Professor Peter DeMenocal, Frontiers lecture, Monday morning, in response to a student asking why dinosaurs survived in warmer temperatures but humans can’t: “That’s our world, like it or not. We’re not dinosaurs.” Spanish professor in Milbank, Monday afternoon: “Spanish is spoken in 19 countries… i mean, depending on whether there’s a revolution, right?” Thanks to […]

Everybody is talking about animals now, according to three separate things that three separate people said. IT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE THAT THREE OF ANYTHING MAKES A TREND! First, a pair of professors: “Sex with animals…it doesn’t seem like something we might do today. But in a rural world, it does happen!” – Professor Alfred MacAdam, […]

Live from Weapons of Mass Destruction, where Professor Paul Richards, wearing a moss-green jacket and flowered tie, cracked the following joke: A sodium atom walks into a bar, looking dejected. Barkeep: What’s wrong? Sodium atom: I’ve lost an electron. Barkeep: Are you sure? Sodium atom: Yes, I’m positive! OK, maybe you had to be there.

For students, shopping period (though not christened as such) is a time for self-exploration, stress, and belly butterflies.  For professors, it’s a time to show off  remarkable wit and sometimes-sexy whimsicality. Prof. David McKenna in Auteur Studies: Clint Eastwood: “Don’t e-mail me.  I repeat, DON’T E-MAIL ME.  I have the Internet to follow San Antonio […]

Professor Karl Kroeber is restless of mind, the sort of academic who likes pioneering new fields and then abandoning them. The loquacious and sagacious fellow, brother to Ursula Kroeber Le Guin [see right], currently teaches the ever-popular children’s lit course. He talked to us about growing up, “the business of imagining,” why he hates Disney, coming to terms with cancer, the Navy, and just about […]

As you may or may not be aware, Orhan Pamuk, a visiting prof at our fair institution, just netted ol’ Alma another Nobel, this time for literature. Though there is some speculation as to what exactly Pamuk does around here, (this says he will have a MEALAC position, which is news to those who spend […]

Overheard, unfulfilled goals.  Boy: On the list of things to do before I die, “keg stand” is a big unfilled checkbox that has been staring me in the face for a while. Overheard, ungrateful prof on the phone. Prof: You know that undergraduates don’t mean ANYTHING at this school! Overheard, unaware Art Hum student in […]

If you were always overwhelmed by the corniness of your professors’ jokes, now you can be sure that the people at Cambridge University Press share your sentiments. Bwog has discovered a trend in the history deparment’s publications: lame alliteration. Check out these titles (extra points if you can name the prof):  Two Men and Music […]

Bwog contributor Ashley Nin took some time to compile the favorite jokes of a few professors. Hey, they’re not paid for their senses of humor… James Crapotta, Department of Spanish and Latin American Cultures, Barnard A Mexican crosses the border to Texas, hoping to purchase a pair of socks.  He goes into the first store […]

Overheard! in Café 212: Girl 1: It really sucks that Anna Nicole Smith’s kid died. Girl 2: How’d he die? Girl 1: He overdosed on drugs. Passing Boy: If Anna Nicole Smith was my mom, I’d probably do drugs too. [Girls 1, 2 stare as passing boy passes by.] Overheard! outside of Carman: [Mobile phone.] […]

If you read the recent Spec article, you know that professors across the blogosphere are now at risk. What they write online could result in a loss of promotions, denied tenure, or trolls eating their firstborn. Bwog decided to send Dan D’Addario to look at a few faculty blogs. What did we learn? A great […]

Apparently, professors at our fine institution have had sex on the brain these past few days.  Bwog tipsters have sent in no fewer than four quotes on the subject from their classes, here compiled. From Professor Don Melnick in today’s Biodiversity lecture: “So if I had a jar, I could reach into the jar, and […]

More stuff you shouldn’t have saved on public computers.  When the buzz gets a little throat, a little brass, a little sass—now we know it’s becoming a man. Not like a cheesy, wheezy clarinetist typing the Hora at the day’s third Bar Mitzvah reception. It’s starting to burst, like a cavalry’s accompaniment, sans jingoism.   […]

Really. Last time Bwog posted gossip, a tipster’s professor singled him out in class; he was very flustered.  A stressed-out student declared, “This year I will either die or become a Campus Character.” Professor Eric Foner, commenting on how the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s U.S. citizenship test accepts two answers to the question of what […]

We’re all gaffeurs, but our gaffes aren’t half as interesting as those of our distinguished faculty (and staff). The Bwog presents to you this week’s finest moments:  A staff member walking out of the Hartley Customer Service Center, to another:     “I’ve got a baseball bat back in my office, if you’re gonna need it.” […]