Spectator

I am (finally) graduating, which means that from now on I will be acting responsibly in bars in a different section of town, and that this is the last appearance of my column and horrible column photo—so it is time to clean up this mess.

Writing criticism for the Spectator is a bit of a masturbatory enterprise (I know this because I write criticism for the Spectator). But though it may be masturbatory, it’s not irrelevant.

The annual Blue Pencil Lecture, sponsored by Spectator, drew almost 200 people to an evening of dining and shop talk in Low Library on Saturday night. The crowd, which was made up of former and current Spectator staff as well as members of the Columbia community, turned out for a speech on the current state of print journalism and the unveiling of a new work-study initiative for editors on financial aid.

The Columbia Daily Spectator’s recent decision to publish, under the rubric of opinion, Paula Stern’s editorial (“Greatest Victory, Even in Defeat,” Nov. 15) maligning Professor Nadia Abu El-Haj is the latest instance in which the paper has become an instrument of external interests opposed to academic freedom.

Megan Greenwell, BC ’06 and the 129th editor in chief of Spectator, just returned from an 11-week stay in Baghdad as a Washington Post reporter.

Spectator’s editorial “Free Speech in Practice” (Sept. 25, 2007) pridefully congratulated the Columbia community, University President Lee Bollinger, and its own pages for their embrace of free speech, open debate, and not fearless approach to controversy.

Michael Mukasey, CC ’63 and a former Spectator editorial page editor, will be nominated to become United States attorney general by President George W. Bush, the New York Times reported Sunday.

• Writings From Mukasey's Columbia Years