Today CBS has more on Gac Filipaj, the janitor who earned his classics BA at Columbia University with honors over a 20-year-span. We realize it's the crack of 10:15 in the morning, but it's never too early to let a custodian's humble smile remind us what fat, lazy slobs we are. "The key is he was in class with every other undergraduate at Columbia and competing with them," Peter Awn, the Dean of the School of General Studies says, crushing any suspicions you may have had that Filipaj received special treatment and is therefore somehow your moral equal. more ›

We can all cry about how mean those ads in the subway are telling us to lay off the fat and sugar, but when our f*cking squirrels are eating whole slices of pizza without compunction it's safe to say we have a problem. Bwog, no slouch in cataloguing squirrels thinking they're people, published this photo from a tipster taken on Columbia's campus and notes that the "Perp said to be 0'8", brown and grey hair." Also: frequently short of breath, and known to pick up a shake weight from time to time. more ›

One former-Ivy Leaguer won't have to sell nearly as much cocaine to cover the costs this semester as he enrolls at City College, where annual tuition is 88 percent cheaper than at neighboring Columbia University. But it's unlikely Michael Wymbs will be slinging anytime soon if he knows what's good for him—he's taking a plea deal that includes five years probation and court-ordered drug treatment. more ›

Yesterday, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly was heckled during a Q&A period of David Dinkins' graduate class at Columbia University. Kelly reportedly was unfazed by the outburst, which was in part spurred by alleged police misconduct during OWS protests, and made the sardonic comment, "Well, this is very intimidating." Now, a tipster sent us a video of activist Matthew Swaye following Kelly out of the building and trying to award him the "2011 Bull Connor Award." more ›

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly paid a visit today to the SIPA class that David Dinkins currently teaches at Columbia University, and Bwog reports that Kelly was thoroughly heckled (by an NYU saboteur!). But don't worry, the Commish thinks those protesters are just adorable. more ›

The Columbia marching band got a fair amount of press this week when it was banned from playing at this weekend's season finale against Brown (the school's athletic department was offended by a parody song mocking the football teams dismal 0-9 record). But that was then! The school has backtracked and the band will now be allowed to play. Whew! more ›

Hey, if you're going to drop over $50,000 on tuition at one of the nation's best schools, you should get taught by the best of the best, right? Intellectual powerhouses, real braniacs, Serious Academic Figures...like Vinny from the Jersey Shore. more ›

Two of the former Columbia University students busted for selling drugs in the NYPD's Operation Ivy League last year had a very disappointing day in court today. A mean judge decided that alleged drug dealers Jose Perez and Michael Wymbs can't enroll in a pretrial diversion program that would have kept them out of prison (and cleaned their records if they made it through). Another student, Chris Coles, was allowed to enter the program while a fourth's lawyer asked for more time before the judge makes the decision. Meanwhile the pair's lawyers say that the boys are being mistreated by a judge looking to punish some rich kids from a famous school. more ›

A group of Columbia University students better brush up on their 9/11 conspiracy theories, because they may be dining with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad soon. According to the Columbia Spectator, Columbia International Relations Council and Association "members are invited to a private, Sept. 21 dinner in Midtown with the man whom University President Lee Bollinger introduced as “a petty and cruel dictator” when he spoke on campus in 2007." more ›

Jack Shephard would frown upon this. LOST (and Party of Five) actor Matthew Fox was detained by cops in Cleveland, Ohio on Saturday night, TMZ reports. Fox allegedly drunkenly assaulted a woman outside of a bar there after being blocked from boarding a party bus she was driving. more ›

Harrison David, one of the suspended Columbia students charged with dealing drugs from the school's frats, pled guilty to selling cocaine today. David was the only one of the five students arrested last December to be charged with dealing coke and as such faced the harshest penalties (the others have their own plea deals on the table). He will most "likely spend only 3 1/2 months of his sentence at Rikers Island as a result of time served and good behavior," according to his attorney. more ›

Breaking news, you guys! All that internet cruising is making affecting your memory in not-so-good ways, maybe. more ›

A recent study conducted by Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) revealed that 9 out of 10 Americans who are medically addicted to substances began using them before age 18. One out of 4 Americans who began using before 18 are addicted, compared to 1 in 25 who begin at 21. The study [pdf] claims that adolescent substance abuse is "America's #1 Public Health Problem" because the "costs to federal, state and local governments of substance abuse, which has its roots in adolescence, are at least $468 billion per year." more ›

The city's Special Narcotics Prosecutor's office today announced that it had offered plea deals to the former Columbia students accused of dealing drugs out of dorms and frats, but none of them are biting. Yet. more ›

Believe it or not, when looked at in aggregate, groceries are cheaper in New York City—home of the $5 dollar bottle of Coke and $150 bowl of soup—than they are in other parts of the country, a new research paper reports. According to two Columbia University economists a "household that moved from Des Moines to New York and purchased goods from the same type of stores in the two cities would realize a 10% drop in the overall cost of its grocery purchases." more ›

Just three weeks after its University Senate voted to allow ROTC back, Columbia University is officially recognizing the Naval Reserved Officers Training Corps. Columbia President Lee Bollinger said in a statement, "Repeal of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law provided a historic opportunity for our nation to live up to its ideals of equality and also for universities to reconsider their relationships with the military..." more ›

Always nice to know that going to an Ivy League institution doesn't necessarily mean a person is the sharpest tool in the box. Columbia University, our local Ivy, for instance has had its fair share of harebrained criminals of late. First there were those drug-dealing frat boys and now a sophomore football player, 19-year-old Lions wide receiver Anthony Johnson Jr., has been arrested for buying 42 fake IDs. more ›

Some NYU kid claiming to be with Gothamist recently asked Das Racist about their upcoming show at the University—an opportunity the band took to trash both NYU and Columbia! more ›

Pro-vegetarian author, reality TV contestant and PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich was scheduled to duke it out tonight with Columbia's Parliamentary Debate team over the question "Is Eating Meat Ethical?" Peta2, PETA's youth division has held these debates at colleges all over the country, from the University of Texas (wonder how that went?) to Harvard and Princeton. However, PETA tells us that that Columbia abruptly cancelled the event without explanation. Dunh dunh DUNH! more ›

The brothers at the Columbia chapters of Pi Kappa Alpha, Psi Upsilon, and Alpha Epsilon Pi can not be happy today. The Ivy's paper is reporting that, in the wake of Operation Ivy League (in which five students were charged with running a drug ring out of school dorms and frats), the school is not only putting those frats on probation for the next three years, they are also kicking them out of their University-owned brownstones on 114th Street. more ›

The 23 CUNY campuses that banned smoking in January have prestigious company. Barnard has tweaked its smoking policy and is now going to be "a smoke-free campus," effective March 21. According to an e-mail sent to students yesterday the change "is the result of regular requests from various members of the College community to complete a process we started in 2004 when we first limited outdoor smoking on campus." more ›

Staten Island has its ninja burglar (who may be back!) but Columbia now has a Spider-Man burglar. The Ivy, which has been much in the news of late, has seen its hallowed halls burgled at least four times in recent months by a crook who climbs the school's walls and enters through unlocked windows. So far he's taken a portable TV, a gym bag, a pen, and a laptop. On New Year's Eve he was caught on camera breaking a glass door before fleeing. FWIW, in the movies Spidey attends Columbia (in the comics he went to Empire State University). more ›

The five Columbia students charged with running a drug ring out of school dorms and frats had returned to court today. The five, all out on bail, showed up for a "calendar call" in which their lawyers spoke a little in their defense. The whole thing was over in less than half an hour and the gang is next due in court on March 1. Which doesn't mean a few interesting tidbits about the quintet of alleged dealers didn't slip out! more ›

Uhm, guys? You are NOT going to believe this. We may have mentioned this to you before, but this is for serious folks. Hold on to your britches: college kids do drugs. And it gets worse. Colleges really don't like to tell the authorities about it. more ›

Want a job in the government where you might learn classified information? Then don't go around tweeting about WikiLeaks, m'kay? Or, wait, tweet what you like. Columbia University is a touch conflicted on the issue. more ›

You know that photo of James Franco sleeping in class? Once it hit TMZ it made its way to every corner of the internet, and now the actor fears falling asleep in public. Put your cameraphones down and let James Franco get his beauty rest, people! more ›

Columbia President Lee Bollinger is tapped to head the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's board of directors. He's been on the board since 2007 and will start his term as chair next year. The current chair, Denis Hughes, a labor leader, is stepping down because of rules for how long chairs can serve; the previous chair, "Stephen Friedman, a former Goldman Sachs executive and Bush administration official, stepped down from his spot as chairman...in May 2009 amidst scrutiny of his purchases of Goldman Sachs stock during the financial crisis." The Wall Street Journal also reports, "Chairs of regional Fed boards receive a $5,000 annual retainer, along with modest fees to compensate for the times they are engaged in bank business." more ›

James Franco, the actor/graduate student/ documentarian/ performance art fan/ artist, was interviewed by Parade magazine. He revealed tidbits about acting on General Hospital, acting (and love scenes) with Julia Roberts, and his life as a student. Yes, Franco really loves going to school—he must, since he's headed to Yale this fall for a Ph.D. in English at Yale, after recently studying at Columbia's graduate writing program and NYU's Tisch film program. more ›