Eric Foner’s “Civil War and Reconstruction” and Kenneth Jackson’s “History of the City of New York” are some of the most well-known classes at Columbia, and every year, it seems half of Columbia tries to register for them. But there may be a better way. While stumbling around Columbia’s web site, Bwog discovered a cache […]

Almost as famous for the epic proportions of his beard as for his pedagogy, the chair of the Astronomy department and Frontiers of Science mastermind Professor David Helfand will be relocating to Canada. It was reported Monday in a local newspaper in a remarkably hand-wavey way that “Helfand is now on a long term leave […]

An incoming 2013er whose father is incarcerated writes about her path to Columbia. James Franco drops out of speaking at UCLA’s commencement. Jeff Sachs wants the US to send water, not money. Will cities of the future need “vertical farming?” Two Columbia professors say “yes.” David Helfand has said that a meteor could bring down […]

Frontiers of Science mastermind David Helfand has gotten a promotion! After embarking on a bold experiment last year at Squamish, Canada’s Quest University, he has been named  “acting president”. According to the National Post, “he will take a paid leave of absence from Columbia and move to Squamish in January, where he will work, gratis, […]

Astronomy department chair, Varsity Show character and Bwog birthday party guest David Helfand will be giving a guided tour “to the edge of space and time” at the Guggenheim tonight.  Explains the museum’s website: “Light particles from the depths of space tell us how the history of the universe began, and most likely how it […]

Bwogger Armin Rosen admits that this brief survey of people with the same name as other people who happen to be Columbia professors is random as hell, but bear with him. I’ve never read Dostoevsky’s The Double, but I assume the story goes a little something like this: a successful English professor is wrongfully accused […]

Wish you were in Paris right now? Bwog foreign correspondent Sumaiya Ahmed reports on Columbia’s big weekend in the City of Lights. This weekend, Columbia students in Paris were treated to another sort of World Leaders Forum organized by the Columbia Alumni Association. The three day affair included Nobel laureate and 7th Secretary-General of the […]

Acclaimed Columbia professor and partigoer David Helfand will be spending this fall north of the border, at Quest University in Canada.  Helfand will be a “visiting tutor” at the newly-founded university, and his faculty profile includes a link to apply to Quest in case you want to follow your favorite astrophysicist / core course founder […]

In the spirit of Frontiers jams and the Varsity Show, a tipster sent us the following image. We leave the rest to your imagination.

Because there’s nothing Bwog likes more than teasing its viewers, we bring you another taste of the upcoming Orientation issue of The Blue and White — it hits your doorstep or dorm lobby tomorrow! Helfand’s Index By David J. Helfand  The June Harper’s Index, that essential compendium of facts masquerading as social commentary, cited the […]

Conscious of spring’s glorious birth today, David Helfand, resident nutty professor of Astronomy, posed a curious question at the beginning of his Beyond the Solar System class: “Would you rather hear my prepared lecture or take a walk?” One hundred sorrowful humanities majors awoke, and Helfand led them on an impromptu adventure in Riverside Park […]