Because we need to be reminded of good things and good people, here's another heartwarming feature on the inspiring Columbia University janitor who has spent the last 20 years learning English and working his way to get a B.A. in classics. Gac Filipaj, who fled war-torn Yugoslavia in 1992, will graduate from Columbia's School of General Studies this Sunday. While he is very proud, Filipaj also says he wished he had told his father (who died three weeks ago) that he had been studying "because he thought that I'm not that smart." Plus, he still sends most of his income back home to Yugoslavia. Uh, is it a little dusty in here? more ›

An immigrant from the former Yugoslavia who has worked as a janitor for Columbia University for 20 years has finally earned his bachelor's degree in classics, with honors. The Daily News reports that while you were concerned with catching up on Boardwalk Empire and content to remain in the same, midlevel job because "the economy just isn't right yet," Gac Filipaj toiled day and night, first taking classes to learn English then courses in the classics department at the Ivy League university. "Only half my dream come true," Filipaj says, with an earnestness that kills a million photos of cats drawn in steamed milk. "Today, one ought to have a master's or a Ph.D." more ›

You know what will make Columbia University undergraduates more insane than rumors about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadenijad being invited to speak on campus? The confirmation that President Barack Obama, Columbia College Class of 1983, will speak at Barnard College's commencement. Here's a sample comment from Columbia's student newspaper: "What a dbag. Romney 2012." more ›

The woman who died after falling from a Midtown East buliding's 16th floor balcony was identified as Columbia University student Samantha Kwek. The police are investigating her death, but it's suspected it may have been suicide. more ›

Hold on, Columbia University students—you may not be able to major in "Mic-Checking The Man" anymore! A course offered by the Ivy League school's Anthropology Department titled "Occupy the Field" has been evicted from the school's course bulletin Was Tony Bologna involved? more ›

Not to be outdone by NYU and their upcoming course on Occupy Wall Street, Columbia University will offer its own course on the nascent movement this spring. Offered by the Anthropology Department, the course [pdf], called "Occupy the Field," will offer "training in ethnographic research methods alongside a critical exploration of the conjunctural issues in the Occupy movement: Wall Street, finance capital, and inequality; political strategies, property and public space, and the question of anarchy; and genealogies of the contemporary moment in global social movements." Finger Twinkling 101 is a prerequisite. more ›

A junior at Columbia University is in critical condition after a hit-and-run accident early Sunday morning at the same intersection where Italian jazz singer Daniela D'Ercole was struck and killed by a driver while crossing the street. Witnesses say Peyton Bell, an economics and philosophy major, was hit by a gray Mercedes-Benz while jaywalking across Broadway at 106th Street around 1:20 a.m. Police sources tell the Post that Bell, 20, had just exited a cab and the Columbia Spectator reports that the driver had the green light. more ›

Few muggers posses the sophisticated refinement to appreciate the finer things in life: a nice bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a Whole Body Robotic Massage Chair from Sharper Image, and the latest version of whatever iPhone has been bestowned upon the unworthy masses (preferably the white one). So it's nice to know there's at least one discerning thief out there showing a little class. Police tell DNAinfo there's a cell phone robber targeting people in the neighborhood around Columbia University, and if he tries to rob you, don't even think about handing over your vulgar BlackBerry. 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 ›

Yesterday, police revealed that a woman had been sexually assaulted at Morningside Park on Sunday night at 6 p.m. Now, the NYPD has released images and video of the suspect. more ›

We've been told that being fat can also be healthy, but we don't think we're going to see any fat guys squeezing into the Oval Office anytime soon. At this point, Americans would rather give up sex than their favorite dessert! But there is one silver lining for zaftig dudes: pretty skinny ladies don't care how fat you are as long as you're rich! more ›

Last week, it seemed that a Columbia University group— CIRCA (Columbia International Relations Council and Association)—would be dining with Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week—prompting the National Review to call Columbia "Jihad University." But now it seems like the Iranian Embassy has rescinded the invitation to CIRCA... but is inviting a different Columbia group. more ›

A Columbia University student busted for selling cocaine last year is now going be to spending the next six months at Rikers Island. Harrison David, who was kicked out of the engineering program after his arrest, "pleaded guilty to felony criminal sale of a controlled substance" in exchange for the six month jail stint, which will amount to 3 1/2 months behind bars with good behavior and time served. His defense lawyer said, "It's not too bad. At least not for those of us who don't actually have to serve it." more ›

The dean of Columbia College, Columbia University's undergraduate college, resigned effective June 2012, citing the school's decisions that would "compromise" the college's financial health. But University President Lee Bollinger asked her to step down now. more ›

The Summer Of The Groper has been filled with all sorts of colorful characters, such as the pint-sized Upper East Side groper and the bicycle-riding Astoria groper. But none sounded as strange as the Skateboarding Groper who was reportedly arrested on the Upper West Side near Columbia University on Thursday. Police finally confirmed that Thomas McDonnell, 22, was arrested in a dramatic takedown that afternoon, after being accused of groping four women. more ›

Is this turning into the Summer of the Groper? In the past week, we've heard several first-hand accounts of an Upper East Side serial groper who has been attacking women for the past seven months. Then earlier today, we heard about the bicycle-riding groper attacking women all over Astoria. And now, it seems that a skateboarding groper has been apprehended by police on the Upper West Side near Columbia! Reader Mary M. recounted her experience with the groper this afternoon below: 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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

Bruce Friedrich, Vice President of PETA, has challenged collegiate debate teams at some of the country's most prestigious universities to defend the practice of eating animals. If he hasn't always won outright (they've only taken a post-debate vote "twice, and the vegetarian side received more votes both times" he says via email) his goal is to speak to students who "are open to making, and empowered to make, decisions that might have been more difficult earlier." Tomorrow night, he'll be clashing with NYU's Debate Team, an opportunity that was denied by a certain, drug-addled "Ivy." more ›

A Columbia University Business School student who allegedly attacked a woman on Saturday night at 116th and Broadway may get a no-jail plea deal. Suspect Ash Sinha is not only the son of an Indian diplomat, and his lawyer said of the attack, "[This is] his first potential psychotic break." more ›

A radical and comprehensive new biography of Malcolm X published today names a Newark man as his main assassin. "Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention," written by the late Columbia professor Manning Marable, asserts that 72 year-old Mustafa Shabazz killed Malcolm X, and that two out of the three men who were arrested had nothing to do with the crime. Shabazz, through his lawyer, told the Star-Ledger that "there's nothing to support this." more ›

Columbia University may see the return of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, which was forced off campus after the heated student protests during the 1960s sparked partly by the school's relationship with the Vietnam War>. The University Senate voted 51-17 (with an abstention) to approve a resolution which states, "Columbia University welcomes the opportunity to explore mutually beneficial relationships with the Armed Forces of the United States, including participation in the programs of the Reserve Officers Training Corps." 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 ›