You may not have heard of him, and you may not even care once we tell you about him, but Professor Emeritus J.W. Smit cared about you. The only known person to have taught all four Core classes (Art Hum, Music Hum, Lit Hum, and CC), the Nobility and Civility fixture shaped the Curriculum since […]

Not to be outdone, Madonna has hopped on the African-orphan-hugging bandwagon with a $3 million donation to J. Sachs’ Millennium Voices foundation, which will help villages in the malaria-infested African nation of Malawi. The rocker chalks up her newfound generosity to having had kids of her own, as well as the giving spirit of Jewish […]

This is not the day to boycott corporate coffee. Our green apron-clad friends over at Starbucks are giving out free iced coffee and cafe con leche until 3 pm today— presumably at all NYC locations. With a feels-like temperature of 103, this is quite a public service. Enjoy it while you can.

As if you didn’t already have enough reason to go, Rack & Soul–the newish fried chicken place on Broadway at 109th–has ranked a respectable 47th on New York Magazine’s invaluable Best Cheap Eats list. In the other direction, on 131st st., Dinosaur BBQ came in 65th. Because, you know, Manhattan above 96th is only good […]

A few days ago, the University of Pennsylvania rolled out its shiny new plan for a huge construction project on its eastern edge. Bwog’s mind jumps to Columbia’s own troubled efforts in Manhattanville—but the parallels are a little more complicated. A few facts: – The cost of Penn’s expansion is about the same, $6.7 billion […]

Part of an ongoing series in which Bwog takes you to the less traveled corners of our metropolis (less traveled by CU students, anyway). Remember Francie Nolan, the young protagonist of Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn? She was thrifty and imaginative, a voracious reader, nimble with her hands. She worked her little Irish […]

Facebook whistle-blower Jon Ricci, who claims not to be affiliated with Columbia University, has outed the 31 members of Columbia Facebook group “Put Up or Shut Up.” Ricci sent an email to Columbia’s powers-that-be about those 30 men and one confused woman who advocate delivering “ovary punches, rabbit kicks, and haymakers” to those bossy females […]

Forty-seven years ago today, in Allahabad, India, Bwog’s favorite international soccer tycoon was born. And it took him this long to get his own Wikipedia entry. Cheers, professor!

Bwog noted in February that iPods, newly present in Lerner vending machines, had apparently become as necessary to our daily lives as chips and condoms. In today’s edition of Education Life, the New York Times makes the same observation, and discloses that the same number of iPods have been stolen (four) as have been bought. […]

Bwog tipster Casey Callendrello documents the presence of a broken down Hummer limo on campus today. A rap star, perhaps, calling on PrezBo? Or a 16th birthday party gone horribly wrong? Either way, bad form, chaps. What do you think this is, NYU?

There’s something different about Columbia’s homepage, and it’s not wittier news headlines. A few days ago, eagle-eyed website watcher Chris Szabla noticed that the two spades on Columbia’s crown logo have morphed back into crosses, prompting our tipster to wonder whether the Campus Crusade for Christ had paid off or if there are more divine […]

Living on campus for the entire summer to organize a week of events (a big job, Bwog knows) leads to time spent on some odd activities. Like composing the bulk of an e-mail to OLs in rhyming couplets. Read the full update-in-verse after the jump. Also, bet you didn’t know this before you signed up: […]

With the West End shut for renovations and Butler closing at six on the weekends, Bwog has lately resigned itself to Saturday nights sitting on the Steps with the high schoolers who have taken over campus. Fed up, last Saturday the Bwog team embarked on a midnight scavenger hunt across Manhattan, a five-hour chase that […]

Go check the Columbia webpage and behold the Columbia News section’s love of wisdom. The Kitcher deserves better.

Cheers! Bwog won’t have to start the school year without its third favorite study distraction (after Facebook and this craziness). Bored at Butler, which went underground shortly after the end of classes, is gathering input for a relaunch, and wants to hear from YOU! (For the uninitiated in Generation ’10: the site, affectionately known as […]