The Bwog
Of Human Bondage: What's in a Name?
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The naming of buildings at Columbia has always been a project undertaken with the greatest care. Indeed, the majority of buildings on campus carry the names of prominent alumni who have contributed much to the university and to society at large. One is hard-pressed to find a building on campus without a family name of some significance attached to it. Yet, Barnard has deliberately deviated from this fail-safe approach to the naming of edifices at Columbia, in its choice to name the new student center currently under construction at the heart of its campus, the Nexus. While Nexus may not even be the final name of the building, Barnard has suggested that it would consider selling the naming rights to the highest bidder over the Internet, many have claimed that the choice of the word "nexus" for a campus center is quite suspect. Some Bwog tipsters have even recently suggested that the ignominious name of the new Barnard campus hub actually derives from the Latin root meaning "bondage in slavery or debt." Bwog set out to clarify if Barnard's new campus center will indeed be a campus hub of human bondage by emailing Barnard's Media Relations Director. Her response after the jump:

"Thanks for your question. The word nexus does come from the Latin
word meaning "to bind," but today it is commonly used to refer to a center
or focus of something.

The Nexus on campus was named with this definition in mind. As a multi-use
building with space for classrooms, offices, dining facilities, student
organizations, art and architecture studios, theatrical productions, public
lectures, and other functions, the Nexus is expected to become the center or
focus of academic and social life on campus, as well as a cultural
destination for all New Yorkers. Hope this helps."

Only time will tell if this colossus of a multi-use center will be the hub of West Broadway's academic and social life, or if indeed the Nexus will be true to its Latin roots and eventually become a monolith of intellectual servitude at the hands of destitute college women.

Read more: Barnard, Construction, Nexus

March 25, 2008 @ 2:35 PM | Comments 21 comments | Add comment Post a comment | Link to this article | | | Share on Facebook

Posted by alexw: [#1] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 2:42 PM ) (from campus)
Shitdick Hall
Posted by please: [#2] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 2:47 PM ) (from campus)
for the love of anything holy, please stop. just shut it down, bwog. shut it down.
Posted by umm: [#3] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 2:56 PM )
The Borg mothership/base is also called the "Nexus".
Posted by The King of Spain: [#4] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 3:18 PM ) (from campus)
As long as we don't get stuck with Zerg.
Posted by deviant: [#5] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 3:18 PM ) (from campus)
there are several unnamed buildings on campus

[ external link to www.wikicu.com ]
Posted by XENU: [#6] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 3:31 PM ) (from campus)
THE NEXUS IS FOR THETANS
Posted by ZvS: [#7] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 3:49 PM ) (from campus)
"a cultural

destination for all New Yorkers."

Ambitious.
Posted by Considering: [#8] [reply] [track] (in reply to #4)
( posted March 25, 2008 at 3:58 PM ) (from campus)
this is Barnard, shouldn't it be more of a Hatchery? And need I explain the drone analogy?
Posted by Data: [#9] [reply] [track] (in reply to #3)
( posted March 25, 2008 at 8:36 PM ) (from campus)
In response to #3, the "Borg mothership/base" is actually referred to as the "Central Plexus."

The Nexus, however, does appear in the Star Trek universe as a energy ribbon that sweeps through the galaxy, transporting those it encounters into an almost paradisiacal realm (see the movie "ST: Generations").
Posted by Thaddeus Demming: [#10] [reply] [track] (in reply to #9)
( posted March 25, 2008 at 8:42 PM )
Incorrect. The Borg Nexus is indeed the "base" class structure in Star Trek: Armada and Star Trek: Armada II. You cannot built Assembly Matrices, Resource Collectors, or Technology Nodes without a Nexus first.
Posted by Data: [#11] [reply] [track] (in reply to #10)
( posted March 25, 2008 at 9:57 PM ) (from campus)
I respectfully stand by my earlier comments. Computer games -- like "Star Trek: Armada" -- are not considered canon, unfortunately.

See [ external link to www.startrek.com ]
Posted by Alum: [#12] [reply] [track]
( posted March 25, 2008 at 10:54 PM )
"One is hard-pressed to find a building on campus without a family name of some significance attached to it."

Really?

Mathematics

Philosophy

Computer Science

Engineering Terrace

Faculty House

President's House

International Affairs

Journalism

University Hall

Casa Italiana

Casa Hispanica (OK, that one is technically off campus.)

Those are just the ones with no names at all. Presumably others have names that just aren't "of significance". Some of them are the names of important figures from Columbia history who didn't help pay for them:

Butler

Carman

Hamilton

John Jay

Kent

Pupin

And I'm reasonably sure that St. Paul neither had any Columbia connection nor donated any money.
Posted by names: [#13] [reply] [track]
( posted March 26, 2008 at 12:22 AM )
I don't think Computer Science or Engineering Terrace qualify as separate buildings. Journalism might as well be called Pulitzer.
Posted by The Borgnard: [#14] [reply] [track]
( posted March 26, 2008 at 12:30 AM ) (from campus)
Intelligence is irrelevant. Attempting to look attractive is futile. You will be assimilated.
Posted by Journalism: [#15] [reply] [track] (in reply to #13)
( posted March 26, 2008 at 12:55 AM )
Pulitzer donated the money to build Journalism to Columbia under the strict conditions that the building not be named after him.
Posted by Alum: [#16] [reply] [track] (in reply to #13)
( posted March 26, 2008 at 1:07 AM )
Computer Science was built 20 years after Engineering Terrace. Moreover, the two buildings are not connected; one must either go outside or through Mudd to get from one to the other. CS sits on top of Engineering Terrace, but that does not make it part of the same structure any more than the new science building will be part of the same structure as Dodge gym.
Posted by Alum: [#17] [reply] [track] (in reply to #15)
( posted March 26, 2008 at 1:11 AM )
True, but the building could have been named after a subsequent donor. This may yet happen someday.

Several buildings on campus (Hartley, Greene, Lewisohn) are named after donors who paid for renovations rather than for the original construction. Others (Wien, Buell) are named for people whose donations weren't used for the building at all.
Posted by tuvok: [#18] [reply] [track] (in reply to #9)
( posted March 26, 2008 at 10:22 PM ) (from campus)
i believe you are mistaken, commander. the central plexus is the device on a borg ship that connects its drones to the collective, as seen in VOY: Unimatrix Zero (pts 1 and 2). unimatrix 01, as seen in VOY: Endgame, is where the queen chills out (where 7 of 9 was assigned to) and is the central "hub" that the older janeway destroyed with a neurolytic pathogen.
Posted by tuvok: [#19] [reply] [track] (in reply to #18)
( posted March 26, 2008 at 10:25 PM ) (from campus)
actually it seems like "unicomplex" is the correct term.

[ external link to memory-alpha.org ]

Posted by ogre: [#20] [reply] [track]
( posted March 27, 2008 at 4:12 PM ) (from campus)
NEEEERRRRDDDSSS
Posted by Alum: [#21] [reply] [track] (in reply to #17)
( posted March 27, 2008 at 7:23 PM )
Oops. My reference to Hartley in comment 17 should have said Wallach. Hartley has always had its present name, in recognition of a donor who helped pay for the building.

Wallach was originally named Livingston, in honor of early alum Robert Livingston (Class of 1765) who wrote portions of the Declaration of Independence. It was later renamed for Ira Wallach (Class of 1929), who wrote a check for $3 million.
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