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After years of just one Manhattan branch in Harlem, IHOP is finally coming to Times Square. Tourists rejoice! (Gothamist)
Two men are accused of attacking a Queens imam in a subway and shouting racist and anti-Muslim epithets. (NY Daily News)
Sarah Palin plans to visit Haiti—probably because she can’t see it from her house. (HuffPo)
These are ludicrous times at Columbia University. Bwog’s very own Eliza Shapiro tells it how it is. (Capital)
Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chinese dissident Liu Xiabo was not permitted to attend the prize ceremony. His medal was awarded to an empty chair. (NYT)
The Political Science Department has no comment on Professor David Epstein’s arrest, and the University is unable to comment on continuing police investigations.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
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@an interesting thing about this whole week of mess is that I suddenly am forced to realize that assumptions about normative “niceness” and mundane appearance have no grounding. It has all made me look at everyone differently – what kinds of lives do I walk past everyday?
@... shapiro went to a frat party new years (IE not when school was in session) once 6 years ago and has no problems making generalizations about them. Why do I feel like the majority of people critical of frats on here are similiar…
@Eliza Actually, I didn’t go, and what I actually said is that neighborhood kids do go to Columbia frat parties. I’ve lived in Morningside Heights my entire life and can point you to dozens of people who consider fraternities at Columbia part of Morningside social life while they’re still in high school. It’s a quirk of the neighborhood and absolutely not a comment on whether frats are good or bad places. I have no interest in telling anyone whether fraternities are good or bad.
@I really appreciate Eliza's hard work, but Even if what you say is true, as a fellow student I would expect you to allow the administration to carryout its investigation on fraternities without the aid of students.
Bwog editor is an influential position, and in many ways you speak for student opinion. Publicly claiming that frats sell drugs to their brothers and HIGH SCHOOL students can do nothing but hurt the case against fraternities. Since you aren’t a frat brother, and can’t speak directly to their activities within the house, I’m really disappointed you assumed such authority to do so in the interview. Furthermore, your experience spoke had to do with certain individual frats, not fraternities as a whole.
While I have tremendous respect for your actions as Bwog editor and realize you have the right to express your opinion, reading this article was really disappointing. I would not have expected you to treat fellow students with such disregard, especially at a time like this.
@Eliza I completely understand and appreciate that response. Here’s what I’ll offer: much of this media circus has been a lot of people writing about what they don’t know, people assuming that Columbia Greek Life/Columbia drug life operates in the same ways that stereotypical college frats/college drug scene works. And that’s not true. I do not have an insider’s perspective on fraternity life and never claimed to in that interview, I was trying to make a case that this entire thing has been blown out of proportion, that the general campus drug (not fraternity scene) scene is scattered, and that much of the media attention pointing fingers at these “frat kids” is pretty misguided considering the actual role of fraternity life for the majority of students (including myself) who are not involved in Greek Life.
I did not express any opinion about Greek Life at Columbia and never intended to do so. I spoke about what I knew to be 100% true and about drug culture on campus in the most general sense, which I felt that I could speak to being a very, very actively engaged student this past year, as I felt was my responsibility being Bwog editor, and talking to many, many students about this week’s events.
In this interview, I did not speak for Columbia, I spoke for myself and the knowledge I’ve gained from being Bwog editor and covering this story mostly by myself. I have only the utmost respect for my fellow students which is why I’ve devoted a year of my life to running this blog. Again, I understand your concerns and am truly grateful for an eloquent and thoughtful response, but please know I was fully aware of what I was saying and that none of what I said was meant to complicate anything further or harm anyone. If you’d like to discuss this further, I’d be happy to do so– just email me at eliza@bwog.com.
@I am so glad I went to this school. Best year ever!