On this cold fall night, Bwogger Anish Bramhandkar was lucky enough to make the trek over to East Campus to sit in on the most recent incarnation of President Bollinger's Fireside Chat. While the mood was decidely somber in the President's Mansion because of the state of the economy, it seems that PrezBo was also in a hurry to go watch tonight's Presidential debate.

Tonight was PrezBo's own "Big Block of Cheese Day," in which he took in tens of Columbia students into his palacial party space to listen to them chirp about the same things as last time, and to give them a long-needed lesson in economics. Upon leaving his dusty jacket in the dimly lit foyer and ascending the magnificent marble staircase in his battered sneakers, Bwog happened upon a lacy table set out with bits of dead animal. Meat on a stick, meat on a bun, cleverly disguised cubed meat, and deep-fried meat with meat-based sauce. Oh, and some dry vegetable skewers and classy PB&J finger sandwiches.

Once again the finger-food was set out at 60 Morningside Drive and once again the president of Fair Alma took a cue from FDR, hosting a fireside chat in his humble, multi-million dollar abode.

Employees from the President's Office removed my coat and guided students from every part of the University up an elegant marble staircase to the reception, which featured an array of crusty breads, fancy cheeses and hors d'oeuvres both sweet and savory.

After a healthy dose of schmoozing, Bollinger described the format of the discussion: first he would entertain questions posed by the student body and then he himself would ask questions of them.

Fireside chats make PrezBo—ne JanitorBo—nostalgic for the good old days.

GS Student Council, like grumpy old men, bickers about budgets.

Some GS students actually live in Butler, no really. Two chairs, third-floor style.

GS is expensive but worth it. Most of the time, methinks.

Out with the old, in with the new. Even with the new lounge-bar experience, its still just mediocre Italian food.

The Pellegrino splashed into champagne glasses and the trays of mini-burgers (already doused in ketchup) were stacked high on a circular table. Students and administrators milled about, waiting for Bollinger's first Fireside Chat of the semester to begin. Expectations for the Chat were high, as many students were anxious to voice their concerns about last semester's slew of Major Controversies, among other things. Adam Nover, SEAS '10, wanted to know, "Why we can't give money to the middle class like Harvard." Paige Thompson, CC'10, was concerned with space issues and possibly renovating older buildings like Pupin. At 6:20 PM the finger sandwiches were running low and there was still no sign of PrezBo. "If he gets fired, he gets evicted from this house right?" said Nover to a friend.

Armin Rosen was shocked to see PrezBo wearing a digital watch last night. He reports on the festivities at 60 Morningside.

Although most of the attendees to last night's fireside chat were excited just to set foot in the palatial and impeccably air-conditioned residence at the corner of 116th and Morningside, Rajash Ramakrishnan, SEAS '07, wasn't buying into the hype. "Is free food, free propaganda a sufficient response?" he replied when asked what kind of expectations he had for the evening's event. Roughly two hours later, Ramakrishnan felt vindicated. "This wasn't a forum to answer questions," he said afterwards. "It's free food. Let's enjoy the free food."

And enjoy the free food I did. The menu was delightfully lowbrow, and the spread of mini burgers and pigs-in-a-blanket succeeded in icing what might have been a combative crowd of concerned students.

As for the propaganda...this fireside chat represented a crucial opportunity for Bollinger to speak candidly on the single most controversial thing he has ever done or will ever do as Columbia's president. If judged only as performance it was an unqualified triumph, as Bollinger repeatedly hit on all of his talking points. Basically: when he scolding Ahmadinejad he was speaking not as a university president but as a concerned individual who felt very strongly about everything he said; that we're "still trying to understand what it means to engage world issues in a meaningful way;" that pandering politeness has no place in serious debates that demand our passion and emotion. The last point wasn't without a certain irony, since the audience was totally arrested by politeness. Indeed, it took six or seven questions for anybody to even bring up Ahmadinejad by name.