Posts Tagged ‘finn vigeland’
On the campaign trail: Dems dine with Jill Biden
The Columbia University Democrats sent 170 students to Ohio on Friday to campaign for President Barack Obama, CC ’83—the largest out-of-state campaign trip there this weekend.
After canvassing Saturday, one of the Columbia delegations got a surprise visit from Second Lady Jill Biden, who stopped in the Parma, Ohio campaign office with a half dozen pizzas and some words of wisdom for the volunteers.
Courtesy of Hunter Coleman
After knocking on close to 100 doors, urging “the real middle class people of Ohio” to get out and vote on Tuesday, Dems member Hunter Coleman, CC ’14, said he and his group were thrilled to talk to Biden.
In case you missed it: This week in news
It’s been a long week of midterms, Halloween is around the corner, and we might experiencing a pretty sandy snowstorm on Monday (see what I did there?). But before you head out tonight dressed as Big Bird or a binder full of women, in case you missed it, here’s a quick breakdown of this week’s top stories.
We saw several of successful appeals to the administration this week. On Sunday, the Student Governing Board executive board voted not to comply with Barnard’s restrictive fliering policy; on Monday, the Activities Board at Columbia followed suit; and on Wednesday, the Barnard administration rolled back the stringent stamping requirement. And Columbia Health Services, hearing students’ concerns, announced the creation of a discretionary fund that can be applied to emergency health procedures like abortions when students choose not to avail themselves of their own health insurance. More »
In case you missed it: This week in news
The biggest news of the week is definitely that I busted out my winter coat and scarf. Besides that, though, there was a lot going around campus and the city. In case you missed it, here’s a quick breakdown of this week’s top stories.
Some administrator/student conflicts were resolved this week, or at least worked toward resolution. Student leaders in the arts said they had a productive conversation with Melissa Smey, the director of the Arts Initiative and Miller Theatre, about what they described as a disengagement between arts administrators and students’ creative pursuits. GS administrators said they were working to expand housing options for students, who are not guaranteed housing. And Nightline, the anonymous peer counseling hotline, reopens tonight after an administrative review kept it closed for the first month and a half of the semester.
As long as we’re talking about nightly news, Harlem played host to the city’s first nighttime farmers market on Thursday evening—jazz musicians and pumpkin patch included. More »
PrezBo on politics, college rankings, and dean searches
University President Lee Bollinger loves to talk about Manhattanville and globalization—a fact he acknolwedged in an interview last week with Spectator.
But he also dished on why college rankings (kinda) matter, what he’s looking for in the new dean for SEAS, and which presidential candidate’s candidates policies would be better from an academic standpoint. Some highlights from the interview:
- There’s a presidential election a month away, in case you didn’t know, and while Bollinger would not express his personal views on the election, he said he thought that the policies of Democrat Barack Obama, CC ’83, were generally more supportive of student loans, funding for research, affirmative action, and other issues in academia and education administration than those of his Republican opponent Mitt Romney.
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The leeway that the Department of Education and Department of Justice granted admissions offices last December with regard to the educational benefits of diversity is something that “you would not expect to come out of the Romney administration,” Bollinger said.
- Many people are skeptical of college rankings, Bollinger included. But he said that it is important that all of Columbia’s schools are in the top 10 in the country. “I think these are crude ways of saying something that’s pretty deep and profound,” Bollinger said. “You do not want to run your institution according to what U.S. News and World Reports says. More »
In case you missed it: This week in news
Spec’s new digital archive allows you to go back and search through decades of old issues, but in this week’s #icymi, we’ll just be reviewing the past week in news. Pretend we’re Ann Curry. In case you missed it, here’s a quick breakdown of this week’s top stories.
Students weren’t pleased with the way the Barnard administration handled the housing shortage, and now they’re upset about the slated closure of the pool. “I sense that students are frustrated that certain programs and core things from Barnard’s mission are being lost from decisions being made,” Student Government Association President JungHee Hyun, BC ’13, said.
New York politics continues to be a cornerstone of our city coverage, and this week, we closed out our series of profiles on candidates for the 7th City Council District with Mark Otto. Meanwhile, a Columbia College alum is running for Manhattan borough president, while her competition, Council member Gale Brewer, is considering a political compromise to bring a bill on paid sick leave to a vote. Fellow Council member Melissa Mark-Viverito is continuing participatory budgeting—in which constituents vote on projects for her to fund—for the second year. More »
UPDATED: The Corps sweeps CCSC first-year elections, All Aboard! sweeps ESC
The polls are closed and the results are in!
First-years elected Ramis Wadood and Ana Vargas president and vice president, respectively, of the Columbia College Class of 2016 Council. Grayson Warrick, Peter Bailinson, Claudia Khoury will serve as first-year representatives. All five were members of The Corps.
Updated (7:58 p.m.): In the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Jillian Ross and Chloe Blanchard will be the president and VP of the Class of 2016 Council, and Nicolas Camacho and Stephanie Lee will be the representatives. They ran on the All Aboard! ticket.
Congratulations to all candidates!
In case you missed it: This week in news
There was more news this week than a 27-year-old woman who claimed she was a Columbia student for nine months. Every week, Spectator’s News Desk will bring you a roundup of the week in campus and city news. In case you missed it, here’s a quick breakdown of this week’s top stories.
The start of the semester gets off to its usual rocky start, as the new East Campus entranceway is still not finished, the anonymous peer counseling hotline Nightline is still undergoing new training and will likely be closed through the end of the month, and student adjust to a new time of day: 8:40 a.m.
Beverages made two headlines in Friday’s paper: the administration is taking a harm reduction approach to alcohol, emphasizing smart drinking policies. First-year dorms are no longer “dry,” so 21+ residents of Southfield can bring alcohol into their rooms. In the real world, the Board of Health has passed Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s so-called “soda ban.” Look into how it will affect Harlem—which has one of the highest obesity rates in the city—in our related article and video. More »
The taxi fare hike goes into effect today
Check the pricing information on the door of your cab very carefully this month, because starting today taxis can charge the increased fares the city approved this summer.
While the base price of $2.50 remains the same, every addition fifth of a mile, or 60 seconds stuck in traffic, will now cost 50 cents, up from 40 cents. Trips between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Manhattan jump up to $52 from $45. The Metropolitan Transit Authority will tax every ride—including to or from JFK—an additional 50 cents as well. The average fare—a three-mile trip—will increase from about $12 to approximately $14.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission approved the fare hike, the first in six years, on July 12. Not a single cab rider spoke against the fare hike at the two public hearings, according to the New York Daily News—in part because all of the extra money go to the cab drivers themselves.
Taxi drivers have until Sept. 30 to update their meters and the markings on the outside of their cars, at which point they can begin to charge the 17-percent increase.
Counseling resources and meetings happening today (UPDATED)
Administrators, counselors, and students are available on campus all day to speak with students grieving or otherwise affected by first-year Martha Corey-Ochoa’s death on Monday night. Below is a list of some of those resources. If you know of others, please let us know in the comments or at dailyeditors@columbiaspectator.com and we will add it.
Update: The Student Wellness Project will facilitate a conversation with first-years and upperclassmen from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in John Jay Lounge. There will be a wall to share one’s feelings anonymously on Post-It notes, and break-out groups to discuss Corey-Ochoa’s death or whatever else may be on students’ minds. New and returning students are encouraged to come. Snacks will be served, but students—especially those on the NSOP schedule—are welcome to grab their dinner in John Jay Dining Hall and migrate to the Lounge. Upperclassmen who would like to be facilitators should arrive at John Jay Lounge between 4:30 and 5 p.m.
From Wilfred Chan, SWP chair: “We fellow students know that so much has happened in the past couple of days, and freshman move-in can be one of the most stressful times of the year. Given last night’s tragedy, many upperclassmen would like to provide our support.”
The Student Wellness Project will be holding an open meeting at 1 p.m. 1:45 p.m. in the Lerner SGO, 5th floor. SWP was formed last year out of the campus response to a student suicide.
[Edited: An earlier version of this post mentioned a meeting with Dean Terry Martinez. That meeting is not open to all students.]
Counseling and Psychological Services representatives are available on a walk-in basis, no appointment necessary, until 5 p.m. and for the rest of the week in the office on the 8th floor of Lerner.
Barnard’s Rosemary Furman Counseling Center is open until 5 p.m. on the 1st floor of Hewitt and at 212-854-2092.
RAs are available in all residence halls and may be reached by contacting the on-call RA.
Officers in the Office of the University Chaplain are available for those who would feel more comfortable speaking with a member of the clergy, at 212-854-1493.
Advisers in the Center for Student Advising are generally available on a walk-in basis and can be contacted at 212-854-6378.
Parents and other family members may reach out to the Office of Parent and Family Programs at 212-854-2446.
Please note that Nightline Peer Counseling has not yet begun to operate for the semester.
NSOP and move-in schedule will not be affected.
Apply to live in a brownstone on 114th Street
Step right up, three brownstones for sale!
Well, not quite, but you can apply to live with a special interest group in one of the 114th Street brownstones starting next fall.
The Office of Community Development opened the application process for the three buildings yesterday, inviting CC and SEAS students with guaranteed housing to form themed groups to occupy the brownstones. The buildings, which were vacated by the three fraternities whose members were involved in the NYPD’s Operation Ivy League in December 2010, were included as part of the regular housing lottery for the upcoming academic year.
See after the jump for important dates and details. More »