Ahh, Columbia! The Ivy League School where the brightest students from around the world study under renowned professors, hanging out in groups with perfect diversity and doing mock trial in their free time. Or so your admissions brochure would have you think! But a lot more has happened at Columbia then just Obama’s tenure as a student. 

Here, Bwog breaks down the other history of Columbia. The serious history and the funny one The saucy history. The history your tour guide won’t tell you about. Bwog was started in 2006, and since then we’ve documented all the wildest and weirdest things that have happened on campus. 

Fresh people and returning students alike, it’s time to catch up. Put down your Iliad and get READING because Columbia students get up to a lot of shit.

Protip: for the full Bwog experience, read the comments.

• READ THIS NOW: MINUTEMAN MOBBED
  • A huge group of students rushed the stage at an event with Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen, a vigilante anti-immigrant group. This was the post that put us on the map, so to speak.
• Everything You Need To Know About Operation Ivy League
  • In 2011, NYPD conducted a drug raid on frat row that culminated in the arrest of five Columbia students. The whole thing was, predictably, called “Operation Ivy League” and Bwog followed it step by step.
• The Bird, The Legend: The Genesis of Hawkmadinejad
  • In 2007, Columbia invited President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak on campus. Then a bunch of people started seeing a hawk around campus and called her Hawkmadinejad? I don’t know, just read the post.
• Butler Archetypes: The Social Networker
  • This one you need to read not for the post itself so much as for the comments. Scroll down. You’ll know the comment we’re talking about when you see it. 
• PeopleHop: Timothée Chalamet
  • We interviewed famous pale boy (actor) Timothee Chalamet before he dropped out of Columbia and made it big.
• Girls Gone Wild? Weird? In Butler (NSFW)
  • Some girls shot some feminist avant-garde porn in Butler.
• Beyond The Picture: An Interview With Dorothy
  • In 2016, a Barnard student hooked up with Swae Lee, half of hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd, who headlined Bacchanal (Columbia’s spring music festival aka day drinking central). Then they posted about it on the Overheard on Barnard Facebook page and there was much drama. 
• Overseen: Bare Butts In The But
  • Butler (the But) is Columbia’s big library, it’s really pretty and has all of the dead white guy names on the facade. People like to have sex in it. Some of them were caught in the act. 
• Hey, I Just Met You… And This is Crazy
  • Someone tried to use Bwog to find a missed connections from 1020 in an epic love story for the ages. Sadness ensued.
• Widespread Cheating Scandal At Barnard
  • In 2013, there was much brouhaha when many students were discovered to have cheated in Barnard English classes. 
• Overseen: FroSci Gone Wild
  • A professor played “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and stripped while teaching Frontiers of Science (FroSci), the most notoriously boring Core class. Then it got even weirder.
• 1020 Adventure: 4 PM To 4 AM
  • Bwog staff spent 12 hours in 1020 (the sleaziest, best bar in Morningside Heights). Get a taste of the Columbia nightlife.
  • Followups: 12 Hours in St. Luke’s: The CAVA Diaries and 12 Hours In The Milstein Center (And Environs)
• Messages From Wrestling Team GroupMe Reveal Culture Of Intolerance
  • In 2016, Bwog broke the story about incredibly misogynistic, racist, and homophobic remarks made in the wrestling team’s groupchat. The screenshots of the messages resulted in an official investigation of the team.
• Fake Book With Connections To “Dark Enlightenment” Movement Found On Stack 12
  • A fake book with what appeared to be recruitment materials for a white nationalist group was found in the Butler stacks.
• Student Stuck In EC Pillar Rescued By Fire Department
  • A drunk GS student on the roof of East Campus (swanky senior dorm) fell through shaft and became trapped. 
• Overseen In EC: Party Pooper After 40s On 40
  • Someone pooped in an EC dishwasher. College life!
• Columbia In The Paradise Papers: Its Opaque Investment Structure
  • Columbia’s unscrupulous offshore investments were revealed in the Paradise Papers – Bwog discussed the implications. 
• Video Circulates Depicting Columbia Student Using Offensive, Racist Rhetoric
  • Just last semester, a video circulated of a white student going off on a racist rant to a group of black students outside Butler.
• Sexual Assault Allegations On Varsity Show Creative Team Member Shake The Theater Community
  • Last year, a student made allegations of sexual assault against a member of the creative team of the Varsity Show, Columbia’s big spring musical. The incident has continued to shape conversations about sexual assault on campus. 
• Columbia Student Intrudes Into Barnard Quad
  • A Columbia student trespassed into a Barnard dorm and peed in a student’s bed. Read all about it!
• Barnard Public Safety Restrains Student In Milstein Center
  • Last semester, a Black Columbia student was forcibly restrained by Barnard Public Safety while trying to enter the Milstein Center. The incident drew national attention and is still sparking conversations about race and discrimination on campus. 

Photo via Bwarchives