The Schapiro fire alarm has been christened.

Let the year begin!

Tipster Daniel Tyner-Bryan is reporting that just a few moments ago, the fire alarm started going off in Hamilton, thereby interrupting finals and forcing all the students, teachers, and bluebooks onto the lawn outside. Stand by for updates/photos and tip us (bwog@columbia.edu) if you have any.

UPDATE 7:31 PM: Tipster Srijata Chattopadhyay informs us that the fire alarm was triggered by a trashcan fire on the third floor women's bathroom.

"Money for Jobs and Education, Stop the War and Occupation!"

"Cut the funding, stop the war! What the hell is Congress for?"

Anti-war impatience reigned on Low Plaza this afternoon as a hundred-odd students, professors, union workers, and community members listened to a slew of speeches organized by the Columbia Coalition Against the War while huddled at the base of Alma Mater, sipping free hot chocolate. A few professors had cancelled class, but most people stopped by on their lunch breaks, lingering for a few minutes before hustling on. One onlooker, who had just come from a trial in which her friend was arrested for holding a sign saying "Waiting for Peace" at Ground Zero on September 10, said she was hoping for a couple hundred more protestors.

On the other end of campus, a group huddled in front of the doors of Butler, where someone had pulled the fire alarm a few minutes before the strike started. Alarms also went off in Lerner, Philosophy, and Hamilton at about the same time, spilling everyone out into the snow. Firefighters with big hoses expressed annoyance with having to check out the false alarm, which Coalition organizers said they had nothing to do with.

After the speeches, the gaggle tromped up to 120th street and back, returning to a teach-in in Lerner with speeches by profs Richard Bulliet, Noha Radwan, Rebecca Young, and Rashid Khalidi (Dabashi didn't show) as well as people from ANSWER and the Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Apparently there's some stuff going down at other schools too, and the wires are starting to pick it up as a blurb. WHAT NOW, President Bush?

Pictures by Downing Bray and Sara Vogel after the jump.