By Kat Stoeffel 3/06 10:54am

Morningside Fights

(image via Flickr user sodapop81)

Barnard Gives Jill the Bump for Incumbent Stump, Ob-alma Mater Says ‘Get Off My Campus’

Over the weekend Barnard College bumped New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson from her spot as 2012 commencement speaker for a better offer—the trump card in the commencement bookings game, some might say: President Barack Obama.

It’s surprised no one that President Obama had zeroed in on the Manhattan women’s college for a spring speech. Facing a slate of pro-life GOP rivals and a Congress thrown into old school culture wars over his contraception-mandating health care bill, the President has publicly allied himself with women’s interests groups. Read More

By Kat Stoeffel 1/30 1:06pm

Higher Ed

Helen and David. (Image via Hearst Corp.)

Helen Gurley Brown Donates $30 M. to Columbia and Stanford for Bicoastal Media-Tech Institute

With the help of a $30 M. gift from longtime Cosmopolitan editor Helen Gurley Brown, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Stanford University’s School of Engineering have established the David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation, the two universities and the Hearst Corporation announced today.

The Institute is inspired by David Brown, Ms. Brown’s late husband, a former journalist, publisher, film and theater producer who graduated from both Stanford and Columbia Journalism School. Read More

By Drew Grant 12/01/11 3:37pm

NYPD Blues

Matthew Swaye "thanks" Police Commissioner Ray Kelly

Ray Kelly's Bad Night at Columbia (Video)

Ray Kelly is not exactly a populist favorite right now, but then again, when are police commissioners ever considered to be working on behalf of the working class? (Besides Law & Order, and also Batman.) But Commissioner Kelly has it especially tough right now–particularly with students and journalists and civil rights groups.

That’s probably why NYU student and activist Matthew Swaye took time out Tuesday night to honor Commissioner Kelly for all the hard work he’s done with NYPD’s new “stop-and-frisk anyone looking suspicious” policy. He was also shouting, “Thank you for keeping the city safe for white heterosexual males.” Read More

By Hunter Walker 11/22/11 11:42am

Now Now Neighbors

A "welcome" sign for the Lions.

City Officials, Others Quibble With Group Administering $100 Million of Columbia’s Cash

Vincent Morgan is not happy with the West Harlem Local Development Corporation, which is the organization created to allocate $100 million contributed by Columbia University as part of its Manhattanville expansion plan.

“Over the past couple of years, we weren’t very clear, or at least I wasn’t very clear, as to how [it] was going to respond to determining how to best allocate those resources,” Mr. Morgan told The Observer last week. “Flash forward almost two years later … we’re at a point where we aren’t even anywhere closer to the answers.”

Mr. Morgan, a Democrat running for Congress in the 15th District, which encompasses Harlem and several other neighborhoods in the northernmost reaches of the Upper West Side, has been quite vocal about his concerns with the West Harlem LDC. He told us he first became aware of the West Harlem LDC about five years ago when he was asked, as a graduate of the university, to testify at public hearings about the expansion process. He has remained involved in the expansion ever since through work in local community organizations, and now, as a candidate. Read More

By David Freedlander 3/15/11 8:22pm

Dividing Lines

Uptown Border Dispute Spills Out Into Open at Council Hearing

A long-simmering dispute between two uptown City Councilmembers spilled into the open today as Robert Jackson of Harlem accused two Dominican lawmakers of attempting to turn Dominican residents of his district against him.

According to sources present at a Zoning Committee hearing today regarding Columbia University’s plan to expand their athletic facilities in Inwood, Jackson Read More