Reflecting on the semester via illustrations

In our last Semester in Review, we noted that this was the fourth semester in a row in which a new Editor-in-Chief took the helm of Bwog. We never could have anticipated that we would be saying something similar only a few months later.

At the end of each semester, we look back at the most significant events that swept through the Columbia community. Yet this time we also take stock of the tides that have swept through Bwog itself. As many of our readers reflect on who they want to be when they return in the fall, so too will Bwog.

We present this Semester in Review much in the same way as we have in the past, reminding our readers of controversies they may have forgotten and ones that they cannot forget. Internally, Bwog will continue to look back as we plan for our future.

Until fall, 

Rachel Deal, Editor-in-Chief
Maddie Stearn, Managing Editor

The semester started off tragically with a bus crash in Honduras that killed two Columbia students and one CUMC nurse. The campus came together to mourn their passing.

Later in January, we criticized the sorority recruitment process, and then Theta proved our point.

January 30th marked Bwog’s 10th birthday! Several of our past Editors-in-chief wrote letters to Bwog throughout February, telling us to be nicer, to never get old, and that we messed everything up (so help me Bwog!).

Columbia Apartheid Divest kicked off their BDS campaign on February 1st, and as you would expect, their launch was controversial! Their first event, BDS 101, was packed and very tense. Some faculty members signed a letter in support of their mission, while others signed a letter in opposition (and there was much debate over the use of the word ‘intifada’).

Also in February–Neil deGrasse Tyson was on campus. Barnard students were unhappy with the choice of commencement speaker. Shit got weird in FroSci. Sports Editor Ross Chapman wrote a kinky love letter to the men’s basketball team. Columbia proved itself to be inaccessible both physically and bureaucratically.

Tampon mania took over the Class of 2016 at the beginning of March after Prez Ben (or, as he is more formally known, CCSC President Ben Makansi) tried to crowdsource reasons for Columbia Health to supply free pads as well as tampons to students. Many a DG sister emailed us asking for comments to be removed from our post. (Hint to all commenters: If your full name isn’t in a comment, then it won’t show up on Google when you’re “applying for jobs!”)

In March, we also talked about work study at Spec (yikes!) and Columbia announced that it would raise the minimum wage (to $15/hr!) for student workers over the next three years, and Barnard joined the club a few weeks later. And then there was that DAMN statue.

The War on Fun struck Bacchanal again, making the crowd configuration even more restricted than last year, but that didn’t stop some concert-goers from getting up close and personal with the brothers of Rae Schermerhorn–we mean Sremmurd.

April was a busy month at CU–Pressed Juicery opened in MoHi, and it was better than we expected. CCSC was butt hurt over the toilet paper quality, and then did something about it?! Malia Obama decided not to go to Barnard, and we think we know why. Meanwhile, the CC/SEAS Class of 2020 had no chill.

In mid-April CDCJ staged a sit-in in Low Library, and their Weekend at Bollinger’s turned into an Extended Vacation at Bollinger’s.

Theta made the news for being a very feminist sorority, and we felt deeply inspired. And, in an ironic turn of events, Bwog got the comeuppance that only Theta could have dreamed of.

Meanwhile, Barnard students received some very good news (and, as CUMB remarked, have no further need for CC/SEAS boys).

Later in April we welcomed some wisdom from @sadcolumbiaboys (and today the Saddest Boy in all of Columbia provided wisdom yet again).

The Columbia community seemed to agree with Bwog’s take on this year’s Varsity Show, but that didn’t stop people from sending hate mail to our Arts Editor.

Prezbo apologized. Yeah, you heard that right.

As they say, April showers bring May flowers, so it was appropriate that Maggie the Magnolia’s Twitter identity was finally revealed this month.

Columbia-inspired coloring book illustration via Nikki Shaner-Bradford