And here we have chilling silent surveillance video of a Tuesday afternoon shooting outside a McDonald's on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn, a block from Brooklyn College. In what the Daily News is calling an "artful rubout" attempt, three unidentified men pass a revolver hand-to-hand and then open fire on a fourth teen at point-blank range. But despite holding the gun inches from Tyquan Sewall's 18-year-old head, the gunman missed, grazing the side of his head. And though he connected on the follow-up shots, he failed to kill Sewall, who rolled out into the street, bleeding from the stomach, leg, and groin. more ›

Brooklyn College is shelling out a cool $3.3 million on their new athletic field, you know, so people can do athletic things, but nevermind about them—the winners here are the flock of exotic monk parakeets that hang by the field, too. Because birds are totally fitness freaks. more ›

Last week we learned that despite the best of intentions, Bed-Stuy can be a scary place to settle down. Now, the man who police say jumped out of a second-story window after stealing musical equipment from a house of Brooklyn College bandmates explains what happened: it was the weed, man. From a Rikers Island jail cell, 23-year-old DuJuan Marshall tells the Times that he doesn't remember storming into the boys' apartment and pistol whipping them while his accomplices unloaded the stolen equipment, because an angel-dusted joint did him in. "I feel their pain," he says, echoing another famous truth-teller. more ›

Say what you will about the perils of gentrification, getting pistol whipped and robbed out of house and home should make one an honorary member of the neighborhood. A group of Brooklyn college students and musicians moved into a cheap apartment on the eastern edge of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, and only two weeks later were robbed at gunpoint of thousands of dollars of musical equipment and beaten with a pistol. more ›

In a surprise twist, Brooklyn College has rehired the professor who was previously unhired after Assemblyman Dov Hikind complained about his alleged anti-Israeli leanings. The college has maintained that Kristofer Petersen-Overton, 26, was fired from teaching a Middle East politics seminar because he didn't have a Ph.D.—not because of his political beliefs. The Political Science Department had unanimously voted to approve Petersen-Overton to teach the seminar, but last week—within 24 hours after Hikind complained—the administration overruled the vote. Accusations of academic repression flew, and a petition in support of Petersen-Overton drew 1,700 signatures. Hikind's not happy, and tells us: more ›

A Brooklyn College adjunct professor is claiming that he was fired because of his pro-Palestinian politics. College officials say that Kristofer Petersen-Overton, 26, was fired from teaching a Middle East politics class because he didn't have a Ph.D. But Petersen-Overton thinks it was because of political pressure from outside the college. "It's pretty clear that this was politically motivated. I don't blame the pro-Israel crowd. I blame the administration for caving in to the pressure," said Petersen-Overton. more ›

Yesterday we reported on the honors student from Nigeria who is suing Brooklyn College for allegedly committing her to the dreaded Kings County Psychiatric Hospital for two weeks against her will, after she sought advice about a surveillance camera she claims to have found in the bedroom her off-campus apartment. Now Brooklyn College spokesman Jeremy Thompson tells us it was EMS, not college personnel, who made the decision to commit Chinemerem Eze. But Thompson could offer no details about what led up to EMS being called to the campus that day in 2008. Eze's MySpace page, started in April 2010, isn't much help either, but it is pretty peculiar. more ›

An honors student from Nigeria who was studying at Brooklyn College says that a school psychologist forcibly committed her to Kings County Psychiatric Hospital (not a nice place) for two weeks when she sought advice about a hidden camera her landlord installed in her bedroom. Of course, it's not uncommon for people with mental illnesses to believe they are under surveillance, but in Chinemerem Eze's case, it happened to be true! Just because you're paranoid don't mean they're not after you, as the poet sings—unfortunately for Eze, her college shrink wasn't familiar with Kurt Cobain, and she got locked up. Now she's suing the school. more ›

After being accused of attempting to indoctrinate students with a supposedly pro-Palestine book by alumnus Bruce Kesler, who wrote on his blog that he has written his alma mater out of his will, Brooklyn College is defending their now-controversial choice for their "Common Reader" program. The program encourages incoming students to read a common book and discuss the reading with each other and with the author during orientation, but they say students aren't even required to read the book. Below is the school's statement, sics and all: more ›

Brooklyn College alumnus Bruce Kesler has cut his alma mater out of his will over what he is calling an "unacceptable" book assignment. Like most colleges, Brooklyn College requires that incoming freshmen all read one book before they move in; the "common experience" is supposed to help the new class bond. This year the school chose "How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America" by Brooklyn College professor Moustafa Bayoumi, whom Kesler describes as a "radical pro-Palestinian." Kesler writes on his blog: more ›

It's that time of year when love at the seashore blossoms, and hordes of initially alarming-looking horseshoe crabs scuttle up onto the beaches of Jamaica Bay to procreate in the sands. The species is approximately 450 million years old, and they look like something from a dinosaur film strip. Despite their tails that look like barbs and alien appearance, horseshoe crabs are completely harmless. more ›

A couple of years ago parrot poachers were the latest thing keeping bird watcher's eyes opened, as Brooklyn's feral parrots were disappearing. The unfeathered friends at BrooklynParrots.com still have plenty of beaked ones to observe, however, and their next "Parrot Safari" is coming up this June. more ›

Brooklyn College is joining the ranks of other New York academic establishments by adding a dorm next spring (something they've already started, and stopped, work on). The school has a little over 15,000 grads and undergrads, with about 99% hailing from New York and 77% from Brooklyn. The school hopes that by adding a dorm, some out-of-staters will flock to Midwood. more ›

Take a good, long look New York: You could be staring into the squinty eyes of your future mayor. (Yes, the white dude on the right.) Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who describes himself as “somewhat comical” [emphasis added] is on the verge of announcing his candidacy for mayor. Fuhgeddaboutit? more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a police officer was struck on Richmond and Wilson Aves. on Staten Island, there was a large fight on Franklin Ave. and Empire Blvd. in Brooklyn, and a double homicide on Furman Ave. and East 237th St. in the Bronx.
• The US Postal Service is expecting to process one billion individual pieces of mail today, three times the daily average. The busiest day of the year is expected to be Wednesday.
• Interboro Institute, the two-year commercial college, is going out of business due to financial and regulatory problems.
• Oysters used to be one of the most plentiful animals in NY Harbor. Now they're making a recovery in one of the most unlikely of places--the Gowanus Canal.
• The Metropolitan Museum received quite the holiday present when the estate of Diane Arbus presented it with the photographer's entire archives as a gift.
• The airline industry is seeking in court to block a passenger bill of rights that originated in New York due to horrendous service.
• The city's looking to combat the obesity of New Yorkers (we're less obese than the rest of the country) by increasing the number of permits issued to food cart vendors selling fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Collaborative sleuthing tries to dig up why the planned Brooklyn College dorm that used to be under construction seems to be going nowhere.

ART: Secrets of Coney Island Creek opens at the Brooklyn Public Library tonight. The exhibit of photographs by photog/author/Coney Island native Charles Denson goes back to the 1960s "when the waterway was at a low point, surrounded by industry and suffering from neglect and pollution. Since then, portions of the creek have been reclaimed, drawing both wildlife and residents to its shores. The photographs in Secrets of Coney Island Creek document those early decades and offer a fascinating and comprehensive portrait of the creek today and its relationship to the Coney Island community." more ›

The Princeton Review released its annual "The Best 366 Colleges" rankings, and NYC college schools make some interesting showings. The New School is number 1 for "Best College Town" (Barnard, Columbia, and NYU are also in the top 10), while Queens College is the third most sober. more ›

Spiderman, Mortal Kombat, Sonic Underground. No, it's not FOX's Saturday morning line up, it's Terence Taylor's resume. Before jumping into horror, the Brooklyn born author spent over a decade writing and producing children's programming . From his days as one of the few black students at St. John's University, to his years writing Gulah Gulah's Island and Arthur, Taylor's story reveals the seemingly random events that often lead to a career in television and writing, the things he learned along the way, as well as the current nature of Kid's TV. more ›

Last May a bunch of Brooklyn College MFA graduates exhibited their work at the War Memorial, only to have it banned by the Brooklyn Parks Department. In the process of hauling off the artwork the Parks Department deemed inappropriate, college officials managed to damange some of it. Two Trees Management (who is moving Galapagos to Dumbo) saved the day and exhibited their show at 70 Washington Street. Meanwhile, the students sued the Parks Department, the city and Brooklyn College. more ›

Di Fara, the famed Brooklyn pizzeria that claims a space in many people's hearts, has been closed since Monday after failing five of the last six Department of Health restaurant inspections. Now, the media has flocked to get sad reactions from customers. The NY Times talks to a Brooklyn College student, who says, "I come twice a week, at least. This is the best pizza. I don't want to find a new place." more ›

Congratulations to everyone graduating this month! As NYU's commencement was today, with speaker jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, we decided to list the many NYC commencement speakers, with help from The Chronicle of Higher Education (if we've missed any or gotten it wrong, let us know in comments): more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: Found Explosive at Broadway and 116th St. in Manhattan, a Manhole Fire on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, and a Homicide at 140-10 123rd Ave. in Queens.
• How to get a Manhattan hotel room for less than $200 a night. And it's not the Whitehouse on Bowery!
• Uphill and downhill could be two ways to characterize traffic safety debate in Park Slope, as a proposed bike lane for the incline known as 9th St. is run down by the neighborhood's Civic Council.

Last night, Streetsblog noticed that the City University of New York had just announced that Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall was appointed Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning, Construction and Management. A few hours later, there were press releases about Weinshall's resignation from the DOT and the Mayor. The Mayor said:

When I became Mayor, the people of New York were already very fortunate to have an innovative thinker like Iris Weinshall leading the Department of Transportation, and I was fortunate that she agreed to stay on and serve for what has now been an extraordinary seven year tenure. Iris tried new ways to solve problems that had plagued New York City for decades, and she worked with local communities to mitigate dangerous conditions, resulting in the lowest pedestrian fatality rate in recorded history and infrastructure changes and improvements in all five boroughs. more ›

Two New Yorkers were awarded Rhodes Scholarships this past weekend. The Big Apple recipients are Jacob Lemieux, who is from the Upper East Side and attends Stanford, and Kevin Shenderov of Brooklyn who attends NYU. more ›

If we didn't read it in the Washington Square News, we would have guessed that either Dennis Crowley or Charlie Todd was behind this. But it looks like NYU RAs were the ones who created a Connect Four board out of Weinstein Hall's windows so students could play from the outside. It was part of an effort to bring the dorm community together (Floor Wars), even if it made some students cranky.

“It was definitely not good that they came and woke me up just to hang up things in my window,” CAS freshman Michael Bliss said of the RAs preparation for the event. more ›

Mothers and fathers, don't just dream about your children being doctors (well, doctors might be passe, given malpractice coverage), lawyers or hedge fund managers: Have them set their sights on being the president of a major university. amNew York has a feature on salaries of NYC college/university presidents. The presidents are mostly charged with fund-raising, hence needing a real "performer" that gets a sweet compensation package, but the money they make can be pretty sick (note: private institutions pay more, natch). more ›

If you've been to an anti-war protest in the last couple of years, you probably recognize Geoffrey Blank. He's a fairly constant presence, especially in Union Square Park-- a big, bear-like guy who really knows how to work the crowd. Apparently he's a bit too loud for the cops, who have arrested him more than seven times for disturbing the peace. Newsday is reporting that Blank is now facing up to four years in prison for his crimes: more ›

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After its eviction from a city park, the Brooklyn College MFA graduates will get to another chance to exhibit their work, this time at 70 Washington Street, thanks to Two Trees Management which manages 70 Washington Street and 110 Livingston Street. The Brooklyn Parks Department freaked out when seeing art from "Plan B" at the War Memorial and unceremoniously hauled the works away (causing some damage as well). The show will reopen on Wednesday, and you can find out more about at Plan B Prevails. more ›