Results tagged “harvard”

Yesterday, former governor Eliot Spitzer spoke at Harvard University's ethics center to discuss big business and government, much to the dismay of one of the madams he used for his dalliances with escorts. He mostly discussed the economic crisis, but he did answer a question about the prostitution scandal that brought down his poltiical career. According to the NY Times, a man "with a long gray ponytail sticking out of his baseball hat," began, "I may sound like a conspiracy theorist," and then asked if there were "'ulterior motives' behind the timing of the disclosure of the prostitution ring that he said was leaked to the news media."

Today, former governor Eliot Spitzer will be at Harvard, speaking at the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics, discussing, "What Should Be the Rationale for Government Participation in the Market?" But given Spitzer's past, from Troopergate to Hookergate, one person is very upset—a madam who had Spitzer as a client. In a letter to Professor Lawrence Lessig, Kristin Davis wrote, "For nearly 5 years, I supplied Mr. Spitzer with high priced escorts while he was both Attorney General and Governor. For this crime, I served four months on Rikers Island, had all of my assets confiscated and am now considered a sex offender on 5 years probation. Mr. Spitzer broke both state and federal laws and walked away free."

Acting on a dare, a drunk Harvard Law School grad allegedly set fire to a chapel yesterday that houses the remains of unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The perp — identified as 26-year-old Brian Schroeder — broke into Memorial Park near the corner of First Avenue and East 30th Street and set the blaze at around 9 am. The fire did not get to the remains, which are kept in climate-controlled containers awaiting advances in DNA technology that might allow them to be identified, but notes, photos, flowers, and other mementos inside the white-tented sanctuary were either stolen or burned. Schroeder turned himself in to police last night.

Last week, noted Harvard academic Henry Louis Gates was arrested in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after a neighbor described a man trying to "pry" open a home's front door. It turned out that Gates had locked himself out his house; cops claim Gates was belligerent and refused to show ID while Gates claims he did show ID yet was still arrested for disorderly conduct (apparently for allegedly being belligerent, which he denies). The charges were dropped, but Gates wants an apology from the cop, "If he apologizes sincerely, I am willing to forgive him. And if he admits his error, I am willing to educate him about the history of racism in America and the issue of racial profiling." And the Reverend Al Sharpton was incredulous, "I’ve heard of driving while black, and I’ve heard of shopping while black. But I’ve never heard of living in a home while black." The Harlem minister added he would fight for Gates, "If this can happen at Harvard, what does it say about the rest of the country? Henry Louis Gates is the pre-eminent African-American scholar in the country. If they can do this to him, imagine what they can do to a kid in Roxbury."

A Brooklyn resident pleaded not guilty to shooting a man in the basement of a Harvard dorm on Monday. Jabrai Jordan Copny, who is the son of a retired NYPD officer, is being held without bail for the murder of Justin Cosby. According to Boston authorities, Cosby was selling drugs to Harvard students and was at the Kirkland House dorm with marijuana and money; the Boston Globe reports, "Three men traveled to Cambridge from New York City with the intention of robbing Cosby." Middlesex County DA Gerald Leone said, "It was that encounter between the four men that went bad. The common denominator that led to the intent to rip-off Justin Cosby of both money and drugs was that Justin and Jordan were known to each other through Harvard students." Copny surrendered last night while the two other suspects are at large. Copney's mother told the Daily News, "My son is not a murderer. He was raised very well and is very respectful. My son wasn't into drugs, my son wasn't into being a thug...The truth will come out."

How has Chelsea hotspot Marquee thrived for over five years when the average lifespan of a nightclub is 18 months? A Harvard business class that got an inside look at the inner workings of the club says that much of Marquee's success comes from tightening their velvet rope. Anita Elverse used the sometimes infamous nightclub as a case study for her Strategic Marketing in Creative Industries MBA class. She said, "When you've invested a few million just launching a club, it's tempting to say, 'OK, we might not be around for a long time. We have to get high-paying customers in.' But that's the easiest way to ruin the brand of a club." The associate professor acknowledged that a 1,300 percent markup on a bottle of vodka doesn't hurt either. Elverse's class was split down the middle on whether Marquee should cash in the chips in the current economic climate—for all its success, it made just $2.4 million in profit in 2007.

Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council may not agree on the appropriateness of cell phones in public schools, but the DoE is now handing out cell phones to a select group of students. The privately funded pilot program will give cell phones to students and reward positive behavior, such as showing up to class, behaving and doing well.

They may have grown up privileged and prepped for success from birth, but a record number of four-year-olds are facing rejection from New York's top kindergarten programs. Fortunately, the parents of the doomed children are probably still young enough to procreate again and hope for better chances with their younger progeny.

READING: Jeff Garigliano, Condé Nast Portfolio senior-editor turned author, will be reading from his debut novel titled Dogface. The story follows a rebellious 14-year-old boy who, like so many before him, gets sent off to a camp that specializes in "whipping mixed-up teens back into shape".

Last year, the federal authorities had been looking for Esther Elizabeth Reed, a woman who faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. Reed was on the lam, but this past weekend's murders at a mall outside Chicago led the police to Reed, who had been living in the very same town the killings occurred.

Grand Central Terminal gets the full PBS American Experience treatment with this documentary from filmmaker Michael Epstein (Monday & Thursday, 9:00 p.m., WNET 13). The one hour film traces the history of the terminal, its construction and its impact on New York and the rest of the world. Expect tales of robber barons, dead commuters, and of course fawning over an architectural treasure.

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a shooting on 173rd St. in Manhattan, a robbery/assault on 13th St. in Brooklyn, and an aircraft emergency at JFK airport in Queens.
• Barnard at Columbia has a new incoming president, snagged from Harvard Business School.
• Don't miss the Super Bowl sitting in your local precinct's drunk tank. Get your Super Brawling out of the way early the next time someone pipes up about the Patriots.

Philippe de Montebello, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for three decades, has announced his retirement; he’ll be leaving as soon as a successor is found. The 71-year-old French born Harvard graduate called it a “wrenching” decision but finally concluded that “to stay much further would be to skirt decency.”

Earlier today, former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed during a rally. The Western-educated (Harvard, Oxford) Bhutto had been living in Dubai and London for eight years, but returned in October to prepare for Pakistan's national elections (to be held next month) with hopes of returning to power. However, her return parade was bombed, killing 134 people and injuring more than 400. [Her obituary in the NY Times.]

“I don’t think we should rush to give Columbia University a Christmas present,” city councilman Charles Barron said before voting against Columbia University’s 17-acre, $7 billion dollar expansion plan. But though many council members dissented or declined to vote, the plan was approved yesterday by the city council, who voted a month earlier than expected. The stage is now set for what could be a fierce eminent domain battle between the university and some commercial hold-outs in Harlem’s Manhattanville neighborhood, which was rezoned by the council from light manufacturing to mixed use.

The NY Post warns the women of New York that their bag habits may be bad for them. Some women sling up to 11 lbs over their shoulder on a daily basis, and doctors warn that "Any time there's an unequal weight distribution on the shoulders or upper back, it's going to affect alignment of the spine." While we think it's more about living in New York and carrying around what you need to get you through your waking (and walking) hours -- the Post also lays blame on celebs who have made the big-bag trend popular.

Designers and fashion-forward celebrities have turned oversized totes with massive metal hardware into must-have accessories. While many start at over $1,000, they also weigh an average of 4 pounds empty.

Pint-sized celebrities and models who do cocaine on the front page of the London Daily Mirror have taken to bragging about their protruding collar bone indirectly, by sporting an extremely large bag. Seemingly, the largeness of your bag is inversely related to your smallness, thus, the greater the possibility that you could dismember yourself and stuff all of your extremities into it. The trend probably started with the Olsen twins, the originators of all things hip and extremely outsized.

The Boston priest arrested for stalking "Late Night" talk-show host Conan O'Brien has been found fit for trial. A Manhattan judge declared the Reverend David Ajemian mentally fit for trial after a court-appointed psychologist examined him. Ajemian was arrested after issuing a number of threats to the host of the NBC talk show host and attempts to get into an O'Brien taping. Ajemian was relatively more unhinged than your average show biz stalker. He was...

The Manhattan District Attorney's office announced that the Reverend David Ajemian was arrested on charges of stalking and threatening Conan O'Brien. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston placed Ajemian, a 46-year-old priest in Stoneham, Massachusetts, on leave. The DA's office says that Ajemian had sent letters (some on parish letterhead!) to O'Brien's offices at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and home, contacted his parents, and tried to attend tapings of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He was...

For better or worse, talk of NYPD detective James Zadroga's death continues to linger. For the past two weeks, the family of Zadroga, who worked hours of rescue and recovery at the pit after the September 11 attacks, and the city's medical examiner's office have been disagreeing about Zadroga's cause of death. Now Mayor Bloomberg has stepped into the fray, discrediting Zadroga's hero status.

This week, the NY Times has some suggestions for wedding gifts from stores affiliated to museums, reasoning that those stores have wonderful gifts that are appealing to "people who are tired of shopping in the same old places — and might enjoy spending a couple hours in a museum as well." We wholeheartedly agree - when you know the couple well, that is.

MUSIC: Last week Craig Finn made a solo appearance amongst the books at Barnes & Noble, tonight he's with his rock band, The Hold Steady, playing another free show. Joining them are the Old 97’s, and newer band, Illinois. A triple-threat lineup with a can't-be-beat pricetag.

TIP: Starting tomorrow Opera-For_all begins the first of three nights of performances. For cheap! The New York City Opera is selling tickets to every seat in the house for just $25. Over the course of "opera season" 50 or more seats in the front orchestra will be priced at just $25 as well. As for this week, here's the sched:

A former Goldman Sachs analyst pleaded guilty to insider trading charges yesterday. Twenty-eight- year-old Eugene Plotkin, with fellow Harvard graduate Stanislav Shpigelman who worked at Merrill Lynch and fellow Goldman analyst David Pajcin, have all pleaded guilty to an elaborate scheme that netted them almost $7 million.

I Dig Doug, a new production in this year’s Fringe Festival, concerns a status-obsessed uptown debutante who decides she should so get involved in presidential politics. When the farcical story begins, the unnamed teen (Karen DiConcetto, called Girl in the program) and her equally self-absorbed friend Nicole (Rochelle Zimmerman) are coasting along on their parents’ money, only mildly concerned about their imminent college application essays – Girl is smart enough to know that if they “can get into Bungalow 8” they can get into Harvard. But Girl’s perfect world is soon torn asunder when she discovers that her personal hero, a lovelorn reality TV star, is nothing more than a phony, craven opportunist. If a Girl can’t believe in reality TV, what can she believe in?

It's a mixed bag for Columbia today. The school was probably happy to find out that it ranked 9th in U.S News & World Report's latest top college ranking issues, but it's no fun to learn that its billion-dollar Manhattanville project was rejected by a community board committee.

Former mayor Rudy Giuliani may have participated in a Republican debate last night, but all anyone wants to talk about is how his possibly estranged daughter and incoming Harvard freshman Caroline joined a Barack Obama group on Facebook, as reported by Slate. Slate explained that "she withdrew from the Obama group at 6 a.m. Monday, after Slate sent her an inquiry about it." The article's author, Lucy Morrow Caldwell, was able to see Caroline Giuliani's profile because she is a Harvard student.

MOVIES: It's a perfect night to head to the movies. Get a double-feature in at the MoMA with Fabricating Tom Zé followed by David Cronenberg's Crash. Let's focus on the former film. Tom Zé (pictured) is a Brazilian songwriter and composer and this documentary (filmed during a 2005 European tour) charts his "personal universe". Zé is an "uncompromising and inspired artist...seen by many (including David Byrne and Arto Lindsay) as revitalizing the ever-evolving Tropicalia movement. Zé, who narrates his own story, is a very special musical phenomenon in a genre mostly associated with Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil—both of whom warmly assess the musical genius of their friend."

Last year Brooklyn band Bishop Allen released twelve EPs, one for each month. This year they're delivering twelve songs which make up their label-debut full length album, The Broken String (out July 24th).

Yesterday afternoon, 1,097 police cadets graduated from the Police Academy in a ceremony at Madison Square Garden. The Mayor said, "Just a few weeks ago, the FBI reported that violent crime went up in the rest of the nation during 2006, but here in New York violent crime decreased. The NYPD has continued to drive violent crime and property crime down to historic lows this year - and year after year. Today we welcome 1,097 men and women into the ranks of our Police Department to continue the proud tradition of New York's Finest."