Congratulations, CC grads: you forked over $11.8 million for the Columbia College Fund this year. That's more than any year yet, according to an e-mail sent to '07ers yesterday.

It didn't take tipsters long to point out the Fund's fumble. The thank you e-mail sent to donors included this photo from Commencement 2007. Oops.

Full text of the lovely message to "all 11,501" J-school (er... CC) donors after the jump.

Now Bwog editor emeritus Chris Szabla reports on some of the more ridiculous elements of today's pomp and circumstance.

CC: apple cores
SEAS: paper airplanes/annoying plastic clapping devices
GS: racing flags (because, I guess, they finally made it to the finish line)
Barnard: flowers and confetti
Nursing: pompoms (just...not right)
Architecture: balloons were all I could see, although the Record claimed they had plastic protractors
Business: monopoly money
Journalism: shredded newspaper
SIPA: national flags
Law: rubber gavels (people didn't know they were rubber at first and apparently took cover)
Dentistry: toothbrushes
Continuing Ed: frisbees
Teachers College: mostly seemed to ape SEAS' paper airplane thing

Some beach balls also bounced among the graduates. CC students mostly let fly their apple cores (and in some cases whole apples) at SEAS, though some held steady and waited to assault Barnard. SEAS counterattacked with a volley of paper airplanes and returned the apples. PrezBo looked visibly displeased when an uneaten apple whizzed near him.

As for the address, PrezBo bombed it with an untimely mention of "American Idol" (about a month late according to people who pay attention) interspersed with terribly unwitty self-deprecation. And concerning his references to the untrammeled prosperity of the world economy: huh?

Best moment: PrezBo made a condemnatory reference to people who thought in "simple binary form". Upon hearing the words "binary form," SEAS erupted in wild cheers, and PrezBo rephrased awkwardly. CC could not conceal its laughter.

More photos from Sumaiya Ahmed (actually taken on Class Day) after the jump...

The GW Hatchet, George Washington University's student newspaper, is reporting that GW President (and '59 Columbia grad, pictured) Stephen Joel Trachtenberg will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at Commencement. The list of recipients also includes Aharon Barak, former Israeli Supreme Court President, and CNN correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

UPDATE: According to the official list, SEAS Class Day speaker Santiago Calatrava will be sticking around for an honorary degree at comencement as well. Matthew Fox...not so much.

Julia Kite emails us with the following tip:

"The Journalism School's graduation speaker will be Ben Bradlee...yes, THE Ben Bradlee who was editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate Scandal and one of three people who knew the identity of Deep Throat, à la All the President's Men."

According to a recent Gawker post, J-School Dean of Students Sree Sreenivasan e-mailed students with the news yesterday (in which he, interestingly enough, sourced Wikipedia for Bradlee's bio -- hey, even professional journalists refer to it every now and then).

For those still upset about their own Class Day speakers, know that there may still be hope for graduate school.

- MIP

While we're still anticipating who will be speaking at Columbia's commencement this year, Bwog tipster Julia Kite notifies us that the crimsonites in Cambridge have invited none other than Harvard drop-out/Microsoft mogul Bill Gates to speak on June 7th. On top of that, Billy's finally getting his diploma too -- Harvard is presenting Gates with an honorary degree at the commencement, 32 years after leaving the school. The Harvard Crimson states that it still awaits the College Class Day speaker announcement, meanwhile. Perhaps another primetime television actor?

At other institutions, UPenn's got former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Wellesley has invited alumna Madeleine Albright (also speaking at UNC-Chapel Hill). Yale undergrads do not have a commencement speaker, but Newsweek International editor and Yale alum Fareed Zakaria will be speaking for Yale College's class day. Meanwhile, Barack Obama turned us down for class day, but he'll be speaking for commencement at Southern New Hampshire University.

As for Columbia, we expect to hear the news sometime within the next month (and in case you were wondering, SEAS dean Galil has complete control over who speaks for engineers, and usually announces his choice his choice in mid-April.)

- MIP

One of our more distinguished alumni (excerpted):

"I'm a liar and a cheat and a thief and the ultimate manipulator. ... I tell lies every day, man," the 40-year-old actor says in the February issue of Men's Journal magazine. "And when I say I'm phenomenally manipulative, I am."

Fox, who is now starring opposite Matthew McConaughey in We Are Marshall, a Warner Bros. Pictures release, says he "can be unapologetically vicious" and is "absolutely an instigator."

"I really enjoy social boozing, and what I enjoy about it is when people I know and care about say and do things they normally wouldn't say or do," he tells the magazine. "To make that happen I'll instigate anything."

"As for the skinny-dipping, when I was a kid there wasn't a huge delineation in our family between having clothes on or not having clothes on," he says.

"And the reason I have so much fun doing it now is people are so shocked by it, and, like, 'Oh, my God, Fox just took his clothes off!' But, I mean, just how long ago was it that we were all wandering around in loincloths?"

...was everyone else remotely affiliated with Columbia busy on May 15th? Why is this man speaking at Class Day? Something must be done...

It's Matthew Fox, of Lost fame. We hope this is a joke. (Though some of you commenters in the other thread seemed prescient...)

A genuine teevee celebrity! Chris Szabla reports:

"The general mood among seniors: either appalled, or wondering if Quigley and Chait were playing an extended joke. Even the video montage of headshots from the likes of Party of Five failed to quell rumors this was some kind of gag."

UPDATE 7:00PM: Spec has a full story up and running, complete with delicious reactions.

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.