Yesterday we noted that the New School's president, David E. Van Zandt, is totally chill about the ongoing occupation of the second-floor study center the school leases at 90 Fifth Avenue. Unlike some school presidents we know of, he can appreciate the value of unvarnished free speech. Can the same be said of the protesters? A tipster passed along the photo above, which targets freelance Times reporter, New School alumnus, and current Columbia J-school student Aidan Gardiner for his HIT JOB that he wrote for the City Room yesterday. more ›

The Columbia Spectator reported that Columbia University's Office of Public Safety issued an alert (though not all students received it) about seven students being assaulted on last Sunday night near campus: "Though the alert...offered no information about whether the assaults might be connected, it did provide some consistent detail. Each of the students was physically assaulted and reported 'being approached and/or surrounded by a group of five to seven' males in their twenties." One student was apparently robbed. The Daily News had the most thorough details on the attacks:

The brutality started at 12:13 a.m. at Amsterdam Ave. and W. 112th St. in Morningside Heights when the pack punched a 30-year-old man, giving him a black eye. more ›

Columbia University has a new financial aid plan for undergraduate students whose families make between $60,000-100,000. Following in the footsteps of other Ivy League schools, they will significantly expand the aid currently offered to lower and middle income students. The VP of Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks said, “Our new financial aid policies reflect a more realistic view of the challenges that lower- and middle-income families face in paying for college.” more ›