The Columbia website (and daily editor Pierce Stanley) informs us that History prof Samuel Moyn has won a Guggenheim Fellowship for his works on the Holocaust's impact on postwar France. Moyn then informed us, too, by changing his Facebook status to "Samuel Moyn is gloating." Fortunately, he's since wised up and changed it to "Samuel Moyn is no longer gloating." (He's also got one of the better Facebook professor profiles known to Bwog.)

Also winning Guggies are professors Margo Jefferson (Creative Writing), Sam Lipsyte (Creative Writing), Alexander Stille (Journalism), Jonathan Weiner (Journalism) and Peter Ozsváth (Math), with whom Bwog sat through a dismal Calc IV section Freshman year. Congrats nonetheless.

Wipe that crust from your eyes, Columbians. It's the second day back from Spring Break, and jetlag is no longer an excuse (unless you're just returning from some three-day hell of flight cancellations and missed connections, in which case...good luck!) While you suck it up and drown yourselves in coffee, here's some more stuff we've picked up recently:

• History of Human Rights professor Samuel Moyn isn't sharing in seniors' ill-will toward Class Day speaker Matthew Fox. In a rare use of his faculty Facebook account, he's joined up with the group "Matthew Fox Speaks for Me" and voiced his incomprehension of the ongoing brouhaha: "As someone who attended class day last year and found John McCain less than enthralling, and as an obsessive fan of both 'Party of Five' and 'Lost,' I have only one question for those angry about the invitation of Matthew Fox this year: what is the deal?"

• We know, we know. The word got out long ago that the erstwhile Jonathan Taylor Thomas (of pre-adolescent heartthrob "JTT" fame, now answering to "Jonathan Taylor Weiss") has been stalking our halls as a student at GS, taking history classes and being spotted on the Barnard campus. We've tried for an interview, but, alas, the Home Improvement star has remained mum. Yesterday, however, IvyGate upped the ante by looking up Weiss' email on the directory, from which he oddly never had himself removed, and inviting the fanmail to pour in. Head over there for details - and a photomontage that will take you back to fourth grade.

• Finally, you Columbia homepage watchers might remember that Center for the Study of Alcohol and Substance Abuse (CASA) study that had been lingering near the top of the newswire for some time now - the one that pointed out that "half of college students binge drink, abuse prescription and illegal drugs". Yesterday, suddenly, and for some unknown reason, the announcement disappeared. One possible theory: being masters of the obvious wasn't enough to secure those grant applications...

UPDATE: The CASA study is still there, it's just scrolled off the page. It's still not much of a revelation, though. In any case, we're resisting the temptation to edit out that line about jetlag being no excuse...

-CJS

Last week, Bwog brought you the daring discoveries of Columbia's most intrepid research scientists; two weeks ago we uttered our approval (or lack thereof) for newsworthy alums. This week, we bring Columbia's finest faculty and awesomest alumni together in a feature uncreatively titled Monday Medley.

Theatre of the Deterred, Honors for the Deserved

Perhaps the Havel residency was her inspiration; maybe it was just a childhood obsession with the Muppets. Whatever the case, Bwog was amused to hear from tipster Elizabeth Mooers that Barnard Professor Kimberley Marten used an overhead projection of battling finger puppets to illustrate the Axis of Evil to her Intro to International Politics class today. We guess making class like a morning cartoon is one way to trick students out of bed on Monday.

Meanwhile, History of Human Rights professor Samuel Moyn has been named a "Top Young Historian" by the History News Network. In his "personal anecdote" the prof confesses he prefers bookstores to libraries, but has since come to find the "taste of the archive" appealing. Also included: plugs for Moyn's book on Levinas, and quotes rather selectively copied-and-pasted from his CULPA page.

Late Night Loathing, 2008 Foreboding

Apparently Leno was an all-CC lineup on Friday night ; Barack Obama and Maggie Gyllenhaal were the guests. The crowd reaction to the Columbia name has caused a bit of prestige distress on Columbia's anxiety-ridden College Confidential forum page, where some are ashamed Alma Mater's name did not yield as many oohs-and-ahs as Obama's other alma mater, Harvard Law. Some posters took the letdown personally. "I guess since you'd have to be brain dead or borderline-retarded to sit through one of his shows and not contemplate cutting yourself, that apathy is to be expected," one wrote. We're sure the Columbia PR department is actively tracking down the audience members to make sure they gasp in proper overawe in the future.

Speaking of Barack, the Times has it that he's semi-kinda-officially now thinking of making a bid for the White House in 2008. He may have to face GS alum Mike Gravel, a former Alaska Senator, who has been among the few Democrats officially file for the race so far. And if one of them winds up facing Columbia Law alum George Pataki in the general election? Bwog envisions the electoral map painted nothing but light blue.

-CJS

The following picture and caption ran on the front page of today's Spec next to the article "Professors Scoff at CULPA":

Well, we know Prof. Moyn. Prof. Moyn is a friend of ours. And that, sir, is no Prof. Moyn. This is Prof. Moyn's picture on the History Department website:

So who is the man in the picture? Why, it's Professor Michael Golston:

We'd only add that all of this confusion could have been avoided by a look at our old friend The Facebook, where Prof. Golston has a fan club and Prof. Moyn has his very own profile as well as a group he started, Merleau-Ponty Rules!, to which we can only respond: yes, yes he does.