Get your story straight, PrezBo.

In light of the Columbia Administration’s controversial decision to banish Orgo Night from Butler 209, Bwog sent Staff Writer Sarah Kinney to sit in on the December meeting of the University Setting to see if PrezBo had any insight to offer on the matter. Also, read on until the end to see a very exciting announcement (unless you religiously check Bwog’s twitter, in which case you probably already know about this. But read until the end, anyway.)

Once the December session of the University Senate was called to order, President Bollinger gave his opening remarks. In typical PrezBo fashion, he spoke about his committed effort to protect free speech on Columbia’s campus, highlighting the relevance of this endeavor in terms of discourse concerning the presidential election. He also hinted that early next semester there would be some “very significant” announcements—maybe Michelle Obama really will be the next DSpar after all.

But we didn’t walk all the way over to Shapiro CESPR in the freezing cold to just hear PrezBo talk about free speech. After about twenty minutes of his opening remarks, he called for questions – and immediately, the arm belonging to a young man seated three rows in front of us shot straight into the air. He was given the mic and stood up to address PrezBo.

The young man was Sean Ryan, Co-Chair of the Student Affairs Committee, and he asked PrezBo about our golden topic: Orgo Night. Ryan’s main points were the timeline of the decision—isn’t it unfair that the administration did not inform CUMB and the rest of the student body that they were cancelling Orgo Night until the Monday before?; how PrezBo’s soapbox of free speech conflicts with the free organization of student groups—shouldn’t CUMB be free and able to organize and speak out whenever they so choose?; and, of course, why the administration has decided that 2016 is the year Orgo Night must die—because c’mon, what the hell?

PrezBo responded by first stating that he felt the administration gave its announcement to cancel Orgo Night with ample time to allow for discourse with the students. He said they were still very open to continue communicating with CUMB to find a compromise. Furthermore, he stated that, “The decision had nothing to do with the speech itself. Quite the contrary.” This, of course, was referencing the fact that Orgo Night is famous for its inflammatory and satirical cracks at both the administration and the student body. Many students this year thought that the university’s decision to cancel Orgo Night was nothing more than them acting in fear of getting dragged by CUMB.

“Not all students like to have an hour of disruption around this time,” PrezBo said about the reason for banning CUMB from Butler. “This is something where there have been a number of objections and complaints by students.”

After PrezBo spoke on this topic, members of the audience—some part of the Senate, some not— raised their hands to add their two cents. First to speak was Provost John Coatsworth, who urged CUMB students to simply “reinvent the tradition.” Thanks, John. That’s exactly what traditions are for. Reinventing.

Former Dean of Columbia College Bob Pollack was also opposed to Orgo Night being held in Butler 209. “As the veteran of the overturning of a 182 year-old tradition about the admission of women to Columbia College when I was dean, I’d like to argue that it is always reasonable to reconsider a tradition, no matter how old it is, for the sake of the greater good,” said Pollock. He got applause after that line.

“As far as I can tell, I’m the only person in this group who actually teaches organic chemistry,” said senator Ronald Breslow, “so I have something to say about it because I think making something of a joke out of what is a serious business here – I’m not saying that there’s no room for fun, but this really is a way of saying to those students, ‘Aren’t you sorry that you have to work so hard while the rest of us can just goof off.’ I think that’s not a good message, frankly. I’m just as happy if you guys get rid of this tradition. I never heard of it at any place, frankly. I don’t know why at Columbia it’s considered all right to make fun of the people who actually come here for serious reasons and they’re trying to learn what they need to know to go on to medical school and other areas.”

Then someone asked him, “What do you think of Orgo Night?”

“Orgo Night is the night when the students are all getting ready for the exam and therefore they’re studying hard to get to know the stuff or learn the textbook,” he responded. “And at that point, it was decided that calling attention to the fact that other people can go around and play games instead of study is something that people should be envious of. I’m not sure what the argument is for. The only argument I can see is that we had it before. We had slavery before, we had other things before. This seems to me about in that category, frankly.”

That’s one hell of a comparison, Senator.

Ryan argued in Orgo Night’s defense that it was a stress-relieving activity on campus.

After this fiasco, the questions and comments from the crowd turned back to issues of free speech and current events. The Senate did nothing official to formally address the issues concerning Orgo Night, aside from those titillating comments.

On the subject of free speech, a senator from the School of the Arts asked if Columbia would provide a platform for neo-Nazis or white nationalists. PrezBo first re-iterated that Columbia does not take political position but does stand for certain values (affirmative action, freedom of speech, etc).

On the subject of who would be allowed to speak on campus, PrezBo said, “If someone invited the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan to speak on campus, we should protect that.” He said that Columbia’s invitation for Ahmadinejad to speak was a precedent for Columbia protecting speech. PrezBo did say that the senator’s question raised the problem about how speech can lead to private violence.

The most official development of this month’s Senate meeting was… *drum roll*… the declaration of the Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a University Holiday! Congrats Columbia, now you no longer have to feel guilty about missing that Wednesday afternoon lecture to catch your flight back home. Wait, what’s that? You never felt guilty about missing that lecture in the first place? Oh. Well, still.

Thanks for tuning in for Bwog’s coverage of the University Senate. Catch us in room 209 outside Butler tonight for Orgo Night.

Update: A transcription of Ronald Breslow’s full comments on Orgo Night at the Senate meeting were included for context.

Orgo Night – never cancelled via CUMB