Despite the cold, Columbians have turned out in force for the inauguration viewing on Low Plaza. If you were hoping to see Obama’s speech outside, prepare to stand at the back. Whether you’re in DC, around New York, or on campus, send in your Inauguration Day photos to bwgossip@columbia.edu. For those of you staying in […]

Today is the first day of the semester, and, as is our tradition, Bwog will be posting all your professors’ opening remarks. Email all the inspiring/hilarious/insane things your professors say to open the class to bwgossip@columbia.edu so that everyone will be as excited and terrified as you are. Here are the things that were said […]

Most professors show leniency over inauguration day attendance. If yours hasn’t, trying showing him or her this editorial. Students make their way to DC.  College Dems celebrate, the BSO gets excited, Republicans try to move move on. And now, actual policy: four different opinion pieces on Gaza.

For those who were actually thinking of going to Ricky’s soon, hold off. Please. Tomorrow, thanks to a class action lawsuit, department stores including Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue will be giving away $175 million worth of free cosmetics – one item per person on a first-come, first-served basis. Technically, the giveaway is only for […]

Tasti D-Lite has served its last four-ounce cup of sweetened dairy-based frozen dessert substance on the fifth fourth floor of Lerner. Bwog discovered the d-parted D-Lite kiosk Monday night, just as employees were giving the area a final sweeping. No word yet on why Tasti has vanished from Lerner, but Bwog will doggedly track down […]

A bad sign for the new semester: Butler Library’s basement has flooded, and, according to a security guard, the whole building is without water or heat. In fact, “all mechanical systems went down,” the guard said. Butler will be closed at least for the day, but it’s unknown how long it will be until the […]

On the first day of classes, you may be looking for a pick-me-up, and Oren’s Coffee will be there to help. Among the many different inauguration promotions across the country, Oren’s is giving away free coffee from 10:44 am to 12:44 pm tomorrow. They’ve also unveiled a special “Blend 44: Beans You Can Believe In” […]

A tipster/fan reminds us that campus artist Reni Lane CC ’10 has not only signed with major label Custard/Universal Motown (joining James Blunt, among others), but also will have her song “Place for Us” on tonight’s episode of Showtime’s “The L Word.” You can hear the song right now on her Myspace page. Sure, Showtime […]

Classes “begin” in a few days, figuratively because a few of Bwog’s have already been canceled for CC’83 Awesomeness Festivities.  But your fair university didn’t get nearly as much sleep as you did over break.  Here’s what Alma Mater’s been up to. People of Old Alumni provide proof that we’ll all find jobs, eventually.  In […]

Two pieces of (somewhat) Obama-related media: first, one of his first college roommates writes about their time together in the fall of 1981. Phil Boerner ’84, who transferred with Obama from Occidental, remembers Obama that, “as a host and roommate, he sometimes did the shopping and cooked the chicken curry.” Oh, and Obama may have […]

Wondering what you have to do to be an early member of Phi Beta Kappa? Here’s what Bwog found out about our early nominees: Rajiv Agarwal, Philosophy, co-president of Columbia Global Justice Rudi Batzell, History, Undergraduate History Council chair, editor/reviver of the Undergraduate History Journal, former editor of Lucha’s El Participante, and anti-ROTC panelist. Mikaela […]

Commentariat got its hands the names of the early Phi Beta Kappa inductees: Rajiv Agarwal, Rudi Batzell, Mikaela Bradbury, Jennifer Brown, Cindy Cai, Willy Chang, Emily Clader, Yasemin Erboy, Amari Hammonds, Emily Jordan, Kyle Jurado, Leora Kelman, Jisung Park, Andrei Petrenko, Brendan Price, Richard Prins, Mollie Schwartz, Swarup Swaminathan, Xiyin Tang, and Xiao Wei. Congrats […]

Why, look, the Spec has a new set of columnists! Hoping to end the association of the Spec opinion pages and giant penises are:  Monday: Eric Hirsch (CC ’09, former associate editor of AdHoc), Philip Petrov (CC ’09, literary editor of The Current) Tuesday: MaryAlice Parks (CC ’09, member of CUPlayers and a coordinator of […]

Housing and Dining, being too cool for email announcements, has stealthily added a “New in 2009” part to the room selection section of its website. The new policies: “The Same Room/Same Suite policy has been eliminated. All students who wish to reside in Housing must go through the Room Selection process. 30 point senior groups […]

Better late than never: one week before his inauguration, an article Barack Obama wrote for the now-defunct campus magazine The Sundial has finally surfaced in full on Politico. The article had first been excerpted in the class notes section of Columbia College’s alumni magazine’s November/December issue. Written in the spring of 1983, just months before […]