Lecture Hop editor Pierce Stanley reports on a strange visitor in the hallowed halls of American history.

(Hi Daily Intelligencer!)

Recent semesters at Columbia have seen the arrival of some of the world's brightest and most eloquent speakers at fair Alma, broadening academic discourse on campus in a very fruitful way. Unfortunately, for all of the good speakers that come to Columbia, some bad ones happen to slip through the cracks. Indeed, these years have also been witness to some of the most controversial, questionable, and even disgraceful speakers on campus in recent years.

The appearance this afternoon of Obama Girl (a.k.a. actress Amber Lee Ettinger) in Professor David Eisenbach's American Presidency history course likely falls into the latter category, with Eisenbach's choice of speaker being questionable at best. Amber's visit this evening to Mike Gravel's Communications Director's course (just in case you missed her live-chat on YouTube last night) sparked both interest in the topic at hand--the role of viral videos and the YouTube generation in determining the eventual outcome of the 2008 Presidential election--and it sparked much controversy as to whether a minor actress (who doesn't even do her own singing, failed to vote in the last election, and claims that she does not even really have a crush on one of Columbia's favorite alums) should receive such a reception in the hallowed halls of the classroom. Many Columbia students left the classroom in IAB befuddled by Amber's appearance and by Professor Eisenbach's impromptu decision to hold such an event. Some left not knowing quite what to make of Obama Girl's appearance on campus. Overheard: "Are we really paying $40,000 plus a year to line up and take pictures with her like shes Santa? I feel like a five year old kid again."

Bwog correspondent Christopher Morris-Lent attends a Friendly Fire-Columbia Political Union-sponsored event and encounters a man who savors the taste of defeat .

On Friday afternoon, a ragtag group of people streamed into the hallowed space at the top of Earl Hall to see Mike Gravel, once a senator from Alaska and now running a quixotic campaign for president, speak on a variety of issues ranging from why he dislikes all politicians to what you can do about it. The audience, which ultimately numbered about 70 people and consisted of about ninety percent males and at least fifty percent policy wonks, grew steadily in size until Gravel arrived, accompanied by his speechwriter and History department lecturer, Dave Eisenbach.

Eisenbach is perhaps best known around campus as the founder of Friendly Fire, ostensibly a series of discussions targeted at deconstructing what he sees as Columbia's "problem" with free speech and featuring vocal critics of the University (Jim Gilchrist, Karina Garcia, Bob Podhoretz) squaring off against one another in a debate-style format. Yesterday, however, he eschewed his typical role as the impartial moderator and assumed that of a salesman, delivering a rousing introduction on behalf of the man whom he once called "an American hero."