Them's fightin' words

Richard Stengel: Columbia will invite Ahmadinejad on campus but not ROTC?

The undergrad perspective

Sylvia Khoury, who just started her freshman year at Columbia, says, "This is why I came to this school. It's unbelievable."

-As reported by Greg Bocquet

No Protests; Candleless Vigil Instead.

There have been rumors of protests on campus in response to tonight's forum, but so far there is only a small vigil on the steps of the Low Library.

There are no candles at the vigil because University rules don't allow them. Instead, the vigil consists of a few people standing around a sign that says "Peace is the greatest service," eating snacks and waiting for the campus-wide broadcast to start.

Andrew Tillett-Sacks, president of the Columbia Coalition Against the War and a member of Lucha, which means "struggle" in Spanish, said that the groups wanted to have a bigger protest but it was difficult to organize with the campus on Secret Service lockdown.

He said that outside organizations like Code Pink also wanted to protest outside the campus, but said he advised them against doing so since he knew that the street would be shut down.

Obama McCain Event Production Schedule Revealed!

A minute-by-minute schedule discovered in plain view of the farmer's market on Broadway.

Highlights include:
7:20 - L. Ward and Bill Novelli Welcome Message
7:29 - Lee Bollinger Remarks
7:33 - Governor David Patterson Remarks
7:40 - Tobey Maguire Speaks
7:47 - 9-11 Family Testimonials
7:53 - John Huey Delivers Introduction
8:01 - John McCain Speech
9:00 - Barack Obama Speech
10:00 - Event Ends

Campus political groups to register students to vote tomorrow.

Columbia University campus Republicans and Democrats will unite for one cause tomorrow afternoon: voter registration. The Columbia Political Union, an organization that aims to increase student involvement in the political process, will assist in signing up voters.

From 4 to 6 p.m. College Republicans will be tabling on College Walk and encouraging people to write letters to the troops in Iraq, said Lauren Salz, executive director of Columbia College Republicans, over e-mail.

Get your photo taken with Obama or just sign up to get a lot of junk mail

Our colleagues over at the Columbia Spectator recently shared this alluring blog post. According to the Spectator, there is a chance that should you browse the sea of pamphlets and sign up for as many political action clubs as possible, you can somehow get your photo taken with the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee. If you're this hard up for a photo op, then we recommend you create a new alias email address. No news from the Spectator about tagging yourself in a McCain photo.

Student Groups Plan "Columbia University Serves 2008"

In the excitement over the Obama/McCain visit and all of the attendant drama, it's easy to forget about the stated purpose of the event: to raise awareness about national service and inspire Americans to serve their communities.

But student service groups on campus will be sharing the spotlight with the two presidential candidates on Thursday and trying put all of the excitement to some productive use during Columbia University Serves 2008.

According to Susan Bernal, a spokesperson for Community Impact, one of the largest service groups on campus, the event will include a service fair, where service groups will distribute information about their programs, a canned food drive, a voter registration drive, an open mic for individuals to speak to the campus community about service, and the opportunity for students to fill out pledge cards to commit to community service this year.

Columbia University Serves 2008 will take place from 4-7 PM this Thursday in front of Butler Library.

Student groups plan additional programming and possible protests.

Today the Columbia Spectator reported that several student groups have met to start planning additional programming and possible protests for Thursday's forum.

Highlights include:

• A College Democrats media training and policy workshop with Students for Obama, the official student organization of Obama's campaign.

• A Thursday voter registration drive conducted by the non-partisan Columbia Political Union and co-sponsored by the College Democrats and Republicans.

• Students for a Democratic Society might hold a silent protest on the day of the event.

• And the Columbia International Socialist Organization is attempting to organize a joint response with other campus activist groups.