Feeling out of the loop on the campus scoop? Columbia’s Senate, accompanied by PrezBo, gathered yesterday to discuss upcoming projects here in MoHi and beyond (Global Reports!). Bwog’s trusted politics correspondent, Joe Milholland, is here to relay the info to you.

“Manhattanville is, of course, the big thing,” said PrezBo at this Friday’s University Senate meeting, the first of the semester. In his introductory speech to the senate, Prezbo outlined the first buildings to open at Manhattanville:

• The Mind, Brain, Behavior building
• The Lenfest Center for the Arts – “primarily a performance venue”
• The Forum Building, which will come after the Mind, Brain, Behavior building and will “provide a 430 seat auditorium [and] multiple smaller places for meeting and speeches.”

PrezBo also mentioned offhandedly that Prentis Hall, where the School of the Arts students work near Manhattanville, will be preserved.

In addition, PrezBo gave a brief introduction to Columbia’s new Global Reports.

“The idea is that the institution of the press, because of financial constraints primarily, is unable to cover important issues around the world, especially those related to the phenomenon of globalization, and that a great university – especially one with a great journalism school and so on – should attempt to fill that void,” said Prezbo about Columbia Global Reports.

The project, lead by J-School Emeritus Dean Nicholas Lemann, will be composed of “novella-length” booklets “investigating insteresting issues around the world that reveal important things about the processes of globalization.” The first three reports have been recently published. “Columbia has become a member of the press,” Prezbo concluded on his remarks about the project.

Other updates:

• Columbia College USenator and Student Affairs Committee Chair Marc Heinrich said his committee is currently analyzing the Quality of Life survey and will hopefully release the data in the first weeks of October.
• The new University Rules of Conduct will go to the trustees in October and the Rules Committee will look at the implementation process this semester, according to former Rules Committee Chair Christopher Riano.
• Sharyn O’Halloran, Chair of the Senate’s Executive Committee, said that PACSA, among others, will come up with recommendations after AAU’s data from its survey on campus sexual assault.
• Advisory Committee on Socially Responsible Investing Chair Jeffery Gordon told that the argument for targeted divestment from fossil fuels companies could be argued on the grounds that the university is taking a stand against those who arguing against scientific facts in support of climate change. Gordon emphasized the climate science research taking place at Columbia University.