Members of the Columbia Community received an exciting email from the desk of your President, PrezBo, earlier this afternoon. The search has officially begun for a new Alan Brinkley, and Lee C. and the Selection Committee want to know who you think should be second in command. "We are seeking a candidate of academic stature, intellectual excellence, and demonstrated leadership skills who has made significant contributions to his or her field," said Bollinger.

Bwog has a few theories and few guesses regarding new provost possibilites. First, as one Blue and White alum pointed out: "They would be smart to pick a woman. Columbia is one of the very few schools of its caliber to not have had a female president or provost yet."

Another alum reckoned: "I'd put my money on an economist, a hard-number oriented social scientist, or a straight up scientist. Bollinger wants to put more emphasis on science and his provost selection is the best way to trigger a broad tonal shift."

Last night in 417 IAB, Professor Alan Brinkley, The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg, and The Nation's Katha Pollitt came together to discuss the election. Bwog Daily Editor James Downie was there.

If nothing else, last night's panel discussion between Alan Brinkley, Hendrik Hertzberg, and Katha Pollitt proved that smiles are contagious. Brinkley (who served as unofficial moderator in the absence of a real one) opened the night by joking, "Four years ago, I hosted a similar event, and I never saw a more depressed group of people. Tonight, I suspect most people are not depressed." The room burst into applause, and a buoyant mood was set for the next two hours.

Perhaps because the panelists had spent the previous 22 hours in a state of bliss, there was little in the way of prepared speeches. When Brinkley asked the guests to share their thoughts, both Pollitt (who recieved her M.F.A. from Columbia) and Hertzberg admitted that they were still absorbing the results of the election. Pollitt's thoughts were mostly about how happy she was. "I learned that people are not so dumb, and that's really good," she said. She also commended in particular Obama's temperament, comparing him favorably to her original favorite, John Edwards. Unlike Edwards, she said, Obama "communicated being a good person."

Bwog has noticed that over the next week or so there will be a smorgasbord of learning opportunities for those who are not going home to spend their magnificent four days of fall break. Whether you are interested in theater, bioethics or academic freedom, there's something going on that's right up your alley.

Human Genetic Complexity: What We Know--Legal, Historical, and Evolutionary Perspectives
October 29th at 8 pm
417 IAB

This talk features philosophy professor Phillip Kitcher, biology professor Robert Pollack and NYU law professor and Nation columnist Patricia Williams (who is no stranger to this campus). While the discussion supposedly will center around themes from the Core, expect philosophy more contemporary than CC and science more general than Frontiers.

Bwog correspondent Liz Naiden attended last night's panel on the possibility of a "post-partisan world."

The truth comes out; Provost Alan Brinkley is so desperate to return to academic life that he has announced the "death of partisan politics," in the middle of the great election cycle of 2008—or so we thought. Brinkley first published on his new theory in the Wall Street Journal in September, and most recently headlined the panel lecture entitled "A Post-Partisan World?" sponsored by the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy last night.

Robert Shapiro, the moderator and the most enthusiastic note-taker in the room, introduced the two faculty members who had volunteered to try to tear Brinkley's idea apart—or so Bwog assumed—Robert Erikson, of the Political Science Department, and Esther Fuchs, of SIPA. As a few more stragglers spread out among many empty seats jammed into a small room in IAB, Bwog wondered how these opponents would challenge Brinkley other than by telling him to get out of Low every once in a while or turn on a television set.

You have probably seen an ad for Oliver Stone's new biopic "W." (starring Josh Brolin, on the right, as the sitting president) and have been unsure what to make of it. Will this be chock full of half-baked conspiracy theories? A depressing psychological portrait? Most of all, is it worth your hard-earned dollars (or download time)?

Well, Newsweek enlisted popular Columbia history professor (and the outgoing Provost who seems to have a little bit more time on his hand these days to comment about politics and the economy) Alan Brinkley to review the film, especially on historical grounds. His verdict? "There are no conspiracy theories, no wild speculations, no paranoia. Stone's film is not hagiography. It is not propaganda. It is, surprisingly, more or less fair." That gets Bwog at least a little more interested.

Make you own judgment when the film hits theaters this Friday, October 17th.

Nudist/Columbia Grad Donates Playing Card Collection
Dali expert and nude hiker Albert Field's collection of 6,536 decks of cards have been archived and restored in Columbia's library, according to the AP (via Newsday).

Valued at more than $1 million, the collection contains cards from as early as 1550, ranging from German propaganda ("Zeppelin Uber England"!) to Kennedy family portraits. Field started collecting the cards on his trip to post-WWII Europe, where the cards were the only "souvenirs" he could find.

Columbia librarians, usually found explaining how to work the CUL search engines instead of being actual resources, are thrilled. They even used such racy terms as "wacky" and "fantastic" to describe the fortune of having multiple centuries' worth of Go Fish paraphernalia. They plan to visit classes to teach students the ancient game, but will likely find that students have moved on to new-fangled games like Hearts and 52-Pickup.

Alan Brinkley, who has served as University Provost for the past five years, will be stepping down from the position at the end of this year. The news was announced in an e-mail this evening to the Columbia University community. In the email, Brinkley writes that "I feel that it is now time for me to return to research and teaching." He also says he will serve until a successor is named.

Brinkley joined the faculty in 1991, and is probably best known to students for his extremely popular history lecture classes. The current iteration, "U.S. History 1919-45," is meeting this semester in the famous 309 Havemeyer lecture hall. Brinkley also has contributed to or written numerous books, including two widely-used high school textbooks. His time as Provost has been perhaps most recently marked by the tenure controversies surrounding Nadia Abu El-Haj and Joseph Massad. More importantly, though, he is the most popular Columbia professor on Facebook.

The full e-mail is pasted below the jump.

UPDATE (9:25 PM): President Bollinger has released a short statement of thanks, also posted below the jump.

Alan Brinkley is the most popular Columbia professor on Facebook.

Columbia is trying to "ameliorate" tensions with the community.

Columbia gets amazing athletic recruits, who eat McDonald's every day, wear jeans so tight that their legs atrophy and smoke clove cigarettes.

Statisticians: Here are all the sexy details about the rigorous lottery.

Pity the first-year who did not witness the hunger strike and thus cannot fully understand the ramifications of the Global Core.

In this week's issue of New York Magazine, Provost and American History professor Alan Brinkley follows in the steps of department collegue Eric Foner by slamming President Bush. Brinkley's commentary is a part of the issue's "psychopolitical survey" in which "a team of historians, Oval Office veterans, and psychotherapists tries to figure out whether Bush is depressed or delusional—and what combination of poor parenting and personality disorders brought things to this point."

To digress, in the same issue the magazine also offers a brief review of restaurants within three blocks' range of Amsterdam and 113th. Whether or not the enticing dining descriptions are accurate is your call.