/02-10-12web_0

Vol. CXXXVI—No. 19

Friday, February 10, 2012

columbiaspectator.com

Admins hope to endow Core

Barnard sees 5.3 percent increase in applications

BY JILLIAN KUMAGAI AND SAMMY ROTH Spectator Senior Staff Writers Applications to Barnard jumped by 5.3 percent this year, with a record 5,428 women applying to the college.

Last year, Barnard saw an 11 percent application increase, meaning applications have now risen by 17.5 percent over the last two years.

“We really are quite pleased with the momentum that we see with the application numbers continuing to grow, and our ability to maintain our standing as the most selective women’s college in the U.S.,” Dean Avis Hinkson said in an interview. “We’re unbelievably proud about that.”

For students, the news reflects an increase in Barnard’s national and international profile.

“At my high school, I was one of two people who applied to Barnard last year, and the other person was my best friend. My mom and my sister went here,” Sophie Rubashkin, BC ’15, said.

“This year seven people from my high school applied to Barnard, and none of them knew me,” she said.

Annabella Kwai BC ’15, who came to Barnard from Hong Kong this year, said the college has done a good job of reaching out to potential students in other countries.

“They’re definitely trying SEE APPS, page 2

Campaign still in early planning stages

BY JEREMY BUDD Spectator Senior Staff Writer

hearing at the school last month and backlash from community members and local politicians, the DOE decided to remove Wadleigh from the list, keeping it from closing this year.

Annette Nanton, who has been active in the movement to save Wadleigh as the school’s ParentTeacher Association president, said that in the movement to save Wadleigh, she remained unfazed and confident about the power of the neighborhood’s voice.

Senior administrators are planning to establish an endowment for the Core Curriculum to help ensure its long-term sustainability.

Alumni, faculty members, and administrators have been discussing ideas for a broadbased fundraising initiative since the fall.

University President Lee Bollinger said that the plan for the endowment is still being pieced together, but that by the end of the semester it should be “pretty well shaped-up.”

“I think that there will be a lot of people who will find this appealing to support,” he said.

“We’re bringing the college, the faculty, and the curriculum much closer together, so that’s kind of the goal. The more that happens, the more people will want to give–both for what they’ve been giving and more broadly.”

As Columbia’s capital campaign has surged past its initial goal of $4 billion and toward its new goal of $5 billion, Bollinger said he is hopeful that a “sub-campaign” could be established in support of

SEE WADLEIGH, page 3

SEE CORE, page 2

JUSTINE HOPE FOR SPECTATOR

ALL ABOARD

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Activists board a bus near Wadleigh Middle School, on their way to Brooklyn to protest the city’s school closure plans.

Wadleigh supporters join rally against school closures

BY MARIAN GUERRA Columbia Daily Spectator The people’s mic drowned out “Bloomberg’s mic” in the Brooklyn Tech auditorium on Thursday, but it didn’t save two dozen schools from closure.

Two busloads of supporters of a West Harlem school were among the hundreds who came to protest the Panel for Educational Policy, which voted Thursday night to close or phase out 23 New York City public schools.

Parents and friends of the

ONLINE

The protesters en route. www.columbiaspectator.com/news

Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing and Visual Arts, on 114th Street between Frederick Douglass Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard,

were among the few that had reason to cheer: Wadleigh’s middle school was taken off the chopping block of schools slated for closure on Wednesday, just 24 hours before the vote.

Wadleigh’s supporters had planned to make the hour-long bus ride from Harlem to Fort Greene before learning that their school would remain open, but they decided not to cancel the trip so as to stand in solidarity with other schools in danger of closing.

After the DOE’s joint public

Valentini to donate over $4,000 to Senior Fund

BY SAMMY ROTH Spectator Senior Staff Writer More than 100 seniors have already given to this year’s Senior Fund, but the largest donation will probably come from Columbia College Interim Dean James Valentini, who has

agreed to donate over $4,000.

Valentini pledged to double the money seniors donated at the Senior Fund Kick-Off last month, which has put him on the hook for $4,068.

Additionally, 35 seniors have signed on to participate in Valentini’s “3, 2, 1” fundraising

LUKE HENDERSON / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

JAMES DEAN | Columbia College Interim Dean James Valentini has agreed to donate more than $4,000 to this year’s Senior Fund.

challenge.

He said on Thursday that he does not regret making his matching pledge.

“It’s symbolic,” Valentini said. “It’s not the money, it’s not the amount, it’s the symbolism that we all owe something to the college—every last one of us, including the dean.”

Stephanie Foster, CC ’12 and co-chair of the Senior Fund, said she doesn’t think there’s another school “where a dean is so enthusiastic about a senior class giving back.”

“It is a bit symbolic that he is willing to take money out of his paycheck and out of his own pockets to give to the students he believes in,” she said.

Besides being the biggest donor, Valentini has impacted the Senior Fund with the fundraising challenge he first pitched in September.

Of the 105 seniors who have already donated to the Senior Fund, one-third have signed on to Valentini’s “3, 2, 1” challenge.

The goal of the challenge is for students to donate to Columbia each of the three years after they graduate, and to convince two friends to donate as well.

The “1” refers to older alumni who will match donations one-to-one.

Students signing up for the “3, 2, 1” challenge this year are required to donate at least $20.12 for each of the three years, a reference to their class year. Those who pay by credit card and agree to make their gift a recurring gift will be automatically charged the next two years unless they request that the charge be removed, Foster said.

She said that the “3, 2, 1” SEE VALENTINI, page 2

HENRY WILLSON / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ON THE MOVE

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Uris Hall will be vacated when the Business School moves to Manhattanville.

USenate reports on space freed by M’ville

BY MARGARET MATTES Spectator Senior Staff Writer The move to Manhattanville will leave a lot of space vacated on the Morningside Heights campus over the next few years.

And besides Uris Hall, which has been designated for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, it’s not clear how the space will be used.

The Student Affairs Committee of the University Senate, in an effort to advise the administration on the redistribution of the space, is beginning a report to analyze student space around campus.

“It will be a very clear explanation of what space there is now, what’s the nature of that space, and what we need,” SAC chair Alex Frouman, CC ’12, said.

The senators will seek to quantify areas used by students in Columbia College, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of General Studies, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences— the schools with the most dire

space needs, according to both Frouman and University Senator Eduardo Santana, CC ’13.

University President Lee Bollinger has already promised Uris Hall, the home of the Business School, to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“We’re in this for the long haul.”

—Eduardo Santana, CC ’13, University Senator “We could start populating Uris right now. We are really at the end of knowing what we can do,” Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks said.

“Some departments don’t have enough space for new faculty, and we have some units in the Arts and Sciences that are really, really pressed for space,” he said. “The School of the Arts is having trouble finding offices for

some of the most distinguished faculty that we have recruited.”

Frouman and Santana said that undergraduates and GSAS students in particular need more space, especially relative to schools that have their own sizable buildings or additional resources.

The report will look at spaces such as group study areas, rooms for specific types of student groups, and lounges, examining the resources available to students and the needs of different populations on campus. It will provide objective measurements of the space, such as square feet and number of chairs.

Members of the Student Affairs Committee hope that their research will allow the administration to respond more easily to student needs once the space becomes available.

Santana said that this is one of the first times since recent debates over the smoking ban and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps that SAC and the SEE SPACE, page 2

OPINION, PAGE 4

SPORTS, BACK PAGE

EVENTS

WEATHER

Paul for President

Lions host Ivy League rivals Brown and Yale

Islam Awareness Open Mic

Today

Professor Jo Ann Cavallo discusses Ron Paul’s effect on her family’s politics.

Breaking the glass ceiling Jessica Hills commends the selection of Barnard’s commencement speaker.

After a heartbreaking loss at the hands of conference powerhouse Harvard, Columbia looks to rebound in critical home games against the Bears and Bulldogs this weekend.

Tomorrow

The Muslim Students Association hosts an open mic night to kick off Islam Awareness Week.

Lerner Party Space, 6:30 p.m.

Debora Spar visits Hillel Barnard President Debora Spar will speak as part of Hillel’s Faculty Friday program.

Kraft Center, 9:00 p.m.

47°/ 34° 38°/ 22°

PAGE 2

NEWS

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Valentini discussing Core endowment with alums Chaplain to fund Student Wellness Project CORE from front page undergraduate education.

“I think that there is no question that we will have a campaign to get a greater endowment for the Core,” he said.

“And I think we will expand that and include it as part of a campaign for all undergraduate teaching and faculty departments as well.”

Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences Nicholas Dirks said that the Core endowment would be a “wonderful opportunity” to solidify support for the curriculum, especially considering the unique logistical demands of the Core and the outsize share of Columbia College students’ educations that it takes up.

“We’re always interested in finding greater levels of support for the Core because it’s a very time-intensive mode of education,” he said. “We’re all keen to find ways to support what is an extraordinarily complicated and difficult curriculum to mount.”

The Core requires the staffing of many small sections each year, making it an expensive program. Finding enough professors and graduate students to teach every semester can be a challenge, and some have said there should be more financial incentives for tenured and tenure-track faculty to teach Core classes.

Columbia College Interim Dean James Valentini is one of several administrators who have been involved in discussions about a Core endowment. He said that although no decisions have been made about how an endowment would be allocated, some of it could go toward incentivizing senior faculty members to teach courses like Literature

Humanities and Contemporary Civilization.

“Endow means enhance, in this case,” Valentini said. “If something is important to you, you want to establish a base of funding that guarantees its existence in perpetuity.”

“Endowing the Core is both establishing money for it and also getting money to make it better.”

—James Valentini, Columbia College Interim Dean Columbia College Dean of Academic Affairs Kathryn Yatrakis added that, “since the Core is the intellectual and curricular signature of the College, one of the first issues we will want to address is the normative one ... what should be the percentage of tenure and tenure-track faculty teaching in the Core.”

Valentini explained that he is working with other administrators to develop a detailed plan for a Core endowment that would outline its goals and explore ways of achieving them. He has also spent time talking to alumni about what a Core endowment would look like.

“Endowing the Core is both establishing money for it and also getting money to make it better,” he said. “If something is a priority to you, you find a special line of funding for it.”

Dirks agreed that it is important to encourage senior faculty to participate in the Core.

“We want to make sure that we get more and more senior faculty teaching in the Core,” Dirks said. “It also makes clear the commitment of the institution as a whole to the importance of the Core.”

Dirks, who is teaching a section of Contemporary Civilization for the first time this semester, also expressed interest in establishing more support for Art Humanities and Music Humanities.

“I would like very much to include them, eventually in the ideas of endowing the Core,” he said. “The only way to really keep them going and ensure that they keep going is to get an endowment for that as well.”

As administrators work to transition the Core endowment from an idea to a formal initiative, they have been talking to many alumni, including representatives from the Columbia College Board of Visitors.

“We are working with alumni … to ensure that it [the Core] gets more support even now, but also for future generations so that it doesn’t get cut for the wrong reasons,” Dirks said.

The endowment is still in its preliminary planning stages, but Valentini said that he is looking to broaden the discussion.

“Lots of people have investment in it—emotional, psychological, intellectual, financial investments,” he said.

“A lot of people are involved— we’ll keep expanding the circle of people engaged in the conversation.”

Sammy Roth contributed reporting. jeremy.budd @columbiaspectator.com

BC admins ‘mindful’ of yield after app increase APPS from front page to raise awareness of Barnard, and the president [Debora Spar] is doing a great job overseas,” Kwai said.

“I know that she’s been to China trying to promote the school,” she added.

Others credited part of the increase to Barnard’s relationship with Columbia.

“I think it’s word of mouth,” Paulina Pinsky, BC ’15, said. “On

the West Coast, people generally don’t know what Barnard is, so I usually introduce it by explaining the Columbia relationship. More people are starting to recognize it on its own, though.”

Barnard had a larger-thanexpected yield last year, leading to a packed first-year class this fall.

Hinkson said that administrators will be “very mindful of last year’s yield rate” when

setting the admission rate this year.

“The number of applications certainly gives us every reason to believe that the interest is there,” she said.

Applications to Columbia College and the School of Engineering and Applied Science dropped by nearly 9 percent this year, following a record 33.4 percent increase the year before. news@columbiaspectator.com

SENIOR FUND SENIORS Total amount students have donated to the Senior Fund so far.

$5099

VALENTINI Valentini will be donating this much to the Senior Fund after agreeing to match some gifts.

$4068

NUMBER OF SENIORS WHO HAVE DONATED TO THE FUND. SENIORS WHO HAVE SIGNED UP FOR VALENTINI’S “3, 2, 1” CHALLENGE.

BY ABBY ABRAMS Spectator Staff Writer Un i ve r s i t y Chaplain Jewelnel Davis has agreed to provide some funding for the Student Wellness Project, giving the newly formed mental health group a boost as it starts to plan events and initiatives.

SWP will begin decorating Lerner Hall today with paper hearts and other Valentine’s Day-themed decorations, in a project that will be paid for by Davis’ office. In a meeting with SWP leaders last Friday, Davis expressed interest in supporting some of the group’s shortterm projects, and for now, that means funding the Valentine’s Day decorations.

The student group—which was formed out of dialogues that started last semester after the suicide of Tina Bu, CC ’13—focuses on trying to create a more supportive, healthier environment for Columbia students.

“The wellness of students is a concern of all university offices,” Davis said in an email.

“We have and will continue to lend timely support to student concerns following campus, national or international crises/tragedies.”

Mark Hay, CC ’12 and an SWP coordinator, said that when the group told representatives from the Office of the University Chaplain about SWP’s work, it seemed “right up their avenue.”

The plan for Lerner, Hay said, is to “put in place some programming that will actually make people feel a little happier or well during the upcoming season, which can honestly be one of the most isolating.”

“She put her money where her mouth was.”

—Sara Donatich, BC ’13 Student Wellness Project coordinator A few other Columbia offices have offered support for SWP, including Counseling and Psychological Services and Alice! Health Promotion.

But this is the first time that SWP, which is not an officially recognized group, has received University funding.

“Chaplain Davis is an invaluable resource,” SWP founder Wilfred Chan, CC ’13, said. “Since we’re still a very new organization still in the process of figuring itself out, we’re extremely grateful to have a strong supporter like Chaplain Davis who can give us that initial boost to get going.”

Clubs and organizations generally need to exist for at least two semesters before receiving recognition from the Student Governing Board or the Activities Board at Columbia.

FILE PHOTO

FIRST FUNDS | University Chaplain Jewelnel Davis is giving the Student Wellness Project its first University funding.

But according to Hay, not being officially recognized hasn’t posed any major problems for the group.

“It’s a messy process—it takes time,” Hay said, referring to the process of being recognized. “As is this is something that came up in the last semester—we don’t have the hours on the ground to become a counsel-recognized group.”

Sara Donatich, BC ’13 and an SWP coordinator, agreed, but said that the group’s lack of recognition makes Davis’s aid particularly helpful.

“She put her money where her mouth was,” Donatich said.

“Wellness is something that can’t wait three semesters to get recognized, so she’s basically letting us get around a lot of the loopholes, which is great because we want to make the community better now. We don’t want to wait.”

The wellness project hopes to continue working with the chaplain on a project-by-project basis, Hay said. Still, he emphasized that SWP plans to focus on initiatives that don’t require much funding, at least in its first semester.

“I believe in creating first initiatives that require very little except for coordination, manpower, and ingenuity,” he said. “You don’t want to be asking for money right out of the

gate—you want to show people a deliverable product that you can create out of pretty much nothing.”

One of the group’s main long-term goals is to develop what its members call a “student wellness hub,” a website that contains links to all campus health resources in one place.

According to Donatich, Go Ask Alice!, which revamped its website earlier this year, has agreed to partner with SWP so that the two sites direct users to each other. Counseling and Psychological Services has agreed to give SWP informational materials for their website.

SWP leaders are meeting with Dean of Student Affairs Kevin Shollenberger and Dean of Multicultural Affairs and Community Development Terry Martinez today, and they may try to secure more Columbia funding in the future.

But for now, Donatich said the group is grateful for all the help they have already received.

“We have a lot of support from the deans and everyone has been really great,” Donatich said. “People are willing to find loopholes for us, which is really great. This is such an important cause and it hits everyone personally.” abby.abrams @columbiaspectator.com

Senators will quantify undergraduate space SPACE from front page University Senate are “reaching out to our respective constituencies to really utilize the manpower of sending concerned student leaders to really analyze what it is that students need.”

The first building to open

in Manhattanville will be the Jerome L. Greene Science Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior in 2016. No opening date has been set for the new Business School building.

And although space will become available on the Morningside Heights campus

in stages—depending upon the progress of construction— Frouman said that the report will serve as a resource for future students.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” Santana said. margaret.mattes @columbiaspectator.com

105 35

SOURCE: SYDNEY GROSS / GRAPHIC BY SINJIHN SMITH

35 seniors sign on to Valentini’s “3, 2, 1” challenge VALENTINI from front page challenge reflects the Senior Fund organizers’ new mindset this year.

Rather than focusing on reaching 95 percent participation among the senior class— and then watching as participation inevitably drops to as low as 10 percent the next

year—their main goal is now to increase fundraising participation levels in the years after seniors graduate.

“After three years of consistent giving, people are more likely to continue to give,” she said.

As of Thursday, $9,167.21 had been raised for the Senior Fund, including Valentini’s gift.

Valentini said his donation to the fund is representative of the way he interacts with students.

“When students ask me for something, I ask them to help, and when I ask you for something, I’m going to help,” he said. “So there’s a symmetry in that.” sammy.roth @columbiaspectator.com

HENRY WILLSON / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

NEW HOME When the Business School moves to Manhattanville within the next decade, Uris Hall will be given to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which is facing a severe space shortage. |

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

W. Harlem school saved, but panel votes to close 23 others WADLEIGH from front page “I was very optimistic about this turning out the way it did,” Nanton said. “It may sound a little funny, but that’s me as a parent and always being an advocate for my kids.”

The Jan. 26 public hearing, she said, was an instrumental force in persuading the DOE. “They didn’t expect the outpour that we did that night,” Nanton said. “It was a great outpour of the community saying, ‘No, we aren’t going to stand back and let this happen.’”

Parents of students, church members from nearby First Corinthian Baptist Church, representatives from sister school Frederick Douglass Academy II, and members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People packed on the buses on Thursday to go to the deliberation to close or co-locate schools throughout the city.

Betty Davis, a member of First Corinthian Baptist Church, warned her fellow bus passengers against getting side-tracked

by Wadleigh’s remaining open.

“Don’t get comfortable. Share and celebrate for a day, but we have real work to do,” Davis said.

As the Wadleigh supporters arrived in Brooklyn, they joined hundreds of other protestors holding signs and chanting in order to disrupt the meeting before the vote took place.

Chants such as “The people united will never be defeated!” and “Education is a right!” echoed through the building as the Panel for Educational Policy, which is appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, voted on the fates of the 23 schools.

Wadleigh may have been saved, but it still faces the threat of charter school co-location, a situation in which at least two schools must share in a single building, according to Davis and others on the bus.

Julius Tajiddin, School Leadership Team chairman of Frederick Douglass Academy

II, suspected that an attempt to avoid co-location could have been the underlying cause of Wadleigh’s bout with possible closure.

“I feel that they went after Wadleigh because the principal is very spirited on this issue from day one,” Tajiddin said.

Last week, Herma Hall, principal of four years, announced that she will be leaving the school at the end of the school day today. Tyee Chin, former assistant principal at Edward R. Murrow High School, will be replacing her starting Monday.

Tajiddin said he was fearful of the repercussions of a charter school sharing facilities with Wadleigh, especially since Wadleigh and Frederick Douglass II already share a building.

“If you put a third school in there and chop up our classrooms, we wouldn’t be able to survive,” Tajiddin said. “You can’t get the contiguous learning space. We’re in the basement, we’re on the roof, we’re down the hall.”

City Council member Inez Dickens told Spectator on Thursday that she is also wary of the threat of co-location.

Dickens said that removing Wadleigh from the list of truncations is only half the battle.

“This is a partial win because there are two components,” she said. “One was truncation to Wadleigh Middle School, the second part was co-location of another school to the Wadleigh building.”

“Although this was a great win for the community, the issue of co-location in a school that does not have space for existing schools—that is something we have to fight,” Dickens said.

For now, Wadleigh supporters are emboldened by their school’s reprieve and are staying optimistic about its future.

“We have to recognize that we have the power, and we do,” Tajiddin said. “We have to make them feel uncomfortable. Once we realize that we’ll prevail.” news@columbiaspectator.com

NEWS / GAMEDAY

PAGE 3

Light Blue still looks for first Ivy win

BY JOSH SHENKAR Spectator Staff Writer The Columbia women’s basketball team (2-17, 0-5 Ivy) will attempt to get its first Ivy League win and break a seven-game losing streak when it travels to play Brown and Yale this weekend.

Despite the slow start to the season, the Lions showed signs of improvement in close losses last week to Dartmouth and Harvard.

“In terms of our performance we’ve played better every [Ivy League] game and for the most part the scores indicate that,” Light Blue head coach Paul Nixon said.

The Bears (12-8, 3-3 Ivy) present a particular challenge for the Lions because of their versatile play. Brown rapidly switches defense and offensive systems, making opponents unsure of what system they should prepare to play against.

“You don’t ever really know going into a game with Brown what you’re going to see,” Nixon said.

Brown’s system “varies from game to game and it varies within the game, so going against Brown you really have to be prepared for everything because they kind of adapt to what they think will be most successful for that night with that opponent,” he said.

While the Bears have five players averaging between 9 and 14 points per game, junior guard Sheila Dixon is undoubtedly their star player. Dixon leads the Bears in points, rebounds, and steals and is also tied for the team’s most blocks.

“Sheila Dixon is one of the most explosive players in the league,” Nixon said. “We have to do a really good job of containing her and making as many of her shots as we can difficult and contesting as much as we can without fouling. We just have to hope she has an off night where she’s not shooting 80 or 90 percent.”

The Bulldogs (12-8, 4-2 Ivy) are looking to get the 500th career win for their coach Chris Gobrecht this weekend. Yale

has had a torrid season offensively, averaging over 67 points a game in conference play. But according to Nixon, their offensive success is more due to their high-tempo system than the exploits of individual players. The Bulldogs have six players who average over five points a game and none who average over 15 points.

“With Yale you’re really preparing for a system and a style of play,” Nixon said. “They really look to push the basketball, they like to play high tempo offense and run in transition. I think we’re going to have to do a really good job in our transition defense as well as our half court defense against them.”

Yale replicates its high-tempo offensive play with a highpressure defense. The effectiveness of this defensive system can be seen in the fact that the Bulldogs have the highest turnover margin and the most turnovers caused in the conference.

“Their system is based around a very, very high-pressure defense,” Nixon said.

“Sometimes they pick you up at the full court or sometimes pick you up at the half court, but regardless they’re going to guard you tight. We have to be prepared to handle that pressure.”

One deciding factor in the game could be the team’s bench performances, as both Yale and Columbia will have played a

game the previous day. For the Lions, they will also have to deal with being on the road— traveling from Rhode Island to Connecticut after their Friday night game.

“The bench tends to come into play in the Saturday games,” Nixon said. “Sometimes on Saturday, the second of the back-to-back nights, it’s when the bench is sometimes asked to step up either because someone got hurt Friday or because somebody is more fatigued because they did play so many minutes Friday night.”

Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. in Providence, R.I. on Friday night and at 7 p.m. on Saturday night in New Haven, Conn.

FILE PHOTO

TROUBLESOME TYLER

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Junior guard Tyler Simpson is a nuisance for opposing defenders.

EDITORIAL & OPINION

PAGE 4

Is it fun to run a newspaper?

The 136th year of publication Independent since 1962 CORPORATE BOARD SARAH DARVILLE Editor in Chief MAGGIE ALDEN Managing Editor ALEX SMYK Publisher

MANAGING BOARD SAMMY ROTH Campus News Editor FINN VIGELAND City News Editor ANDREA GARCÍA-VARGAS Editorial Page Editor LANBO ZHANG Editorial Page Editor ABBY MITCHELL Arts & Entertainment Editor REBEKA COHAN Sports Editor JEREMIAH SHARF Sports Editor JUSTINE HOPE Multimedia Editor STEPHEN SNOWDER Spectrum Editor ASHTON COOPER The Eye, Editor in Chief CATHI CHOI The Eye, Art Director ANNELIESE COOPER The Eye, Managing Editor, Features MEREDITH FOSTER The Eye, Managing Editor, Optics ABIGAIL FISCH Head Copy Editor ZARA CASTANY Photo Editor MAYA FEGAN Design Editor ISAAC WHITE Design Editor JAKE DAVIDSON Online Editor TALA AKHAVAN Staff Director REX MACAYLO Sales Director DANIELA QUINTANILLA Finance Director ROB FRECH Alumni Director

DEPUTY BOARD News Editors Jeremy Budd, Yasmin Gagne, Ben Gittelson, Jillian Kumagai, Gina Lee, Margaret Mattes, Casey Tolan Spectrum Deputy Grace Bickers Arts & Entertainment Editors Joseph Pomp, Katy Tong Sports Editors Trevor Cohen, Myles Simmons Multimedia Editor Naomi Cohen Copy Editor Emily Sorensen Photo Editors Hannah Choi, Ayelet Pearl, Kate Scarborough, Henry Willson Photo Training Deputy David Brann Graphic Design Editor Yuma Shinohara Sales Wes Rodriguez, Ethan Yee Finance Marilyn He, Noah Kolatch, Jiaqi Liu, Bruno Mendes, Kinno Norojono Alumni Audrey Greene, Amanda Kane, Kristine Musademba

ASSOCIATE BOARD News Editors Daphne Chen, Melissa von Mayrhauser, Emily Neil, Jessica Stallone, Henry Willson Editorial Page Editors Rae Binstock, Luke Foster, Jessica Geiger, Joohyun Lee, Sonalee Rau, Alan Seltzer Arts & Entertainment Editors Jade Bonacolta, Allie Carieri, Stefan Countryman, Alison Herman, Charlotte Murtishaw, Lesley Thulin Sports Editors Muneeb Alam, Hahn Chang, Melissa Cheung, Steven Lau, Alison Macke, Mia Park, Eli Schultz, Josh Shenkar, Eric Wong Copy Editors Peter Andrews, Natan Belchikov, Augusta Harris, May Thu Hnin, Megan Kallstrom, Hannah Laymon, Rukmini Mahurkar, Natalia Remis, Alexandra Salerno, Andrea Shang, Ben Sheng Photo Editors Maria Balsinde, Chabli Bravo, Douglas Kessel, Kevin Roark, Lucy Suarez Page Design Editors Chancellor Agard-Wilson, Lillian Chen, Andrew Demas, Diana Ding, Sarah Greenberg, Regie Mauricio Graphic Design Editors Celine Gordon, Kay Lodge, Sinjihn Smith Illustrations Editor Runtao Yang Staff Development Youjung Jun, Aigerim Saudabayeva Sales Shaun Ang, Erin Chuah, Nora Long, Rebecca Pottash, Jessica Skoczylas Finance Emily Aronson, Andrea Bonilla, Erin Chuah, Dat Dang, Patrick Fu, Jesse Garrett, Alex Ge, Marilyn He, James Horner, Frankie Lam, Louis Lin, Ayan Nasir, Andre Paiva, Rubab Rehman, Wes Rodriguez, David Shi, Ethan Yee, Grant Yuan, Kevin Zhang Alumni Marquerite Horikawa, Maren Killackey, Rukmini Mahurkar, Danielle Ng, Moriah Schervone, Malina Welman, Diarra White, Wenxin Yan

EDITORIAL BOARD Hannah D’Apice, Richard FalkWallace, Simon Gregory Jerome, Marcela Johnson, Robin McKay, Virgilio Urbina Lazardi

How Ron Paul rocked our family

BY JO ANN CAVALLO

E

arlier this week, Barnard President Debora Spar announced that Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times, will be Barnard’s commencement speaker this May. As a senior at Barnard, this is an announcement I’ve anxiously awaited, wondering who would JESSICA become the figurehead—at least in the HILLS press—of the strong, smart class of 2012.

Urban A number of my classmates and I had pushed for Tina Fey, the creator of the Dictionary hit show “30 Rock,” to be our speaker. Though it was my suitemates and I who started the Facebook group “TINA. FEY. COMMENCEMENT. 2012.” in fall 2010, I am excited about the choice President Spar has made. And I’m pretty sure Liz Lemon would be, too.

Abramson is the first female executive editor of the Times, an institution that is, well, an institution. White men dominated its masthead until the late 1970s. As the first woman to hold this distinguished leadership role at an internationally venerated news company, Abramson represents the type of persistence and drive that I think moves Barnard students. She grew up a New Yorker, and she now leads the organization after which the most iconic part of the city—Times Square—is named. For a college in New York, it is fitting to have one of our city’s leaders honored at our commencement.

Though Abramson isn’t a Barnard alumna herself, her mother is. She was also born and raised on the Upper West Side, so chances are she’s sampled an Absolute bagel in her day. I won’t go so far as to try to draw parallels between Fey and Abramson, but I think that Abramson exhibits many of the characteristics that had made Tina Fey/Liz Lemon an appealing choice as a class day speaker. Both women are role models in large part because they rose to the top of traditionally male-dominated arenas—Abramson at the Times and Fey as the first female head writer at “Saturday Night Live.”

President Spar has often spoken of the need for more smart women in the boardrooms of big banks and corporations. Students’ admiration of Fey and the selection of Abramson as our class speaker speak to the paucity of women in leadership roles in diverse sectors, including comedy and journalism. At a school that boasts numerous distinguished writers among its alumnae, Barnard’s choice of Abramson as a commencement speaker reveals the ongoing opportunities for women to be the firsts in their fields.

Abramson represents a shift, albeit 50 years later, from that paradigm.

Without hesitation that I’m falling into the trap of an “I read it in the New Yorker”-ism, I must point out that both Fey and Abramson have been featured in the New Yorker during the past year (as was Sheryl Sandberg, Barnard’s commencement speaker in 2011). In the Oct. 24 2011 issue, Ken Auletta profiled Abramson a month after she had assumed the executive editor post. He wrote, “Once, it was preposterous to think that a woman could become the editor of the Times.” In the piece, Auletta quotes an assistant manager of the Times who had told a reporter in 1962 that “no woman will ever be an editor at the New York Times.”

Abramson represents a shift, albeit 50 years later, from that paradigm. For Barnard graduates in 2012, she also symbolizes an optimism that change is occurring, that patience is a virtue, and that success, defined broadly, is not out of the question, whereas many older adults are quick to remind us of the bleak economic, political, and social climate.

On a personal level, I am excited to have the executive editor of the Times speak at my commencement. Like many other Barnard students, the school’s emphasis on its legacy of successful writers was one aspect that drew me to the college four years ago. My journalistic writing for Spectator has certainly been a defining aspect of my college experience, and writing was integral to my elementary, middle school, and high school years as well.

In 11th grade, a U.S. history teacher showed my class the 1940 film “His Girl Friday,” starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Russell plays Hildy Johnson, a newspaper woman whose ex-husband and boss tries to woo her back to the business. I remember little of the plot line, but I can vividly recall Hildy’s character traits as a mid-20th century female reporter: She was pushed around in the newsroom, but she was tough and to-the-point when getting the facts.

As an aspiring reporter, I loved the film because Hildy represented the way things were for women in the newsroom, and the ideal that things could change. Abramson is certainly an emblem of that change.

“Citizen Kane” came out just a year after “His Girl Friday.” In it, Orson Welles plays Charles Foster Kane, a character based in part on the powerful publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst. Early on, an idealistic Kane is drawn to the newspaper business, proclaiming, “I think it would be fun to run a newspaper.” I have often ruminated on that dream. I look forward to hearing from Abramson what it’s like in reality.

Jessica Hills is a Barnard College senior majoring in political science and French and Francophone studies. Urban Dictionary runs alternate Fridays.

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FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Four years ago I voted for Obama primarily because of his foreign policy stance: While he had pledged to bring our troops home from Iraq upon taking office, his opponent seemed to be itching to start yet another land war in Asia, glibly altering an old Beach Boys song to “BombBomb-Iran.” As our country subsequently continued in the direction of increased military intervention, greater income disparity, restricted civil liberEach Friday, a ties, and more power appropriated by professor will share the executive branch, my only consoscholastic wisdom lation was to think that it could have readers won’t been worse. find in lectures.

Then last September my 17-year-old Suggestions regarding which son asked me to watch a presidential professors to primary debate with him. I was certainfeature are ly not expecting truths we had found in welcome. hard-hitting documentaries like “Why We Fight,” “The Corporation,” and “Manufacturing Consent” to be spoken by a Republican candidate running for president, yet there was this congressman from Texas condemning preemptive, undeclared wars as militaristic nation-building that actually undermined our national security. Ron Paul—where had he been all this time?

The more accurate question, as it turned out, was “Where had we been?” Congressman Paul had been opposing the endless wars and other unconstitutional measures for decades. As an expert in monetary policy, moreover, he exposed the role of the Federal Reserve not only in war financing, but also in currency devaluation, vast debt accumulation, artificial boom-bust cycles, and even our loss of civil liberties, as he details in his book “End the Fed.” Given that a partial audit of the Fed—thanks to Paul’s relentless efforts—had revealed secret bailouts of trillions of dollars to both foreign and domestic banks and institutions, it began to concern me that Goldman Sachs and its cohorts—the same banks that profited from the government bailouts–were top contributors to both Obama’s and Romney’s campaigns.

Rereading Thomas More’s “Utopia” in preparation for my class, Nobility and Civility: East and West, I came upon the question of how a king would respond were he to be shown that “all this war-mongering, by which so many different nations were kept in turmoil for his sake, would exhaust his treasury and demoralize his people, yet in the end come to nothing through one mishap or another.” What if rather than a king, we have a two-party political class serving monolithic corporations who also conveniently control mainstream media? Might that be why the establishment isn’t willing to present Ron Paul honestly, either treating him as “the 13th floor in a hotel,” as Jon Stewart quipped, or distorting his views through biased coverage?

Despite the media blackout and outright hit pieces, our “Daily Paul” study breaks revealed impassioned responses to Paul’s message from both within and beyond our nation.

In the past months I’ve seen Dr. Paul likened to “a clean boat in a sea of garbage,” a rock star, a Jedi knight, a prophet, and Don Quixote. One significant difference with respect to the latter figure, at least, is that the giants Paul has been challenging (the military-industrial complex, crony corporatism,

After Office Hours

the Federal Reserve) are all too real, even though they are largely hidden from view.

Having set my homepage to the Daily Paul, I reactivated my Facebook account to post Paul-related articles, switched my affiliation from independent to Republican to vote in the primaries, and began shopping at the campaign’s online store. My son brought in rally signs to his high school teachers for their classrooms and started a Youth for Ron Paul chapter at Columbia within minutes of enrolling as an incoming freshman. Our concentrated focus on Paulrelated news was initially disconcerting to my daughter, a Columbia College sophomore. Over Thanksgiving break she complained of feeling displaced by a new baby in the family and sought help from Yahoo! Answers: “My family is obsessed with politics! They’re driving me nuts. What can I do?” (Ironically, the best answer came from someone with the opposite problem who offered to trade parents.) Yet by semester’s end she was relating Ron Paul to her CC readings, especially Locke on the government’s role to protect the natural rights of liberty and property.

When she started playing Ron Paul songs on YouTube and phoning-from-home, I knew she was a Ronvert! She even succeeded in convincing her grandmother to vote for the first time since the 1960s.

I reactivated my Facebook account to post Paul-related articles, switched my affiliation from independent to Republican to vote in the primaries, and began shopping at the campaign’s on-line store.

As the three of us followed the news together over winter break, we asked ourselves how President Obama could have signed the ACTA (global internet censorship treaty) and NDAA (indefinite military detention of American citizens without due process bill). Yet it came as no surprise when in mid-January Congressman Paul introduced an amendment to repeal the NDAA’s most undemocratic section. In the space of one semester, he had become our champion.

Our favorite Frank Capra classic, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” had a happy ending, but it was only a film.

Will Ron Paul garner enough support to disappoint the Republican establishment’s predetermined nominee despite systematic media misrepresentation? Will the good doctor be given a chance to cure our woes come November?

In my opinion, given the pro-war, pro-bankster, anti-liberty direction adopted by both parties, our collective future as a free nation may depend on it. As Ron Paul said in “We’ve Been Neo-Conned”: “Let it not be said that no one cared, that no one objected once it’s realized that our liberties and wealth are in jeopardy.”

The author is an associate professor in the Italian department and an instructor for Literature Humanities.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR To the Editors: As a feminist activist here at Columbia, I was excited to read Mark Hay’s column (“Keeping sex healthy,” Feb. 8). Hay discusses the status of sexual health on campus, applauding diversity in student groups and institutional services geared towards promoting sex-positivity. He also notes that, despite these services, Columbia students are not sexually healthy. I agree with him thus far: Columbia has exceptional services and yet these services are under-utilized.

Unfortunately, Hay condescendingly reprimands our apparent less than “minimal effort” to successfully reach out to one another—going so far as to advise that groups “should each, within the next week, contact every other campus group.” Hay is right that outreach is key to spreading awareness about sex positivity, but he ignores the work groups already do to promote sexual health.

The feminist, sex-positive, and queer activist groups work together all the time. Campus groups (like Take Back the Night, V-Day, FemSex, Radical C.U.N.T.S, Q, the Columbia Queer Alliance, GendeRevolution, Conversio Virium, and Proud Colors, and more) and administrative services (like the Rape Crisis/Anti-Violence Support Center,

Men’s Peer Education, the Gay Health Advocacy Project, Well-Woman, and Go Ask Alice!) plan events together frequently. Consider these popular events: Take Back the Night’s annual Sexhibition (a consent based, sex-positive health for campus groups), CQA’s First Friday (a monthly queer-friendly dance), and weekly Radical C.U.N.T.S discussions that bring all types of people together. And what about Queer Awareness Month, Relationship Violence Awareness Month, and Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which always feature a wide variety of co-sponsored events? Not to mention countless events throughout the year, from workshops, to discussions, to forums, to panels, to protests, to parties.

Sex positive activists are each other’s best allies—of course we brainstorm, plan, and organize together.

If Hay wants to improve sexual health at Columbia, I recommend that he ask student activists what they are already doing to promote sex-positivity. Ask us about our concerns, our frustrations, our struggles, and our successes.

Ask us what we think a sexually healthy campus would look like and how we can get there. Join the conversation, don’t lecture from the sidelines.

Lauren Herold, CC ’12 Feb. 10, 2012

STAFF EDITORIAL

Make study abroad easier C

olumbia prides itself on being a global university and increasingly expanding its presence overseas. With University President Lee Bollinger’s recent announcements of plans to internationalize the Core and build more global centers, as well as Spectator’s recent news story about higher numbers of students in different corners of the world (“More undergrads studying abroad in developing countries,” Feb. 6), it is difficult to disagree.

Yet students still have more incentive to stay at Columbia than to study abroad. The Office of Global Programs states that students need to have completed most of the Core, particularly Literature Humanities, Contemporary Civilization, and two years of a foreign language requirement. Students need to have at least a 3.0 GPA both overall and in the foreign language they are studying, which prevents many students from applying. Moreover, universities affiliated with the study abroad program tend to give fewer academic credits than Columbia does for the same number of classes. With the Core, their majors, and overall academic requirements to consider, students might decide against study abroad in order to ensure that they complete their studies by their eighth semester and graduate with their class.

It doesn’t help that interested students have to pay Columbia tuition at whatever institution they would consider when abroad—even when a semester at a foreign university

can cost half as much. Lastly, there is the fact that many students came to Columbia to be in New York in the first place.

New York is a global city, and the benefits of an urban metropolis with so many cultural, artistic, and touristic offerings can be enough for some.

The recently announced fifth-year study abroad program, though a novel idea, doesn’t cater well to undergraduates.

Most students forgo study abroad because they want to graduate in time, and spending an extra year to study abroad doesn’t sound enticing.

There are several potential solutions to solve some of these dilemmas, one of which is to provide the Core Curriculum abroad so that students would have less pressure to finish their requirements before leaving for a semester (“Core Curriculum may have hit the road with study abroad students,” Dec. 9).

In this way, students would have a unique experience in an entirely different culture and part of the globe while still receiving the education they came to get at Columbia.

Despite the impediments, Columbia’s study abroad program has taken steps forward. School of Engineering and Applied Science students are now exempt from having to complete two years of a foreign language. New global centers in different countries also allow students to tap into more alumni networks. Columbia still has a way to go, though, to make studying abroad less difficult for students. We hope Columbia can make requirements for the programs more flexible, or allow students to complete them abroad. We believe the Office of Global Programs would do well to work with foreign universities to implement these changes. In good time, these resources can lead students to the path of global citizenship.

The Columbia Daily Spectator accepts op-eds on any topic relevant to the Columbia University and Morningside Heights community. Op-eds should be roughly 650 words in length. We require that op-eds be sent exclusively to Spectator and will not consider articles that have already been published elsewhere.

Letters to the Editor should be no longer than 350 words and must refer to an article from Spectator or The Eye, or a Spectrum post. Submissions should be sent to

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FEBRUARY 10, 2012

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PAGE 6

sports briefly

GAMEDAY

Bear, Bulldog opponents bring varied strategies to CU’s court MEN’S BBALL from back page

TRACK AND FIELD

The Light Blue will host the Millrose Collegiate Invitational at The Armory this weekend. Columbia is coming off a solid performance last weekend at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational, in which the men’s team achieved a seventh-place finish and the women’s team tied in 15th place. The Lions will look for continued production from sophomore Marvellous Iheukwumere and freshman Waverly Neer. Iheukwumere set a new Lions women’s record in the 60-meter dash last weekend, while Neer broke the Columbia women’s indoor mile record. The Light Blue will have to compete against several notable teams such as ACC power Maryland and fellow Ivy rivals Brown, Cornell, and Penn.

The tournament will be held all day Saturday at The Armory in New York.

—Josh Shenkar WOMEN’S TENNIS

The Light Blue (2-0) looks to remain undefeated in this early stage of the season when it takes on Binghamton at home today. The Bearcats, led by dominant performances in their singles matches, are coming off a second straight victory after an opening-day loss. Likewise, the Light Blue has been strong in the singles field, winning all six singles matches last Friday against Hofstra. The Lions have also emerged as a presence in doubles. In last Saturday’s match against University of Massachusetts, Columbia trailed early in every doubles match before rallying to take all three wins, showing the Lions’ resiliency. Today’s match begins at 3 p.m. at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.

—Melissa Cheung

MEN’S SQUASH

This week, Columbia takes on two top 10 Ivy League opponents, No. 10 Penn and No. 3 Princeton. After their road trip to Philadelphia, Penn. to challenge Penn on today at 4 p.m., the Lions will host the Tigers in their final home match of the season on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 2:30 p.m.

After suffering back-to-back losses last weekend against No. 7 Dartmouth and No. 4 Harvard, Columbia will seek an opportunity to bounce back this weekend.

The Lions’ attempt to move into the upper half of the Ivy League ladder took a blow last weekend. Columbia currently shares sixth place with Penn in the Ivy rankings with a 1-4 record.

The Quakers are coming off a loss against the No. 1 Bulldogs. The Tigers defeated both Yale and Brown last weekend as they now stand atop the Ivy League with a 5-0 record.

Following this weekend’s last home match against Princeton will be the CSA Championships from Feb. 17-19.

—Mi Yeon Park WOMEN’S SQUASH

The No. 14 Lions travel to play No. 4 Penn today and return to host No. 5 Princeton on Sunday. This is the team’s last weekend of competition before they head to Nationals in late February. The Lions (5-8, 0-5 Ivy) remain winless in the Ivy League going into the weekend. Both the Quakers (6-3, 3-2 Ivy) and the Tigers (7-3, 2-3 Ivy) have the potential to end their seasons with Ivy League records above .500 and boast 9-0 victories of No. 8 Dartmouth, whose team recently defeated the Light Blue 8-1. It will be a struggle for the Lions to pull out a win against either of these top-seeded teams, but as head coach Kelsey Engman said, “We don’t have anything to lose, so the girls need to go all out and play as hard as they can.” The Lions’ away game on Friday will begin at 4 p.m. and their home game on Sunday will start at 2:30 p.m.

—Caroline Bowman WOMEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

Today, the Lions (5-1, 4-1 Ivy) will head to New Jersey to face off against perennial Ivy League rivals Princeton (5-1 Ivy) today, and return for a meet on Saturday against Dartmouth (7-4, 3-3 Ivy) at home. The Light Blue is coming off a double victory, having defeated both Brown and Boston University in a double-dual tri-meet on Jan. 28. Meanwhile, Princeton suffered its first Ivy dual meet loss since the 2006-2007 season last Saturday against Harvard, 190110. The loss snapped the Tigers’ 43-meet win streak. Though Princeton was originally ranked first in the Ivy League conference and Columbia third, this meet should be a close contest, given that the Lions’ one loss this season was to Harvard, 143-157. The margin of defeat was the closest it has ever been in the schools’ shared history. Dartmouth is 1-2 in its last three Ivy meets and has faced every team in the conference except Columbia. Saturday’s meet may be less competitive than Friday’s, though still a chance for the Columbia women to test themselves before the Ivy League Championships, which are set to take place at Harvard in two weeks.

—Charlotte Murtishaw MEN’S SWIMMING AND DIVING

The Lions (6-3, 3-2 Ivy) wrap up the regular season with a meet on Friday at Princeton, followed by senior night at home against Dartmouth. Their last two Ivy League opponents are diametrically opposed—Princeton has gone 10-0 overall and 5-0 in the Ivy League, while Dartmouth has yet to win a dual meet against an Ancient Eight opponent. Despite a loss to Navy in last weekend’s dual meet, the Lions have had a solid season so far and hope to hit their stride as the Ivy League Championships approach. The final home match of the season will be a chance to continue the Light Blue’s winning streak against Dartmouth and also celebrate the contributions of seniors Chester Dols, Bruno Esquen, Robert Eyckmans, John-Howard Sidman, Alex Smith, and Kevin Zhai. The meet against Princeton will take place Friday at 5 p.m. and senior night will take place at Uris Pool on Saturday starting at 3 p.m.

—Eric Wong WRESTLING

Columbia has a very busy weekend coming up—it will wrestle three matches, including two against Ivy League foes. The Lions’ first match of the weekend will be at Princeton (6-10, 1-2 Ivy), at 7 p.m. tonight. Last weekend, the Tigers defeated Harvard to mark their first victory over a ranked opponent in more than a decade, so they have the momentum edge going into the match. Princeton features a number of nationally-ranked wrestlers, including No. 19 senior Daniel Kolodzik, who took down Crimson All-American junior Walter Peppelman at 157 pounds six days ago. On Saturday, the Light Blue will face another Ivy League foe in Penn (5-6, 1-2 Ivy) at 1 p.m., and then take on Rider (9-7). Both the Quakers and Broncs have had success this season. Penn beat No. 14 American University in November and narrowly missed out on a victory against national powerhouse Cornell last month, while Rider defeated a very strong Army team in its first match of the season.

—Eli Schultz

MEN’S TENNIS

With two sweeps on its record, the Lions seek to uphold their winning streak against George Washington and Marist this weekend. The Colonials pose a tough threat, boasting two ranked players in Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week: Freshman Francisco Dias and his doubles partner, senior Ugur Atalay. The team swept St. Joseph’s last Sunday but fell to Temple 4-2 earlier that day. Early in their the spring season with a lone dual 4-3 win over NJIT, the Red Foxes also carry a stellar cast, having completely dominated their conference’s first-team last year. Sophomore Lorenzo Rossi led the squad as last year’s Metro Atlantic Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. The Lions face George Washington today at 11 a.m. and Marist tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.

—Laura Allen

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

and quick. We can’t give them second opportunities, but at the same time we’ve got to be willing to put the ball inside and when it goes up on the rim we need to be attacking that thing.”

Brown has one notable threat down low in the form of junior forward Andrew McCarthy, who earned a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds against Penn on Saturday.

Even though McCarthy has excelled at getting tip-ins after misses, Smith thinks the Lions will be able to use their size to crash the boards and make it difficult for the 6-foot-8-inch forward to get a clean look at the basket.

While Brown’s focus is its outside shooters, Yale’s strength comes from its physically dominating frontcourt.

The biggest name on the Bulldogs’ roster is senior center Greg Mangano, the Ivy League’s leading scorer with 19 points per game and the league’s leading rebounder on both ends of the court.

With Mangano, sophomore center/forward Jeremiah Kreisberg,

and senior guard/forward Reggie Willhite spearheading the Bulldogs’ attack, the Lions have little uncertainty as to where Yale will send the ball.

“I’d love for us to just relax and play a little more free-wheeling at home.”

—Kyle Smith, head coach “I think Yale is pretty fundamental on where they’re going to get that ball,” Smith said. “You know where it’s going and it’s hard to stop.”

Last weekend in Yale’s two victories over Princeton and Penn, the Bulldogs displayed why they have the best rebounding margin in the league, outrebounding their opponents by a combined 20 boards.

Columbia’s recent performance on the boards has also been exceptional, as the Lions outrebounded both Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend, giving the Light Blue the

third best rebounding margin in the league.

Junior center Mark Cisco and the rest of the Columbia frontcourt will try to match up against Yale’s big men on Saturday, but the Lions’ best chance at success will be to take advantage of their scoring opportunities.

“They play inside-out defensively,” Smith said. “You’re going to have to stick some shots. It’ll be hard to get offensive boards because they got some wide bodies, big bodies, long arms around the rim.”

Last weekend, the Lions shot 43 percent from the floor and went 9-for-22 from beyond the arc, marking the team’s best shooting performance since conference play began.

Smith hopes this improved accuracy will carry over into this weekend’s games, along with increased confidence on the court—something Smith hasn’t yet seen from the Lions.

“I’d love for us to just relax and play a little more free-wheeling at home,” he said.

Friday’s game against Brown and Saturday’s sold-out game against Yale both begin at 7 p.m. in Levien Gymnasium.

Strong defense by Yale’s Willhite will pose challenge for Lions OPPONENT from back page The lone first-place vote in the coach’s Ivy preseason poll that was not given to Harvard was given to Yale, and so far, the Bulldogs have played up to expectations. The Bulldogs are 15-5 and second in the conference, sporting just one Ivy loss that came against No. 23 Harvard.

Willhite’s role in the frontcourt has been a significant factor leading to this success.

“I just know that he’s not necessarily someone you think about when you think of Yale, but he kind of makes them go,” Columbia head coach Kyle Smith said of Willhite. “He doesn’t take nights off.”

Willhite characterizes his game on the defensive end as centered on discipline and work ethic.

“I’m a firm believer in the philosophy that defense is all about effort,” Willhite said. “As long as you’re willing to put in the effort and really get into your man and not take a break even for a second on the defensive end, you’ll tend to be pretty successful.”

According to Jones, Willhite’s effort on the court has made him a role model for all his teammates.

“He leads by example,” Jones said.

“He’s kind of put us on his back in a couple of games and won a couple of games for Yale late game by just making plays and not surrendering and not letting us lose.”

Jones said that Willhite would likely cover Lions’ freshman forward Alex Rosenberg to begin Saturday night’s game, but it’s possible Willhite will switch to cover junior guard Brian Barbour, the Lions’ leading scorer who averages 18.5 points per game.

Willhite recently has been able to come through for his team against the opposition’s best guards. Dartmouth junior guard R.J. Griffin averages 8.5 points per game, but two weeks ago at Yale, he mustered only one. Penn’s top three scorers are all guards, and on Friday against Yale, the three combined scored almost 18 points less than their season average.

Similarly, against Princeton the following night, senior guard Douglas Davis,

FILE PHOTO

WILL TO WIN | Yale senior guard/forward Reggie Willhite (#22) has led the Bulldogs with his work ethic and great play in the last few minutes of games. who averages 13.3 points per game, only scored six, while Willhite exploded for 20 points and nine rebounds.

Smith characterized Willhite as “very hard-nosed, probably the best perimeter

defender in the league.”

Columbia’s guards, especially Barbour, will need one of their best nights on the offensive end to overcome Willhite’s stifling defense.

Columbia reaches for first place finish Lin, Fitzpatrick in conference championship at Yale show promise of Ivy athletics FENCING from back page to win,” Roberts said. “We are sick of secwomen), Princeton (No. 2 men, No. 2 women) and Yale (No. 10 men).

Fencing at the Ivy League Championships is an intense and grueling two-day experience for the fencers physically, and perhaps more importantly, mentally.

“The difficulty is the pressure,” junior sabrist Loweye Diedro said. “The Ivy League is a very renowned league.

It’s important to be ready and calm enough to meet the challenges.”

“There is a lot of pressure going into Ivy League Championships,” sophomore epeeist Alen Hadzic said. “The key is to go in there with a clear head and fence each bout one at a time.”

Senior sabrist and captain Sammy Roberts believes that confidence and team support will be critical to this young team’s performance in New Haven, Conn.

“Everyone is going to have to want it, believe that they can win each bout, and know that no matter what happens the team is always going to be behind you,” Roberts said.

The women (8-5) have come in second to Princeton the past two seasons and are hoping to finally get back to the top of the podium.

“The women want one thing and that’s

ond place. We have always come in second. We are hungry to fix that.”

While the women are expected to be competitors for first place, not many will predict the same for the men (6-7). Despite doubters, the male squad believes it can surprise spectators with a strong finish.

“I know the men have high expectations because they have not done as well as they wanted to in the past,” Roberts said. “I think the men can do a top-three finish. I don’t think anyone is expecting that out of them, but I train with these guys and I think they have it within them.”

“We are definitely going there to win,” said freshman epeeist Andrei Tapai. “We feel very strong about this.”

The main competition for first place, on both the men’s and women’s sides, will be between Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Penn, and the host team Yale.

Aufrichtig hopes the Lions will carry their momentum from Wednesday’s meet into the weekend.

“There are a lot of great teams in this division,” Aufrichtig said. “If we bring it like we did, we have a good chance of having a good showing.”

Competition will begin on Saturday at 11 a.m. and on Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Coxe Cage in New Haven, Conn.

GLUBIAK from back page

commitments at the Spectator, and this column, so they didn’t bother to call). Two years ago a women’s soccer player, Sophie Reiser, was drafted to the top women’s professional league.

Women’s basketball’s Judie Lomax had a stint in the WNBA. What’s more, things are only getting better. We’re in the midst of an upswing in Ivy League sports, in an era when Ivy League quarterbacks are starring on Sundays and peoplewho-know-things are starting to whisper about the Ancient Eight getting two bids to the NCAA tournament (maybe not this year, but soon).

So the next time you hear that Ivy League sports are irrelevant, an idealized relic of the past, point them to the highlights of Jeremy Lin slicing through the Washington Wizards’ defense Wednesday night.

Kid can play. And in this league, he’s not alone.

Zach Glubiak is a Columbia College senior majoring in history. He is a member of the varsity men’s soccer team. sports@columbiaspectator.com

FRIDAY FAST BREAK

PIXBOX

4

week

#

1:

Brown at Columbia (-4.5)

2:

Harvard at Penn (+8.5)

3:

Yale at Cornell (+6.5)

4:

Harvard at Princeton (+9.5)

5:

Los Angeles Lakers at New York Knicks (+7.5) New York Rangers at Philadelphia Flyers (pk)

6:

STARTING LINEUPS

GAME 1:

meiko lyles #22/g brian barbour #10/g

john daniels #15/f

VS.

matt sullivan #14/g stephen albrecht #15/g

Columbia Harvard

I just want my picks in the paper.

Yale Harvard

Tom Caruso

Lakers

That’s right, two of my picks were shameless plugs for my column...about Jeremy Lin

Roar Lion No. 21 Big Rojo Lin-sane Rangers

CU Quakers Big Red Harvard

Ryan Young

Zach Glubiak

Lin-sane

Lakers WC revenge

There is nothing quite like a party with thousands of fellow NYers in the streets of NYC.

CISCO Penn Cornell?

I feel so old!

Ugh, Pton LINNING JVR (Flyers)

Michele Cleary

Where’s Agho?

Vard Yale Vard Kobe Beef

Michael Shapiro

ALL LIN Blue Shirts

Pick the Lakers in Pixbox... dies

andrew mccarthy #23/f

alex rosenberg #13/f

KEYS TO THE GAME

Flyers

dockery walker #03/f

sean mcgonagill #22/g

mark cisco #55/c

1 2

3

BY THE NUMBERS POINTS PER GAME

REBOUNDS PER GAME

64.1 62.7

COLUMBIA

Rebounding

BROWN

Brown’s outside shooting skill comes at a cost: The Bears lack a solid frontcourt. As long as the Lions’ big men can contain junior forward Andrew McCarthy, then Columbia should have no problem dominating the boards.

Offensive rebounds and second chance points will be essential.

Slow Brown down The Bears’ lineup features speed and skill, with three guards who can pull up for quick perimeter shots. If the Lions can control the speed of the game using their size advantage, they should be able to contain the Bears’ backcourt. As long as the Lions don’t lose their marks, they will be able to force bad shots by the Bears.

Focus While it would be easy for the Lions to overlook the Bears, who are 1-5 in Ivy play, the Light Blue must remember that all its league games have been decided by five points or less. Brown’s Sean McGonagill can explode offensively if left unchecked, and the Light Blue will need to ensure the Bears’ backcourt is shut down.

Columbia

POINTS ALLOWED

35.7 32.1

COLUMBIA BROWN

FIELD GOAL PCT.

59.3 69.0

COLUMBIA BROWN

.416 .412

COLUMBIA BROWN

KEY MATCHUPS Brian Barbour

Alex Rosenberg

Sean McGonagill

Andrew McCarthy Junior forward Andrew McCarthy is the Bears’ main threat under the basket, tallying 20 points and 11 rebounds against Penn last Saturday.

Freshman forward Alex Rosenberg will need to prevent McCarthy from getting the ball near the hoop. On the offensive end, Rosenberg can rely on his ball-handling skills to penetrate to the basket.

Sophomore guard Sean McGonagill, who scored 39 points against the Lions last year, is a huge offensive threat both as a distributor and scorer.

Junior guard Brian Barbour will need to shut McGonagill down on the perimeter and force him to send the ball inside to the Bears’ forwards, while also leading the Light Blue offense on the other end.

Harvard

Jeremy Lin all the way.

Yale

STARTING LINEUPS

Harvard Knicks Rangers

Myles Simmons

Columbia Harvard Yale Harvard

Benjamin Spener

NY Knicks

GAME 2:

meiko lyles #22/g brian barbour #10/g

john daniels #15/f

I hope Jeremy Lin scores Kobe’s age.

VS.

reggie willhite #22/g-f

mark cisco #55/c

NY Rangers

jeremiah kreisberg #50/f

austin morgan #01/g

There is a special place in hell for people who taunt me about the Super Bowl.

Headband Harvard Harvard Harvard grad Henrik Lundqvist

Quakes Woof Crimson Bynum Flyers

Victoria Jones Big lack of soccer in the pixbox; probably explains my poor record

Lions Quakers

Everything is the worst.

Bulldogs Crimson Linsanity Flyers

Columbia Palestra Yale Jadwin

Mrinal Mohanka All true Super Bowl champions have negative regular season point differentials.

michael grace #05/g

(New) Haven

Lions

Ronnie Shaban

alex rosenberg #13/f

greg mangano #44/c

Linsanity Blue shirts

Sam Klug

I can have a terrible week and I’m still better than you.

Brown Penn Cornell Harvard Linsanity Texas Rangers

Jim Pagels

KEYS TO THE GAME

1 2

3

Stand tall Saturday’s matchup differs from Friday night’s, as Yale’s lineup features huge players, including 6-foot-10 Greg Mangano and Jeremiah Kreisberg. Junior center Mark Cisco and the Lions’ forwards must make it hard for Yale’s big men to score in order to keep the Light Blue in the game.

“Fight the fight” Yale’s players are big, and that will pose a problem to Columbia on both ends of the court. Head coach Kyle Smith said the Lions must “fight the fight” against the Bulldogs’ big men—they must be aggressive and physical on every play. The key will be to cut off the pass before the ball gets to players like Mangano and Willhite.

All net Columbia has managed to perform well in its league games despite struggling to shoot the ball, especially from the three-point line. That must change. Because of Yale’s size, the Lions face an upward battle in rebounding. If the Light Blue can shoot well from the field, fighting for offensive rebounds won’t be necessary.

BY THE NUMBERS POINTS PER GAME COLUMBIA YALE

REBOUNDS PER GAME

64.1 71.1

POINTS ALLOWED COLUMBIA YALE

35.7 39.0

COLUMBIA YALE

FIELD GOAL PCT.

59.3 65.1

COLUMBIA YALE

.416 .443

KEY MATCHUPS Mark Cisco Greg Mangano Senior center Greg Mangano is the leading Ivy League scorer and rebounder, and is deadly from the inside and the perimeter. Junior center Mark Cisco, who has three double-doubles in Ivy play, will need to fight tooth-and-nail with Mangano for every rebound and every point if Cisco hopes to stop the Bulldogs’ star player.

Brian Barbour Austin Morgan On a team characterized by its big men, junior guard Austin Morgan may be easily overlooked. But Morgan is averaging 12 points per game and will prove a challenging mark for junior guard Brian Barbour. Barbour will need to prevent Morgan from getting open looks from three-point range, where he’s shooting better than 40 percent.

GAMEDAY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 • PAGE 8

COLUMBIA (13-9, 2-4 Ivy) vs. BROWN (7-16, 1-5 Ivy)

COLUMBIA (13-9, 2-4 Ivy) vs. YALE (15-5, 5-1 Ivy)

FRIDAY, 7 p.m., LEVIEN GYMNASIUM

SATURDAY, 7 p.m., LEVIEN GYMNASIUM

RADIO: WKCR 89.9 FM, WWDJ 970 AM SPECTRUM.COLUMBIASPECTATOR.COM

RADIO: WKCR 89.9 FM, WWDJ 970 AM • SPECTRUM.COLUMBIASPECTATOR.COM

Ivy League sports gaining in prominence

the slate men’s basketball vs. Brown Levien Gymnasium Friday, 7 p.m.

W

orld, meet Jeremy Lin. After his third straight 20-point performance Wednesday night for ZACH the Knickerbockers GLUBIAK of New York—and, just as shockingly, the third Knicks win Boom in a row—it seems Goes the everyone’s new faDynamite vorite Harvard graduate is here to stay.

Lin’s success is a breakthrough moment for a number of reasons.

First, he’s the first American-born NBA player of Chinese descent. He’s also one of the few Ivy League athletes to make it to the very top level of the sporting world.

Earlier this week my fellow columnist Sam Klug wrote about the sports pyramid and its different levels, with recreational sports as the broad base and elite professional leagues as the point. He used the Super Bowl as an example of the top of the pyramid, but surely he’d agree the NBA would also be the very top— the best of the best.

Klug’s column pointed out the problem facing the NCAA (or, at least, one of them): The bureaucratic behemoth oversees sports at all levels of the pyramid, and the difference between non-revenue teams like Wichita State tennis and cash cows like Ohio State football is so large that making rules to govern both simultaneously becomes a nightmare.

Embedded in this argument, though, was a passing claim that schools like Columbia needn’t worry about the top of the pyramid, because our rosters don’t have the kind of talent you’ll find at places like Michigan.

It turns out that the Ivy League does not squander all chances of athletic excellence.

Well, Jeremy Lin is here to disagree. I could also use Ryan Fitzpatrick, another Harvard graduate and the starting quarterback for the Buffalo Bills. These are athletes who are proving themselves at the very highest echelons of their sports.

Fitzpatrick just inked a multi-year, bazillion-dollar deal with the Bills (all numbers approximate), while Lin has averaged 25 points per game over the last three outings and posted his first double-double Wednesday night.

What does this mean? Well, in short, it means this: You can have your cake and eat it, too. It turns out that the Ivy League does not squander all chances of athletic excellence by forgoing scholarships and demanding stricter admissions requirements of its recruits. Sure, these things make life more difficult. I’m not arguing that Harvard could’ve beaten Ohio State last year, or that they are even trying to.

What Lin and Fitzpatrick are doing is pointing out to all those talented high schoolers out there that there is a blueprint for professional success, even within the framework of the Ivy League. Three years ago Lin was playing in our very own Levien Gymnasium (he only scored 14 points against the Lions, for what it’s worth). Now he’s playing at Madison Square Garden. That’s huge for Columbia coaches trying to woo the very best.

But don’t think there aren’t a few Lin-impersonators walking around campus sporting Columbia blue. My teammate Mike Mazzullo was drafted by Toronto FC of the MLS, the top soccer league in the United States, a few weeks ago (I am assuming teams understood I couldn’t leave my SEE GLUBIAK, page 6

men’s basketball vs. Yale Levien Gymnasium Saturday, 7 p.m.

women’s basketball at Brown Providence, R.I. Friday, 7 p.m.

women’s basketball at Yale New Haven, Conn.

Saturday, 7 p.m.

fencing

Ivy League Championships New Haven, Conn.

Feb. 11-12

women’s tennis KATE SCARBROUGH / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

GAME FACE | Junior guard Brian Barbour will have to find a way to score against Brown’s quick and versatile backcourt.

In Lions’ den, CU seeking pair of wins

BY STEVEN LAU Spectator Staff Writer

Two opponents characterized by vastly different strengths and playing styles will take on the Lions this weekend as the Ivy League men’s basketball season reaches its halfway point.

Columbia (13-9, 2-4 Ivy) will face perimeter-oriented Brown (7-16, 1-5 Ivy) on Friday night before going up against frontcourt-focused Yale (15-5, 5-1 Ivy) on Saturday in a two-game homestand.

Coming off a weekend of mixed results in which the Light Blue bench played a large role in both the 64-62 win over Dartmouth and

the close 57-52 loss to Harvard, the Lions will again look to their substitutes for important contributions.

The bench will be especially important in guarding the Bears’ outside shooters and quick ballhandlers on Friday, while against Yale, the bench will need to assist the Lions’ starting frontcourt in challenging the Bulldog’s talented big men.

“You’ve got contrasting styles so we’ll definitely need a lot of perimeter depth on the first game and more inside depth on the second game,” head coach Kyle Smith said.

Up against Brown’s shooters, the Lions will have to take special notice of sophomore guard Sean

McGonagill, the Bears’ leading scorer who tallied 17 points in his team’s loss to Princeton last Friday.

Junior guard Brian Barbour will be initially tasked with defending McGonagill, but because Barbour carries the burden of also being a creator on offense, Smith expects junior guard Dean Kowalski to come off the bench to help slow down McGonagill.

Despite their strength in the backcourt, the Bears lack formidable big men.

“They struggle to keep people off the boards,” Smith said. “Their trade-off is they’re very skilled SEE MEN’S BBALL, page 6

Light Blue fencing competes in Willhite leads Ivy League Championships with hard work and clutch play

BY SPENCER GYORY Spectator Staff Writer

The men’s fencing team is aiming for a top-three finish and the women’s team is aiming for nothing less than first at the 2012 Ivy League Championships at Yale this weekend.

The Light Blue go into this weekend’s meet after sweeping Sacred Heart, NYU and Vassar handily at the Historical Meet Plus on Wednesday.

While both the men’s and women’s squads have surprised some of the top teams in the country in meets earlier this season, Ivy opponents will be a great

test of whether head coach Michael Aufrichtig’s changes to the program—including on-campus practices, five-touch bout training, new technical coaches, and video analysis—will equal improved results.

“We are becoming the fencing program I know that Columbia should be,” Aufrichtig said.

Columbia will face off against Brown, Cornell, and Penn (No. 7 men, No. 9 women) on the first day of competition.

On Sunday, the Light Blue will compete against Harvard (No. 3 men, No. 7

SEE FENCING, page 6

KATE SCARBROUGH / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

ENGLISH EPEE | Sophomore epeeist Katya English fenced against Sacred Heart Wednesday, and this weekend she will compete for the Ivy League Championship.

BY MUNEEB ALAM Spectator Staff Writer One week ago, Yale senior guard/ forward and captain Reggie Willhite stepped up to the free throw line with 1:27 remaining in a 53-53 game against Ivy rival Penn. Willhite missed the free throw, and Penn quickly got the ball to its best player, senior guard Zack Rosen, so he could set up the offense.

But Willhite had other plans. He stripped Rosen of the ball and ran down the court, and although he missed the lay-up, a teammate put in the rebound for what turned out to be the winning basket.

“When we’re playing in those close games and high-pressure situations, and not a lot is going right for us, I feel like it’s kind of my job as a leader to try and make something go right,” Willhite said.

“Whether that’s getting a timely steal, or a timely rebound, or making a good offensive play and getting a basket when we need one ... that’s what I try to make happen.”

Recruited for his athleticism, Willhite has far exceeded expectations.

“He’s just been able to gradually get better at everything,” Yale head coach James Jones said. “He’s been given more opportunities over the years and he’s seized it. And he works really hard at becoming the best he can be.”

His development along with that of senior center Greg Mangano has pushed Yale into conference-title contention.

SEE OPPONENT, page 6

vs. Binghampton Dick Savitt Tennis Center Friday, 3 p.m.

men’s tennis vs. George Washington Dick Savitt Tennis Center Friday, 11 a.m.

men’s tennis

vs. Marist Dick Savitt Tennis Center Saturday, 2 p.m.

wrestling at Princeton Princeton, N.J. Friday, 7 p.m.

wrestling

at Penn Philadelphia, Pa. Saturday, 1 p.m.

wrestling

at Rider Lawrenceville, N.J. Saturday, 6 p.m.

men’s and women’s swimming

at Princeton Princeton, N.J. Friday, 2 p.m. (women), 5 p.m. (men)

men and women’s swimming and diving vs. Dartmouth Uris Pool Saturday, 11 a.m. (women), 3 p.m. (men)

track and field

Millrose Collegiate Invitational New York, N.Y. Saturday, all day

men and women’s squash at Penn Philadelphia, Pa. Friday, 4 p.m.

men and women’s squash vs. Princeton New York, N.Y. Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

Weekend

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2012 • PAGE B1

Finding the Uptown Sound: Concert series “Newer Sounds” aims to bring in new artists and keep local ones nearby

BY CHARLOTTE MURTISHAW Spectator Senior Staff Writer Tonight, anyone walking up the colorfully painted stairs leading to the main space of El Taller Latino Americano at 103rd Street and Broadway will witness what some claim is an infrequent occurrence on the Upper West Side: live contemporary music.

“Newer Sounds,” a newly established concert series, will begin staging eclectic live performances mere blocks from Columbia’s campus every other Friday night, with the inaugural performance tonight.

With the tagline “Bringing the downtown music uptown,” the series aims to build a music community among the sonic dearth of Manhattan’s northern neighborhood.

The man behind the music? Aleksi Glick, a professional guitarist and composer who grew up in Morningside Heights.

“It’s definitely something that’s been in my mind for a while but it’s finally taking form,” he said. “To have a place in my neighborhood where I could go out and hear some great music was something I felt was missing, and that most fellow musicians that I grew up with here felt was missing.”

The concerts will bring in both locally and nationally recognized acts in an effort to provide the community with a place that features accessible music at a reasonable price: Admission is $10 and discounted to $5 for those with a student ID. In part, the program hopes to reach out to students, who may find it discouraging to have to travel to find music. Sophia Melon, Glick’s cocurator, is a Barnard sophomore and musician herself. However, when she first arrived in the city, the Los Angeles native felt the lack of a music scene around campus.

“I got here and it was hard for me. I didn’t really know the city very well and I didn’t really know where the music scene was. I mean, I heard it was downtown, but I lived uptown so it took me a while to even find the downtown,” she said. “There should be a place for music to be a hub and music to be accessible to us [students] ... When Aleksi came to me I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”

“There’s not many real music venues up here,” said musician Jake Snider, CC ’13, whose band has primarily frequented downtown spots

because of the lack of space uptown. “It makes sense to me that there’s this urge to have a space for musicians to play that’s affordable but also nice.”

Snider is playing at tonight’s edition of Newer Sounds. He’ll be joined by Glick’s band, BAM, and Llama!, an eight-piece psychedelic salsa band.

Joy Hanson, the lead singer of Llama! thinks that her group, a “hybrid,” will fit right in. “I feel like it really exemplifies the concept of New Sounds because it’s a new type of style. We mix psychedelic rock ... with authentic Latin sounds.”

“We’re trying to feature people who are doing something different and have somewhat of a unique sound,” Glick said. “You’re probably not going to hear any heavy metal bands or Britney Spears there, but you will hear many kinds of music with many kinds of musicians who are very good at what they do.”

Next week, Newer Sounds will feature pop musician Devyn Rush of “American Idol” fame and upbeat folk-rockers the Bailen Brothers.

For Glick though, it’s more important to stay committed to the local Morningside community than to attract big names.

For instance, as a Hispanic cultural center, El Taller Latino Americano may seem like an odd establishment to house a concert series. But Glick chose the venue because his father has been friends with the owner for 35 years and Glick often played sporadic shows there in his youth.

The emphasis on community is found even in the grittiest of details, right down to the very real necessity of sponsorship. “I didn’t approach Chase. I approached places that have been in this neighborhood and share the values of this neighborhood,” Glick said.

With this neighborhood tie in mind, several local businesses have decided to back the project. Glick has collected support from such local stalwarts as Westside Market, the Hungarian Pastry Shop, and local record label Vibe Records.

“We’ve known Aleksi since he was a little kid. That’s what being a neighborhood establishment is all about, watching customers grow and develop, and so it’s supporting Aleksi as a young man who’s trying to establish his music,” said Wendy Binioris, one of the proprietors of the Hungarian Pastry Shop. “It’s about him. The pastry shop likes to support people in the neighborhood.”

Ultimately, it boils down to a community pitching in to form a local experience.

“I’ve actually known Aleksi since high school,” said musician Jeremy Exelbert, who’s performing in next week’s Newer Sounds concert. “He approached me about this, which was something we’ve always been discussing since we live uptown ... and it’s like we always need to go down to the Village if we want to play or see accessible music. I was really happy to be involved and bring the downtown sounds uptown. Or you know, bring the uptown sounds uptown. Keep them uptown.”

WEEKEND

PAGE B2

Best of

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Valentine’s Day for Singles

For singles, this time of year too often leads to feelings of dread and self-pity. Paired-off friends gush about romantic Valentine’s Day plans and ask you awkwardly what you’ll be up to. To flaunt that single status, A&E presents four ways to enjoy V-day, fabulous and unattached. —BY KIMBERLY TOPILOW

If a Valentine’s Day spent with “stylin’ and profilin’ revelers” sounds appealing, enjoy a sinful performance in a saintly setting at Riverside Church (490 Riverside Drive, at 121st Street), located mere blocks away from campus. This Paris-themed performance features both the Dances of Vice performers and backing band This Ambitious Orchestra in the church’s beautiful and dramatic setting. Celebrate singledom by socializing with fellow audience members at this racy event.

H UR TI S M OT TE AR L CH BY ON AT I

Laugh away those singles blues at the aptly named Laugh Lounge (151 Essex St., between Stanton and Rivington streets) located in the trendy LES neighborhood. On Feb. 14, the venue will present the special holiday program “Happy Valentine’s Day Comedy.” Doors open at 9 p.m. and tickets are $15. According to its description, the show is great for those on a date but will be equally enjoyable for a group of fun-loving singles. When the show lets out, cap off the laughter with a tropical cocktail at Macondo (157 East Houston St., between Allen and Eldridge), a Pan-Latin restaurant located a few blocks west. With a vibrant bar scene and drinks like “Banana & Cachaca”—a mix of banana liqueur, coconut water, lychee, pineapple juice, and lime juice—it will be as if students ended their evening with a trip to the Spanish Caribbean.

LU ST R

Moulin Rouge Valentine’s Day

Laugh Lounge IL

Though going to the movies is often viewed as a “couples” activity, seeing a movie at Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema (143 East Houston St., between First and Second avenues) will be more fun for groups. First of all, the seating is described as “stadium-style.”

Stadiums are known for being huge and impersonal—not the best space for romancing one’s date. Second, the theater has a rather unique concession stand with offerings like caramel popcorn, with one of 10 different seasonings, Swiss chocolate, vegan cookies, and more. The larger the group, the more snacks one will be able to sample. On Feb. 14, at various times, the theater will show the film “W.E.” Directed by Madonna, it stars Abbie Cornish as an unhappily married woman inspired by the epic love story of a famous British couple. After the show, discuss Madonna’s abilities as a director over pesto meatball sandwiches at The Meatball Shop (84 Stanton St., between Allen and Orchard).

If it’s post-dinner time, head to Rayuela (165 Allen St., between Rivington and Stanton), a Nuevo Latino restaurant, and have the discussion over a “Coming Up Roses” cocktail, a floral mix of rose petals, rose water, limes, Champagne, and Bacardi liqueur. Singles deserve roses too.

AW

Landmark’s Sunshine Cinema

Trattoria Dell’Arte Trattoria Dell’Arte, a bustling Italian restaurant, is meant to provide a sit-down meal before a show at City Center. With this incentive in mind, the restaurant’s designers created a place that is open, lively, and comfortable. In other words, its atmosphere is not sedate, sleek, or charming—it’s anything but a date spot. That means singles can have a sublime Italian dinner without the self-pity induced by the proximity of smooching couples. A platter of antipasto can include marvels like the scalloped potato gratin and the octopus salad. The artfully, and truthfully, named “one hundred and one layer lasagna” ($27) is large enough for two friends. Dressed in an addictive red sauce and cemented by expertly seasoned meat and a rich blanket of cheese, this lasagna will make an Italian grandmother doubt her own cooking. To top off a dateless but delicious V-day, the table should split a plate of chocolate mousse and whipped cream.

Neighborhood Watch Ecstatic Music Festival

Amsterdam Ave

R

L

y wa

OLN CENT C E IN

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week ad Bro

While many are now familiar with the popular, bizarrely-named music festivals Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo, New York offers music enthusiasts a unique and innovative festival experience in the Ecstatic Music Festival over the next two months.

Beginning this Saturday, Feb. 4, the 11 different collaborative shows of Ecstatic bring together about 150 performers and composers from different musical genres.

Brooklyn-based composer and codirector of New Amsterdam Records Judd Greenstein returns as the festival’s curator for a second time, working with media partners WQXR and Q2 Music, to offer concert broadcasts and artist interviews to Internet listeners throughout the course of the festival.

“I look for people for whom this will benefit their careers in a way that isn’t monetary. It’s more like giving them the opportunity to pursue something that’s interesting to them and gives them the space to try something new,” Greenstein said of choosing the festival’s lineup.

The festival began Saturday with a performance by Jherek Bischoff, joined by the Talking Heads’ David Byrne, Shudder to Think’s Craig Wedren, Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier, Mirah, and Parenthetical Girls’ Zac Pennington.

“It was a really intense show for me. Sharing the stage with freakin’ David Byrne alone made me freak out, and then presenting myself for the first time and being in New York to a sold-out crowd with camera and film crews everywhere,” Bischoff said. “But at the show I felt this feeling like ‘Oh, I belong here. This is me, there’s no reason to be nervous ... this is finally me, but it’s me through all of these wonderful people.”

The aim in the festival’s collaborations is to encourage creative exchange and experimentation between the musicians, offering them an outlet to try something that may ordinarily be outside of their area of experience. According to Greenstein, one particularly successful collaboration was that between Tuesday night’s performers Sxip Shirey and Angélica Negrón.

“When Sxip and Angélica got together they realized that they both had apartments full of toys and instruments that they’ve collected from curiosity shops over the years, and neither of them had ever met anyone like that before,” Rodgers said. The collaboration “was kind of an arranged play date.”

Aside from the musicians themselves, Ecstatic offers festival-goers the opportunity to be the first to experience these collaborations, giving them valuable exposure to new music and new ideas.

“I want festival attendants to have a really powerful experience that isn’t quite what their expectations were going in, so they can learn something about themselves and about possibilities for themselves that they didn’t even know were there. Art can model that in a way that nothing else can,” Greenstein said.

—Jenny Payne

62nd Street

Yesterday marked the beginning of Fashion Week, the biannual showcase of American design talent that takes over Lincoln Center and the Meatpacking District’s Milk Studios each February and September.

Fashion industry heavyweights showcasing their offerings for Fall/Winter 2012 include both established brands such as Michael Kors and Diane von Furstenburg and cult favorites Y-3 and Richard Chai.

Fashion Week transforms the Upper West Side performing arts mecca into a maze of runways where street style photographers and magazine editors rush between shows. The event wraps up on Feb. 16 before subsequent Fashion Weeks in London, Milan, and Paris. Until then, take the 1 train to 66th Street and be on the lookout for top models like Erin Wasson, “It Girls” like Harley Viera-Newton, and fashion luminaries like Anna Wintour.

Although celebrity sightings alone may be exciting, enterprising students can take advantage of Fashion Week events in a number of ways. American Express card members can purchase tickets to a Lincoln Center Skybox at $150 for one show or $250 for two. Many designers including up-and-comer Jason Wu, whose collaboration with Target recently debuted nationwide, are streaming their shows live on their own websites and through social media like Facebook. And the more daring can always attempt to sneak their way past security and enjoy the shows free of charge.

In addition to the fashion shows themselves, New York Fashion Week also includes shopping and cultural events around the city. Stylish British import Topshop is featuring nightly DJ sets, makeovers, and nail art at their SoHo location. Photographer Juergen Teller, known for his provocative advertisements for powerhouse designer Marc Jacobs, is opening a three-part show at Chelsea’s Lehmann Maupin Gallery.

Whether for shopping, people watching, or the excitement of living in one of the fashion world’s epicenters, New York Fashion Week is a unique opportunity to take advantage of events across the city.

—Alison Herman

GRAPHIC BY SIN JIHN SMITH

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

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Bargain-hunters ‘scoop’ out steep discounts

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MOVIE STILL COURTESY OF RETURN LCC

HOMETOWN HEROES | “Return,” written and directed by Liza Johnson, portrays the struggles of a soldier’s homecoming, not in terms of the trauma of warfare but rather through the readjustment to a now-unfamiliar home life and family situation.

Director Liza Johnson depicts a different side of military life

BY CHRISTIN ZURBACH AND STEFAN COUNTRYMAN Spectator Staff Writers The soldier’s homecoming, with its contrast between civilian life and the hideousness of war, is a mainstay film genre.

Writer and director Liza Johnson’s “Return,” premiering Friday, is a homecoming tale with a defining feature removed—there is no trauma, no horror of war. Protagonist Kelli’s main struggle is not to heal, but to readjust to a home life that doesn’t fit her anymore.

During the film, Kelli only loaded crates during her deployment to the Middle East and never sees combat. Rather, the main conflict of the film is Kelli’s struggle to fit back into a family and a community that she has become used to being away from—and that has been used to her absence. “[I wondered] what does this feel like in every day life to stay married when you’ve been in one

kind of experience and the person that you’re with has been in a more everyday American experience,” Johnson said. “That was a story that I in my civilian life don’t hear that often.”

For Johnson, their mistake is in assuming that Kelli is hurting.

“What if she’s not damaged at all, but she just cannot tolerate the damage to the world she lives in the same way that she used to be able to?”

Johnson said.

This question drives the movie. One poignant scene shows Kelli dissatisfied with her manufacturing job at home, which she perceives as small in comparison to her experiences at war. She contrasts that with unloading a jet filled entirely with rubber gloves while on deployment.

Johnson’s inspiration was personal—the film takes place in a defunct industrial town much like the one she grew up in. “It’s very compelling to me to see people there kind of gesturing towards their future even though there’s a really big absence of meaningful work,” Johnson said.

Johnson herself did not have direct military experience, but said that she was inspired by friends and current events.

“I would say that the initial conversation I had that made me think that it would be a good idea was a conversation I had with a friend of mine who was a man who was in the Marines, and he told me about his efforts to stay married when he got back from his military deployment,” Johnson said.

From there, Johnson was able to develop the overall concept of the film. Her exploration of crises of meaning, in the context of homecoming and beyond, has been well appreciated—“Return” was the only American film to show at last year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

“I feel like our military and civilian cultures in the U.S. are very separate,” Johnson said. Today’s America is more sensitive than it used to be, but this cultural division is persistent. The ignorance of the civilians in “Return” perverts their compassion, and their questions become divisive rather than conciliatory.

1960s sex symbol Rachel Welsh celebrated in retrospective WELCH from page B4

COURTESY OF FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

SUBTLE SEXUALITY | Lincoln Film Society celebrates the work of Raquel Welch, the definitive 1960s sex symbol, with screenings of her extensive oeuvre, including “One Million Years, B.C..”

black characters—it does so by allowing Brown’s character to enact the fantasies of countless American men.

Welch’s sexuality is again politicized in “The Three Musketeers” as Constance, but unfortunately her role is second to the less charming D’Artagnan. Constance is a favorite of the Queen of England—she is also married to an older man who makes little effort to satisfy her. The film follows her and the queen as they search for extramarital fulfillment.

In order to avoid a war with France, Constance charges D’Artagnan with protecting the queen’s secrecy, and he is rewarded when she falls for him. The movie is full of slapstick, but underlying the bawdy humor and basal plot is a progressive assertion that these women need not remain faithful to men who do not try to please them.

This is why Welch is fascinating. On one hand, she helped fashion a breast-worshipping American cult of the plastic female. Feminists are still fighting to cast off the coil of objectification wrought by icons like her. On the other hand, she subverted racial and gender conventions with aplomb. She is a sex symbol, sure—but she’s human.

Tickets are $9 with CUID, $32 for a four-film package. Schedule available online at www.filminc.com.

Baring it all: Weekend detour as nude model recalls adolescence

T

here was a draft coming in through the window, and I had an especially persistent itch on my left tush cheek. Generally these aren’t really life’s big problems, but on Saturday mornLEAH ing I found myself standing GREENBAUM on a platform bare-ass naked in front of 15 strangers, Slouching their eyes fixed on my most Towards private parts.

It’s hard to say what Somewhere moved me to bear all for a public figure drawing class in Dodge Hall last week. Until very recently I’d been happy, if not insistent, on keeping my junk under wraps.

I was the teenage nevernude who changed for gym in the handicap stall. Not five years ago, I wore my father’s winter sweaters and oversized Levis like a daily uniform, not a lazy hipster convenience. So to say that posing nude for a sketching class would surprise those who know the old Leah would be a vast understatement.

Nevertheless, my fascination with the nude portrait began in eighth grade—by all accounts the height of my baggy-sweater-wearing repression—when my mother took me to an Amedeo Modigliani exhibit.

My mother was eager to introduce me to a

renowned Jewish portrait artist, but what we found was nude after nude after nude. I still remember how my cheeks burned as my mother and I stared at the snatch of pubic hair on the “Reclining Nude.”

But besides the obvious searing shame of being forced to contemplate naked women with my mother, something about that exhibit stayed with me. Modigliani’s paintings of these women were full of intimacy, warmth, and understanding. Did I want to be sexy like them one day?

Maybe. But more than that, I wanted to be loved and understood like they seemed to be.

Until very recently I’d been happy, if not insistent, on keeping my junk under wraps.

And so it was Modigliani’s nudes–their blank eyes and world-weary smiles–that led me to put my cooter on display for a class, with what I consider to be a disproportionate number of middle-aged men.

The moment I dropped my sundress and struck a pose was the easy part. It was quick and surprisingly painless, like jumping into a pool.

overheard a shopper confess to her friend, “I never usually buy anything here” as she browsed a rack at Scoop in the Meatpacking District, clutching about seven pieces tightly to her chest. With its CLAIRE designer price points and STERN trendy wears, Scoop isn’t a Buyer ’s place I frequent either, unless I want to torture myRemorse self. But it turns out we both picked a good day to drop by: Scoop’s currently having its “Ultimate Closet Clean-Out Sale,” during which customers take an additional 50 percent off already marked down price tags. I haven’t seen markdowns as luscious as these since last year’s Barney’s Warehouse Sale. These white tags were so marked down they looked like they were bleeding.

With discounts this high, I expected some hair pulling, but the two-floor designer clothing temple was surprisingly calm this past Sunday­—all of the aggressive shoppers must have migrated uptown for the Jason Wu for Target launch. Thus, with no thrown elbows or hits to the head, I was left to browse comfortably. But considering the heavy markdowns, I have a feeling the tranquil, unruffled atmosphere I experienced won’t last much longer.

With discounts this high, I expected some hair pulling ... all of the aggressive shoppers must have migrated uptown for the Jason Wu for Target launch.

Given that this is a warehouse sale, there are a limited amount of sizes in stock, and it takes some serious legwork to find a piece you like that’s actually in your size—a girl can only attempt to wiggle into size 24 jeans so many times before it gets embarrassing. Or, like me, you can convince yourself that the size eight Rag & Bone Newbury bootie actually fits.

Remember kids, an additional 50 percent off.

The biggest eye candy is on display straight across from the main entrance: formal and silk dresses by upscale brands (think Missoni, Phillip Lim, and DVF) with insane price drops.

Also on the top floor were cashmere and wool cardigans, baskets of belts, and, oh yes, the denim. Jeans lined the whole back left wall, with pairs marked down 50 percent and then some (and as any jean lover knows, these bottoms never go out of style).

Scoop’s sale bills itself as an “end of season warehouse sale,” but after walking downstairs, it seems to transcend seasons: Printed dresses, shorts, linen tops and tunics, and bathing suits are also marked down, just in time for spring.

Downstairs is also where you’ll find the shoes, and a healthy supply of tourists was attacking the selection (naturally). I don’t speak Italian, but taking into account their euphoric faces and the amount of shoes they were trying on, I’m guessing the exchange rate is pretty darn good.

The rest of the clientele were trendy, downtown types. Two girls purred with laughter about how one’s dad was supposed to join them to shop that day: “The thought of your dad trying on these clothes is kinda … ridiculous.”

Other more youthful shoppers were frustrated that the prices weren’t more marked down, “I want to go somewhere cheap!” one exclaimed.

Her two girlfriends settled on H&M.

I don’t speak Italian, but taking into account their euphoric faces and the amount of shoes they’re trying on, I’m guessing the exchange rate is pretty darn good.

One second I was just another person in a room full of people … the next I was an object everyone studied with surgical attention.

I tried to keep my mind clear. Ignore the chilliness in my extremities, the pain in my arm, and the man whose loopy repetitive sketching resembled the jerking off I hoped he wouldn’t be doing later. I tried my best to be silent and still. It was a surprisingly easy $30 ($15/hour to model for the Columbia Artists Society—less work than babysitting).

I peeked at a few drawings. In one man’s charcoal sketch I looked like a fleshy sex goddess with gravity-defying breasts. One woman’s pencil drawing showed a vulnerable, bony adolescent. I don’t think I’m either.

Researching Modigliani’s work this week, I learned that his nudes were all strangers—paid models. I had believed they were his great loves, women he’d just rolled out of bed with to capture a transcendent moment of bliss. But the intimacy and understanding that had so moved me was never really there.

The sketching class gathers up their things and exits quietly while I put my underpants on behind a set of cabinets.

Further markdowns are a likely possibility, for Scoop’s racks are currently pretty stocked, and they receive a supply of new pieces and sizes daily. If you think about it, the stuff has to go at some point. Even still, I was pretty impressed with Scoop’s sale: It offers the same high-fashion labels as Barney’s and Bergdorf ’s but at major discounts and with a no-frills scene.

The real bargain hunters know that NYC sales can get a little crazy. Just this past winter, a video leaked of women at the DVF sample sale scrambling over Mongolian fur vests. At Scoop, I could pick up the same fur vest (yes— they have them) without getting into a scuffle with a stranger. The vest felt luxurious, and a week earlier I would have glanced at the price tag and run for the hills, but at nearly 90 percent off, I almost considered buying it.

Scoop NYC is located at 430 West 14th St. (at Washington Street). Hours are Monday to Thursday from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Leah Greenbaum is a Columbia College senior majoring in English. Slouching Towards Somewhere runs alternate Fridays.

Claire Stern is a Barnard College senior majoring in English. Buyer’s Remorse runs alternate Fridays.

WEEKEND

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FEBRUARY 10, 2012

Flipside Guide Raquel Welch Retrospective American sex icon exposes human side with film retrospective, transcends conventional mores

BY CHRISTOPHER RUENES AND STEFAN COUNTRYMAN Columbia Daily Spectator With her waifish, buxom figure and overt sexuality, Raquel Welch helped transform America’s feminine ideal into its current state. Lincoln Film Society’s retrospective “Cinematic Goddess: American Sex Symbol” alludes to this fact. Her ravishing looks, revealing outfits, and persistent eroticism made her the definitive 1960s sex icon.

But beyond stirring adolescent fantasies, Welch’s appeal neutralizes the controversial politics of sexuality present in her films.

She recalls a goddess not merely through her looks but also by transcending mores without offending the mainstream.

Welch’s retrospective runs at Lincoln Center (65th St. and Broadway) from Feb. 10 to 14. Ten films will be screened, including “Fantastic Voyage,” which follows shrunken Soviet scientists through the body of their coma-stricken colleague, and “One Million Years, B.C.,” a prehistoric tale most famous for its covershot of Welch in a fur bikini.

Welch herself will be present at some of the screenings—the full schedule is available online.

In “100 Rifles,” Raquel plays a revolutionary Native American named Sarita who unites with Yaqui Joe (Burt Reynolds) and the lawman Lyedecker (Jim Brown) to defeat the violently oppressive local government. While the film’s narrative trajectory and bifurcated morality are prototypically western, its politics set it apart.

For starters, the film is set in Mexico. All of the sympathetic characters are revolutionaries, not establishment figures. They aren’t white, either. There is only one Caucasian American, and he’s a meek railroad executive who watches his town’s indigenous population get slaughtered. The real heroes are the black Lyedecker and the Native American Sarita.

One of the film’s most poignant moments features an interracial sex scene between Welch and Brown. As the sex symbol of her era, Welch makes this statement powerful. Not only does the scene challenge Hollywood’s long-standing desexualization of

SEE WELCH, page B3

WHERE IT’S AT Time: Daily, 24 hours Place: 1691 Broadway (between 53rd and 54th streets) Cost: $3-$10 Rating: »»» JENNY PAYNE FOR SPECTATOR

EASY AS PIE | Pie Face’s Times Square branch of the Australian pie company offers tempting selections including everything from “chunky steak” pie to the classic tart and sweet cherry variety for affordable prices.

Pie Face For carbs fix, Australian export rolls out sweet and savory selections

BY KIMBERLY TOPILOW Spectator Staff Writer The next time students walk out of lab, utterly drained and craving carbs, they should hop on the 1 train and do as the Australians do—head to Pie Face, the NYC branch of the renowned Australian pie purveyor.

It functions just like a typical takeout joint. You place your order at the cash register, receive a bag or box, depending on how many things you bought, and take the subway home. However, if you’re starving or eating in a hurry, there is a narrow ledge lining the storefront window where customers can place their meal. If students want a classic dining experience, complete with wait staff and tablecloths, they should look elsewhere.

For such a small place, Pie Face has an impressive number of offerings. There are seven types of regular-sized pies, each about 5.5 inches across. The tempting choices include a “chunky steak” pie, chicken and mushroom, tandoori vegetable, mince beef and tomato, and a bacon, egg, and cheese pie. Pie Face offers a “mini” size of all these pies, with the exception of bacon, egg, and cheese.

One mini pie, only about 2.5 inches across, is perfect as a quick snack. It can also be paired with a bowl of soup or a salad to create an immensely satiating winter meal. I decided to try a mini chicken and mushroom and a mini cherry pie. Before the food descriptions, it should be noted that Pie Face needs to get its act

together in terms of efficiency. The mini chicken and mushroom pie was one of only two savory varieties available when I arrived.

Pie Face offers a great deal, where a pie and soup cost only $9.45.

One bite of the chicken and mushroom and all my worries and cares evaporated. A hot, decadent mixture of white-meat chicken, sliced mushrooms, and thick gravy oozed out of a delicate, flaky, buttery pie crust. It was gone in about six bites, though customers will find themselves making those last two bites last as long as possible. The tart and sweet cherry pie was an ideal foil for the creamy, meaty chicken. A dollop of tangy, deep-red, lightly sugared cherries was enveloped in a pie-crust similar to the one described above. This pie was a marvel on its own, but it could work beautifully as an accompaniment to a steaming cappuccino or hot chocolate.

If you don’t share my enthusiasm, there are options here for the pie-averse. The sandwiches that sit next to the pies in a glass case include a chicken baguette, a cheese and tomato croissant, and a toasted ham sandwich. Soups range from a fancy-sounding chicken and cous-cous variety to a standard cup of lentil. Desserts other than pies are aplenty. With cinnamon scones, peanut butter cookies, pecan-raisin swirls, blueberry danishes, and carrot cake, to name a few, Pie Face will leave no sweet-tooth unsatisfied.

But get it while it’s hot—when I asked what their soup of the day was, I was told that they had run out. It was not even 6:30 on a Wednesday night.

I sincerely hope that Pie Face can work out the kinks, because its pies, at least the ones I tried, are phenomenal.

Since Pie Face is in the theater district, it is best to come early on a weeknight.

PHILIP GLASS The posh party in celebration of famed minimalist musician’s 75th

BY MAREN KILLACKEY Columbia Daily Spectator Well, it’s official. One of the past halfcentury’s most iconic musicians has reached his golden years. The now sevPlace: Le Poisson Rouge enty-five-year-old Oscar-laureate and Rating: »»»»« minimalist figurehead Philip Glass celebrated his birthday last week at SoHo’s posh and famously versatile club, (le) poisson rouge.

While the party didn’t quite descend into Jersey Shore debauchery, it was a far cry from the stuffy, self-parodic pretension one might assume would characterize a get together of the New York art world’s head mucky-mucks. With such high profile guests as Tom Waits, Martin Scorcese, Lou Reed, and Paul Simon, one would have expected the gathering to be something more in line with an industry event than a b-day bash in honor of “dear Philip.” Nevertheless, that’s precisely what it was: a lazy Sunday evening chock full of celebratory festivities for the birthday of a man many—celebrity and non-celebrity—count as a true friend.

Although the atmosphere was more chummy than professional, that didn’t keep those just randomly lucky enough to snag a seat from feeling like they were in some kind of “Midnight in Paris”-like dream.

For the Philip Glass uber-fan, the night’s performances were a phantasmagoria of tributes to past and present P.G. collaborations by the likes of Tim Fain and Foday Musa Suso and Kronos Quartet, musicians who even in their own right are absolutely stunning.

WHERE IT’S AT

WHERE IT’S AT Time: Feb. 10-14, various times Place: Lincoln Center Cost: $9 with CUID Rating: »»»» COURTESY OF FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER

SUBTLE SEXUALITY | Lincoln Film Society celebrates the work of Raquel Welch, the definitive 1960s sex symbol, with screenings from her extensive oeuvre, including “One Million Years, B.C.” and “Fantastic Voyage.”

In this way, the night read like a retrospective. Covers of various scores Glass had composed over his fifty-plus year career punctuated the original sets of many of the night’s performers. Such pieces—which included “The Poet Acts” and “Morning Passages,” both of “The Hours” fame, as well as his 2010 piece “Pendulum”—recalled the profundity and fecundity of the Philip Glass oeuvre. Some were near tears, held at bay only because Glass isn’t finished yet. His party was held on Sunday rather than Tuesday­—his actual birth date­—as he would be spending the day at Carnegie Hall for the American premiere of his Ninth Symphony.

Towards end of the night, Glass gave an intimate, heartfelt speech, in which he articulated his seemingly genuine appreciation for the turnout. Those actually associated with the Glass family smiled and nodded their heads, while those not, stared on in amazement, slightly shocked that Glass—the Philip Glass—would be thanking them for coming to his party so personally.

Overall, Glass’s 75th was a nice little party for a very talented individual who also happened to have a number of very talented friends.

Despite the attempt at normalcy, those outside the inner circle couldn’t help but pick up on subtle extravagances: Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen sitting not 40 feet from everyone, a lamentably short set by neo-surf classics Raybeats, and a phenomenon of a cake executed by TLC’s Buddy “Cake Boss” Valastro. These and similar factors resulted in the culmination of nothing less than a surreal experience for the infiltrating nobodies, but seemed, to the accustomed, only the most basic ingredients for nothing more than very lovely time–and a very lovely time it was.

events parks

Caribbean Garden —New York Botanical Garden, Bronx River Parkway at Fordham Road, Feb. 10-26, $18 The New York Botanical Garden puts its permanent collection of orchids, palms, and other tropical fauna on display starting today. Escape the drab February weather and venture up to the Bronx for a bright and colorful exhibit heated to a toasty 70 degrees.

art

Central Park Ice Festival —Tavern on the Green Courtyard, Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Enjoy a cup of cocoa and learn how to carve ice from the artists at Okamoto Studio, sculptors who have worked for clients from Martha Stewart to Zac Posen. Try your hand at ice sculpture or sit back and watch as teachers sculpt ice into Central Park landmarks.

theater

Never Sleep Alone —Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (between Astor Place and East Fourth Street), Tuesday, 9:30 p.m., $30 Laugh along with other audience members at Roslyn Hart’s special Valentine’s Day edition of her performance as “sex psychologist” Dr. Alex Schiller, who dispenses advice to single audience members with both humor and song.

music

Los Tigres Del Norte —Kingsbridge Armory, West Kingsbridge Road, Saturday, 7 p.m., $60 Originally from Sinaloa, Mexico, norteño group Los Tigres Del Norte have been performing together for more than 35 years. Join them at unique Bronx venue Kingsbridge Armory for a unique and unforgettable musical experience.