45 Comments
That guy
This is something we don’t normally do, so please forgive us if we’re really awkward at it.
Bwog officially endorses Conor Skelding for University Senator. We feel that he is the most qualified for this job and is the best candidate moving forward to bring some sort of progress to the university.
We realize some may see this as a conflict of interest but, to clarify, Conor has not done (and will not do) any elections coverage and, should he be elected, will not cover any USenate-related stories aside from acting as a noted source. He also has not seen this endorsement before you did. We kind of hope we don’t embarrass him. But not really.
The thing about being a Bwogger is that you end up knowing more about campus issues than any of your non-Bwoggie friends. Being on our listservs and participating in our community immediately gives you at least a basic understanding of what’s going on at Columbia. This awareness really forces you to care about the issues and gives you a heightened, thorough understanding of the issues. You know what’s happening–but you also know why it happened, who was involved, what students and administrators think about it, and the proper way it could be fixed or better handled.
But Conor consistently takes it eight steps further than just an understanding. He has been an active member of Bwog–and thus the Columbia community at large–since he arrived on campus. He went to his first Senate plenary in his first semester of freshman year. Conor was one of those annoying go-getters who wanted to be involved in every story at every level of significance and seriousness.
He has been a leading member of Bwog and the Blue and White Magazine (which he also joined fall of his freshman year and is now editor-in-chief of) his entire time here, giving him a comprehensive education on this school and the problems that face both students and administrators. Conor’s the one who remembers minute details from controversies we barely paid attention to. He is a resource to us as much as he is to readers–you should see all the work he’s done in his free time for WikiCU.
And it’s that kind of drive that shows Conor’s character and has defined his time here thus far. He doesn’t dip a toe into a story; he dives headfirst to get to the bottom and figure out what’s really going on.
Conor does this because he, more so than anyone else we know, genuinely cares about Columbia. We always think it’s funny (and, ok, sometimes we get really upset) when commenters say we’re trying to break apart the campus or hate everything here because–honestly and truly–none of us would dedicate our time to Bwog if we didn’t care about the betterment of this place, you sickos.
Nobody exemplifies that care, adoration, and hope for this institution quite like Conor.
As a Senator, Conor would work his ass off to enact change and see that things are getting done. Conor’s not one to fuck around and waste time on insignificant matters or bullshit discussions that make excuses rather than fix problems or cover up mistakes and carelessness rather than heed the community and try to make things better for the students. We’ve all seen enough of that over our tenure here to avoid it like the plague, and we all admire (…and frankly question) his decision to try and get embedded into campus politics.
Conor won’t always be the most fun to work with, trust us we know, but he will work hard for you. Having him on our team drives us to work harder, more thoroughly, and more accountably. He would only bring more of the same to the Senate. Conor knows and understands this community and the history on contemporary issues. He wants nothing more than to see Columbia at its best possible state. We support his campaign to do so and hope you will as well. Voting starts on Wednesday.
Please enjoy yelling at us in comments,
Alexandra Svokos, Editor-in-Chief
Alexandra Avvocato, Managing Editor
Marcus Levine, Creative Editor
Loading …
45 Comments
@Anonymous “The thing about being a Bwogger is that you end up knowing more about campus issues than any of your non-Bwoggie friends.”
This is just not true. And this arrogance is EXACTLY what makes Bwog such a pathetic and uninteresting publication to read these days. It’s not just that you’re unfunny. It’s that you see yourself as somehow above the rest of the students, that you are wittier and more cooly detached, more in-the-know than your peers. It seethes through your writing – the constant need to prove your superiority, whether it’s by subtly hanging your peers out to dry, or with ridiculous self-congratulatory posts like this one.
But it gets really tiresome. Bwog, we once loved you because you were a scrappy underdog – now you’re a mean group of self-satisfied asshats coasting on a brand name.
And yes, it’s a fucking conflict of interest. Daphne Chen resigned from Spectator when she first ran for CCSC – and she could’ve been twice the reporter that Skelding is. Conor, you’re lucky you have your Bwog friends shilling for you here, and you’ll probably win, but there’s just something really wrong about this entire affair.
@former USenator the bigger joke is that anyone on this campus believes that the senate actually does anything. It’s resume polish, nothing more.
Just think of this one question when you vote: Whose entry-level career prospects do I want to improve more? Then vote accordingly.
@Anonymous Bravo! This is exactly the attitude Columbians should take toward local issues and institutions.
@former USenator Nice attempt at snark, but wrong. The University Senate does NOTHING. The Student Caucus has no power. The Trustees make policy, the President and Provost implement. The senate? NOTHING.
It was created as a sop to the radicals after 1968. But in reality, they just sit and bicker, and do nothing. It’s so funny, too. The Student Caucus consists of Uberliberal CC kids, Uberconservative B-School bros, Law students trying out electoral politics before deciding whether to go for the brass ring at a firm or be a political advisor somewhere, Confused J-Schoolers and Social Workers, etc. etc. There is nothing that happens in these meetings. Ever.
Even on issues where the Senate has a voice, because the students eventually roll over every 2-to-4 years, the Faculty and the ex-officio members control the whole thing, anyway. Being a student senator looks nice on paper, but it is less meaningful than winning a 100-meter sprint against an infant who can’t even crawl…
@Anonymous Is Bwog going to post any other stories for the next three days? This has been the top story on Bwog for a while. Some of us don’t care about the Senate and actually want to read about interesting stuff.
@clear your cache?
@Has Anyone Actually read the damn post? It’s not a bad pitch.
@I remember... when bwog made fun of student council instead of trying to get themselves elected to it.
Truly a low moment in the history of bwog.
@Give me a break A news organization is endorsing one of its own staff for a political office!?
That might be the most outrageous conflict of interest I’ve ever heard.
@lol bwog lol
@The Real Problem Is the false idea that anything at this University will change for the good ever, and that voting for this or any student will have even the slightest impact.
@Agreed a little tar and a few feathers would probably work much better. Oh how I miss the good ole days.
@Anonymous Oh cool! A slapfight in the comments section!
@Blunts in Butler Wait. There’s an election?
@Pipes in Pupin What am I running for?
@Blunts in Butler I don’t fucking know.
@Really? If Conor Skelding “genuinely cares” about Columbia so much, why does he write extremely snarky articles about it for a petty blog called IvyGate?
Go take a look at what he contributes there — bitchy pieces that only serve to perpetuate the worst, most clichéd stereotypes about our school.
Totally unbecoming to a potential CU Senator.
@Agreed This is also the guy who helped do reporting for the recent article in Gawker that published a Dartmouth fraternity’s entire listserv history. Skelding effectively ruined their lives (though they didn’t seem particularly innocent).
http://gawker.com/dartmouth-s-most-wholesome-frat-bros-send-the-classiest-1442451512
@lolwat lol so he wrote a piece on how horrible a Dartmouth frat is and /he’s/ the bad guy? ok
@Anonymous No, but it does mean that his principle platform of being “anti-student surveillance” is completely hypocritical bullshit
@Anonymous no, that was publicly available. the surveillance stuff means locking your shit down, and stopping people from getting it illegally
@Anonymous That article hardly “ruined anyones’ lives.” It was actually a pretty embarrassing piece of crap. Anywho, I’m still voting for Conor because looking at the other candidates… seriously?
@Anonymous why are you defending rape culture?
@Anonymous I love you COnCON!!!!! <3
@Anonymous lol, shameless
@bwog called it yelling at them in comments lol
@AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ~*~LOUD NOISES!!!!~*~
@JK The degree to which he cares about Columbia College convinces me the betterment of the school is the reason he’s running, unlike so many student government “leaders.” Vote for Conor
@smh u got to the end to finally say something about the guy… wasted so much time providing us with dirt information in the beginning
@? Whose jake and where did he comment?
@betch can't even spell *Who’s
@hmm Waaa! Wahhhhhhh!!!!!!!
“des revive”
@Bullshit Stop it bwog. Stop it. You yourself acknowledged that this could very well be a conflict of interest. Furthermore how did this endorsement come to be? It just so happens the only endorsement you give out is to one of your higher up editors? This is actually ridiculous.
Also look at what you wrote. Your main reason for electing him is because he apparently knows the campus issues better because he works for you guys? Definitely not self serving or anything. Seriously do you have an ounce of journalistic credibility? Do you have an ounce of political morality?
What you should do is apologize. What you should do is be unbiased during this election, which before this you haven’t. You wonder why people say now is lower quality this year, it’s because of antics like this.
You should actually be ashamed of yourselves. You don’t des revive the right to call yourselves journalists.
@Anonymous I don’t think they claim to be real journalists.
@yes and spec does…
@cc '13 comments on the degradation in bwog’s quality and integrity are annual and fairly empty. bwog, as i’ve known it, has never had much of either – it just takes a year or so to notice. there’s a lot of bad in that statement, but i’d argue that as much or more good comes along with it.
if straight up, non-divisive articles were entertaining, everyone would read spec or nytimes rather than using them as intellectual guilt home pages.
@dude spec is just as mediocre and is also endorsing candidates (although not as overtly)
@Alexandra Actually, those comments were from an anonymous commenter who used Jake’s name. We’ve already got in touch with Spec to take them down/edit as they will.
@Anonymous WAIT HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH ALEXANDRA POSTS WHERE???
@Alexandra That’s like half the fun.
@Anonymous Quick, somebody start call the Dems so we can start a petition.
@wow This is actually very sweet.
@Guest Are we going to hear from Jake in this comments section as well? Bet he’s all for this one
@Jake Wait I’m confused. Which Jake?
@Anonymous Wrong blog, I think…