Results tagged “columbiauniversity”

On Friday, the website for Columbia's student newspaper, the Columbia Daily Spectator, went down amid "some serious internal - and possibly legal - drama going down." Now it seems like its online editor went rogue, to protest the editor-in-chief and managing editor, and "decided to take the website down until the demands put forward by the managing board members were met." Kids today!

Glenn Beck needs to get his house in order. Only a day after the Fox News Channel host identified President Barack Obama as a white people-hating racist who doesn't not like white people (got that?), he confesses in a YouTube video promoting his latest book that his daughter hopes to attend that august institution of radical Islam and communism, Columbia University. Admits Beck in the video: "My middle daughter, she wants to go to Columbia. Do you have any idea the price of Columbia? Please, buy the book! Buy two! Buy three!" And it gets worse—not only does Beck's daughter want to matriculate at the same school that launched arch-superliberals like Eric Foner, Eric Holder, and Barack Obama, she is also a devoted follower of pagan lit! Says Beck: "My daughter is a huge reader—Harry Potter changed her life." So let this be a lesson to all you parents out there: letting your children read books about godless, spell-casting teen wizards will convert them into snobbish intellectuals with effete Ivy League aspirations. It's almost enough to make you cry. FWIW, one notable Republican's daughter attended Columbia—gay marriage-supporting Meghan McCain.

Some Columbia University students are in mourning this week after cops nabbed one of the campus' more prominent dealers. Known to many there as simply "Bill," William Delp found himself in custody Monday when narcotics officers raided his West 107th Street apartment after the 49-year-old had attempted to sell drugs to undercover detectives. Delp, who describes himself on his MySpace page as "a composer, filmmaker, and political and social activist" and posts photos of himself singing "vocal duos" with snakes, faces drug charges related to possession and sale of LSD, Ecstasy, and marijuana. Now, it's not exactly a bombshell story when an aging hippie gets busted for drugs, but what may be the only surprise in this case is that Delp's neighbors were actually surprised. Said neighbor Jonathan Perez to the NY Daily News: "I'm totally shocked...He was always a pretty cool guy. He'd always give the peace sign." Yeah, that probably should have been your clue right there.

The former manager of Columbia University's Pediatric Neurosciences Department of the Neurological Institute claims that he stole $180,000 from the school because his supervisor had been sexually abusing him. John Bzdil III, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, spent $25,000 on his Poconos wedding and thousands on spa products; the Daily News reports, "Charges against Bzdil's estranged wife, Heather Brooke Rinehart, were dropped by prosecutors after Bzdil claimed she had nothing to do with the purchase of Bliss items like Mammoth Minty Scrub and Lovehandler." Bdzill, who faces 21-27 months in prison, told a judge, "Columbia was turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the fact that I was being sexually abused by [the boss]. Subconsciously, I was trying to make them pay attention to my situation and protect me from [him]. I felt deep shame for what he was doing to me and my inability to make him stop." However, his old boss, Cesar Rodriguez, who used to be financial director in the department, denied the accusations and told the Post, "When you are desperate, you'll do whatever you have to."

Owing $158,000 in back rent to a formidable landlord—Columbia University—independent book store Morningside Bookshop will close tomorrow. Owner Peter Soter, who opened the bookshop on Broadway & West 114th five years ago, told the Columbia Spectator earlier this month that while Columbia was "very supportive, and very helpful," he just couldn't make enough money to stay open. Soter put up a letter to the community in the window: "We wanted to be the little bookstore that could. We couldn't." The NY Times chronicles the farewells the bookshop has been receiving, plus some of the economic realities. Some residents feel Columbia could have done more, some have offered a total of $68,000 in "unsolicited donations" to keep the store open. One teacher said, "One of the reasons I lived on the Upper West Side is that it has a sense of being a vital neighborhood. A neighborhood bookstore becomes part of you. I love that bookstore. It’s not like losing a finger. It’s like losing an arm."

Madonna Constantine, a former professor at Columbia's Teachers College, is suing the university for $200 million. The lawsuit claims Columbia has defamed her by dismissing her after their plagiarism probe; the Columbia Spectator reports, "The introduction to the 92-page complaint is titled 'the academic lynching of Professor Madonna Constantine,' and states that these allegations were part of an 'invidious scheme to ruin the scholarly reputation of the Plaintiff through a conspiracy to drum up and eventually publish false claims against the Plaintiff.'" (It should be noted two of Constantine's accusers are minorities, one black, one Asian.) A Teachers College spokeperson said, "This case is totally without merit, and we intend to defend against it rigorously." Constantine's tenure at Teachers College included a 2007 incident where a noose was found hanging on her office door; no suspects were ever found.

Cramster.com tells the NY Post that Columbia University is the top school where its users hail from (if they're going by columbia.edu addresses). CEO Aaron Hawker bragged, "Not only do we have the most users [at Columbia], but they are the most active." The subscription site is a "virtual study hall" but the Post points out that there are also "hundreds of textbooks with answers included" (apparently posted in spite of Cramster's anti-cheating policy). Columbia topped Ohio State, LSU, the University of Southern California and UCLA; one student sang Cramster's praises, "It's not cheating, it's awesome. Those who rely on it [for answers] get screwed. It's to help students who want to learn, and it helped me." As for other NY-area schools, Cramster says SUNY-Stony Brook is #2, NYU is #3, Yeshiva University is #4 and St. John's is #5. Related: Cramster says that Columbia is a supercomputer.

Five months after state officials found the site "blighted," the Empire State Development Corporation voted to use eminent domain to seize real estate for Columbia's Manhattanville expansion. The Columbia Spectator reports, "The state's decision on Thursday, will allow the state to seize land from two holdouts who have not struck property deals with the University. In exchange, the landowners--Nick Sprayregen, the owner of Tuck-It-Away Storage, and the Singh family, which operates two gas stations in Manhattanville--will receive market rate compensation." But apparently Sprayregen will "file our petition contesting the findings of eminent domain."

Days after seven Columbia University students were attacked near campus, the police have announced four arrests. Surveillance cameras captured possible suspects who apparently struck at five different locations. According to WNBC, "the suspects as 16-year old DeShaun Busby, 16-year-old Quentin Cox, 17-year-old Lawrence Jones and 18-year-old Jan Germosen" and "all face charges of gang assault." The police are continuing to look for other suspects.

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.

Continue reading "Series of Assaults on Columbia Students Near Campus"

Madonna Constantine, the former Teachers College professor whose office door had a noose hanging on it last year, is now suing Columbia University over her termination. Constantine had been dismissed over plagiarism charges after an 18-month long investigation and she claimed the school was conducting a witch hunt (though it should be noted two of her accusers were minorities--one black and one Asian). The Post notes that the lawsuit says the accusers are the real plagiarizers while the Daily News reports that lawsuit now says Constantine was the victim of "extreme bias," stating, "They took [Constantine's] guilt as a foregone conclusion and conducted no investigation beyond that required to buttress such conclusion."

We're at Columbia University for the ServiceNation Summit. Security is tight--university entrances are closed to students and Columbia employees only--and students are sitting outside to watch a livefeed of the forum in the middle of campus. The forum with Barack Obama and John McCain will air at 8 p.m. on CNN, MSNBC, and some PBS stations. You can also watch it online at the ServiceNation website.

The Empire State Development Corporation held a two-day meeting for the public to air their opinions and concerns about Columbia University's Manhattanville plan. The NY Times reported, "while the two-day hearing featured testimony from a former mayor, members of the State Legislature and the president of Columbia University, the group that will make the ultimate decision, the development corporation’s board, was not there." (Only a lawyer for the ESDC listened.) Former mayor David Dinkins said he is "convinced it...will be positive for Columbia and its neighbors." But on the other side, others, notably Nick Sprayregen who is fighting Columbia to keep his property in the footprint, said there's no reason why the ESDC should have declared the area blighted, opening up the door to eminent domain.

The NY Sun ponders the "mystery" of Barack Obama's Columbia years. While most of his life is mentioned in his speeches or his DNC biopic, "one chapter of the tale remains a blank — his education at Columbia College, a place he rarely speaks about and where few people seem to remember him." His campaign hasn't released his college transcript, which adds to the intrigue (FWIW, President Bush got C's at Yale--and John Kerry's Yale grades were lower!) and suggests, to some, that he's holding back in case people accuse him of benefiting from affirmative action. What is known: He transferred there from Occidental College (but didn't get housing, so lived off campus on East 94th), his grandparents visited him while he was in NYC (photo) and he says he spent most of his time studying.

US News & World Report has released its annual list which ranks the best colleges and universities. All the usual suspects make the top 10, with Columbia University sharing its 8th place title with both Duke and the University of Chicago. NYMag weighs in, saying Columbia is the Duke of the North (burn?), just as about "ten southern schools refer to themselves as The Harvard of the South." The Bwog notes that "Chicago and Columbia were tied for the #9 spot last year, while Duke ranked 8th." Starting this Fall, Columbia gets a little more James Franco, which will clearly only up its ranking for next year. Also: NYU is #33 and Yeshiva University is #50 on the list of universities.

Madonna Constantine, the Columbia Teachers College professor who was fired over plagiarism charges, is appealing the school's decision. She claims that she was fired because she spoke out after finding a noose hanging on her office door (Constantine also previously accused the school of conducting a witch-hunt against her). The Village Voice recently looked at the issues surrounding Constantine, Teachers College, and the world of higher-education politics.

Officials at Columbia University say they will not invite Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak on campus this fall. Spokesman Robert Hornsby told the Daily News, "It has not been the practice to have any repeat speakers among those who have already appeared at the university's World Leaders Forum series," but of course, it's unclear whether Ahmedinejad would even accept again, considering Columbia President Lee Bollinger called him a "petty and cruel dictator", which earned Bollinger the #1 "Awkward Moment" for 2007, per Time magazine.

Yesterday, the father of the Columbia graduate student who died after running into traffic--while trying to flee a teen attacker--testified in Family Court yesterday.

The 14-year-old boy whose actions led to the death of a Columbia graduate student was arraigned in Family Court yesterday. An NYPD detective told the judge that Sheldon (whose last name is withheld due to his age) admitted to repeatedly punching 24-year-old Minghui Yu in the head "a couple times." But, according to Detective John Garvey, the boy also claimed "he attempted to grab Mr. Yu to keep him from going into traffic."

The 14-year-old boy held for second-degree manslaughter in the death of a Columbia graduate student appeared in family court yesterday, as lawyers, police officials, and an aunt who cares for him weighed in. A judge assigned the boy, named Sheldon, lawyers and decided he would be tried as a juvenile offender in Family Court.

Police say that two teenaged boys led them to the 13- (or 14-) year-old charged with manslaughter in the death of Columbia graduate student Minghui Yu. On Friday night, the teen had punched Yu in the face at a median on Broadway between 122nd and 123rd Streets. After a struggle, Yu managed to escape and ran into the street, only to be fatally hit by a car.

A 24-year-old Columbia University student studying late at the library Friday evening is in critical condition at St. Luke's Hospital in Manhattan after his bid to escape a pair of muggers ended in serious injury under the wheels of a Jeep. According to WABC News, the student had just left the library on Columbia's Morningside Heights campus and was waiting for a bus around 9 p.m., when he was approached by two young men. It's unclear whether the student was mugged or already mugged, when he fled into the street near 120th and Broadway.

Columbia University’s 17-acre, $7 billion dollar expansion plan (which was approved late last year) has some up in arms, and standing firm.

In 2006, the graduating class of Columbia's undergraduate college had Senator John McCain as a Class Day speaker. Last year, it was actor Matthew Fox. And this year's speaker will be...Schools Chancellor Joel Klein! To which seniors said, "I don't know anything about him" and "I have no idea who he is."

Veeramuthu Kalimuthu, a Columbia University mechanic, managed to lift the man to the platform and then crossed the tracks again in order to catch a downtown train.

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.”

Juicy Campus, the multi-college message board, has been generating controversy at Columbia University because of the site’s discussions, which feature edifying topics ranging from “Fattect [sic] Girl that Looks Good at Columbia ” to “Males at Columbia – Dickless Wonders.” Michelle Diamond, president of the Columbia student council, has been exploring the feasibility of blocking the site from the University web servers. Alternatively, Diamond may initiate a campus-wide "pledge" against Juicy Campus, in which students would vow never to wallow in such vulgar discussions like “Sorority Rankings – Here’s What I Think.” Here's an example of some of the high-minded Ivy League discussions going on at the site:

The Columbia University community is currently divided over the controversy involving a professor's possible plagiarism, which has escalated to racial politics.

The Columbia Teachers College professor who was in the news last year when a noose was found on her office door angrily denied she plagiarized others' work. Madonna Constantine, who the Teachers College sanctioned after a year-and-a-half investigation, will appeal the charges.