On Sunday night, Staff Writer Gabriel Keene attended one of Bwog’s open meetings to see what student journalism was all about.

Ah Bwog, truly one of the most mysterious and enigmatic clubs at Columbia. That’s why I took it upon myself to reveal some of their deepest secrets.

Every Sunday at 9 pm in Lerner 510, Bwog hosts an open meeting, allowing anyone, not just those affiliated with Bwog, to join. This information was hard to come by, and totally can’t be found on posters, the Bwog about page, and various Bwog articles that appear at the start of the semester.

I entered Lerner Hall from the campus side–since the Broadway entrance never seems to be open–and took the elevator up to the fifth floor. After some wandering through the labyrinthine backrooms of Lerner, I located room 510: the Undergraduate Student Life center, also known as Bwog Headquarters.

Because the room was so hard to find, I arrived slightly late and found the relatively small room completely packed with students. It was hard to find a place to sit down! Secret society or not, this club was popular!

I quickly learned that Bwog’s open meetings are broken into the same sections each week: general announcements, then announcements from the content editors: arts, events, news, science, social, sports (or bworts, or smorts), tech, and visual. At about 9:30 pm, there is a five minute break, followed by post shoutouts and pitches.

By the time I sat down, the meeting had already begun; some announcements were given about future events, such as the selection of the “Bigs and Littles”—a mentorship(ish) program pairing new members with staff. 

After general announcements, Bwog’s Board Editors began making their announcements. It turns out that Bwog meetings are a fantastic way to learn about all the cool events happening around campus!

Arts Editor Avery Baumel (CC ‘26) announced events including a dye showcase and a film screening, and Events Editor Elisha Dura (CC ‘26) announced a book talk and a vice president debate watch party. Our–I mean Bwog’s Science Editor Madeline Douglas (SEAS ‘26) announced events including “Simpsons Neuroscience” (what?) and a few AI-related talks. (I’m starting to get the feeling that this AI thing is pretty important.) Last but certainly not least was “Smorts with Smez” (or “this week in bworts”), where all of Columbia’s games for the week were announced by Sports Editor Sam Mezrich (BC ’27)

Head honcho and Editor-in-Chief Sahmaya (CC ‘25) spoke on behalf of the tech team and confirmed—to some scattered applause—that Bwog’s website was indeed still running, and Visual Editor Elias (CC ‘25) asked the crowd to ask for more illustrations for their articles. (Did you know that Bwog has an illustration team?) 

Unfortunately, as lovely and interesting as all the events sounded, I just wasn’t going to be able to make it to any of them. Yet, I felt strongly about contributing to Bwog for the week. Thankfully, Bwog does a lot more than just report on events; we—they write about campus food, campus housing, “Smash Or Pass Characters From The ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’,” and ClubHops, where Staff Writers join a club for a day and write about it (although they cannot be members of the club).

So when the time finally came for pitches, I decided to volunteer. Why not write a Bwog ClubHop where I ClubHop Bwog? This is definitely a legal thing I am allowed to do that is not against the rules of ClubHop.

And so here we are. For too long, Bwog has been shrouded in secrecy. Nobody knows where or when the open meetings are held in Lerner 510 at 9 pm on Sundays. I hope this article sheds some light on the otherwise opaque inner workings of the best and most popular student publication because it’s about time the Columbia student body understood what goes on behind the scenes.

Image via Bwarchives