthew fox is speaking, but because of many other issues related to how class day speakers are chosen. but, you don’t.
@for chrissake You’re right. You guys are far too intelligent for the peons out there who think that organizing a petition to protest a graduation ceremony speaker is the epitome of complete pointlessness. Continue rocking on with your bad selves, d00ds!
@gee in a way, it’s kind of flattering to know that people who have nothing to do with columbia hate us so much that they would take time out of their lives to actually come onto this blog and write about us.
@someone's angry! Well, God, I’m just some dude who enjoys watching you guys defecate all over yourselves every time someone points out what complete assclowns you are. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it, right?
Jesus Christ. Are you fucktards representative of the entire Columbia University population?
@Assclown Police That makes absolutely no sense, Johnny Truant. If you think a gossip blog is representative of thousands of people in an academic community then you’re the assclown. Go have some sex, it’s good for you.
@G-D. Who the fuck are you Johnny Truant? And what are you doing spending at least 4 hours on the blog of a bunch of ‘tards?
@haha Your topic IS unimportant. It’s a fucking graduation speech, and I honestly think some of guys have literally shit your pants over this. And I’m not debating you — I’m just informing you that you are complete retards.
@Kyle I love when someone doesn’t like a debate that’s going on, they pull the old “People are dying and suffering! Therefore, your topic is unimportant” card. It is one of the worst, silliest, and dumbest debate tactics you can use.
@yes agreed. the irony being that while they’re busy complaining about the complainers and whining about whiners, they are wasting time they could be spending on their important social issues, thus defeating their own holier-than-thou attitude. hypocrites.
@hey new post in which to bitch about this:
http://bwog.net/publicate/index.php?page=post&article_id=3228
@robert maschio Hey Gang,
This is Robert Maschio, the actor who play High-Five Todd on the TV show SCRUBS. As I am also a graduate of Columbia University (88) and I just want to say, if it doesn’t work out with Matthew Fox, I would be more than willing to fly in, show up and give a great commencement speech…well, it wouldn’t be a speech so much as a series of hi-fives to all graduates and a series of sexual inappropriate comments (aimed mostly at the administration). Of course I’d be wearing my trademark “Banana Hammock” the whole time…for the ladies, so…just something to consider and enjoy…good luck and let me know,
robert maschio
class of 1988
roar lion roar
aka the todd from Scrubs…
@Steve Geez. I thought we protested some dumb stuff during my days at Duke. But this is amazing.
Look, no one’s going to say anything that you haven’t already heard before. The anecdotes may change from one speaker to another, but the message is going to be basically the same sort of stuff you’ve been hearing all your life. You may as well try to have fun. Is Matthew Fox fun? I have no idea. But give the man a chance; it’s hardly worth protesting.
@Idiots... This is some of the most imbecilic garbage I’ve ever had the fucking displeasure to read on the Internet, ever. Who the hell are you tools to decide who’s important and who’s not? And you’re setting up a PETITION? Sweet fucking God, do you not realize the rest of the world is now laughing at you HARDER because of this blog post?
Argue back all you want — you guys are a bunch of asshats, and I’m sure you utter schmucks are hovering over your keyboards at this very second, waiting to unleash another torrent of illogical, pointless, inflammatory crap against some dude who is speaking at A FUCKING GRADUATION CEREMONY. Let the man speak, retards. Stop griping. Shut up.
Jesus Christ. This is what people complain about now? There’s frigging civil war going on in Baghdad, people dying every day, racism, death, kidnappings, murders, and you guys bitch about THIS? GROW UP.
@okay... The time that you spent bitching and griping about the people who are bitching and griping about matthew fox could also have been spent doing something for the causes against racism, murder, and civil war in Iraq. Think about that before you take the high road and accuse us of whining about insignificant things, when you yourself have just done the same.
@you, # 336... are dumb.
@Chris Did you ever think to consider that the two shows that Fox starred in were, in fact, successful because he made them such?
@Kyle They should have gotten Jennifer Love Hewitt. She has a great rack.
@Stupidity that doesn’t mean i *don’t* deserve someone better than fox to deliver my graduation speech.
@Hypocrisy The funny thing is – all those aching to hear someone juiced to ‘change the world’ are going to be corporate drones in a couple of years (if not months).
Let’s face it – capitalism and/or guns change the world much more than the recitation of supposedly higher-minded ideals.
All the hopeful egalitarian pablum about using your degree to make the world a better place loses its strength the first time mom and dad stop paying rent.
@Stupidity hypocricy,
get a life. nobody here is asking for a speaker that has changed the world. nor does anybody claim to have the goal of changing the world with their Columbia degree. yes, i will be a capitalist drone within a few months. that doesn’t mean i deserve someone better than fox to deliver my graduation speech. not only me, but all my classmates (aspiring capitalist drone or not) deserve better.
@ahahah I hope everyone fighting against this fails in all future endeavors, you deserve it. I have never seen such a close-minded group of people since the KKK or Nazi Germany. YOU ARE NOT AS SPECIAL AS YOU THINK YOU ARE, so please step away from your high podium.
What’s been written is PURE propaganda, I’m sure you took every bad quote from Fox’s entire history and added them in for effect. Open your eyes, there’s more than just left or right. How about giving someone a chance? You people would’ve bitched no matter who it was, so just take it.
@Ashamed... I hope you all realize that you’re making us look like a bunch of ungrateful snobs. It’s like we’re kids who are throwing a temper tantrum because we’re forced to eat chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. No matter who was chosen, save for perhaps the Dali Lama, we would have gotten our panties all in a bundle. Pretty soon, NO ONE will want to come speak here for fear of being physically attacked or publicly humiliated. Come on, grow up and act like decent human beings.
@uneducated masses Saying you’re not a snob doesn’t mean you’re not. You sure sound like it to me.
@ABA Bastian,
That’s a terrible argument. CC has so many significant alumni to choose from. Why should we support the choice of an insignificant TV character by saying “let’s give the guy a chance, maybe it will be a good”? We could have done this thing by lottery and ended up with some totally random dude and your argument would apply just as good to that scenario.
Even if he delivers an extraordinary speech (and, really, what could he possibly talk about to make this a good choice?) the fact remains that he has not done ANYTHING to make him deserve this podium.
@Bastian My argument is not an argument for Fox, but rather against the needless and rather rude protests being carried out. I do think we need to cut Matt Fox some slack, because he was asked to come. It’s not like he sits around saying “I wonder what I can do to piss off Columbia students. Oh, I know! I’ll go speak at Class Day!” It was nothing like that.
Anyway, there are some people who are happy he is speaking, so I will just see how things play out.
@Bastian Have any of you thought that perhaps he might actually deliver a good speech? I can’t believe people are planning things to heckle, bother and ruin Matthew Fox’s speech. This is a man who, for whatever reason, wanted to speak to our class. This is a man who is taking time out of his busy schedule to give a ten minute speech that is probably poignant in relation to a graduating class, and the thanks he gets for it is people dressing as polar bears and heckling him? Does that make ANY sense to you??
I, too, am disappointed. Disappointed in my class for their sheer thoughtlessness about anyone but themselves. If you don’t give someone a chance, how are they expected to change your mind?
Oh, that’s right, you don’t want it changed.
It’s not Matthew Fox’s fault.
@ABA The complaints are perfectly legitimate and the “stop whining” reaction is just stupid. Even if I care minimally about who speaks that day (which I do), the choice of Fox is so meaningless that I can’t help but “whine”.
And the objection is not that Fox is no investment banker. He is not anybody remarkable- not in acting, not in anything else. He doesn’t even have to be successful, but a class day speaker should have a story behind him, or something that will at least have a claim to being inspirational in some sense. Being the leading actor of a cult TV show does not qualify him for that.
Based on his appereance on the Daily Show last year, he doesn’t strike me as particularly witty or interesting either.
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/celebrity_interviews/index.jhtml?start=241
@r.u.m.o.r. sorry…that’s why i titled it “rumor”. but i did overhear it from two girls talking outside butler in the freezing cold.
i’m surprised bwog didn’t get to it before i found out.
@rumor I heard chait, dean quigley, bollinger, a member of the CU PR department and a few professors are part of a committee that seeks to form a committee that in turn will select a decent speechwriter for Matthew Fox.
Columbia Bureaucracy at full steam + tuition money wasted in hiring a speechwriter for unskilled, uneloquent, unworthy speakers + generally misinformed populace because they don’t care to tell us until it’s too late to change anything = my graduation
@hmm could be lies, but you sound too disappointed. still – any proof?
@the hunt is on! someone called David Koichiro Berlin posted this amazing video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI16tDRFS64
on
@amazing? that was the montage they showed when everyone was stunned to silence by the choice. basically chait practicing powerpoint features for his plump consulting job.
@I didn't have the privilege of being among the first to see it, unfortunately. But we now have a name–several posters seemed keen on starting a witch hunt.
@name? what do you intend to do with the name, pray tell?
@argh i meant to say “come speak *this* year”
@to #311 Don’t you think you’re taking this too far? I agree with #310 that the real issue here is the selection process.
We all need to stop hating on Fox.
@but he’s clearly an idiot too. maybe not a witting idiot in this whole process (were he class president, I doubt he would have chosen himself), but his quotes prove something, nonetheless.
@anon buttons available…
http://www.cafepress.com/protestfox
@Anonymous http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2249048330
Facebook group against Fox.
@senior i think people might be more receptive of fox if we actually knew what he’s done for columbia, or what he did when he was here. okay, so we’re largely not so impressed with his acting credentials and interviewing skills, apparently, but what about his time here? what did he do to impact the columbia community? all we know is that he was in the same frat as our class president and he played in a football game in which columbia ended a 44-match losing streak. come on… what else was there? was he part of a community service group? any other clubs? anything else that the average ambitious and overachieving columbia student could look up to?
@i wish... HALF as much passion as has been demonstrated on this comment thread could go into ACTUAL ISSUES that this campus deals with DAILY…
Work against Racism, Homophobia, Sexism etc. can’t get a fucking head nod from most of the people at this school, but the CLASS DAY speaker….
I am so ashamed to be a Columbian right now.
@whatever, 293 yeah, i guess the class of 2007 made the stupid mistake of trusting chait and his committee to do a decent job in picking a class day speaker. our bad. guess i shouldn’t have thought so highly of my fellow seniors, huh?
and one email in the beginning of year advertising a class day council position for ONE student certainly does not mean that “each and every one of you had an opportunity to have a voice in this matter, and either ignored David Chait’s emails, or were too lazy to care about it until the decision was made for you”. no one’s thinking about grad festivities at that point; most people are too busy trying to find jobs. if they had been serious about considering the input of the class, they would have sent out more emails about class day selection THIS semester. stop being so patronizing.
@snobs all of you This school is so into itself it’s ridiculous….why are you all so fucking hung up on this? I’m a senior, and I don’t see what the huge deal is…I’d rather Matthew Fox than John McCain.
Matthew Fox is a more successful alum than most of you will ever be; just b/c he chose a path that wasn’t Morgan Stanley or some obscure specialization in some haughty academic sphere does mean he isn’t worthy of the stage at Class Day…
As if it isn’t already enough work for me to try and convince my friends Columbia isn’t the snotty Ivory Tower snob fest everyone thinks it is.
Disgust.
@well that would really depend on how you define “successful”.
@Elitism argument The whole Ivory Tower/Ivy League elitism/snobbery argument needs to be put to rest. If any other school had made this selection it would have been totally random. But, Fox is an alum, and we have a stupid selection policy, so he has a bunch of apologists on this board who think the choice is logical. But it’s not.
Just look at all the other speakers coming to schools around the country. Those choices make sense. The people aren’t just academics or Wall Street types or politicians, but what they have in common is they aren’t random. Fox is random. He’s been on two mainstream TV shows, but being an actor doesn’t make you a good choice. People seem to be applying an “SNL test,” where if it isn’t random for you to host SNL, then it isn’t random for you to be a class day speaker. I beg to differ. If we didn’t have this limiting and idiotic selection policy, this choice never would have been made.
I want to make one request of all those Matthew Fox apologists. Ask yourself this: if we weren’t limited by the current policy, would you ever have imagined that he would be selected? And, would you have ever thought he was a good choice?
People are outraged not just because Fox is a random speaker; we’re pissed because the policy is allowing this to happen.
@yes completely agree with 310. Part of my frustration stems from the fact that Columbia has had some awesome figures come speak year– Vaclav Havel, Nobel Prize-winning Orhan Pamuk (who will be teaching a seminar here next year, I believe he said), director Zhang Yimou, former UN official Mary Robinson… etc. With the ability to pull in people of such calibre, it’s shocking to think that the best we can do for the Class Day speaker is a TV actor. The rules need to be reformed so that situations like this one can be avoided.
@re: #293 Students’ failure to join a committee does not turn Mr. Fox into a good choice.
People who failed to act earlier should write e-mails to Quigley and Chait now. Better late than never. At least we can mitigate the possibility of a future selection this TERRIBLE.
@ouch There’s a post about us on Livejournal’s Ohnotheydidn’t:
http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/11231266.html
@tyty to post # 293- “stop crying”-IF ANY OF US HAD THOUGHT DAVID CHAIT WAS CONSIDERING MATHEW C FOX AS A GRADUATION SPEAKER, I THINK WE WOULD HAVE JOINED THE COMITTEE. but yes, most of us assumed that our class president would want someone socially/ politically involved, someone making changes in the world, someone inspirational…
don’t blame students for being busy with work, jobs, and all that we have going on in our lives. we elected certain people to do a job, not for us to do it. if people had known they were even consdering someone like mathew c fox, i think we would have weighed in. we just thought better of our peers.
@tyty to post # 293- “stop crying”-IF ANY OF US HAD THOUGHT DAVID CHAIT WAS CONSIDERING MATHEW C FOX AS A GRADUATION SPEAKER, I THINK WE WOULD HAVE JOINED THE COMITTEE. but yes, most of us assumed that our class president would want someone socially/ politically involved, someone making changes in the world, someone inspirational…
don’t blame students for being busy with work, jobs, and all that we have going on in our lives. we elected certain people to do a job, not for us to do it. and trust me, if i think that if most people had known they were even consdering someone like mathew c fox, we would have weighed in. we just thought better of our peers.
@stop crying I can’t say I agree with the school’s policy in selecting a class day speaker. Frankly, it doesn’t match up to that of our peer institutions and its a shame. It sucks that we can’t spend money on guest speakers, and its sucks that not every high profile CC alum cares enough about the school enough to speak without being paid $10,000. I also can’t say that Matthew Fox is the ideal class day speaker…
But know that each and every one of you had an opportunity to have a voice in this matter, and either ignored David Chait’s emails, or were too lazy to care about it until the decision was made for you. (See a class email from ~10/1). So, thanks for finally voicing your opinions. Really.
@I admit it I did not ever
a. vote for David Chait
b. intend on giving to the Senior Fund.
This is so typical of Columbia. I say we rush the stage!
@I admit it I did not ever
a. vote for David Chait
b. intend on giving to the Senior Fund.
Fuck them both
@hahahahaHA Oh that’s cute. the people in the class committee have decided to bombard bwog and pretend to be alums, parents and various other posters supporting matthew fox. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.
YES MORONS BELIEVE IT OR NOT OUR CLASS HAVE PEOPLE WITH BRAINS IN THEM, WE HAVE BRAINS AND WE LIKE TO USE THEM. WE WOULD APPRECIATE IF OUR GRADUATION SPEAKER REFLECTED THAT. YOUR LAME ASS IDEA OF ESTABLISHING COMMUNITY THROUGH A BEERDRINKINGMORONWITHNO BRAINS REMAINS A PATHETIC DECISION (NO HATE ON JOCKS OR FRATS, JUST POINTING OUT WHAT THIS GUY IS LIKE BASED THE MOST READILY AVAILABLE INTERVIEWS WITH HIM).
SO FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU.
@i'm thinking i would look forward to this more if i knew he was giving the speech as dr. jack shephard and not matthew fox. please, matthew, do it if you’re reading this.
@jen My only questions are – will he be shirtless, where can I get tix and how long a drive is it from cambridge to morningside heights?
@douchactivism if we are petty elitist assholes about this, all the cleverer. maybe matthew fox will be so offended he’ll drop out. (and maybe ol’ bee shaffer’s mom will be so impressed by the snootery she’ll take over.)
@cc06 The class of 06 didn’t even get to hear a class day speech. Does no one remember how the sound system was broken and barely a word of McCain’s was audible?
@Ellen I have never seen “Lost” but the few times that I saw Fox on “Party of Five” he had a certain charm even though the show itself wasn’t very good.
The acting profession is so unpredictable that I don’t hold making a buck on TV against him. Gwyneth Paltrow has an academy award and I find her unwatchable.
I know very little about Fox but I hope that he rises to the occasion.
@Ellen Some 07 parental perspective here – Yesterday I was annoyed with the choice for many of the reasons posted above. Today I am less so. As a parent I would have been thrilled to see/hear someone more impressive but after all, the guy did go to Columbia. Hopefully Matthew Fox is bright and speaks well.
@hahaha no, i cannot. but i also would not have been able to say that about sascha baron cohen, as i had no idea who he was until the borat movie. give the guy a chance. dont be so spoiled as to keep people from wanting to come speak at your school.
@actually I would love to keep lowbrow actors like matthew fox from having another stage here.
and to ellen: if he was smart and spoke well, don’t you think he would take/have better parts than what he does on “lost”?
@UMMM SO, columbia is TOO GOOD for Matthew Fox, but Harvard was not too good for ALI G, in 2004???? (since you’re all so bright you should know that was before his huge Borat fame)…
GET OVER YOURSELVES
@umm sascha baron cohen is at least a funny, entertaining speaker. can you say the same with certainty about matthew fox?
@this is the most brilliant post i’ve heard in some time. you categorize class day speakers as investments. matthew fox, while mediocre now, might be huge in a few years. alright, i’ll accept that. but, i doubt he’ll be as huge as borat.
poster 273 is a giant tool. you argue conflicting points. first you say that columbia students whine too much, that they want change, and then you lament that they have power to change anything. which is it? should we not care or should we take more control over things.
and i assure you, i won’t be fetching your coffee anytime soon. i’d much rather work at wendy’s. oh man, i miss those tasty burgers.
@Recent Alum I don’t see 273 saying Columbia students have the power to change anything – only that they complain a lot about the school they chose to attend.
If anything, the administration is taking things away from the uppity tykes (no points in Uris, SGB oversight to the College).
It looks like the administration is finally figuring out that the majority of complaining comes from a minority of students. Pareto’s 80/20 rule comes in handy.
@pareto? you econ major philistine.
@justicio oh i get it. we are supposed to be upset about matthew fox so then they can replace him with jeffrey sachs, who we otherwise would have said was boring, and we’ll be happy.
@Guess what? This is linked to Gawker! Looks like all the grumpy “you kids don’t know how good you have it” comments are already coming. Well, dammit, this is Columbia and I’d like a respectable person speaking. And that’s my $.02 truth, Ruth.
@looking ahead.... david chait + michelle diamond + neda nevab= team awesome! i am not voting for michelle so that no one will let neda do this next year!
@solution In case anyone is interested, there is a facebook group trying to get people together to find a solution to this problem. At this point, we can’t dis-invite Fox. As unhappy as we may be, Fox has been told that the student body wants him here. It would be publicly humiliating for him to be dis-invited and no one on the Columbia administration is going to do that. Ever.
Perhaps we can petition to have a second speaker speak along with Fox. We were not consulted at all in the process but there is still time to have a say in what happens on class day. If you all are interested, please join this group and offer up some ideas for a plausible solution.
http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2249048330
@moose this really is silly. he’ll probably be good.
@I heard Felipe Tarud was their second choice.
@you annoying people who have come to post here to tell everyone that “we youngins” are overreacting… shut the hell up. just because you think you are wiser than thou, it doesn’t give you the right to poo poo something that people rightfully care about. the fact that people will be hungover or may not remember the speech is entirely irrelevant. if that’s the argument, then why go to college at all? you probably won’t remember anything, and you probably don’t need it… and we all know that’s a dumb argument. so shut up.
@jm21 Did you really go to college to hear a graduation speech at the end of your 4 years? I promise you once you have graduated and get into the real world, you won’t care one bit who your speaker was. You only care now because you have too much free time on your hands.
@alum93 Who told you that you were going to remember anything you learned in college?
@Another Alum Hater If you can’t take the heat – get out of the kitchen. This is a public site – get used to criticism from elders, you’ll hear a lot of it when you fetch coffee with too much milk next year.
Many of us alumni despise what has become of Columbia, with the constant protesting and hand-wringing by the kids who applied and matriculated.
It’s so trite at this point to be ‘disenfranchised’ by the administration. No college student body anywhere has a real say in how their universities are run. Study, drink (and/or both) and get ready for the real world.
A word of advice, though, your elders don’t take kindly to petty bitching by neophytes, especially when they’re paying salaries. (Law School professors aren’t known for being pushovers, either) In other words, you’re never going to have it so good. Stop complaining.
@Alum Hater ‘Many of us, as alumni,’ that is…
[Knowing that the anal-retentive typo police are looking for any way to putdown someone who disagrees with the group gestalt…]
@jm21 You kids take yourselves way too seriously. Get the hell over it and go learn something. 90 percent of you will probably be too hung over to listen to the speech anyway.
@depressed 08'er Do you REALLY want to sit through someone giving a boring-ass speech about all you’ve done, or listen to someone who’s actually done something fun with his life. This isn’t a POLITICAL college, it’s a freaking liberal arts school, JESUS. And thanks, by the way, now next year we won’t be able to get anyone cool for fear of everyone freaking out that they aren’t BORING enough.
@Anonymous None of this will matter if it rains like it did last year. Except then there could be some kind of impromptu wet T-shirt contest. But we already know who would win (Matthew Fox), so there’s no reason to go.
@peanut you guys need to chill out. it’s college — a few years out of your entire life. yeah you worked hard, but get ready to work harder. it’s a freaking “class day speaker” — not even graduation. who caaaaares?!
@considering prezbo gives the commencement speech, this is pretty much the only keynote address seniors will hear during the two-day graduation festivities, and the one that precedes their names being called out, etc. it’s the more intimate and personal of the two days, which makes its association with someone so trivializing all the more painful.
here’s to hoping the honorary degree recipients on commencement are worthy of their titles.
@... #242 is wrong. Kraft never played Columbia football.
@grad student I went to a state school for undergrad. Did not pay 1 red cent. My speaker was George H W Bush. Of course it is in the south, so they have also had George W Bush, Dick Cheney. Granted I disagree with all 3 of these men, it sure as hell was an interesting day.
@sure “And speakers for anything are always chosen by committee and not vote, so get used to it. It’s not going to change.”
this is not true for class day speakers.
@Alum The commenters here are pathetic and have no idea what it takes to make a good class day speaker. Being an a-list professor, author, politician or wealthy alumnus does not make someone a good class day speaker. Stephanopolos was very so-so. The only decent class day speaker Columbia has had in two decades is Tony Kushner. What makes a good class day speaker is someone who is funny, self deprecating, and can speak truthfully about the Columbia experience. I have heard many prominent people speak and most were boring and would not be engaging class day speakers in the least. Give this guy a break – maybe he will turn out to be better then you give him credit for.
And speakers for anything are always chosen by committee and not vote, so get used to it. It’s not going to change.
The whiners here are pathetic and hopefully will never find success in life. I certainly would never hire them.
@fuck off get a life, mind your own damn business, if you love matthew fox so much go drool over season 1 of dvd on lost. have fun w/ it. great job u must have if u waste your time reading up on a blog from a university you already graduated from.
@alum i doubt you have the power to hire anyone. even if you do, your ‘business’ sounds pretty boring considering you are reading a college gossip blog during the lunch hour.
hey are you free to give a class day speech next year?
@current student you know what’s pathetic? alumni who feel the need to come back and bitch on blogs about graduation festivities.
for the record, the issue here is not about the caliber of the speech fox will give. who knows, he might turn out to be an amazing speaker. so could any guy we pull off the street. what people are angry about is why he was chosen over many other distinguished CC alumni (or “CC family members”).
@uhhh Chait and the Selection Committee owes the Class of 07 an email explaining in detail this year’s selection process. I’d like to know specifically who was on the shortlist, and why Matthew Fox of all people was ultimately picked. Above all, I’d like to know why we seniors were NEVER consulted throughout this process.
@sad I started crying when i read this bwog post. I’m so embarrassed. My parents already think this is a joke of a school and that I should have gone to Harvard. Now I agree.
@wow i feel really really sorry for you. you suck at life.
@Anonymous Like you got into Harvard….
What are you doing here, if you did?
@Maybe he thought Harvard was a bigger snobfest than Columbia. That’s why I passed. But it looks like we were both wrong. Look at the image you’re all giving us http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?messageID=800075261
GET OVER IT ALREADY AND HAVE A COOKIE
@frumph Am I the only one utterly amused by all this? Sure, I’d be underwhelmed too, but not outraged. Let’s stick to raising hell (declaring our degrees worthless because of Fox?) over more important things. Maybe I’m not as sentimental as other people are about all the ceremonial crap but I don’t think one atypical speaker negates all the other substantive experiences and speakers we’ve enjoyed here over the years. If you want to try to change it, by all means try but direct the bashing and assign responsibility where it’s appropriate.
@Opposition Regarding the CC’07 Senior class reps, I think its all your own fault for voting Chait back into office rather than picking the Opposition party. Chait is a tool.
@Football What is the big deal about Fox’ football background?
Kraft and Dennehy (as well as Trustee Chairman Bill Campbell) are also former Columbia football players.
@Cant you see That no political speaker wants to come to Columbia given recent history? (Minutemen, sex party reports, etc.)
Any Republican would be booed – any Democrat would be slammed on FOX for speaking to U.Havana N.
And why are people pining for someone like B. Hussein Obama. He even admitted in the NY Times that he roots for Brown over Columbia in hoops.
@Thanks, I finally have all of the information that I need to base my decisions about a person’s importance on which shitty Ivy League sports team they prefer.
@I wonder …if Kwame saved the speech he was unable to deliver at last year’s Class Day? I’m sure he’d be willing to come back and speak.
@wait... this terrible choice has convinced some of you not to give back to the school as an alum? i’m a wee freshman and i’ve already decided never to give back to this piece of shit school. doesn’t take a shitty class day speaker to realize that
@Aww The widdle fweshman is angsty!
@Alex I’ll do it for free and I’ll include dick jokes.
@spike lee... took classes here right? He’d be an awesome speaker. Note to George Krebs…we want Spike! Or Obama…
@we can all agree... 1) If the graduating class’ president always has this much influence over the choice, then the selection process should be a bigger issue in student government elections. No one’s talking about that in the race of CC ’08 president/council. I don’t even know if that race is competitive, but shouldn’t the candidates be talking about what kind of approach they’d bring to the process?
2) If we are sick of shitty speakers, then we should begin putting real pressure on the administration to change the criteria for class day speakers. Start paying people, and forget about the silly “CC family” standard. As pissed as most of us are by the Fox choice, no one really thinks our complaints will change anything. But maybe, if enough people want a change, the administration will be willing to listen.
@no no no This is not about Fox’s actual speech, which could be fine. This is about Columbia College [an association with which I’ll carry for life]. What does this say about the values of the institution?
Because his only qualification is fame [maybe beauty, ugh], it suggests that we value celebrity FOR ITS OWN SAKE. I ask: why does the speaker have to be famous????? Couldn’t he/she be any out of dozens of truly excellent and thoughtful people? Lawyers, architects, scientists, professors, humanitarians, etc.
Is Mr. Fox known as a particularly thoughtful or engaged actor? Is he particularly skilled in his “art”? Is he particularly political? Is he ANYTHING other than pretty???
Call me naive, but I believe that the core legitimately helps to set the stage for a life that engages important fields. I don’t see where he’s done that.
Soon I’ll get over my righteous indignation and stop caring, but right now, I’m actually ashamed.
[btw #219 is exactly correct about McCain]
@Watson House The video that started it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI16tDRFS64
@*** *Meant to say “I’ve honestly *never watched Lost”
@Don't You Get It??? ** This is not about Matthew Fox.
** This is not about whether or not you think Columbia students are whiny.
** This is not about the Bwog and whether a freshman should have the gall(?) to post about what is certifiably absurd.
This is about a class that has worked hard and is unhappy about not being consulted on what is a very important decision (for those of you who think it isn’t, go get your degree online). The tradition is that the class votes on the speaker. Had anyone on class council thought to circulate an e-mail to solicit people’s opinions on Matthew Fox, they would have found the 200+ posts that precede this one. But they didn’t. They thought the class of ’07 would be down for some no-name hunk who has done nothing that any of us can manage to respect.
Chait isn’t a bad guy, and this wasn’t malicious at all. It was simply egregious. Above all, Quigley should have said something. Part of the problem is that Columbia should change their policy and pay people to speak (the CC-affiliation thing can remain, so long as some $$ is thrown in).
Because students have voted on the Class Day speaker in the past, they feel like it should be a person who represents them. That is why this is such a travesty. People at this school are looking to do something with their lives–we have been taught that we are lucky enough to have been given this education, so we better go out there and do something with it. So what does it tell us when the person imparting wisdom on us as we go into the world didn’t do anything with Plato or Aristotle, didn’t have aspirations to internalize his education and change something for the better, but rather married a fashion model and exploited his genetics for the sake of b-list pop celebrity-dom?
Richard Axel ’67 won the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Max Frankel ’52 was the long-time editor of the New York Times, Toomas Ilves ’75 is the president of Estonia, Jason Epstein ’49 founded the New York Review of Books, Art Garfunkel ’63 has recorded all-time American classics. We respect these people, and we want to know how they made it from Hamilton to where they are now.
So we are disappointed, perhaps not surprising for a university that too often fails to take the everyday student into consideration. But still, disappointed.
@yes completely agree with #228.
@what 226 – Lost is anything but trite. Do your homework.
– C-list is a gross exaggeration. Be accurate.
– Successful businessman? The way in which he gets preference over a popular actor? Note: I am NOT coloring my terms the way you are. Be accurate!
@yea I really hope your not defending primetime television as a bastion of higher culture. I’ve honestly watched Lost but basing my opinion on every other thing I’ve ever seen produced by the major stations, Lost is trite.
@Agree, disagree 219: I couldn’t agree more. Still incredibly pissed though. There must be other CC alumni willing to speak. Do we really have to settle for a flavor-of-the-minute TV actor?
220: Kraft was a successful businessman. Fox is on some kind of ridiculous TV show.
I agree with the original Bwog post. Its not that I’m against an entertainer/artist or I am demanding a politician or a CEO or an intellectual, its that this is a c-list actor who has gained a little bit of notoreity from a couple of TV shows. HE IS NOT AN ARTIST.
I would gladly accept an artist, even one who isn’t “famous”, but I will not accept some random guy whose job is to say a couple of cheap lines in a trite TV show.
@Wikipedia quote Fox sought a career on Wall Street before turning a job offer down.[2] He studied economics at Columbia and upon his graduation applied for a job to sell stocks at Prudential-Bache. “I didn’t have a suit, so I had to borrow one from a friend. He was 5-10, and I’m 6-2, so the thing didn’t fit. And I borrowed his penny loafers,” he said. He described the staff as “all these mid-20s, Type A, go-getting wannabe Gordon Gekkos. There was just so much testosterone flying around, in all the wrong directions … I’ll never forget the moment as long as I live: We’re saying goodbye, and they were like, ‘Well, y’know, you’re gonna come here and kick ass, and it’s all gonna be great!’ and then one of ’em says, ‘But he’s gonna have to do something about those shoes!’ They all had exactly the same pair of Oxford shoes on. In that moment, I [said], ‘There’s no way I can do this.'”
– He sounds like a guy I’d listen to.
@mccain will b there! I hope. I mean, Megan is a senior, right?
@FOX IS DOING THIS http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070227/NEWS01/702270354/1190/NEWS
@Problem I agree with all the complaints, but there’s a problem. When we object to a serious speaker like John McCain, suddenly our opinions don’t really matter. Even if you don’t like his politics, you at least have to grant that McCain is thoughtful, interesting, and worth listening to. That’s what we should accept with any political figure, as long as their speech isn’t hate speech.
If people didn’t protest McCain’s selection last year, then these complaints about Matthew Fox would be a lot more legitimate. Instead, it’s just another year where a lot of people are pissed. I guess I just wished people weren’t such bitches about McCain last year, so that maybe we’d be taken seriously now that the selection is legitimately fucked up.
@Seriously? i do not think chait is a bad person. but if there had been ANY indication that matthew fox was a serious candidate for a speaker, the backlash would have squashed that idea. I am sure there were better candidates. Any candidate who has used his or her mind to improve the world in any capacity would be better than a TV semi-boner who loves talking about how he’s hot enough to manipulate people. So what if a freshman wrote it? Our speaker sounds like a douche while “representing” us. Caring about this school isn’t like caring about a child. It’s no crime to acknowledge piss-poor choices. And I don’t think that commenting about it hurts our reputation.
@PLEASE COMPARE THIS TO OUR CLASS DAY SPEAKER TWO YEARS AGO – AN OWNER OF A SPORTS TEAM? INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATING??? DOES MATTHEW FOX FAIL TO COMPARE TO EVEN HIM?
Look at the facebook group. The 100+ bitch-moaning posts on this site were probably generated by a nice little nugget of less than 50 people.
@robert kraft Well, the speaker from two years ago, Robert Kraft, sure has a hell of a lot more wisdom to share than Matthew Fox. He’s more than a football guy – he’s a business leader and philanthropist. I don’t think people are pissed that this year’s speaker is an actor; what’s annoying is that he doesn’t appear to be anything more than that. People wouldn’t mind if it were Angelina Jolie speaking, because she’s done something interesting with her life other than be on TV and film.
@your argument is ridiculous! You haven’t heard Fox open his mouth yet! How do people like you rely on these stereotypes of athletes and fraternity guys to say that Fox has nothing worthwhile to offer? Did you see anything in Kraft’s life worthy of an audience before his speech? Reconsider all of the previous thoughts you have given about Fox. You simply don’t know who he is.
@dude No, your argument is ridiculous, because it didn’t take Kraft’s speech to know he was worth listening to. I’m sure Fox will have something interesting to say, but you could find a lot of Columbia alums with interesting things to say who have done more with their lives. I think there should be something in a speakers’ biography that compels you to listen to them. That’s what makes for a good selection. Fox hasn’t done anything that, I think, makes him compelling.
@most presumptuous words I’ve ever had the nauseating displeasure of reading.
@hey guess what? there are a lot of Columbia graduates. Should we just pick them based on a lottery system? Just any random fucking graduate? Or should be pick them based on some other criteria? And what kind of criteria would you recommend?
1. Notoriety? This is aninstitution of higher education. I see no reason to pick someone based on how high their TV shows’ ratings are. None at all. Sure, I’d have a beer with the guy, but I’d probably have a beer with anyone. Its Class Day, Columbia picks one person to speak, that person should somehow be a compelling speaker, no? What is it about notoriety that makes someone interesting? “Yo, so I’m famous and shit, and highly manipulative. And I’m famous.”
How about someone who has contributed something positive to the world?
How about someone who is a leader in a field that matters, like politics or business? (and no, trite TV shows don’t matter like politics matter)
How about someone who is an artist?
any of those would do. I could give a shit about someone’s notoriety among the millions of people who waste their lives watching TV.
@I agree with “Sure, I’d have a beer with the guy, but I’d probably have a beer with anyone.”
especially the part about having a beer with anyone.
also, i agree with posters #40 and 51-52. 69 is retarded.
@nooooo And you thought that people protesting the Minutemen were detracting from the value of your Columbia degree on Wall Street… THIS IS WORSE.
@actually class day speakers have to be
a) CC alums or family members of CC or faculty
b) and must not have spoken in the last ten years
and c) be willing to do it for free. yup, so m.fox will not be making any money from this. he’s doing it from the bottom of his light-blue heart.
@how many of you are on financial aid? because that’s where your damn dollar goes when you donate it to the senior fund…
@pathetic! and this is why columbia is known for its whining babies. god people, stop complaining for a second and go back to facebook stalking. or, better yet, go advertise your pent up aggression on boredatbutler.
@I support Chait …because he works hard and cares more about Columbia than anyone else I’ve met here.
@boohoo i feel sorry for matthew fox. he makes such a cute face when he’s sad, and he’ll be making the cute face all over the place if he reads this wall.
that said – $21,000/year for high school in DC, and our graduation speaker is our headmistress. $40,000 a year for the ivy league, and our graduation speaker’s a b-list actor. i do feel a little cheated.
@i love to make problems that don’t really exist!!!!!! :)
@Paz This is horrible feedback. Sure Matthew wasn’t anyone’s #1 (or 2, or 3…) pick for class day speaker, but where the heck is the Columbia College support for an alum? And what exactly are we achieving by protesting Matthew’s position and evaluating his worthiness? Everyone’s getting flustered because he is such a random pick, being a TV star and all, but there is not one ounce of genuine support for him to come back to his alma mater. Based on all the ridiculous and extreme bitterness raised so far, we CC kids, with our sick pompous “we-deserve-so-much-more” perhaps shouldn’t deserve to have a public face speak at class day – don’t want Matthew? Maybe Goldman Sachs will let an overworked CC alum ibanker breathe some campus air and speak about the thrills of financial stability.
Matthew’s speaking, all the other famous alums must have been busy, so get over it, and let’s welcome one of our own back to campus.
@hah why should we support a columbia college alum who has wasted his education on base celebrity? same goes for that woman who edits u.s. weekly being on the cover of cct…what a travesty that was.
@Paz I think there is a bigger travesty here. The point is, it’s incredibly sad to see our own students rip apart a former student.
@you don't get it Matthew Fox’s existence is fine with me. Good for him. He has notoriety. He’s on TV. Awesome. Cool. Sweet.
Its not him I’m angry about, its the fact that he is speaking at my class day. Hell, I’m not even pissed at him for accepting it, he’ll probably make some money off it and increase his notoriety. Again, good for him. I’m angry with whoever made this choice, whoever decided to bring a c-list actor to speak about God knows what.
Good for Matthew Fox. Not good for me, my parents, or the reputation of this University.
@Paz This university’s reputation is getting bent because some committee had the nerve to get a class day guest speaker (who probably had more school spirit in his heyday than me ever) who is just a tv actor. I’m sorry but using this b-list actor crap to say that the University’s rep is going down is totally weak.
And it’s not like our students’ stale whining is NOT going to hurt the university’s reputation. Now that’s what I’m pointing at. Get it?
@dude it doesn’t matter whether or not chait is involved in some bs conspiracy. what matter is that he’s completely out of touch with his constituency. how could he POSSIBLY think people would be satisfied with this? does he take all his classmates for morons?
@when you’re isolated in the frats with jocks and wannabe i-bankers it’s possible to believe this is a good choice, I imagine.
@the only way the only way Columbia can save face is by having foner speak during the university-wide ceremony
@umm only prezbo speaks during commencement, and maybe the honorary degree recipients.
@i love to make problems that don’t really exist!!!!!! :)
@What exactly... is he going to have to say to us all? Aside from anything else, I feel like the speech would just suck. I’d rather have Mccain again. Or anyone else. Or we could have every graduating senior send in 5 words(verb, noun, adjective, adverb and one more of their choice) and use these words to make a speech.
@wtf um, so my parents are flying halfway around the world for matthew fox? i mean, yeah he’s hot, but unless he’s getting in my pants after getting off the podium, i don’t want him for my class day speaker.
@liv No, your parents are flying halfway across the world to see their kid graduate. Grow up.
@Now This is the sort of thing that students should be protesting, not the war.
Also, I am going to laugh so hard if the only reason Matthew Fox was invited is because he was in Fiji.
@spec or bwog please get on the fiji allegations. stat.
@seriously what is WRONG with you people? dave chait asked matthew fox because he was in fiji? your degrees are now worthless? you’re not going to give to senior fund, which is not affiliated with class day in the least?
the disgrace here is how mean, petty, and conspiracy-minded columbia students are showing themselves to be.
@okay I have a sneaking suspicion that this is someone on the committee… but nonetheless, YES, there are bigger problems in the world, we KNOW that. BUT the fact remains that – even in our littleness – class day is an event important for most of us, and MORE IMPORANTLY for our families who are coming to celebrate us that day. That we should be degraded in this way is AMPLE reason for disatisfaction with chait, the commitee, senior-fund and all the people in the columbia administration who facilitated this travesty.
@class of 2007 THIS IS BULLSHIT, HOW DARE THEY DEGRADE US LIKE THIS!!!
@the Man http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2249048330
protest like good Columbians!!!
@sheesh i’ve known who matthew fox is since party of five was still on TV, but not once in my four years here have i ever heard his name whenever the topic of famous columbia alumni came up. i didn’t even know he went to columbia until just now, and i’m willing to bet that many seniors didn’t, either. that just goes to show what a horrendous choice this was.
@The only way Which I will tolerate this is if in the speech he accidently lets slip secrets about Lost that have been bugging me for 2 years.
@can someone please send us a shortlist of the speakers that were considered at some point? i just want to see what other white male CC grads are out there that could’ve represented my minority female voice. thanks, columbia, for perpetuating the stereotype of the ivy league old boy douchebag.
@well... Even if you think the sentiment is right, I think a first year bwog editor denouncing the judgement of a committee of seniors that picked this person is a bit ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong- I don’t think Fox a good choice, but it’s hardly this guy’s place to write this… Stick to the facts, Dan.
@please save your words.
“I think a first year bwog editor denouncing the judgement of a committee of seniors that picked this person is a bit ridiculous.”
no. not really ridiculous. it makes complete sense. the committee fucked up. even a child could see that.
@Its just Sad that we couldn’t get anyone else really. I like Lost as a show, and don’t really have anything against Matthew Fox generally, but its my class day and I want someone interesting and thought provoking, not a tv actor most people haven’t heard of. Generally through my 4 years here I’ve been very proud of this school, this just seems like an off note to end on.
@meh i love how this year columbia managed to get people like former czech president vaclav havel and nobel prize winner orhan pamuk to come speak, but this TV actor is the best that we can get for class day. way to undo all the hard work that has been put into building up columbia’s ‘prestige’ factor! fuck the whole “cc family” thing, can’t we invite some of this year’s previous speakers back?
@JOIN coordinate anti-fox activities here:
http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2249048330&ref=mf
@here http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2249048330&ref=mf
@overdramatic DPD- were you even at class day last year? “YOU” protested, huh? You’re a freshman, right?
The choice is less than inspired, but I think you’re a little over dramatic.
@well the sentiment is correct, even if the choice of author is poor. wrong editor on duty I guess.
@disgust disgust disgust disgust. this is an outrage, a travesty.
@well columbia is going to be the laughingstock of all the ivies
@i love you dave chait
@haha MILLIONS FOR CLASS DAY SPEAKERS!
NOT ONE CENT FOR SENIORS FUND TRIBUTE!
@whatever chait and the selection committee obviously don’t give a shit about our class this year.
@Hey hey! I’m glad I haven’t give to the senior fund!
@$$$ can we take back our donations to the senior fund? fuck those stupid sweatshirts.
@i love columbia and i’ll remember all the fine speakers i’ve heard, even if class day bites the big one. really this is just the capstone on the fact that some people hear just don’t get it and are a bunch of fucking morons. i can’t even imagine these meetings. were people actually sitting around a table saying wow, what a great fucking idea this will be? wait until we tell our classmates,
@that JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP AGAINST MATTHEW FOX AS SENIOR SPEAKER.
@haha That’s the most ridiculous reasoning I’ve ever heard. Just because Lost is “the mother of all shows” doesn’t mean that we should all be thrilled that its lead star is to “grace us with his presence” at our graduation. I for one like the show and Matthew Fox’s acting on it, but I do NOT want him as my Class Day Speaker, especially when there are so many other alumni who are far more distinguished than he is. I prefer to watch him running around an island on my TV screen.
@Overreacting a bit? I can’t believe that this is happening.. you’re all stressing yourself out over a speaker. Calling your degrees crap, that’s not true. It’s been 4 years of hard work, don’t let a mere speaker get to you. You’ll remember your degree but not the speaker, and if you do remember who he is–you will probably not remember what he said.
@so i just called my parents and was like hey mom want to hear who the class day speaker was? ever hear of the tv show lost? no? it’s own abc? it’s really popular. ok. ever hear of party of five? no. ok. well you know how columbia has the record for the most lost football games in a row? no. okay put dad on the line. hey dad, remember when columbia lost 44 games in a row during the 1980s? well a guy who scored a touchdown in that game that broke the streak against princeton is our class day speaker.
@fact check did he score a touchdown? everything i’ve seen just says he played in the game.
also, he played wide receiver? dude doesn’t look fast
@not really he scored, but it got called back because he ran out of bounds:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/richard_deitsch/11/30/qa_extras/1.html
@so really It’s a dude who almost ruined our chance to break the losing streak because he couldn’t stay in bounds, but luckily the rest of the team stepped it up and pulled out a victory despite a shitty pretty-boy wide receiver who was scared of getting hit.
@ANGER The very least they can do is PUBLICLY ACKNOWLEDGE THE UPROAR THEY HAVE CREATED instead of hiding wherever it is they are hiding.
@Fox is good Have any of you even heard of Lost? It’s the mother of all shows, and we should all be a little happier that its lead star has deigned to grace us with his presence. Stop whining.
@FUCK YOU CU You know, for a few moments there, I was feeling good about the school. Getting ready to graduate, feeling connected to my Alma Mater. And then you reminded me why I once said that complaining is Columbia students’ birthright.
Thanks for reminding me that I attend a toilet school. Think about it. Bill Clinton is talking at Knox College. Who does Columbia have?
I can’t wait to use my degree as toilet paper. And you wonder why given the option no one associates themselves with columbia. Where was Barack Obama educated? Harvard. He probably had a shitty class day speaker too and is returning the favor.
@cc o7 Wow, our class council really screwed this one up. It is hard to believe that of all the CC alumni out there, Matthew Fox was the best choice. I mean, come ON. The least they could have done was to send out an email earlier this year notifying seniors of upcoming speaker selection, and asking for feedback. But I guess listening to the opinions of others is just too much to ask for. I’ve tried emailing questions to them before at their gmail account but they’ve never even bothered to reply.
So, thanks, Dave Chait, for getting one of your incredibly accomplished and influential Fiji brothers to bestow his pearls of wisdom on us this year. Thanks a lot.
@Heh Why *should* they bother to listen to us? It’s not like they had serious competition in most of their elections – they were literally running against the opposition party, if i remember correctly.
@because they will be remembered as long as we live for this debacle (because who else remembers what they’ve “done”), and will be entirely unsuccessful soliciting money and shit from us. the university will blackball them as among the worst class leaders in history.
@word NOT ONE CENT TO THE SENIOR FUND NOT ONE CENT
@Sad This is very disappointing and makes me sad. Not “I’m going to protest” sad because we all know Columbia is not going to get a new class day speaker, but “I’m going to skip class day and just ask for my diploma to be fedexed to me” sad. It’s a bad situation that cannot be helped.
@bah resignation on this is ridiculous. there are plenty of cc alums on hand in the faculty even who could substitute. no need for this bullshit to take place.
@this is an insult agreed. This is an insult to us, our parents, whoever sponsored our scholarship. Thanks to the speaker committee they have made a mockery out of our four years at Columbia. SHAME ON THEM!
@mockery that’s the right word.
@Ddisaproval People to write to:
David Chait: ddc2106@columbia.edu
Dean Quigley: aeq1@columbia.edu
PrezBo: bollinger@columbia.edu
Sample Letter #1:
Dean Quigley,
I am writing to express my strong opposition to Matthew Fox as the
CC Class Day Speaker. I do not want a performance by a c-list
celebrity whose notoriety is based on a couple of bad TV shows to
define my class day. I am honestly unable to comprehend how he was
selected and I am embarrassed to inform my friends and family of
the University’s choice.
I am sure that since the choice has already been announced, it is
“final and irreversible”. Well, my response is also final and
irreversible. I will not be giving to the Senior fund unless he is
replaced and this will certainly affect my willingness to
contribute to the University in the future.
I strongly urge you to find a replacement for Matthew Fox.
Best,
(you)
2nd Sample Letter
LOLZ!!!!!!!!!!1111 MATTHEW FOX?!?!?!?! HE SUXX, U SUK. NO FOX!!!!!1111 ANYONE BUT FOX!!!!11111111
Best,
(you)
@DOWN WITH COLUMBIA HOW DARE THEY INSULT US LIKE THIS! AFTER FOUR YEARS, WE ARE GONNA HAVE TO BE REPRESENTED BY THAT PIECE OF B.S. FUCK YOU COLUMBIA. WHOEVER MADE THIS HAPPEN DESERVES TO BE PUNISHED. NAMES OF THE SELECTION COMMITTEE NEED TO BE RENDERED PUBLIC.
@Chris Seems like there are people who are complaining about Fox and people who are complaining about the complainers.
But I guess that’s the internet for you – makes complaining 10 times as efficient. (I don’t mean this to blame or insult anyone personally.)
I think people who care have the right to care, and just because they criticize doesn’t automatically mean they are useless and whiny.
———————
Anyways, to start something, do we really have more than 5 people who care? Time to check:
http://snappoll.com/poll/175870.php
[If less than 5 people care, this will hopefully end excess discussion very quickly]
@matt fox is ... the class day speaker, but on the bright side i just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to geico.
@foxy brown peter eisenman would not be a good person to speak. he is the douchiest of douchy architects
how bout foxy brown?
@even foxy brown would be a goddess compared to matthew fox. eisenman is a douche but the point is EVEN A CHEESEBURGER AT THIS POINT IS BETTER THAN MATTHEW FOX.
@i can't believe itgo bwog you have crossed the line this time you had gone far before but this is it now, you’ve lost all credibility as a publication
@Chris Do we have to go?
@well if you want your name to be read out and walk across the stage so your parents can take their photo or whatever, yeah. otherwise, your diploma is on lerner 5.
@i hate all the people telling everyone to relax. you have no right to tell people to relax. people have every right to be upset, because they actually care about columbia.
@Well... The thing is, the people who were on the selection committee (chait and i’m assuming the rest of the council) DO care about the school. We elected Chait all four years so obviously people approve of what he’s done for the school and it seems like he cares about both Columbia and the senior class. All these people bitching and moaning? What have they ever done?
@huh just because chait was good at merely maintaining senior pub or something (I recall this was the primary platform he was elected on last time) doesn’t mean he has the taste required to select a class day speaker. this is one of those decisions that goes beyond what ccsc leaders are normally elected for. it should have been put to a referendum. I mean, even the diploma fonts are…
@EVERYONE JUST CALM DOWN. RELAX. people at this school just bitch and bitch and act once its too late. no matter who had been picked people would be protesting. columbia students think they need to be activists no matter what. get over yourselves.
@NOO fool. this is a matter of taste, not politics. even george bush would be in keeping with the monumentality of the occasion. this tv doofus is certainly not.
@pretentious douches Jim Jarmusch? No wonder you don’t like Fox, he’s not full of a bunch of pseudo-intellectual bullshit. Jesus, I fucking hate Bwog sometimes. No wait, that’s all the time.
@right ergo we should listen to someone talk about the “adversity” of the gridiron. please. lack of substance works both ways.
@DHI Just like Bwog to complain about a wonderful person, tearing down your school instead of building it up.
There’s a reason H/Y/P are at the beginning of the word “hypostasis” and C is not there at all, much less CU or CC or FU or SEAS or GS.
The reason is because there they don’t turn against their alumni.
@fucking idiot what the fuck are you talking about?
@that was the most inane babble i’ve ever heard
@HAHA Sick burn, dude!
@yo... thanks man
@you seniors all need to realize that you are stuck. you are not getting a new speaker. all your petitions and facebook groups and emails and no-donation pledges will all be for NAUGHT. the ship has sailed. the train has left the station. the asteroid has crashed into planet earth. it’s too late.
@That's true Oh well. Once again, Columbia has disappointed me.
*sad*
@fuck you in defense of the poster, you go to columbia. If you don’t like people using verbose speech, you should have looked into other schools more in keeping with your ideals. COLUMBIA IS A PRETENTIOUS PLACE DEAL WITH IT.
And DOWN WITH MATTHEW FOX.
@champ “DOWN WITH MATHEW FOX”
what are you on a fucking witch hunt waving a torch around? who writes like that? a verbose columbia student?
@Down with bwog! I like how bwog posts a picture of Matthew Fox smiling to try to make him look like an idiot.
at least pretend not to have bias you assholes
@maybe I feel like you could have participated in council and been a part of the slecetion instead of sitting on bwog bitching…well done
@It would be interesting to know who is on the Speaker Selection committee and what their affiliation with Fiji is. I find it very hard to believe that Matthew Fox is the best they could have come up with.
@AMEN. The senior council has always been open to anyone who wants to go to meetings. Anyone could have participated if they had shown interest in joining and helping out with class events. Hindsight is 20/20, I guess.
@Bwog Sucks What a gossip rag. You have nothing better to do than report on where TV show celebrities are speaking at college? COME BACK WHEN YOU HAVE SOME REAL NEWS, DIPSHITS!
@He seems deep.... Quoting the man:
“”And the reason I have so much fun doing it now is people are so shocked by it, and, like, ‘Oh, my God, Fox just took his clothes off!’ But, I mean, just how long ago was it that we were all wandering around in loincloths?” ”
The loincloth comment clearly demonstrates his understanding of Rousseau’s vision of man as a noble savage in the state of nature. He is such a refined specimin manifesting all it means to be a CC alum.
*gag* *vomit* *gag*
@Jon F. Matthew Fox, rather. He is so forgettable Michael is what I put above :-p
@Jon F In the list of speakers that would better whose last name is also Fox, Michael Fox doesn’t even crack the top five!
1. Michael J. Fox
2. Vicente Fox
3. Jamie Foxx
4. Vivica A. Fox
5. Foxy Boxing, any participant in.
@The problem is that our University President is so full of himself that he INSISTS on giving the University Commencement address. Cornell’s former President Jeffrey Lehman abolished that policy in his first year of office and managed to get… Bill Clinton, then Wesley Clark.
@what would it take to change the policy that the speaker has to be part of the CC family? Seriously, what’s so hard about that? Has the CCSC ever brought this up with administration? I just don’t get why we have to settle for shitty speakers because of some ridiculous policy.
@we don't there are plenty of great potential cc speakers. it’s bullshit to think they’re all somehow booked or unwilling that day.
@See.. If we went to Harvard, we could have Quagmire speak at our class day:
http://www.devilducky.com/media/46949/
@welllll it doesnt take me long to say that i don’t want him representing CC at my class day…might as well spend a little time on a small problem
@at least THIS matthew fox knows how to speak:
http://www.speakingmatters.org/matthew_fox.html
@I pledge to NOT GIVE TO THE SENIOR FUND UNTIL THEY GET A NEW COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER.
Who’s with me?
@huzzah! absolutely not contributing a cent anymore. glad they didn’t get to me before this.
@alack! i’m sitting here looking at the pint glass that i so generously purchased from the senior fund. why didn’t they have an option that allow me to donate to a cause like getting a decent speaker??
@that frightening picture has got to be photoshopped. his eyes are, in reality, pathetically squinty.
@Anonymous this is fairly awful. like the bwog comentary states.. more accomplished performers could have been selected. i mean COME ON.. we’ve spent 4 years working hard and getting ready for the culmination of graduation.. and THIS is what we get as our parting gifts? after millions and millions of dollars given to CU by the members of our class, they say “thanks and good luck” with a mimbo? A MIMBO?!
COME ON.
can nothing be done? seriously.. are we stuck with this?
@why wasn't the class of 2007 consulted on this? if they had sent out an e-mail trying to get suggestions or asking if anyone knows a CC alum who would be good, they definitely would have done better than this. shame on class council.
@that would have interfered with plans to network a certain frat’s alumni base.
truly sickening. we are not a frat school; this is bullshit. it’s far less “representative” of the student body than mccain ever was.
@question can someone explain to me how this works? are there multiple class day speakers, or just one? i wouldn’t mind if there were a lot of speakers, but if this guy is the best we could get…well that sucks.
also, can someone explain the selection process to me?
@one there’s only one keynote speaker on class day. quigley will also speak, and the salutatorian/valedictorian. chait too, I think, and a couple others among the student body. that’s it.
@DHI Listen, I think Michael J. Fox is plenty accomplished. THE MAN HAS TRAVELLED THROUGH TIME to make out with HIS OWN MOTHER! And then he traveled to the future where there were flying cars, and then even farther back in the past.
He could have killed any number of you when he went to the past, but instead he just came peacefully back to the future.
Shame on you.
@YOU ARE AN IDIOT Are we talking about Michael Fox?
OR ARE WE TALKING ABOUT MATTHEW FOX?
@he was making a joke. a horrible, pathetic joke.
@bwog... Bwog, though I share your sentiment, I think your post this time around has crossed the line.
@YOU CAN DO SOMETHING – mass whispering
– wear the numbers (4,8,15,16,23,42) http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Numbers
– flyering the DHARMA symbol http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:DHARMAlogo.jpg
– boom boxing monster noises http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2Pwn-jzh1U
– smoke pillar over URIS!!! http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Pillar_of_smoke
– EVEN DRESS AS A POLAR BEAR
THERE ARE MANY THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PSYCHE THIS MAN OUT. contact me to get involved.
@grow up who are you people?! my friend sent me this link AS A JOKE for some midterm relief entertainment. and while im all for expressing our ideas in an open forum doesnt anyone have better shit to do than organize a petition to get Mathew Fox uninvited? Real Classy guys. Let us also remember that there are a lot of people who have devoted a lot of time and energy to trying to find a speaker and instead of being a bunch of whining Nancy’s who would complain about ANYONE, why not devote your time to something more productive and meaningful? Like developing a sense of humor and more importantly perspective and removing the massive sticks larged firmly up your asses
@can... …you tell me what it’s like to have a stick larged firmly up one’s ass?
I didn’t know you could verb large, but the way you use it, it sounds like… I dunno, the right mix between large/lodge, i.e. having a 2 liter bottle shoved up the bunghole.
@thanks champ ohh SNAP! you TOTALLY just called me out on what was clearly an egregious intellectual faux pas! Lucky for us there are winners out there like you who spend time proof reading peoples sarcastic posts. Keep living the dream.
@nice “ohh SNAP! you TOTALLY just called me out on what was clearly an egregious intellectual faux pas!”
it’s the occasionally seamless intermixture of the pop and the haute that I love about this school, as exemplified by the above phrase. sad the class council could only find a speaker to represent one ingredient of that dialectic.
@you're great did you really just use “seamless intermix”, “haute” and “dialectic” in a blog post? does the word “douche-bag” register in your overwhelmingly sophisticated and pretentious vocabulary? or are you too out of touch with youth pop culture? you sure you dont go to princeton?
@princeton is the kind of clubby, preppy school that a jocky fratty football player like matthew fox should have gone to in the first place.
columbia is filled with people spewing far worse pretentious word-vomit. like it or not, we’re defined by verbosity.
@or what about peter eisenmann, one of the most important architects alive among gehry, liebskind and hadid.
@not affiliated with the college either. come on people, there’s an awesome list here to work with:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Columbia_College_people
@someone pinch me and make me wake up from this nightmare. graduation is ruined.
@hmph couldn’t we at least get the entire cast of lost to do a cute little sketch about how “lost” we’re all going to be upon graduation? that would have the virtue of being somewhat more relevant.
@no it wouldn't you’re wrong
@wait who are the senior prize winners? could one of them give a speech instead?
@hell even hell even david denby would have been better.
@GASP FOX HAS A FACEBOOK
http://columbia.facebook.com/profile.php?id=121491
@Urge to Kill Rising…
@YES THANK YOU “Nobody, barring JFK reincarnated, would make you dumb fuckers happy.”
@obama? obama = jfk reincarnated?
or…john f. kerry?
anyway, what a ridiculous statement. sure, we’re known for being whiny, but there are degrees…
@obama fan “obama = jfk reincarnated?”
…but that’s a bit silly.
i say that if they can’t revoke it, they should at least make michelle whatsherface who used to be on Lost come to the party on South Lawn. Concessions, people, concessions…
@NAMES can bwog publish the names of the students on the committee?
@hellooo the fucking PRESIDENT OF ESTONIA is a CC grad, and is even trying to make the core part of the national education system there. did anyone even think about contacting him?
@sprinkles Isn’t it a her?
@Steven William Bragg God bless the civil service
our nation’s saving grace –
While we expect democracy,
they’re laughing in our face.
And although our cries get louder,
the laughter gets louded still.
Above the sound of ideologies clashing.
Take heart, comrades!
@request bwog, can you get a statement from chait?
@hmm isn’t meagan mccain graduating this year? does this mean senator mccain will actually be in the audience, forced to listen to this idiot speak instead of him? wow.
@this is correct post #69 has the right strategy. spam them all to change it asap.
@I heard that Fox is going to use his class day speech to announce his presidential aspirations.
@foxsuxxxxx this is a terrible decision. they picked this dude just because he’s on TV. an insult.
@--- people should not disrespect fox if he indeed comes to speak. because, after all, OUR class council invited him, and we elected our class council. but we should protest his invitation, and try to get it revoked, so we don’t have to sit through his speech and have to explain to our poor parents who he is. chait is to blame, so he should fix things and find a better speaker… AND actually let the class of 2007 vote on it!!!!
@facebook current matthew fox facebook group:
http://columbia.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2222563846
select comments:
“hell yeah I only joined because matthew fox is freaking sexy as hell lol”
“i joined because he’s hot”
“he is hot but i also joined by dear brother, kibuchi, invited me”
@--- rush the stage! rush the stage! jodie foster!
nutella by the jar!
@--- i still think we should have gotten the character from Spaceballs who only talks in clicks to be our speaker.
if we can’t get this changed, i have a better suggestion. if this jokester is only a pretty face, i’m bringing ear plugs so i can look at him and not realize how dumb he is.
@ahem all this bs about him being pretty…there are lesbians and heterosexual males in the audience who will need total sensory deprivation to endure this.
@show me the facebook group. and permit me to join.
@hmm it doesn’t exist yet. someone create one!
@Your mom is well-proportioned and fit.
@clearly you’re very fat.
@--- no, julia, you may not touch me that way. remember the restraining order?
and yah, Dennehy is basically a kennedy with a few letters switched around and exchanged. You know, there are lots of illegitimate Kennedys out there, we couldve gotten one for class speaker.
@on regarde if the admin can respond to this, they must have something to say about this fox debacle:
http://bwog.net/publicate/index.php?page=post&article_id=1664
@Ted Kennedy is very fat.
@F. Spaghetti Monster I BELIEVE!!!
May I touch you with my noodley appendage?
@--- It’s too bad Brian Dennehy is not eligible to speak. He spoke in 2000 when my brother graduated and was better than I could have asked for. Picture a drunk old man sipping an alcoholic beverage and chewing ice into the microphone as he talks irreverently about his father’s irish funeral and somehow manages to relate it to the graduating class. Picture having the father from Tommy Boy as your class day speaker. Believe.
@wow are brian dennehy and ted kennedy basically the same person?
@Or... Just do something silly, like read a giant atlas of the world while he’s speaking. One stupid move deserves another, I say.
@OKAY SO We all pretty much agree Matthew Fox is unacceptable. What can we do to make revoking his invitation actually happen?
@the plan 1. facebook group, to gather the dissenters
2. email letter writing campaign- storm the inboxes of quigley, chait, bollinger, anyone who will listen
3. op-eds in spec, wherever else possible
4. contact influential alumni…see if we can get them to use their leverage
5. if none of this works, stage a visual protest of the speech ala last year’s “not in my name” regalia vs. mccain.
@don't forget to contact your parents and have them contact the cc administration and alumni/development office. perhaps we should make it clear to said alumni office that we (future donors) are upset as well…
@senior to 07’s – let’s do a walk-out of the classes we’re already not going to. at least this is something that campus protest could actually influence…
@yeah missing class sends a strong signal that we care about having a more significant, serious speaker. right.
@clearly you missed the joke
@Peter If President Bush has taught us anything, it’s that the nomination of an underqualified person can be withdrawn. Matthew Fox is Harriet Miers, so let’s do something about it.
@two things 1. interestingly “accidental” question mark put in the end of the spectator article: “‘We went through a list of pretty much every living alumnus who has done anything in their life � from politicians to writers to people who have been successful in business…'”
2. Fox was in Fiji, as is Chait. And isn’t Fiji trying to get back in their house? And doesn’t picking Fox put together an awesome university fundraiser for formerly disgruntled Fiji alums? Things to think about…
@I thought fiji already got their house back. but this does smell like frat boys patting each other on the back.
@what's with all the seniors who feel like all their long, hard work will be for NOTHING if some lame c-list network tv actor speaks at their graduation?
obviously, fox is a bad, bad choice. his presence won’t exactly bathe the campus in prestige. and it’s a little baffling that there wasn’t anybody involved in the selection process who knew any better.
but, you’d think any regular Bwog reader (or any student here, for that matter) would have seen enough BONER decision come out of the columbia administration not to take this one so personally.
also, anybody who thinks that a petition or a protest or whatever will get Fox’s invitation rescinded is out of their mind. in fact, it would be a terrible idea for them to disinvite him, because the choice has already been announced and not only would it be a big insult to Fox, it would probably make it harder to round up decent speakers next time around (nobody’s gonna want to speak here if they think they’ll be publicly disinvited because some students pitched a hissy fit).
@hmm so the columbia student body shouldn’t seem strong minded? or discerning? come come. this decision was forced on us by chait & co. overthrowing it (and fox) can be spun to the media in a variety of creative (and even beneficial) ways.
@please whatever. of course matthew fox’s lameness doesn’t invalidate our degrees and work, but it remains an insult to the graduating class, and an embarassment to us and our families during the day in which we are meant to be celebrating our graduation from columbia, and not justifying it to ourselves, our friends and family.
this is disgusting and humilating. and i am horribly disappointed.
@say Say what you want, but you know that you’ll get into all the excitement and clap and scream for him when he gets here. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously…
@both? new hampshire is getting two ex-presidents? bush and clinton? what the fuck. columbia blows. and not even well. shes the girl who uses too much teeth. and finishes you off with her hand. and then tries to kiss you while her breath still smells likes your dick. and expects reciprocal oral service but doesnt shave or wash regularly down there. fuck columbia. or i guess you wouldn’t want to after that characterization. if my class suffers this fate, heads are rolling (watch out 09 council!)
@Julia K. I just don’t understand how the hell the selection committee could have honestly thought this was a good choice.
@they must all really like lost.
personally i’ve only seen the show once. looks pretty much the same as every other trapped on an island plots. like gilligan’s island, just with more crap going down.
@wonders... pt 2 dude once Jake Gyllenhaal arrives, class day will be perfect.
@sadly jake didn’t graduate cc. but maybe if he comes with maggie (who did) things would work out.
of course, after this reaction the ’08 class council will be sure to pick someone spectacular, leaving the class of ’07 sandwiched between that person and probably the highest profile speaker to date, last year’s john mccain. what did our fair class do to deserve this?
(besides repeatedly electing david chait)
@i feel like i have to respond to the person who posted the following:
“maybe the bwog and all the whiny commentators could simply stop being so dramatic. if you are so opposed to hearing matthew fox speak, don’t come. in fact, don’t graduate. it’s just a speaker for columbia college class day, not the next messiah. as a side note, the speaker has to be from CC AND can’t have spoken in the last 10 years. That means stephanapoulous is out…”
just because he or she is stupid. for those of us who are seniors, we have to attend class day, because we have worked our asses off for the last 4 years to get to be there. no one expects the speaker to be the next messiah, people just want someone they can respect. okay, so half the campus didn’t agree with john mccain’s politics, but at the very least, he has impacted this country (for better or for worse). the only thing that fox has done to impact this country is flash his abs and deliver bad one-liners. people would be much happier with someone who isn’t a pop-culture celebrity and someone who is known not for being born beautiful, but for doing something with his or her life. and the fact that it’s limited to the cc community does not rule people out. even eric foner (hell, he’ll be there anyway).
@ok, let's compare let’s compile a list of 2007 graduation speakers. feel free to add to the list if you know something not on here:
saint mary’s college – samuel alito (supreme court justice)
pomona college – bob graham (former united states senator)
wake forest university – david brooks (new york times columnist)
university of michigan at ann arbor – bill clinton (former united states president)
smith college – gloria steinem (writer, feminist activist)
rochester institute of technology – bill clinton (former united states president)
notre dame – jeffrey immelt (ceo, general electric)
regent university – mitt romney (former massachusetts governor, presidential candidate)
university of vermont – john lewis (united states congressman)
saint vincent college – george w. bush (united states president)
the citadel – rudy giuliani (former new york city mayor, presidential candidate)
tulane university – brian williams (nbc nightly news)
oregon state university – mary carlin yates (ambassador to the republic of ghana)
stanford – dana gioia (poet, chair of national endowment for the arts)
depauw – karen koning abuzayd (commissioner general of the unrwa)
middlebury college – bill clinton (former united states president)
tufts – michael bloomberg (mayor of new york city)
university of new hampshire – george h.w. bush and bill clinton (former presidents of the united states)
daniel webster college – pj o’rourke (political satarist)
washington university – tim russert (nbc news)
webster university – nancy pelosi (speaker of the house)
wesleyan – jim lehrer (pbs)
air force academy – robert gates (secretary of defense)
university of virginia – john grisham (author)
colgate – bob woodruff (abc news)
columbia college – matthew fox (television personality)
@ouch what a horrible, horrible juxtaposition.
@... Granted, Fox is maybe the worst out of all of these, but can you imagine if Quigley had announced some of those you just listed?
Sam Alito: Oh my god, he’s a fascist!
David Brooks: He’s right-leaning! Fascist!
Gloria Steinem: Fem-nazi, fem-nazi
Jeffrey Immelt: how many people know (or care) who the fuck he is
Mitt Romney: He’s a gunning for the REPUBLICAN nomination
George W. Bush: THE DEVIL INCARNATE 666 DAMIEN LUCIFER
Rudy Giuliani: He’s gunning for the REPUBLICAN nomination
Brian Williams: The dude doesn’t even have a diploma
Karen Koning Abuzayd: Who?
Nobody, barring JFK reincarnated, would make you dumb fuckers happy.
@lies better even mussolini than fox. at least a fascist speech would be worth being present to protest.
@Sprinkles You have missed the point:
All those other people, regardless of political leanings, have made an impact on American society.
A bit above the level of a C-lister.
@Man... Bill Clinton looks to be *quite* busy this graduation season.
As for the choice of Matthew Fox…well, I’m a junior and I hope we can get someone better next year, but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. As previously mentioned, Harvard had Seth MacFarlane last year and Sacha Baron Cohen three years ago, and I don’t think it’s fair to say that Matthew Fox is more or less deserving of the position of class day speaker than either of them. But what do I know; I suppose I might feel different if it was actually my own class day speaker and I had to explain to my parents that the speaker was part of an ensemble cast on a TV show whose ratings continue to slip. Meh.
@to 303 That IS exactly what all the fuss is about. We wanted someone better.
And yes, the people getting emotional about it are mostly seniors, because this guy is our class day speaker, and now we have to explain to our parents who he is and why he’s giving the speech. You’ve hit the nail on the head, but of course I wouldn’t expect you to understand since you’ve still got another year here.
@Anonymous Sacha Cohen came 2nd in Olympics in her event, and actually has some talent… Who are you comparingn Fox to?
@HAHA you can’t be serious.
@Dan D'addario Is a freshman. And clearly went off the reservation with this post.
@completely disagree he is right on about this. this choice sucks. sounds like mea2006 was on the committee to me.
so what if ben stein wanted some money? we paid him to come three years ago. big deal. and slightly less irrelevant then this guy.
i am not saying ben stein would be a great choice, but certainly not worse than this fellow.
@... and wikipedia has already been updated
@ben stein would only work for cash$.
@i am in a odd sort of way happy he is our speaker now. now i can bitch, moan, critque, and boo, just like a good columbia student ought. someone non-controversial would leave me feeling empty.
@controversial mccain was plenty controversial without being so…so underwhelming. if protest value was all that was needed, we could have invited david horowitz or norman podhoretz.
@Wonders.... Is this really all that serious? Or are we focusing on this so much so as to forget midterms.
Fox isn’t getting his diploma that day–YOU ARE. It’s your day– he’s just going to talk for 10 minutes. Not a big deal considering the whoel day is highlighting your achievements. Also, he’s prolly not that bad– give him abreak.
Just putting things in a nicer light for you seniors.
@Ahm you say that now, but wait until Jake “not actually related to Eric Foner” Gyllenhaal is the CC ’08 class day speaker.
@whoa that would have been so much better. at least he ATTEMPTS serious and interesting scripts/roles.
@ahm again I guess.
I just want Spider-Man.
Not Tobey Maguire.
Spider-Man.
@fox will make a terrible speaker. i am saddened.
@sev I dunno DPD, I think you took your critique too far — all I’m looking for in a good class day speaker is a good class day speech. If he’s well spoken, funny, and interesting, I don’t think it matters that he’s a (relative) nobody.
@ben stein is clearly available. you buy him some drinks at the west end and he’d be more than happy.
@X.J. If we can bend the rules for a non-CC speaker, Jim Gilchrist said that he’s willing to come back if we pay for his plane ticket.
If we’re going to stick to the requirement, here’s a list of better candidates:
Brian Dennehy [I’d settle for them using his interview in the C250 DVD on the Jumbotron]
Ben Stein
Gideon Yago [eh, MTV news is so 1999]
Sunil Gulati or Xavier Sala-i-Martin
Brian Greene
A second speech from Austin Quigley
Joe Jones
@second on having Joe Jones speak
@bada he’s not your graduation speaker. he’s your class day speaker. that decision should have been made as a class.
your graduation speaker is ::drumroll:: lee c. bollinger.
@indeed how was the rest of the class not consulted? chait?
@... on may 15th, the columbia college class of 2007 will learn an invaluable lesson: their prestigious school is out of touch with the rest of society.
give to the class fund!
@hey should be alumni not alumnae, no?
@grow up. maybe the bwog and all the whiny commentators could simply stop being so dramatic. if you are so opposed to hearing matthew fox speak, don’t come. in fact, don’t graduate. it’s just a speaker for columbia college class day, not the next messiah.
as a side note, the speaker has to be from CC AND can’t have spoken in the last 10 years. That means stephanapoulous is out…
@hey poster number 10! go fuck yourself!
@sorry sorry, but guess what, I (yes I, not my parents) paid the 40,000 a year to go here, I have every right to graduate, and I have every right to have someone better than a c-list actor as the speaker. Sorry, but I take my education seriously and I’d like to be proud of this university.
@... apparently the 40,000 dollars your parents paid bought something more than a prestigious class day speaker — a overblown sense of entitlement.
@I hope you feel entitled to something after spending 40k/year (=160k, total). otherwise, you don’t know the value of a dollar. a lot of people (and their families) worked hard to be proud on that day, not to experience some joke of a lowly actor have another stage to goof off on.
@... jesus tapdancing christ. how on earth will cc top this in ’08?
@this post makes a convincing argument! Too bad nothing will be done about it.
@Here's an idea... if EVERYONE else has seriously turned down the class of 2007, ELIMINATE THE REQUIREMENT THAT THE SPEAKER BE FROM CC. Or if not, just CANCEL CLASS DAY. This is an embarrassment and an insult to the students who have put in four years of hard work and the parents who have each put in several times the speaking fees for a whole slew of people who would have been respectable choices.
@... george stephanopoulous spoke a few years ago, btw.
@better to repeat bob kraft every year than suffer fox for one!
@... wrong zvi.
but your reply works too.
@... something tells me zvi’s pissed.
@zvi? no way. now he gets to seriously upstage cc as his exiting act. watch him bring back bill gates for seas class day.
@*cricket* *cricket* *cricket*
@Anonymous as if the minutemen fiasco wasn’t bad enough, now we’ll be all over “fox” again…