Josh Hirschland

This year’s senior class has witnessed an especially fitful period in Columbia’s history. Over the past four years, Columbia has gained in stature globally, increased its local profile, and settled into a period which has been—and seems likely to continue being—largely defined by the leadership of high-profile University President Lee Bollinger. In the process, the University also attracted the caring attention of public figures ranging from Bill O’Reilly and Lou Dobbs to Robert Kraft and Kofi Annan.

The eyes of the world gazed upon Columbia in September when the University invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak at the World Leaders Forum, the weeklong speakers series which Bollinger launched in his first year at Columbia to capitalize on the University’s access to the United Nations.

Storytelling is a tool like any other, useless in isolation, relying on other material to serve its purpose. One needs a story to tell. Thus, we must be two things at once—as described in the text of my first Lit Hum assignment, each of us must be “both a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.”

Four weeks from today, we Columbia College students will walk across the stage, receive our diplomas, and soon thereafter be kicked out into an unknown world. Right now, we’re still under the protection of Columbia University, and we need some help. Therefore, I am proposing the establishment of the Outgoing Student Orientation Program.

Dear Undergraduate Council Candidate. First off, I would like to congratulate you on deciding to run for office. It is admirable that you have chosen to dedicate so much time to improving your college, and I greatly respect your enthusiasm and love for Alma.

It’s unsurprising that little has been said about the possible merger of General Studies and Columbia College since Spectator broke the news that the Task Force on Undergraduate Education was considering ways to better integrate GS into the University community. After all, the article prompted strong negative reaction from many.

A new round of announcements regarding financial aid reforms designed to keep college within reach for the middle class is turning up the heat on top colleges, including Columbia and Barnard to up the ante.

Columbia’s lack of support for ROTC is becoming inconvenient.

University Trustee Vikram Pandit, SEAS ’76 and ’77, GSAS ’80, and Business ’86, was named Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup Tuesday.

After a brief cease-fire, the war on college file-sharing is well into its second round, and copyright owners seem to have found a winning strategy.

University administrators announced Wednesday night that they had agreed to two demands called for by a group of student hunger strikers, capping off an evening filled with rumors of stalled negotiations and a more than 200-person protest on Low plaza.

As a hunger strike in protest of University policies completes its first week today at noon, two students have decided to join the ranks of the four remaining strikers.

Over the past decade, Google has arguably been the most transformative entity in the world of technology.

As an urban studies major—not to mention a New York City student on a budget—I am a devout user of public transportation. But for various reasons beyond my control, I have taken more taxis in the last two weeks than I had in the preceding two years.

Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on a bathroom stall on campus yesterday, two days after a noose was hung on the door of an African American professor at Teachers College.

Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on a bathroom stall in Lewisohn Hall earlier today, University officials reported.

One day after the discovery of a noose on the office door of an African-American Teachers College professor, University President Lee Bollinger faced tough criticism from an audience of student leaders dominated by representatives of campus cultural groups.

When I lost my phone last month, my parents made me a deal: if I was willing to cover the cost of getting the actual phone, as a birthday present, they would foot the service bill for a BlackBerry for a year.

Columbia made national headlines when its University President invited the representative of an oppressive anti-Semitic regime to speak at its Morningside Heights campus.

Last week, the eyes of the world turned their focus to Columbia University and its president, Lee Bollinger.

On April 16, as Seung-Hui Cho wreaked havoc at Virginia Tech University, somebody was in a room across campus, writing an emergency communication to students and faculty to warn them of the danger.

David Charlow, executive director of undergraduate financial aid, has been fired from Columbia, University officials announced today.

David Charlow, executive director of undergraduate financial aid, has been fired from Columbia, University officials announced today.

Outgoing School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean Zvi Galil said goodbye to Columbia as he presided over his last class day ceremony on Monday.

University President Lee Bollinger implored the class of 2007 to be imaginative in their pursuits during University Commencement for Columbia's 253rd academic year, held Wednesday.

Thirteen Columbia Internet users are being sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally sharing copyrighted music, the copyright protection agency announced Wednesday.

In honor of the end of the year, I am taking a break from the usual analysis I present in this column to present you with my second annual list of top college technology stories from around the nation.

While most Columbia students have been studying for finals and finishing up their theses this week, I've been busy brushing up on my New York City trivia in preparation for another important test.

Beginning today and lasting at least through the end of the semester, students will no longer work as card-swipers at the front desks of on-campus residences and Lerner Hall.

Yesterday's announcement that the personal information for thousands of members of the University community may have been compromised is yet another reminder that such glitches and breaches have become a commonplace part of college data management.

Last month's Wired lead story covered the emergence of a new world of "Bite-Size Entertainment." Nancy Miller exalts in her opening piece: "Music, television, games, movies, fashion: We now devour our pop culture the same way we enjoy candy and chips-in conveniently packaged bite-size nuggets made to be munched easily with increased frequency and maximum speed.

Judith Shapiro will step down as president of Barnard College at the end of the 2007-08 academic year, she announced today. She will be leaving the school after 14 years at her post.

Every Wednesday night, a small band of laptop-toting outcasts with tousled hair and Calvin and Hobbes T-shirts descend on the overheated Wallach study lounge. They may not look mighty, but the Free Culture @ Columbia club is out to reshape the way Columbians view copyright law.

The Recording Industry Association of America threatened Wednesday to sue 20 Columbia Internet users and hundreds of others nationwide accused of illegally sharing copyrighted music if they did not agree to a paid settlement.

All students applying for undergraduate Columbia housing must register either by themselves or with their groups by Wednesday, March 28.

Columbia College Dean Austin Quigley announced on Monday that actor Matthew Fox, CC '89, will speak at this May's Class Day, sparking outrage among many seniors who expressed disappointment in the choice.

I think it's time that I came out of the closet on something. I know that this may come as a bit of a shock to some of you, and many of you may be disappointed, but it's time that I got this out in the open.

Actor Matthew Fox, CC '89, will speak at this May's Columbia College class day, Columbia College Dean Austin Quigley announced today.

The money flew as freely as the wine as Columbia College's faculty, administration, and-especially-alumni elite turned out to fete five of the school's most prestigious living graduates at the 29th Annual John Jay Awards dinner, held last night at Cipriani 42nd Street.

After winning last weekend's Atlantic Coast Regional tournament, Columbia's Mock Trial program is sending a team to April's National Championship Tournament in St. Petersburg, Fla.

On its first birthday, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge what is almost certainly the most important Web site to be launched by Columbia students for Columbia students in the past year.

Part of '90s childhood may be relegated to nostalgia, according to an article in the New York Daily News this week.

Designed by noted sculptor Daniel Chester French, whose other works include the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, the 4-ton, 8-foot tall statue Alma Mater is designed to be a classical representation of the search for knowledge.

Designed by noted sculptor Daniel Chester French, whose other works include the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial, the 4-ton, 8-foot tall statue Alma Mater is designed to be a classical representation of the search for knowledge.

From discussions with University senators to chats with people on my floor, few issues have inspired the ardor of not being able to swipe a Godfather from Hamilton Deli using a Columbia University ID. To understand the passion involved, one need only see J.D. Porter's column from last week.

After 14 months of writing this column, I thought it was about time that I left the confines of the Columbia campus and did some real shoe-leather reporting. And so it was that on a serendipitously planned family vacation and a free press pass, I found myself pounding the pavement of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco at this year's MacWorld Expo.

Columbia students now have free access to a library of 2.1 million songs after a legal music service reached an agreement with the four major music labels.

Columbia researchers should see an increase in the speed of their Internet connections after an upgrade to the New York leg of a network connecting a consortium of research institutions.

University President Lee Bollinger delivered the most thorough detailing to date of how Columbia is handling the fallout of the Oct. 4 speech by members of the Minuteman Project, in a University-wide e-mail sent out Friday morning.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards voted Wednesday to allow rabbinical schools, including the Jewish Theological Seminary, to ordain gays as conservative rabbis.

Two weeks ago, University of California, Los Angeles campus security officers confronted a student in a campus library, asking him to produce identification. When he didn't comply, the officers shot him multiple times with a Taser gun. The officers told him to get on his feet, repeating, "Stop fighting us."

A light agenda turned into a war of words at the University Senate's monthly plenary meeting as reports from the senate's Student Affairs Committee provoked heated responses from many delegates.

Immediately after the terrorist attack on London's public transportation system on July 7, 2005, the mainstream media lacked photos. After all, most of what happened occurred in the Tube, underground and roped off to all but the commuters-some of whom were equipped with cell-phone cameras.

Spectator revisits nine prospective students as they navigate their way through the college admissions process.

Zvi Galil will step down as dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science to take over as President of Tel Aviv University at the end of the school year, Galil announced Wednesday.

A number of students registered to vote at their Columbia University addresses had difficulty finding polling places, leading to their having to fill out affidavit, or provisional, ballots.

Two weeks ago, Candy Fleming, vice president for Information Technology, invited me to an open house "to celebrate the newly upgraded Electronic Data Services facility."

Instead of having a traditional meeting on Friday, the University Senate opened the floor to members of the University community at large to engage in a town hall discussion about the proposed Manhattanville expansion.

Green was the new Columbia blue yesterday as members of the University came out to support the globe and protect the environment.

With University officials' acknowledgment that the Facebook is an aid in the Minuteman speech investigation, Columbia is reinforcing a message that students should have gotten long ago: be careful what you do on the Internet.

A Berkeley, Calif., "undercover journalist" has confirmed that he posted fliers about former Palestinian militant Walid Shoebat on bulletin boards near the Muslim Students Association's prayer room in Earl Hall before last week's event featuring the pro-Israel speaker.

"I saw the videos, films [from the Minuteman protests], ... and my wife got very concerned, but it doesn't bother me a bit," Hilmar von Campe, a former member of the Hitler Youth, said before he spoke at Columbia's Roone Arledge Auditorium Wednesday night.

Guests of the Columbia University College Republicans found themselves stranded as an eleventh-hour security decision left them without seats hours before an event headlined by former Palestinian militant Walid Shoebat kicked off Wednesday night.

After an hour of heated deliberation, the University Senate's student affairs committee unanimously passed the Resolution on Free Speech at Columbia University at its meeting Sunday.

Columbia will review information and images posted on students' Facebook profiles as part of its investigation into Wednesday night's Minutemen brawl, a University spokesman confirmed Thursday evening.

Joe McCormick's office isn't like the others in Low Library. His first floor room doesn't have oil paintings, tapestries, conference tables, or even windows.

As laptops become increasingly ubiquitous in classrooms, several professors are flexing their muscles and taking a stand in asking students to close their computers at the door.

Beginning on Friday, reduced-fare MetroCards will be made available on campus to all members of the Columbia University community, officials announced Thursday.

Toomas Hendrik Ilves, CC '76, was elected the fourth president of Estonia on Saturday.

In a narrow 174 to 162 vote, Ilves triumphed over the incumbent Arnold Ruutel to take the helm of the Baltic nation and establish his place as one of Columbia's most prominent alumni.

University President Lee Bollinger took center stage on Friday at the University Senate's first plenary meeting of the year, held in Jerome L. Greene Hall.

Coming during one of Columbia's most active news cycles in recent memory, Friday's University Senate plenary meeting-the first of the year-is likely to elicit ample discussion from the body's faculty, student, and administrative senators.

University President Lee Bollinger took center stage on Friday at the University Senate's first plenary meeting of the year, held in Jerome L. Greene Hall.

While those who have endured the echoes accompanying the pomp, circumstance, and microphones of ceremonies held on South Lawn might find this hard to believe, Columbia's campus actually offers some incredible acoustical phenomena hidden among its many Beaux-Arts accoutrements.

As news about the resignation of Janet Alperstein, Barnard's former study abroad dean, reached many juniors at the college, students planning on spending their fifth semesters abroad have had to scramble to get their plans together without an official dean.

For those who view Columbia as a labyrinthine bureaucracy, the case of Wi-Fi on campus often serves as exhibit A in showcasing the University's faults. There are, in fact, three wireless networks: one main Columbia University network-accessible from all open spaces and select rooms on both Columbia's and Barnard's campuses-and networks in Jerome L.

Significant changes came to the second floors of Philosophy and Kent halls this summer as the University began addressing one of the most frequently heard complaints on campus: bureaucratic bungling in student services.

Plans to place a Jamba Juice franchise in Ferris Booth Commons fell apart this summer after issues arose over granting the smoothie company full use of the Columbia University name. Director of Housing and Dining Scott Wright called the name-use stipulation a "deal breaker.

After three days of calamitous protest, Facebook has issued a mea culpa and a slew of new privacy features following a widely unpopular update made to the site.

Within hours of the launch of News Feed Tuesday night-a feature designed to inform users of when and how their friends update their profiles-thousands of users banded together to protest the changes.

The Office of Student Affairs added two new assistant deans this year, for Community Development/Director of Residential Programs and Judicial Affairs/Community Standards, respectively.

It would be a lie to say that Columbia is without its own unique set of traditions. There is a Columbia lore, made up of the shared experiences of thousands of students every year and the treks that returning alumni make to their old campus haunts. However, here is our list of things we recommend every student do by the time they graduate, not necessarily because we enjoyed all of the experiences or they all helped us, but because we believe that no Columbia student's career is complete without them.

In honor of you all trying and failing to register for Art Hum as first-years, here's the historical view of your future Alma Mater. Alma Mater Designed by noted sculptor Daniel Chester French, whose other works include the statue of the 16th president in the Lincoln Memorial and the allegorical "Republic" made for the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, the 4-ton, 8-foot tall statue is designed to be a classical representation of the search for knowledge.

Columbia hosted Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson for his first official policy speech since being sworn into the position. The speech took place on Tuesday morning at Low Library.

The warm rotunda was packed with about 400 guests, including Columbia students, faculty, and alumni; high-ranking staff from a number of investment banks; and more than a dozen news organizations.

Clinton's speech was part of the Global Forum on Service, Democracy, and Reconciliation, an event held in conjunction with Cyzygy, the annual convention of youth volunteers and leaders in the City Year program, which is being held this year at Columbia.

Barnard students, faculty, and administrators may be at risk of having their identities stolen after hackers were able to access a computer with highly sensitive information, including the names and Social Security numbers of thousands of people associated with the school.

More than a dozen influential AIDS pandemic experts converged at Roone Arledge Auditorium Thursday to debate the status of the fight on the disease and pay tribute to Allan Rosenfield, dean of the Mailman School of Public Health, who is retiring after 20 years in his role at Columbia.

Though students have traditionally complained about the Columbia administration's inefficiency, this year marked a noticeable shift toward producing results within the University's bureaucracy. In the last 12 months, the University has both formed new offices for information technology and fellowship resources, and restructured many of its offices dealing with student services.

NAME: GILBERT BONSU SCHOOL: NEWARK TECH HOMETOWN: NEWARK, NEW JERSEY Not everybody who comes to tour Columbia is joined by parents. Some, like Gilbert Bonsu of Newark Tech, come on class fields [sic] trips. But that doesn't necessarily indicate a lack of dedication to the college.

NAME: JOCELYN COO SCHOOL: DOVER HIGH SCHOOL HOMETOWN: DOVER, N.H. When she came to campus Tuesday for her tour of Columbia, Jocelyn Coo, a junior at Dover High School in Dover, N.H., was just beginning her survey of potential schools. While she didn't have a list of 20 schools that she was considering or sheaves of college pamphlets, she knew what she was looking for in a college.

NAME: J.D. SANTO SCHOOL: KENSTON HIGH SCHOOL HOMETOWN: CLEVELAND, OHIO On paper, J.D. Santo of Cleveland has the Ivy League checklist down pat. Advanced Placements? Volunteering? Tutoring? Foreign language? Check, check, double check. But even the seemingly picture-perfect resume is no guarantee at a school that, every year, turns away students who get perfect scores on the SAT.

NAME: ALICE LIU SCHOOL: BRIDGEWATER-RARITAN HIGH SCHOOL HOMETOWN: BRIDGEWATER, NJ If they come to campus at all, most Columbia applicants will visit campus only once before they apply. The most devoted may come twice. This month, high school junior Alice Liu of Bridgewater-Raritan High School, in Bridgewater, N.