New classes, new freshpeople, and now a new Morningside. They’ve changed everything! Bwog can hardly recognize the place.

On the decorative front:

• There are the flags — and not just the new ones on Furnald and Hartley Lawns. Lehman Lawn has recently acquired four in yellow, green, red and blue — one for each year. Class spirit…woo!
• The athletically-inclined will be pleased to find that there are new ellipticals in Dodge, and that the Parks Dept. has finished the new bike path along the Hudson River between 85th and 104th in Riverside Park.
• 203 Math got carpeting. Now don’t scoff – this couldn’t have been a small feat, what with the 150 tiny holes they must have had to cut out in the carpet before installing it!
• Amirs has also redecorated.

On the academic front:

• To add to the pain of registration, adding and dropping core classes now requires your SSN.
• Columbia is offering Georgian courses this year.

On the culinary, economic and environmental front:

• There’s a fancy new coffee machine in the Mudd lobby. Taste-test pending.
• Brownies has red velvet cakes for $2.50.
• Vending machines now charge $1.75 for soda, up 15 cents from last semester. Now what will we chase with?
• Ferris charges 50 cents per disposable plastic takeout container. Apparently they’re trying to encourage students to be eco-friendly. We’ve heard rumors of rentable and reusable containers with token deposits. Stay tuned!

On the canine front:

• Last but not least, with the most uncomfortable change of all, this sizeable “comfort” dog (not to be confused with his visually-impaired-leading counterpart, the “service” dog) has been known to frequent the Hamilton elevator.