Facebook

As nice as being Columbia’s chief academic officer, distinguished professor of history, accomplished author, and occasional contributor to the New York Times Book Review may be, his finest distinction may very well be the numerous Facebook groups by and for the enamored—and the disenchanted.

“Why do we blog?” asks Dylan, the lead character in the new NBC series, quarterlife, already a series of web episodes and a social networking Web site.

One of my professors friended me on Facebook over winter break.

The noisy brick cutting and demolition that provoked aggravated residents of the Barnard Quad to create an anti-construction Facebook group is the final part of routine renovations to the residence halls.

The Aeneid tells us that the Greeks, weary of their 10-year siege of Troy, built a huge wooden horse, filled it with their best warriors, and left it outside the city gates. The Trojans watched the rest of the Greek army withdraw. That night, they pulled the horse inside and celebrated what they thought was the end of the siege. When the Trojans were asleep, the Greek warriors emerged from the horse and opened the gates for their colleagues, who joined them in sacking the city, killing all the Trojan men, and enslaving their women and children.