With kids back in school, autumn is a perfect time for street-hitting activism to bubble up through the cracks in society. In the next few weeks, anyone seeking an interesting day-trip, a way to act on latent strains of idealism, or an excuse to visit friends at school in DC should check out one of […]

OK, not really. We don’t feel like rehashing Spec’s summary of recent brouhahas, which is a rehash of last year’s article on the subject (plus the Minuteman thing, which prompted this must-read). But they missed the older ones, which are sort of important to understanding everything that comes after. Ancient History (1968) This is where […]

We got distracted in all the weather-related excitement, but if you did read the Times this morning, you may have noticed a full page ad headed by none other than Lee Bollinger–he became the poster child for academic freedom after protesting a British teachers union boycott of Israeli universities a few months ago, and now […]

The controversies surrounding Saigon Grill’s mistreatment of delivery workers continue, and in case you’ve forgotten about the big student protest a few weeks ago, Calvin Sun has put together a video complete with an appropriately dramatic soundtrack. Check it out:

“ARRESTS VERY LIKELY” read the press release for today’s sit-in at Stanford (they don’t get out until June 6, the poor dears) over the University’s refusal to sign on to a nationwide anti-sweatshop campaign. The Stanford Daily hasn’t said anything yet about this latest round of rabble rousing (although they have reported on the ongoing […]

While you were basking in the end of the first day of exams, a ton of your classmates were downtown at a swanky Vietnamese restaurant…yelling their lungs out and shutting it down. Bwog stopped by a Saigon Grill protest earlier, but it was only a small picket, part of an ongoing two-month protest by delivery […]

What’s with the 20 masking taped garbage bags on the Plaza? Columbia’s chapter of the Student Global AIDS campaign are raising awareness about Abbott Labs‘ refusal to make a key anti-retroviral drug, Kaletra, available at low prices unless the government of Thailand rescinds an order to import generic versions of the life-saving medicine (read more […]

In March, the news broke that Saigon Grill had locked out its delivery workers after they demanded fair wages, and they’ve been picketing the restaurant’s three locations since. Today, Bwog took a trip down to 90th and Amsterdam to check out the scene, where about ten Columbia students joined as many workers in handing out […]

In case you hadn’t heard, PrezBush made a surprise visit to a charter school in Harlem today, and Bwog biked up to 144th and Adam Clayton to see what kind of welcome residents and activists had in store for him. Despite the massive security, which included snipers on every building, streets completely blocked off within […]

Four groups competed for student attention on Low Plaza today, a confluence of causes amidst an already eventful “Earth Week” and following yesterday’s demonstrations by LionPAC, Filasteen, Lucha & Co. Today’s events featured Darfur, Manhattanville, drugs, and cardboard boxes. Amnesty International was out promoting Darfur Awareness Week with a mock refugee camp, apparently the hottest thing in […]

A few who knew that LionPAC had reserved the Sundial for the same time that Lucha and Filasteen were planning a human wall across Low Plaza anticipated a showdown – but would have been disappointed, as the event went down without incident. About 50 people (very roughly speaking), including many of the New York Magazine […]

Observations from an Ethnic Studies teach in Wednesday evening, courtesy of Bwog correspondent Karen Leung. No introductory lectures, no Asian American studies classes, and only four courses in total to support Comparative Ethnic Studies, Asian American Studies, and Latino Studies: These were this term’s course offerings from the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and […]

Students for a Democratic Society—that group that shut down Columbia and other Universities across the country in 1968—generated some buzz last week, when about 20 students met in a Kent classroom to hash out plans for their return (sitting in, Bwog found the Young Spartacists particularly entertaining). “The New SDS” even landed the cover of The […]

Protesting sure has taken an interesting turn at American colleges recently. Let’s start here at Columbia. As of 6 pm, there were five protestors outside the main gates, protesting about the Minuteman protest which occured six months ago today.  What about it?  Three prim women, from New Yorkers for Immigration Control and Enforcement, are upset […]

Anyone remember four years ago today? No? Well, something happened–the US invaded Iraq, and since then (or so say all the tally marks posted around Low Steps this sunny afternoon), 658,441 people have died. The Dems are collecting your change to send to UNICEF earmarked for Iraqi children on the Plaza until 3:00 PM, and […]