Just as you realize that watching all those Breaking Bad episodes reading all your chemistry textbooks during break still doesn’t shake that feeling that you’re not quite so ready for another semester, your professors made another round of funny comments to get you back into the swing of things. Professor Richard Bulliet, History of America in the Muslim World  […]

Keep your eyes open for the October issue of The Blue & White, which, after a delay from the printers, has finally arrived to campus! In the meantime, Bwog will honor our heritage/amorous affair with our mother magazine by posting highlights of the upcoming issue online. Among the treats to look forward to: Knickerbocker Motorsports: a surprisingly gripping history, an examination of Columbia’s updated sexual […]

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 […]

Help yourself to some more newsy musings from Bwog’s cluttered Columbia Bureau desk. We proclaim this edition loosely linked by the theme of exploring. Baxter Wood “drives around in a big truck,” listens to free university lecture podcasts and blogs about his “reeducation.” It’s learning for the sake of it! Recently Wood reviewed a lecture […]

In our latest installment of professor interviews, Adam Kuerbitz talked camels–just camels!–with history professor Richard Bulliet, who you’ve definitely heard of and may have taken History of the Modern Middle East with. Read on to find out everything you’ve ever wanted to know about camel historiography (you know, good for cocktail parties). Also, Richard Bulliet […]

If this new-fangled Twitter thing is to be believed, there’s some big things a-poppin’ in Iran, and the world media has been calling up Columbia professors for their reactions. The man with the most screen time this time around has probably been Professor Gary Sick (at right), which is not surprising given that he was […]

 – Image via The Associated Press A commenter alerted Bwog earlier tonight to the plight of UN official and CC and SIPA graduate John Solecki, who is being held hostage in Pakistan. Solecki, the head of U.N.’s refugee office in Quetta, Pakistan, was captured on February 2nd. On Monday, his captors said Solecki would be […]

Today, a group of faculty members sent a letter with 120 professor signatures regarding PrezBo’s “silence regarding academic freedom in Palestine.” While the last Israel/Palestine student rally may not have exactly been of 1968-proportions (ah, but what is these days), the faculty list has many well-known professors, including Lila Abu-Lughod, Gil Anidjar, Richard Bulliet, Yinon […]

Bwog humbly presents part two in this semester’s anthology of professors’ opening remarks.  Alfred MacAdam, Latin American Literature in Translation While talking about the mysterious fourth floor of Barnard’s Milbank Hall “I don’t know what they do with all those mirrors up there. Reminds me of Mae West – do you guys know who she […]

Bwog humbly presents our traditional anthology of professors’ opening remarks. Remember to send any overheards tomorrow to bwgossip@columbia.edu. Morris Rossabi, History of the Mongols “A visitor to Mongolia once came upon a Mongolian woman whom he thought had enormous breasts that seemed to be moving. Upon further investigation, he found that the woman was nursing […]

As per custom, Bwog unveils its list of the most outrageous and laughable comments made by professors at their first class meetings of the year.  Be sure to email us with all of the inspiring, hilarious, and insane things your professors say today to bwgossip@columbia.edu to keep our tradition alive, and please check back as […]

Perpetual Bwog favorite Richard Bulliet has once again treated the students of Islamo-Christian Civilization to a semester of quotable quotations. Read and learn: this is the wit that lured Ahmadinejad to campus. Too Much Information It’s like getting a contact high when everyone around you is smoking dope but you don’t do that–you’re still sharing […]

Bnai Haman is going to have the most quasi-topical Purim ever. But first, some background: Bnai Haman is an activist group formed as a response to Bollinger, Bulliet, and Coatworth’s invitation of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to speak at Columbia—an invitation which in their opinion never should have been extended. Purim is the Jewish holiday celebrating […]

Remember Richard Bulliet? Remember the whole Ahmadinejad fiasco? Well history professor Bulliet was the one who extended the invite. Though for most people the drama has died down, some grudges remain. The site Richard W. Bulliet — Ratfink pretty much says it all. It’s even listed on Wikipedia as the “Unauthorized Richard W. Bulliet Homepage,” […]

Although he didn’t get in the news much, the man who orchestrated the Ahmadinejad visit was none other than domestic animal and ancient wheel expert (and Iranian history specialist) Richard W. Bulliet. Bwog sat down in his posh office in the Middle East Institute to ask him about his reactions to the speech and his […]