An anonymous tipster spotted the pictured stack of books in the Butler computer lab. "If only my finals were this interesting!" he laments. The books include:

Cannabis Culture
Marijuana
Marijuana-The New Prohibition
Sexual Power of Marijuana
Man and Marijuana
Marihuana Reconsidered
Marihuana Papers
Bitter Pill
Birth Control
From Private Vice to Public Virtue
New Concepts in Contraception
National Com. on Marijuana and Drug Abuse

It looks like there may be at least one student who's a little less stressed than the rest of us.

Bwog ventured into the dark heart of Butler to snap some photos of the most lived-in cubicles, desks, and chairs. Columbia, what we saw, it frightened us: A Red Bull bottle converted into a flower vase for a single dying rose, sheets and sheets of notebook paper used to spit out old gum onto, more of 212's salads than we'd ever cared to smell—we thought we had seen it all. But then a boy, having noticed our camera, went up Bwog and informed us that somewhere on the fourth floor, a creature was dwelling who had taped pictures of her family on the walls. While we weren't able to locate this girl, we encourage you to email us (bwog@columbia.edu) artifacts from your own Butler safari or photos of your workspace.

More photos after the jump.

It was just 11:35 PM when studiers started drifting into Butler 209 and perching themselves on ledges and chairs. 209ers, futility be damned, started Shh-ing the newcomers. One such 209er was one-half of Chromeo (the half that attends Columbia), though he soon made a quick exit. At midnight exactly, the spirited Columbia University Marching Band made their entrance as they played the CU fight song. Butlerites, amazingly, not only knew the words, but sung along.

Because we know how cramped and claustrophobic Butler is at the moment, Bwog would like to remind you that the lovely, large, (basically empty) classrooms in Hamilton are open and available and yours for the taking.

In fact, Bwog is sitting in a Hamilton classroom right now and the blackboard is filled with notes from some class' earlier CC review session. Helpful, eh?

And while the building technically closes around 10 PM, security is usually pretty lax about letting students occupy classrooms into the wee hours of the morning.

Around 3:30 PM, the men's bathroom on the 5th floor of Butler (the one by the east elevator) was promptly closed, locked and surrounded by two police officers and a CU Security official. One B&W staffer overheard the policemen saying that an incident had occurred around 3 PM and heard the cops muttering the words "hate crime." The staffer also reports that the police have not questioned any students on the 5th floor of Butler.

Bwog just finished talking to the police officers and security official, who hastily doled out three "No comment"s and suggested we call Public Safety. Public Saftey, was "not at liberty to say anything." According to the policemen and security official, they have no knowledge of any Univeristy plans to release a statement about the incident.

Check back as the story (maybe?) updates.

UPDATE 6:50 PM: Two more Public Safety officials just showed up to the bathroom, one of whom directed Bwog's questions to James McShane and refused to comment. However, as Bwog was walking away, conversation started up again. The Public Safety official asked the policeman, "How were you guys even notified about this?" The policeman replied that someone had sent an email. "There's a swastika on the wall," he said.

UPDATE 7:11 PM: Another staffer tipped Bwog off to the fact that the second floor men's bathroom has also now been locked. The staffer explains that he was in the bathroom, men rushed in and began photographing the wall of a stall. The men left, locking the door behind them. The third and fourth floor bathrooms remain open. Bwog's been scurrying around Butler for ten minutes and has also noticed that inconvenienced male studiers are not pleased.

UPDATE 8:10 PM: About eight official-ish looking people with reporters' notepads (including two cops) are standing around the second floor bathroom. A third B&W staffer reports that he saw the group looking at printed photographs of the fifth-floor swastika. Both bathrooms are now open, despite signs on their doors proclaiming otherwise.

In about a week, when we can barely even see the unfinished papers and problem sets behind the stacks of Redbull and tissues, Bwog will invite you to participate in the traditional finals week Primal Scream.

But this is not a time for that. This is a time to find great comfort in a class-free week. So tomorrow sleep in, cook brunch, read the morning paper. And tonight, at midnight, we invite you to pause from your evening of merriment or early studying and heave a Primal Sigh of Relief.

Sigh like you mean it!

Bwog noticed the following in room 210 of Butler:

One particularly creative procrastinator just sent Bwog a photo essay of his Butler abode. We support you, procrastinator, and may your efforts bring calm (followed by debilitating panic!) to those of your kind.

On Sundays, most spots in Butler are taken—some by busy students, others by a pile of cough syrup bottles and a piece of toilet paper with "IF U TOUCH MY STUFF I KILL U!" scrawled on it in red ink. This is the first in what will hopefully be a recurring Saturday series offering possible answers to the question, "Where can I find a good place to study on a Sunday?"

Butler Media Center
Butler 208B
Sunday Hours: 2:00 — 10:00PM

Opposite the reserves desk, the Media Center is a series of banks outfitted with televisions, DVD/VHS players, and nice headphones. If you don't mind the harsh fluorescent lighting, it's a great place to watch a movie, and also a great place to study. Even on Sundays, several of the spacious cubbies are almost always open. Bring your books and your laptop—and make some pretense of actually watching a movie.

Check out a long, easily-ignored arthouse flick from the Butler Reserves desk, and plop down at a media station, ideally one in the far corner to the right of the entrance. Put the movie in the player, put your headphones on, turn the volume down to zero, and get to work. You won't look that different from the folks scribbling notes about the movies they're actually watching, and you'll get a big, secluded study space for your trouble.

One word of warning: There's no official "no talking" policy in the Media Center (at least not an enforced one), and occasionally groups of people will come in and blab loudly and endlessly about whatever movie they're watching, most likely their own student film project. In the unlikely even that this happens, it is advisable to turn your headphone volume up.

Through the grapevine, Bwog has been hearing rumors that in attempts to safeguard against theft, Public Safety has plans to begin taking unattended laptops in Butler. Oddly enough, this is one rumor that turned out to be kind of true, in a vague, quasi-benevolent way.

Ricky Morales, Crimes Prevention Manager at Public Safety clarified: "It's not just that we go over there and we take it. It's a whole educational process." According to Morales, Public Safety has been meeting with members of the University Senate and library security to design a process of reminders and education/awareness about property theft that culminates with a possible meta-theft. Explains Morales, Public Safety is "not taking [unattended property], but safeguarding it from people." In other words: thieving the property to protect it from thieves.

- JNW

Where's the beef?

But can YouTube and modern society eat your flesh?

And yet, lack of CC's Core Curriculum requirement doesn't preclude taking CC Core Classes?

SEAS kids in Avery?

Butler: Just not enough like my dorm that happens to be 75 feet away.

Lion cubs!

Despite nearing the last of their reserves of sanity, a healthy several hundred out of Butler's suffering hordes turned out for this semester's edition of Orgo Night (see others here and here). Those not in the loop as 209 filled up might be excused this time around; the Band doesn't seem to have done much in the way of flyering. The crotchety individual who uttered a loud SSHHHH at around 11:50, however, was rightfully greeted with derisive laughter.

The marchers arrived right on time and put on a lively but shorter-than-average show (in this bwogger's recollection). A few highs and lows:

LOW: In mocking the Day Against Hate, the band suggested it was kind of like oil, in which the day following a boycott would see doubled sales—"probably explaining what happened at Radio Perfecto two days later!" Everyone chucked at the murder of the young man.

HIGH: In the obligatory Ahmadinejad segment, the band suggested that the Iranian leader wasted time checking BoredinTehran.com before he discovered Facebook and joined the World Dictators network. Pervez Musharraf showed up on the feed one day, as his relationship status with Pakistan had gone from "committed" to "it's complicated."

SO-SO: The 2008 presidential race got air time as well, with a fair amount of hating on evangelical conservatives, Yale, and Obama's Columbia amnesia. His time here, they reasoned, must have been truly harrowing. "Maybe he didn't have enough ethnic studies!"

KIND OF OVER THE LINE: Aaaaand on the hunger strikers...CUMB ran with the public figure-ness of the strikers themselves, role playing one making Bryan Mercer hit himself with his hand, shouting "Why are you Othering me?" and making tasteless jokes about anorexia.

Absent this year: Barnard jokes, PrezBo, the West End, alcohol.

Present this year: former CUMBers Marcus Johnson and Joe Anzalone, rocking out on a table.

Bwog filed out with the rest of the visitors, only to be greeted again when the Band swung by Wien for a reprise. Hi Nancy!

Bwog took a frightening walk around Butler. The only thing outnumbering Redbull cans and Facebook page views were the dirty looks directed at our camera flash. Nonetheless, Bwog emerged unscathed and camera intact with a photo essay of Butler's temporary residents.

What WAS that last night?

Now you know.

Incidentally, Bwog loves videos. If you have original footage of Columbia life, send it on in.

Sometimes, for the broke college student, whoring yourself out to paid psychology experiments just doesn't cut it. To offer some assistance in your job search, we bring you dispatches from five students who tell all about their various engagements in the world of campus employment, work-study and beyond. Compiled by Maryam Parhizkar.

The Library Assistant

Perhaps you've heard about hipster librarians, i.e. the charming types with quiet smiles and no hips who listen to The Hold Steady. These people do not work in Columbia's libraries. Most of them work in Butler's basement—the mothership of the libraries—where they rarely see the light of day and physically and mentally reflect the lack of Vitamin D. My boss, though quite kind, could rarely breathe normal air, wore wrist braces, and spelled words with LittlE oR No ReGarD for CaSe.

Quirks aside—or perhaps, quirks included—it's not a bad job, especially if you prefer books to people. Unless you wo/man one of the circulation desks, you could spend your days shelving books, barcoding books, or doing countless other activities with books. The merits: you can listen to music, though for long stretches, audiobooks and podcasts are key; there is little oversight; you don't have to interact with people (have I emphasized that enough?). Downfalls: old books are about as clean and nice-smelling as old people, and there are lots of them; books will occasionally fall on your head and bruise you; the lights turn off every 15 minutes. This isn't just an inconvenience to those of us who believe murderers wait for the end of those 15 minutes. Words of wisdom: do not work in the math library.

The Note-Taker

About once every year or so, if you're lucky, you'll find in your inbox and email from Columbia's Office of Disability Services advertising the need for a note-taker in one of your classes for an anonymous student whose disability prevents him or her from taking notes. Or maybe your professor will make an announcement to the same effect. The first student who shows up to the ODS with a sample of thorough, organized class notes will get the job, which pays a total of $350 a semester to undergraduates and $400 to graduate students.

This is one of a few ways to make money at Columbia that doesn't require work-study status, or any extra time beyond what it takes to email ODS your notes every week. Typically students pounce on these opportunities like feral cats, so as soon as you receive the email announcement, reply to ODS with message saying you're interested and high-tail it over to the eighth floor of Lerner with a copy of your most responsible class notes (preferably notes you've already taken for the class, if the semester is already underway). ODS may take a few days to consider which applicant's notes best suit the needs of the anonymous student, whose name is never released — not even to the note-taker.

I've taken advantage of this opportunity twice, once in a science lecture and once in a literature lecture. Knowing I was responsible to someone else for what I wrote forced me to take thorough notes for every class meeting, and which made writing papers a lot easier than it would have been had I filled my notebook with the usual illegible scribble. And the best part was getting paid a few hundred dollars for something I should have been doing for free.