bwog

Everything I Learned About New York Media I Learned At Columbia

Rebecca · 03/10/08 10:07AM

Full disclosure: I graduated Barnard College in '05, and while there, wrote for the campus newspaper, The Columbia Spectator.

Columbia University prides itself in being in the city of New York; that's literally their slogan. Even if Morningside Heights is Manhattan lite, there are very real elements of New York living there. For one, with Barnard, the female to male ratio is two to one, giving Columbia females a head start on real life New York dating. For two, Columbia student journalists take themselves as seriously as real New York journalists do. From the years I was at the Columbia Spectator, two reporters went onto Newsweek, one is tenured at the Washington Post, someone else is at Fortune and another has his own blog at Slate. That's why the latest campus controversy over the Bwog, the blog of the campus publication the Blue & White is no surprise. A tipster writes about upheaval on the site: The new editor is alienating writers, the Bwog has lost its focus, along with its campus cachet. Sound familiar?