In an email sent to the entire Columbia community this afternoon President Bollinger officially announced the appointment of interim dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, John Coatsworth, as the new permanent head of SIPA. PrezBo welcomed Professor Coatsworth to his new role by listing his myriad academic accomplishments and suggesting how they will be put to use in SIPA's transition to Manhattanville in the coming years. Below is an excerpt from President Bollinger's email:

"I am very pleased to announce the appointment of John Coatsworth as the new Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs. John has done an outstanding job as acting Dean of SIPA this past year, and it will be a pleasure to continue working with him in this permanent role.

This will be a critical period in the history of SIPA, especially as the School prepares to move into its own building in Manhattanville. In the short period of time in which John has been leading the School, he has been able to galvanize the SIPA community to begin preparing for its future. This will be absolutely critical in determining the course of SIPA over the next several years, which will in turn be extremely important in shaping the character of the University, particularly on the matter of our collective engagement with a wide range of public policy issues and globalization. I think we are very fortunate at this moment to have a dean with John's abilities.

A press release issued today from the American University in Cairo reports that Lisa Anderson, Columbia's Shotwell Professor of International Relations, former chair of the CU political science department, and former dean of SIPA has been named the next provost of the American University in Cairo. Anderson, a specialist in politics of the Middle East and former director of Columbia's Middle East Institute, will succeed Dr. Earl Sullivan who has been the provost of the American University of Cairo since 1973. Anderson will be serving as chief academic officer of the famed Egyptian university at a time of great change for the school, as the school's more than 5000 students and full-time faculty of 400 move over the next year to a brand new, $400 million campus in the New Cairo neighborhood.

According to the press release, the selection of a professor of Anderson's caliber to head up academics at the university "is a reflection of AUC's increasing prestige internationally as an institution of higher education," and Anderson, a former president of the Middle East Studies Association, chair of the board of directors of the Social Science Research Council, and CFR member said that she is "privileged to be a part of this venture." Bwog wishes this giant of political science scholarship the best of luck as she moves East and on to the pursuit of new academic challenges!

Tipster Tedde Tsang sends photos Bwog's way of some sort of bizarre, international students mating ritual, performed last night at 11 PM on the 4th floor of the IAB. You remember 11 PM last night, don't you? It was the hour you accidentally fell asleep in Butler while leaning against an empty Redbull can.

Also occuring: SIPA students, dressed in appropriately whimsical 80s-wear, were filming each other dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The tape will reportedly be shown at some sort of SIPA formal, but you can get a sneak peek (maybe?) here.

Anticipating getting "shafted" by McBain...

...Yet despair not!

A SIPA Conference on Africa - can't think of a joke to put here

"I sat on Lee Bollinger's bed and was watching football on TV," Lehrer said. "I called from his phone to my answering machine and left a message. He gave me a hug and on the way out he said he loved us all."

Added by popular request

Let the spin-doctoring begin: "It's a victory for free speech and anti-racism."

Kind farewell to Lisa Anderson: "Being in SIPA next to the law school is like living in Mexico on the border of the U.S."

JTS decides to admit gays and lesbians. In other news, sky does not fall.

SGB "combats social injustice" by...recognizing groups that will do it for them

Inside the university's rules procedure: where's Kafka when you need him?

Chinese pride (at right)

This afternoon at 1:00 PM. Lou Dobbs, eat your heart out.

Discoveries of New Burial Plots

For a mere $25,000, you can get buried at Duke. But hurry--already 200 reservations have been made. According to the Chronicle, "the one-and-a-half acre area first opened in response to requests from alumni in the past few decades who wanted to have a final resting place at the University." Pity, Columnia alumi will have to make do with Manhattanville...

Self-Promotion, Health Promotion

As part of their health promotion program, Go Ask Alice! (the friendly Q&A health website that brought you answers about sexy role plays and tattoo guides) is sponsoring a photo contest only a month away. All Columbia students are eligible to send in photos that will be published on the Ask Alice webpage. And that's right kids, you'll get your own photo credit! Deadline: February 23rd.

SIPA, Student Soldiers, and Kitsch

The Morningside Post (Delivering SIPA's Global and Local Enterprise in their very own blog) brings another point of view to the student-soldier debate with a video produced by SIPA students Caroline Bray and Aaron Ernst. Highlights include varied interviews and kitschy classical (juxtaposed to hard rock macho) music. Just another example of Columbia students' talent with video equipment!

Raising The Bar

Abe Handler overheard this in the business school library today afternoon: "I feel like everybody and their dog has 100 million dollars. The question is how to go from like here (gestures to his waist) to like here (gestures to his shoulders)."

- YS

Every semester, President Bollinger brings about 40 students off the street into his swanky abode at 60 Morningside Drive to find out what's going on in the collective student consciousness. Registration is competitive, and as Bwog mounted the cushy staircase to PrezBo's elegantly appointed receiving room, we realized why: the snacks are phenomenal. During a 20 minute schmooze session, the undergrads fed on miniature hamburgers and peeled asparagus served up by a flock of smiling attendants. Here are some highlights from the discussion:

- The Opener: PrezBo began with his standard global university patter, covering the by now familiar tropes of how we need more international students, how much we NEED more space, and how committed we are to educational opportunity.

- On African Studies: Bollinger pinned the blame for the department's termination on erstwhile SIPA Dean Lisa Anderson, but said that we should be expecting a "major announcement" regarding the leader of a new department.

- On Athletics: "I really care a lot about athletics. One of the things I'm been troubled by is the sense that Columbia athletics has not been sufficiently respected or that it's losing." Just focus on water polo!

- On the distinctiveness of a Columbia alum: "You're more in debt than the others." Uneasy laughter. "That was a joke."

- On the works of Shakespeare: "You actively read them every day. You build a life with them...he had the ability to create characters who are truly, truly real. To do that is an act of genius."

- On the potential departure of Dean Galil: "Besides being extraordinary, he's lovable. I would wish him the best, and would work with him as the president of an institution. I think it would be good for the world."

- On the disinvitation of President Ahmadinejad: Bollinger abandoned the pretense that the Iranian leader was asked not to speak because of "security concerns." New version of events: he was informed on a Wednesday morning that Dean Anderson had invited Ahmadinejad while working in a small group setting at the UN to speak Friday morning. The President's office couldn't get a line of communication that would have assured him that Ahmadinejad would consent to a question and answer period, which Bollinger said was essential for this event to have academic merit. Especially considering Ahmadinejad had, one night earlier, implied that the Holocaust did not occur. "Are you unfathomably ignorant, or are you brazenly insulting?" PrezBo asked rhetorically.

Always up for controversy, Bwog perked up this morning at a Spectator headline declaring that President Ahmadinejad of Iran had been invited to speak at Columbia. We soon e-mailed Public Affairs Director Robert Hornsby to see if he could save a seat for us, and minutes later recieved this response:

"Event was never scheduled. - Rob H."

That confused us. Even more confusing is the recently posted Spectator web update, which tells of how SIPA administrators didn't have time to check with World Leaders Forum staff before inviting the Iranian leader, and in fact de-invited him because they couldn't mobilize enough security.

In the interim, a predictably indignant New York Sun article noted that the Columbia VP for Public Affairs denied last night that Ahmadinejad had been invited in the first place. And LionPAC posted signs all over campus inciting protest.

So, PrezBo. You could provide security at last year's World Leaders Forum for the presidents of Iraq, Pakistan, and Venezuela (although Chavez bowed out), but not Iran? Why didn't a normally media-savvy administration get its story straight?

And LionPAC, calm down. We survived when the Iranian foreign minister came a few years ago. Meanwhile, Bwog enjoyed this morning's presentation by the entire government of Papua New Guinea...