In which Bwog staff member Katie Reedy cogitates about alternative ice breakers to the traditional “two truths and a lie,” and “the name game” for Orientation Leaders and RAs, who will be faced with a group of (most likely wet), frightened, and homesick first-years tomorrow afternoon. – Get postmodern: Bring a chisel, a block of […]

Well, we were around all summer, but many of our tipsters were vacationing in exotic places while we jealously fumed at our office cubicles, idly surfing Gawker. Today marks the launch of Orientation Bwog – a surge of special Bwog coverage, compressed into ten days of “advice” you won’t hear from NSOP, CULPA, your OL, […]

International and West Coast first-years have arrived! They are soggy, worn-out, and a bit irritable, but not nearly as irritable as they could be. The rain has slowed to an intermittent drizzle, Housing and Dining has soundtracked the event with weather appropriate songs like “Singing in the Rain,” the lines for the elevators at John […]

Along with freshmen, in September Columbia will welcome its newest flight of replacement administrators, stepping into posts vacated at Teachers College, the Medical Center, and JTS. Most recently, Dean of Student Affairs Chris Colombo announced that the University had lured Dr. Ajay Nair from Penn to head up the Office of Multicultural Affairs, one of […]

This is an old bulletin board in East Campus. If this note is to be believed, the policy is still in effect. (“WTF happened to no parties? If you give us a hard time this year, we will have your legs broken.”)

Columbia’s enthusiasm quotient rose measurably yesterday as 224 orientation leaders arrived on campus to commence preparations for welcoming their charges on Sunday and Monday. As part of their training, the OLs did a run through of BlaZe, a mixer on speed that will replace NSOP’s traditional and widely-reviled “diversity event” CUnity. (Yes, we BlaZed in […]

CO HOPpers, BOPpers, and ROPpers left this morning on their respective journeys, casting nervous glances skyward at the gathering rain clouds (sorry guys), not to return until the night before the rest of 2010 moves in. Other than torrential rains, may neither bears, bugs, nor homicidal escaped convicts ruin your excellent adventures!

It would be against Bwog’s better judgement to post this quasi-sensationalist personnel gossip… but… now that we’ve told you there is quasi-sensationalist personnel gossip, we can’t leave you hanging..? An anonymous tipster sent Bwog this excerpt of a personal email from Columbia’s Human Resources department describing some inter-office identity theft. “On August 15, 2006, an […]

Damn those feds! The New York Sun reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has slapped Columbia with a $135,000 fine for failing to test sulfur levels in fuel used for the central steam plant, pushing emissions past levels set by the Clean Air Act. Which means it’s a little harder for us all to breathe […]

Resident photobwogger Sumaiya Ahmed snapped some photos of the mega construction efforts tearing up campus and disrupting summer pick-up soccer games. Thousands (or 1332 CC and SEAS) eager first-years arrive with parents and tuition dollars in just a week! Will Columbia Facilities make it in time? More photos after the jump…

After weeks of breathless waiting, university administrators found out yesterday how their school fared this year on that outsized arbiter of institutional excellence, the US News and World Report college rankings. Nothing much changed, at least in the range Columbia cares about: the span between number one and number nine, where it’s been stuck for […]

The Samuel Jackson flick Snakes on a Plane will hit theaters everywhere tomorrow with perhaps more internet hype and a longer Wikipedia article than any new release in history. It’s also most likely the only film to inspire spinoffs before even reaching the viewing public, including–but not limited to–SoaP Sudoku, the prequel Snakes on a […]

They go fish shopping! According to an anonymous tipster, a CC student ran into President Bollinger summering in Cape Cod, but didn’t recognize him until PrezBo had fled the scene. Saddened, she posted this Craigslist missed connection: Grey-haired First Amendment scholar at the fish store – w4m – 20 Reply to: pers-194280482@craigslist.org Date: 2006-08-14, 11:55PM […]

Winner of a bronze medal at the 2002 Olympics, figure skater Timothy Goebel, 25, (the first American to land a quadruple jump in competition, and the first skater in the world to land a quadruple salchow) is enrolling at GS this Fall. Now that he’s broken all the records, Goebel will strip off the flashy […]

As of the time of this post, Columbia’s band of guerilla videographers has garnered 83,641 views of its prank on Columbia’s studious studentry over at YouTube, launching it to 65th place on the site’s weekly ratings. Pretty good for a piece with no poorly drawn cartoon characters speaking in Japanese! Bwog would submit, however, that […]