It’s Activities Day time! Today and for the next several weeks, Columbia’s panoply of clubs, societies, associations, teams, groups, organizations, and alliances will compete for your attention and allegiance. Explore and ask questions, but beware the listserv: you’ll spend the next four years trying to get off. We’ve done a bit of the legwork for […]

While the campus prepares for the visit of the two presidential candidates, students have already gotten started on the fall election. the College Democrats, MSA, and Free Culture are co-sponsoring a campus-wide voter registration initiative, modeled on the popular CUAssassins game that every year afflicts students with amusingly high levels of paranoia. Teams of students […]

Don’t fret, readers: you now have a chance to get tickets for the McCain – Obama forum! In an email sent just before noon, President Bollinger officially announced the details for the event and ticket process behind it. All one has to do is register online here between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. tomorrow (Friday). […]

Everybody will read today’s issue for some forum. But there is other news, apparently: Madonna Constantine refuses to go away. How quickly could you construct a “Vag?” Professors aren’t gods? Whaaat? Already tired of New York clubs? Some months-old options.

Well, they moved quickly this time. As we wrote about before, the announcement of a joint appearance by Obama and McCain on campus next Thursday took student government and group leaders completely by surprise. Just before midnight, though, the presidents of the student councils, club governing boards, and Panhellenic councils have sent an email to […]

Holy shit. Spec is reporting that the candidates will speak on behalf of ServiceNation, an organization that aims to increase public service participation. We’re trying to figure out whether the event is open to students, and will be updating as we do. According to the NonProfit Times, 500 seats have already been filled: “500 supporters […]

In case you haven’t been to Ferris yet — maybe you’re holding off on that particular pleasantry until later in the semester — we’d like to call your attention the new burrito/taco station (right), which sits where the stir-fry paraphernalia once was.  Initial reactions to the tacos and burritos are guardedly optimistic and dissatisfied, respectively. […]

From the Orientation Issue of The Blue and White, we bring you Rob Trump’s detailed account of the beginning of PrezBo’s summer sabbatical in Vermont. 8:00 AM: Here we are. Sunny Vermont. Sunny, sunny Vermont. Let the sabbatical commence. 8:21 AM: … 8:25 AM: Jesus, this is boring. 8:26 AM: What the hell am I […]

Our friends at Gawker have taken a liking to one special Barnard gal, and her name is Lizzy Fraser. You might have seen her in your 20th century art class, or, failing that, probably at St. A’s.  According to the gossip site, she’s one of the “Upper Class of 2008,” specifically in the “New Edies” […]

This first issue of The Blue and White was made with Columbia’s newest inhabitants in mind. Dearest overachievers: perhaps the humanities is not the way to go for that A+… If you came to Columbia in search of fat cats, look no further. They are at the top of student government and the campus music […]

Our series on professors’ opening remarks continues, because Monday-Wednesday classes have auspicious beginnings too! Send your overheards our way at bwgossip@columbia.edu. Stats professor Chun Yip wrote the following definition of “independence” (as in variables) on the board: “Independence: The relatively frequency of one variable are the same when condition on every categories of the 2nd […]

It’s time to get the story straight. Our Hero Hawkmadinejad, christened and courted with gads of sightings over the course of last school year, proved pervasive and rather uncanny. Commenters squinted at his tail feathers as they seemed to shift from brown to red and then to brown again – rather strange for a red-tailed hawk […]

Do you increase Columbia’s net worth?  Or should the admissions officer have accepted Joe State in your place? Capitalism: keeping America on top!  What’s that you say China?  You are going to launch the Bird Nest into space? Money: keeping the J-School on top!  But are there going to be any newspapers left? Manhattanville’s consumer […]

With a mere 63 days left until the Presidential election, the blogosphere has lit up with speculation about the personal life of Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  While the daughter of Alaska’s favorite hockey mom may be five months pregnant and questions abound about her readiness to lead the nation should she find herself […]

Jezebel has breathlessly recounted an argument that occurred between Columbia’s own James, a self-described anti-feminist with a private Facebook page, and an unnamed Barnard student who slapped him for saying that he hadn’t met an “intellectual feminist” in his life. Naturally, this all happened this weekend at a party East Campus because of course. James’ […]