A hungry Bwog tipster just informed us that Ferris is doling out free french fries at their relatively new burger station. Bwog investigated the french fry situation and noted that, although the portion was generous, the fries did not deliver. Our dejected tipster described them as both "vaguely moist" and, perhaps even worse, "limp". Our greatest free food hopes, dashed.

A young woman and man meet outside Ferris and engage in a ferocious round of small talk.

Girl: I only had one class today! So, yeah, I'm not too busy today.

Guy: Oh man, awesome! Wow! You could do anything today. You could even go to Brooklyn!

But only if she flies "second to the right, and straight on 'til morning."

Looks like the dining options at Ferris Booth continue to change - Bwog tipsters report that the Ferris pizza station has been replaced with a burger grill!

Bwog's not sure yet whether it's only a lunch thing, but there are three options available - veggie, turkey, and regular - along with a variety of condiments. A Bwog daily editor also reports that they're "delicious." As a burger fan, Bwog wholeheartedly endorses the change.

Oh, and as for that rumor that John Jay no longer has takeout? Bwog's been told the dining hall was merely out of containers.

With the new year comes new dining policies, and none may be more threatening to freshman waistlines than the institution of "Order-by-Phone" pickup system at JJ's. According to Dining Services, "you can order any food item from the menu in advance by calling 212-851-5801 and can pick it up approximately 15 minutes after the phone call."

The service (which is also available for the Kosher Deli during the day) is available Sunday - Thursday from 6 pm to 1 am. JJ's also now offers a catering service for student group events, ensuring that a steady supply of chicken fingers will make its way into our free food announcements.

But while the actual JJ's menu will remain unchanged, several other campus eateries have introduced new options for the semester, including new salads at Ferris, and Bento Boxes from Mill Korean at Uris. See the full list of new ways to spend your Dining Dollars after the jump.

Fu Foundation Bureau Chief Sean Zimmermann attended last night's ESC meeting. Swipe Access died; revelations about Ferris Booth and JJs were unearthed.

Swipe access is dead, long live swipe access: During the last night's ESC meeting, President Peter Valeiras announced that SGA, Barnard's student council, had decided after meeting with the administration to stop pursuing swipe access. (Columbia's student councils will still circulate a survey on the topic, but it'll be just to see how much support there was for the initiative, which, again, is dead.) Swipe access for General Studies students is still in the works.

An astute tipster informed Bwog today that he noticed odd hours at staple campus eateries Ferris Booth and JJs Place. After a quick phone call to Dining Services, Bwog was able to dig up last year's hours for comparison.

Indeed, much has changed and no longer is it possible to make 3am romps to JJs from Butler study-forts in order to replenish diminishing Red Bull supplies.

More to come on the administration's reasons for these changes and cut-backs. Full comparison of hours of these two locations after the jump.

For a three-day week, it sure felt a lot longer. Maybe it was the newness, maybe it was the heat (or Hanna). Either way, let's relive this auspicious beginning to the semester.

Your professors began class in off-putting and amusing ways

A mysterious antagonist offended one violent feminist in EC 

We discovered our beloved bird of prey was a plural

To little fanfare, tacos were substituted for stir-fry in Ferris Booth 

It was announced Obama and McCain would soon descend upon Roone

At which point, every single person in the world immediately tried to secure tickets. These attempts were rebuffed by fickle and cruel technology. 

It's a phenomenon almost as annoying as having to re-enter your SSOL password when you leave it alone for more than 3 minutes: rising prices at campus eateries.

So far, Bwog tipsters and staff have seen price hikes at many campus eateries. Offenders include Ferris Booth, which, in addition to replacing the popular stir fry station with a taco bar, has raised prices at several of their other stations.

At $7, Ferris and 212 sushi, for example, will now set you back more than many supermarkets in the area (M2M sells it for about $4). Cafe 212 has also raised its prices on sandwiches, and they've also stopped selling sunflower seeds, which Bwog considers a travesty.

Finally, Butler's Blue Java has, as our tipster put it, "coffee now priced at Starbucks levels, pastries even higher." If you've heard of other places, on-campus or off-campus, raising (or lowering!) their prices, let us know at bwgossip@columbia.edu or in the comments.

In case you haven't been to Ferris yet -- maybe you're holding off on that particular pleasantry until later in the semester -- we'd like to call your attention the new burrito/taco station (right), which sits where the stir-fry paraphernalia once was.

Initial reactions to the tacos and burritos are guardedly optimistic and dissatisfied, respectively. Apparently, there's been some trouble tortilla-wise, as one customer recalls a chef explaining that employees aren't yet comfortable enough with the tortillas for you to expect the burritos not to fall apart.

With the tightness of the tortilla just a dream down the road, the burrito is "like a soggy dosa," the student said. Still, she said, the tacos are "okay."

A few tipsters have sent Bwog links to a website called EveryBlock. Users can search by zip code or address to find out all sorts of neat things about a neighborhood like elevator malfunctions, construction work violations and grossest of all: restaurants' health code violations.

Kitchenette scored a moderately upsetting 14 points, the most nauseating of which was "food surface not washed." Other points came from the failure to "post signs" or have a working thermometer.

An impressive 29 points were awarded to Subconscious. Apparently they're still serving NYC-banned trans fat, among other things.

But today's big winner is John Jay. During its inspection at the end of January, John Jay Dining Hall racked up a positively baller 32 points for everything from inadequate lighting to "food not protected from contamination" to mice.

In comparison, Hewitt Dining Hall only had 9 points of violations, the most egregious of which were "flying insects" and the cryptic "Other/Employee in separate smoking room."