Christy Carlson Romano of Kim Possible fame is back at Barnard! She was spotted in the Reslife office today, and is here to finish her degree. Barnard deans have apparently forbidden Barnard OLs from high-fiving first-years as they walk through the Gates yelling and screaming on the first night of college. Columbia and Barnard OLs […]

NSOP schedules aren’t released till tomorrow, but Bwog’s been tipped that the 2010 Orientation theme is the Odyssey. You know, like the Core Curriculum, the cornerstone of your Columbia education unless you’re in Barnard or SEAS! We cry Columbia-College-centrism, just so you’ll stop accusing Bwog of it. We wait with bated breath for the activities […]

With pictures snapping, campus safety patrolling and students and professors promenading en masse, this afternoon’s convocation began with all the fanfare of a red carpet affair.  After brief introductions given by Dean Kevin Shollenberger and Dehui Kong, CC ’11 and NSOP Coordinator in Chief,  faculty celebs took the podium to address students and parents of […]

At some point on the first day of Orientation, a sudden realization hits many a first-year: there are a lot of new people here (and one or two of them are hot!). Winning the friend lottery from this mass of people requires mastery of multiple tactics: Talk to random strangers.  Within a few short weeks, […]

2013, you’ve just arrived on campus, and we know it’s rough out there. Orientation is awkward. You don’t know these people. You have to play Two Truths and A Lie and decide what color M&M you would be. “Wait, blue?! ZOMG, me too!” So while you desperately try to settle in, consider what your comrades […]

Earlier this afternoon, the coordinators over at NSOP finally released their schedule book, a hefty pamphlet full of some orientation activities and some more advertising. The breakdown, day-by-day: Monday: Convocation, OL meetings, Class Act/College Night, blah, blah, etc. Tuesday: This year’s Lit Hum first class teacher? Gareth Williams. SEAS, on the other hand, gets the […]

Fresh-faced 2013ers smile for the camera after arriving for COOP. – Photo by Char Smullyan

Do you have what it takes to be an NSOP coordinator? Only if you can follow rules and procedures, as posted in the SGO.    Several questions:  “Be nice to gatekeepers” – who are these gatekeepers, and what magical land are they guarding? “No skirts that Deans would not approve” – how does NSOP test […]

2012ers are probably aware of tonight’s event, but upperclassmen on campus might not know that Lerner has been taken over by NSOP. It appears that they’re going for a Boardwalk-like theme, as the entertainment includes “free popcorn and photo booths,” as well as caricature portraits! Roller coaster tickets not included, but free popcorn does mean […]

Most of the NSOP schedule leaves freshmen with two choices: go to the “required” event, or skip it. Tonight, though, newly-convocated Columbians have at least five choices for their entertainment.   NSOP is asking you to join them at Victorian Gardens to “meet your class for a tantalizing night under the stars. Who knows who you […]

Bwog enlisted yet another freshman corresponder, Aseel Najib, to summarize this year’s incarnation of the NSOP-sponsored scavenger hunt, CU: Remix.  Before the Remix could start, Columbia continued its schedule of live PSAs.  Entitled “Community Forum”, this one aimed at bringing together students of various ethnicities, religions and sexual orientations, and highlighted the importance of social […]

Bwog enlisted freshman correspondent Peter Thompson to report back with all the exciting details of the semester’s first Lit Hum class. Notebooks and laptops in hand, the thousand or so 2012s filed in to Roone Arledge Auditorium this afternoon for their very first Columbia class. Professor Gareth Williams, chair of Lit Hum, started speaking at […]

Bwog followed the Class of 2012 to one of NSOP’s headline events, After Hours at the Met. From the overly large museum, freshman correspondent Will Leonard reports. Before they could arrive at the hallowed destination, 2012ers had to deal with the double danger of novice New Yorkers: Metrocard machines, and getting across Manhattan on the […]

Embracing all things collegiate, Bwog joined the class of 2012 last night in Roone Arledge Auditorium for Class Act: Advance Screening. Day One of NSOP challenged the wily troop of 12s with long lines, dorm room design, and familial farewells followed by awkward introductions and icebreakers.  But no odyssey draws to a close without its […]

It’s Convocation time, and to celebrate, Columbia began by playing some warm-up music, including “525,600 Minutes,” which is a song from the tragedy RENT and is also what we predicted to be the amount of time this thing would start late. Fortunately, we were mistaken, and at 2:35 PM, the OLs marched in with colorful […]