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 ›

NYU: it's the home of cyborg teachers, scantily-clad snow shovelers, and Professor James Franco. Oh, and racists—the university settled with an ex-library worker for over $200,000 after his former mailroom supervisor allegedly called him various racial terms and taunts, including a "monkey" and a "gorilla." more ›

Remember earlier this month when a bunch of Rutgers students used actual money to bring Snooki of Jersey Shore to their school? Paying her more than Nobel winning author Toni Morrison? Ha, kids these days right... well now some other students at the school want to undo it all by inviting Bruce Springsteen to the campus. There's even a Facebook campaign, titled “College Ave Freeze Out: Let's Bring the Boss to Rutgers!” Let's move past the fact that this is such a predictable choice—New Jersey people want to book Bruce Springteen!—and see what Facebook campaign head Daniel Oliveto has to say. more ›

Earlier this month, America's youth—specifically those currently enrolled at Rutgers University—paid Snooki of Jersey Shore an absurd amount of money to come fist pump at the school. More than the university paid Toni Morrison, in fact. (Kids today! Etc.) Now Senator Joe Kyrillos is prepping a proposal in the state Senate that would essentially, hopefully, lead to better choices. more ›

The Princeton Review's annual "Best Colleges" list—based on surveys of 122,000 students at the 373 schools—features seven New York schools! Way to go, right? Except those seven schools are getting called out for containing the unhappiest students in the nation. (All the happy kids are allegedly at Brown University.) more ›

A Columbia University educator accused of punching a female coworker after a racially-heated argument skipped his court appearance on Monday. After failing to appear in court, a bench warrant has been issued for the arrest of associate urban-planning professor Lionel McIntyre, and a judge ordered that his parole be revoked, according to the Columbia Spectator. more ›

An audit by the State Comptroller's Office has found that five CUNY colleges failed to report 73 percent of the felonies that occurred on their campuses, as required by law. The most ironic offender? John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which failed to report 19 of its 20 felonies. more ›

It's time to run down the various commencement speakers around town—please let us know about others in comments (or email us at tips[at] gothamist[dot]com). This Wednesday, New York University will have its commencement at Yankee Stadium—and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will give the commencement address. Clinton will also be the commencement speaker at Barnard College's ceremony next Monday. more ›

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Not content with suing Manhattan nightclubs for discriminating against men on Ladies’ Night, or suing the federal government over the “unconstitutional” Violence Against Women Act, lawyer provocateur Roy Den Hollander has filed a class-action lawsuit against Columbia University for offering women’s studies courses. Hollander says the lawsuit at last completes his blockbuster “trilogy of antifeminist lawsuits,” according to City Room. A rumored prequel has him suing the Gynecological & Obstetrical Society for refusing to give him a Pap smear. more ›

"About halfway through, I bit in and felt something hard and crunchy." That’s what NYU senior Benjamin Jarosch declared after eating part of a found muffin, and he wasn’t talking about a walnut: his innocuous-looking blueberry muffin was stuffed with three razorblades. Jarosch and his buddies had discovered the muffin, along with four others, wrapped in tin foil, upon arriving in the classroom. more ›

The total annual cost (including room and board) of NYU has gone up 65% in the past decade and next year it will reach an all-time high of $50,182 – a 5.9% increase from last year. The Washington Square News notes that the university is cash poor, drawing 60 percent of its resources from tuition. In an attempt to soften the blow, NYU plans to increase need-based aid to "more than $150 million" total. more ›

The NYPD detectives working the homicide investigation of Carol Simon have identified a suspect in her killing, although they are not publicizing his identity. Simon was shot as she was returning to her car where her son was waiting for her at a gas station. The killing occurred Saturday evening in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, as an argument between two men turned violent and one of the men pulled a gun. more ›

Success made Orlando Taylor greedy - and an jailed man for robbing two Brooklyn banks a total of four times in just three days. He was arrested when spotted outside one of the two banks, apparently casing it out for another robbery. more ›

It’s that time of year again when New Yorkers debate how much to tip the – deep breath – doorman, super, handyman, locker room attendant, trainer, baby sitter, dog walker, beauty salon, cleaning person, day care center, garbage collector, mail carrier, paperboy and parking attendant(s). Sewell Chan, the Times’s Man on the Web, has tied himself to the tipping post with a 1,780 word monograph on the subject, largely sourced from Doorman, a book by Professor Peter Bearman, statistician and sociology professor at Columbia University. more ›

The 9 year-old boy who perished in a house fire on Staten Island late Sunday apparently died while trying to save his pets. Tommy Monahan apparently had been with his mother as they tried to escape the fire, but he raced back to his room for his dog, lizard and fish. A 12-year-old neighbor told the Daily News, "Everybody thought he was outside but he wasn't. more ›

We imagine practices with the Knicks aren't much different than the video - lots of cursing and uses of sunt. Because one thing's for sure, the Knicks don't usually play with heart. more ›

Last week Gothamist was in San Francisco for the third time this year. It was sunny and warm and we took an odd pleasure in watching the natives hustle about wearing wool hats and gloves. In our three trips to the west coast we managed to avoid the Valentine's Day snow storm, the April nor'easter and resultant flooding, and last week's snowy/icy/rainy pair of storms. We will leave it to our readers to decide if our timing was mere coincidence or meteorological perspicacity on our part. more ›

The family of Carol Simon is grieving after she was killed while walking on Eastern Parkway near Bedford around 5:30PM on Saturday. Simon, a 35-year-old nurse's assistant, had been on her way to take her son to swimming lessons when an argument between two men became violent and one pulled out a gun. more ›

A fire late last night in the Staten Island neighborhood of Prince's Bay claimed the life of a nine-year-old boy. Thomas Monahan Jr., who was unable to escape the fire at 49 Princewood Ave. was pronounced dead at 1:45 a.m. at Staten Island University Hospital. The boy's father Thomas Monahan desperately attempted to save his son after he, his wife and his 8-year-old daughter escaped safely. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unsusual rescue on Laurel Ave. in Brooklyn, a school evacuation on Crescent Ave. in Queens, and an armed robbery on White Plains Rd. in the Bronx.
• A-Rod stays in NYC for 10 more years!
• Columbia University spares the Cotton Club.
• A City Council bill would make hanging nooses illegal, in addition to stupid.
• A teengager went stab-kill crazy on 13th St. when he assaulted three of his peers.
• Local service may be restored on Metro-North.
• If you're a New Yorker who needs to drive, here are some tips on how to do so more safely.
• Finger pointing in the UES scaffold plunge of two brothers.

Ted Corbitt passed away yesterday, costing NYC one of its own icons of long distance running. The 88-year-old died from a respiratory condition related to separate cancers that outdistanced his life as a pioneer of racing. Ted Corbitt was a former and founding president of the NYC Road Runners Club, an Olympian, and a champion of ultra-marathon running. While the NYC Marathon is regularly won by Kenyans and other African runners, Corbitt established himself all... more ›

The Siena College Research Institute released information on how New Yorkers feel about Governor Spitzer, and the news is bad. Thirteen months after Spitzer was elected overwhelmingly to office, he now has a rating of 36% favorable/51% unfavorable (sliding from 64-22 in June, 41-46 in November) and a job performance rating of 27% positive=70 negative (55-37 in June, 33-64 in November). Not only that, but Siena Poll spokesman Steven Greenberg said, "A majority of voters,... more ›

Londonist was proud to announce the winner of this year's Turner Prize was Mark Wallinger who made long-standing London protester Brian Haw a work of art, after he has previously been made into a sort of law due to his lengthy banner-waving vigil outside parliament. The strength of the pound made real in the form of a 25 foot high coin on a quiet patch of the Thames river bank, aiming to inspire all Londoners in a publicly voted decision on spending £50 million Lottery money. Perhaps some new play projects for London kids who, for the lack of youthful entertainment, are trying to amuse themselves by collecting prostitute calling cards, which are worryingly rigged and booby-trapped. And for those who are anticipating a lovely fat check from a great-aunt this Christmas and wondering what to spend it on, the London Marathon will need a new sponsor after 2009. How does The Londonist London Marathon sound? more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a severed limb on 55th St. in Brooklyn, a person fatally struck by a train near the East Tremont Station on the 2 line in the Bronx, and an armed robbery on Bradhurst and 147th St. in Manhattan.
• A mother brought her 15-year-old son to the hospital when she discovered him assembling what appeared to be a bomb in their home. The ER at Hoboken University Medical Center was evacuated when it was discovered she'd brought the device with her as well.
• One of Mayor Bloomberg's cars was stolen for the second time in 14 months. The 2001 Lexus, which is used by his ex-wife, was stolen out of a parking garage on East 58th and found in Inwood with a pair of parking tickets and without several bags of presents.
• The man who turned Zabar's into a food retailing phenomena, Murray Klein, died yesterday at the age of 84.
• An interesting preservationist drove his clunker BMW around Brooklyn and into Manhattan this week to publicize a meeting that concerns the possible destruction of Admiral's Row--a series of 150-year-old decrepit homes at the Navy Yard. The giant sign atop his beater Beamer reads "Mayor Moo Moo, you maroon!"
• A construction worker in the Bronx was killed today when a backhoe knocked him into a hole 10 feet deep.
• Racked estimates there were approximately 1,500 people waiting on line in the snow to get into the new Meatpacking Apple store. If you don't like lines, check out our post from yesterday that features many pictures.
• Today is the 66th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Break out the dry erase board - the Sun looks at Bloomberg's Electoral Calculus by seeing how Mayor Bloomberg could potentially make a play for the White House next year. The Sun created a map (for space purposes, we put Bloomberg's head in the states he doesn't have a chance to win) and explains, "Under the right circumstances, Mayor Bloomberg has the potential to win 312 of the country's 528 electoral votes, well more... more ›

FESTIVITIES: Forget about that big shiny show-off in Rockefeller Center. Tonight the menorah and Christmas tree in Washington Square Park will be illuminated for all. Come bask in the glow of holiday, people. 6pm // Washington Square Park [W 4th St to Waverly Pl between MacDougal and University] // Free FILM: In a week-long tribute to Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini (pictured), tonight The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be screening Notes for an... more ›

Anders Uwadinobi, a freshman from the Bronx, was "play" fighting with a friend in a dorm room at SUNY Binghamton when he suffered fatal injuries Sunday night. An autopsy is being conducted, but a student who witnessed the situation when he heard screams to call 911 said he saw Uwadinobi "shaking" and seizing. The 18-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at Wilson Memorial Regional Medical Center. The student told the Post, "They were playing around.... more ›

The fatal shooting outside Radio Perfecto restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue between 118th and 119th Streets was prompted by a bar fight. Twenty-three year-old Delquan Kearns was shot in the head while his brother Stephan Jones, 27, was shot in the arm after they argued with another group of men over a drink around 3AM on Sunday. Their mother told the Post, "My sons said they were at the bar and that some guy grabbed one... more ›

For many 1010WINS listeners, some sad news: Financial analyst Larry Wachtel who would gave financial advice on 1010WINS for 33 years died on Sunday. He died suddenly of a heart ailment on Sunday. Wachtel grew up in Brooklyn, attended Long Island University and had worked in the finance industry, retiring from Wachovia Securities in 2005. He also retired from daily commentary on 1010WINS in 2005, but remained a guest commentator. The Journal News notes how... more ›