Bwog's inbox is abuzz with declarations, communiques, and plans regarding the encampment on Striker Lawn (although the strikers themselves are now tucked away in Malcolm X lounge, safe from the damp). You should have all received the first tidbit, from Deans Quigley and Dirks: an enumeration of what they're already doing to address the general spirit of the 13 Demands, minus the expansion part, which is being dealt with in separate meetings. Briefly summarized: reviews are in the works, and student voices considered.

CCSC, in a surprise move, also released a statement declaring support for a watered down, less specific version of the strikers' demands. You can skip the awkwardly worded introductory paragraph, which says very little of substance, but check out their support for mandatory anti-oppression training, a Vice Provost for Multicultural Affairs, and the departmentalization of both CSER and IRAAS. Also note that, while a Committee has been researching the expansion for about a year now, "the council is not in a position to take a position on the expansion this semester." Would you like to expand on that?

No word yet from PrezBo, although he did send out a university-wide e-mail today regarding graduate student teaching awards. President Shapiro, of course, sent out a statement last Wednesday, noting that "while hunger strikes have a long and important history as a form of political action, they are not without their dangers and may not always be a necessary strategy in a particular situation." The full e-mail, as with the abovementioned documents, are posted in our Hunger Strike Primary Source Reader after the jump.

Meanwhile, Gawker finds eating disorders to be the most newsworthy part about the whole affair (while noting that Ivygate took down its post of a few days ago that ran with a pro-ana photo). Finally, if you notice that classmates look a little more wan than usual on Wednesday, they may be abstaining as well: those who didn't want to undertake the strike whole hog are fasting from 6:30 AM until 8:45 in the evening.

A smattering of students and a sea of empty chairs confronted Deans Quigley, Colombo, and Friedman (SEAS) about the noose incident at an event this afternoon sponsored by the Columbia Queer Alliance.

The small showing was probably due to the time - noon on a Thursday - and also because the admins agreed to show up on short notice. Bwog itself received a statement announcing the event at 1:23 a.m. this morning.

Organizers decided to merge their scheduled event to unveil a new "safe-zone" campaign with a session of firmly posed questions from the few students present-- and mostly plain vanilla answers from the administrators.

Students wanted to know specifics -- in what kind of time frame they could expect to hear from administrators with progress reports on the hate crime front, what tangible things administrators now realize they could have done better to create safe spaces for students. Administrators had palpably reassuring, but vague responses.

In his germane way, Quigley acknowledged that administrators should have let students know about the incident sooner, and that Columbia's policy on hate crimes should be more widely known. In his less-germane way, Colombo said he would like to better "demonstrate to the community we are here to support them." And Friedman, SEAS's Quigley, said the three men in collared shirts and ties behind the panel ran "an open shop."

When students asked why they heard about the noose from student groups and listsevs and not from administrators, Colombo stumbled, explaining he may wear his Blackberry on his belt at all hours, but that not everyone in the administration does. "You guys start your days at a variety of hours," he said.

But perhaps they are learning. After office hours today when news of the anti-Semetic graffiti in Lewisohn hit, Quigley sent his delicate prose response merely minutes after President Bollinger -- who is himself feeling the heat of student criticism on this point.

At the end of the hour, students had a few commitments to transparency, tolerance, and inclusion to hold on to, and a new symbol to plaster around the school to signify safe-spaces, and perhaps the goal to blanket the campus in one large safe-space symbol.

-SEV

Statement by the CQA after the jump...

Want extraneous ephemera? We've got extraneous ephemera!

• Bwog missed it while QuickSpecking, since the classic headline "Penn to Teach at Penn" ran under today's College Briefs in the print edition only. "Sean Penn?" one student was overheard wondering. Not quite, and if seniors here are upset about Matthew Fox speaking on Class Day, we wonder what they'd think if Columbia signed the star of Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Van Wilder: Rise of Taj as an adjunct professor (okay, okay, he was in The Namesake too...and we're still waiting for Fox to take on a similarly respectable role...)

• We're not going to go beyond providing the link: Radar's...saucy interview with Matt Sanchez

• Dean Quigley, overheard leaving Low around 6PM yesterday: "One of my favourite* things in life is that time in between jobs." Following in Zvi's footsteps? Say it ain't so, Austin...

• Are the SDS, progenitors of the 1968 protests, on the rise again? We guess we won't know for sure until attending tomorrow night's meeting. Until then, we offer a synopsis of their logo from Bwog's very own semiotician, reporting from the Hamilton stairs: "They appear to be lacking a sense of irony. The flyers have George Bush doing a clenched fist and 'Is this what democracy looks like?' -- but then two inches away, the SDS fist logo, in almost exactly the same position."

*We like to imagine he both thinks and speaks aloud in the spelling of the Queen's English. -CJS

Columbia College Dean Austin Quigley is hosting a senior class reception tonight at 5:30 in Lerner's Satw Room. The event announcement mentions a "SUPER SECRET-HUGE-AMAZING announcement at 6:00pm sharp," which, Bwog hears, is the identity of the 2007 Class Day speaker. We're hoping for a speaker who's a bit more Tony Kushner than John McCain - perhaps that gent to the right?

Guesses as to the secret identity welcome, though we feel safe in saying that it won't be Barack "Alma Mater Who?" Obama.

Bwog correspondent Addison Anderson was there.

I couldn't stay for the whole thing, but Dean Quigley read an (the best) excerpt from Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales" for about fifteen minutes to a rapt audience, and repeatedly told us to keep an eye out for friendly ghosts of Columbia's past. Then some administrators started giving each other awards so I grabbed a truffle from the truffle man and left.

More lovely photos from Sumaiya Ahmed after the jump.

This evening, twelve lucky EC residents— and some prisoners of Wien —were invited to supper with the chipper, quick-witted dean of Columbia College himself, the venerable Austin E. Quigley. Bwog editor Chris Szabla was there and recounts what he learned about the origins of the major system, the progression of globalization, and British playwright Harold Pinter.

The family Harrist has, to this day, been living in the Faculty-in-Residence apartment of East Campus for thirteen months. Surprisingly, they claim, the location is not nearly as noisy as their old apartment's, perched near that veritable magnet of late-night decorum, Pinnacle. "It can even get too quiet here," Prof. Robert Harrist told me. The arrival, however, of the firey-haired Dean Quigley and his wife, Barnard prof. Patricia Denison, ensured the evening would be an active one indeed. While the invitees were still tearing into their Kitchenette-catered feast, Quigley launched a seminar-like discussion of the College curriculum and how participants felt it could be improved.

The first item of business was the major. Quigley asked whether, in an age of dual or treble-majors and interdisciplinary emphases, the traditional major made any sense. It had been designed, he said, for those who needed sufficient depth to go into graduate school, with the presumption many graduates would become highly specialized academics. In recent years, however, with a proliferation of CC students interested in finance and other business fields, students have become more concerned with their degrees' marketability. One recounted his experience in consultancy interviews as a philosophy major, being continually asked to justify his major choice and to demonstrate some quantitative ability. "Did you ask them to spell that?" Quigley returned in his characteristically clipped, dry jest.