The debate about ROTC on campus heats up.

In Men's basketball: the Lions have a split weekend.

We bring you the latest campus fashion trends.

Watson comes to Columbia

Fresh off its convincing victory in Jeopardy over past champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, IBM’s new artificial intelligence supercomputer, Watson, is on its way to the Columbia University Medical Center.

IBM engineers will work with Columbia doctors to develop new ways to use Watson to quickly sort through large amounts of medical information and provide answers to specific questions, all in human language.

The move to the Medical Center marks Watson’s first real-world application after its game-show debut.

Columbia professor seeks to increase internet privacy

Eben Moglen, Chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center and professor of law and legal history at Columbia, is working to restructure the internet in such a way that will eliminate government and corporate authorities' ability to restrict access. Moglen spoke at the Free and Open Source Software Developers' European meeting earlier this month, saying that the world wide web in its current form is "too centralized" and "too vulnerable to state retaliation and control". Moglen and others are developing small network servers called Freedom boxes that can run internet applications privately without risk of government intrusion.

Talks to develop these freedom boxes have intensified since governments in the Arab world attempted to quell popular uprisings by restricting internet access. A computer operating system called Debian has already taken form, developing software for the proposed freedom boxes.

ROTC debate - Students express Opinions

The University Senate held a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday to discuss the possibility of inviting ROTC back on campus. Columbia’s ROTC program was dissolved more than four decades ago after the passing of legislation that came to be known as Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, which was repealed late last year.

Many students were on hand to offer their opinions on the issue of reviving the ROTC program, but Dean of Columbia College Michelle Moody-Adams spoke first, outlining what she said was a set of questions to focus on.

“I think that we must ensure that military training and discipline create what we can call citizen soldiers,” Moody-Adams said. “We should encourage the members of the military, also, to see themselves as such.”

However, Moody-Adams’ speech was not without controversy. Many students accused the Dean of promoting pro-military views.

 “A Dean just openly spoke in favor of bringing ROTC back, but there was no counter-argument,” one student said, drawing applause.

Another group of students engaged in a heated conversation with the Dean at the meeting’s intermission.

Several students used the open microphone format to offer their views on the issue of ROTC’s possible return to campus. One student who identified as transgender talked about how the presence of ROTC would threaten transgender students.

“Somebody described Columbia as a safe haven, and that is absolutely true,” the student said. “Students who are in ROTC do not need that safe haven, and transgender students do.”

Another student, who said he grew up in a military town, spoke about how banning ROTC from campus does nothing to solve problems of discrimination and negative recruiting tactics in the military.

 “I understand that we want to shelter ourselves from that institution that preys on low-income students,” he said. “On the other hand, shouldn’t we be doing something to change it? Or should we just isolate ourselves and make a little utopian community of people who don’t know what the military is?”

Another speaker, the only one to openly identify as gay while speaking for the revival of the ROTC program, questioned the legitimacy of the reasoning for the ban.

“These rules that are in place are not determined by the military. They are determined by our elected leaders, and us in turn,” he said. “We are abdicating our stance if we think that by pushing [ROTC] off of campus, by ignoring it, we will remedy anything.”

 Even amid the tension and seriousness, one clever student was able to draw some laughs from both sides.

 “It’s an organization in which women, today, are still treated as second class citizens, where the LGBT community is looked upon with abhorrence by the majority of the members of that organization, and organization which is highly hierarchical, and an organization which deliberately recruits from some of the poorest and most vulnerable places in our society,” he said.  “Now, I’m obviously talking to you today about the Catholic Church.”

The University has yet to decide whether or not to allow ROTC to return, and, if the Town Hall Meetings are any indication, public sentiment is also very divided.

Columbia Hosts IvyQ Conference

This past weekend, Columbia University had hosting duties for the second annual Ivy Q conference, a gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer students, and allies from across the ivy league.

Students participated at workshops, watched a screening of Gus Van Sant's influential queer film My Own Private Idaho, and attended a party dubbed the "Fantasy Ball," featuring live performances and a drag contest. Three critics from the village voice were on hand to judge the competition. 

Speaking at the event were several celebrated members of the LGBTQA community including keynote speaker Amanda Simpson, the first Presidential transgender appointee.

Weather Report

Wow, wasn't friday amazing?  Sun, warmth, people playing frisbee on the steps...too bad that seems to have been a one-time deal.  This coming week is going to be cloudy and slushy, unfortunately, so make sure you pack away your shorts and bust out the boots again.  On Monday we will have a wintry mix in the morning, with a high of 40 and a low of 29.  On Tuesday, the weather will drop a bit with partly cloudy weather and a high of 31 and a low of 18, but on Wednesday the sun will come back out with a high of 40 and a low of 28. Thursday is looking good with sunny weather, a high of 45, and a low of 40.  Friday would be great if it were going to be sunny, with a high of 49 and a low of 32, but unfortunately it will be raining all day.  The rain will continue through the weekend.

Wallach Art Gallery opens new exhibit

Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Hall will showcase an important exhibit in the modern art world entitled Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)possible. The exhibit highlights the political and social ramifications of the fall of the Berlin wall and the subsequent unification of Europe through photographs, videos, sculptures and paintings. 19 different artists from 13 different nationalities contributed to the exhibition that will be on display at Columbia through March 26. Professor of Art History at Barnard, Alexander Alberro was instrumental in bringing the exhibition to Columbia by organizing an international symposium for the exhibition's first presentation in 2008.

Barnard's Diana Center receives Gold LEED rating

Barnard’s Diana Center is being recognized once again, this time by the U.S. Green Building Council, which promotes green building through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design initiative.

The Center, which was built using recycled materials and has several other environmentally friendly attributes, received a LEED Gold Rating, the second highest level of certification.

Fashion

Emily Ellis took a look at what students on campus had to say about their sense of style.

How would students describe each other's sense of style?

"Audrey Hepburn meets Zoey Deschanel," said Stephen, describing his friend Kate.

"Archaeologists' style, very Indiana Jones...let's go with the movie theme," Kate responded.

What is the incentive or motivation to dress well and be stylish?

"My school. The school I go to in DC, Howard, it's really focused on that, actually, the way people dress.  Far more than I would like them to be focused on it, but that's what sort of pushed me into it.  Plus I just looking nice and I like layering," said Genesis.

"I just like expressing myself through what I wear," said Kate.

"I feel like I do better when I look nice and I feel better when I look nice," Nick added.

"I come from a lumberjack background and feel that it's important to represent that in the way I dress," said Stephen, smiling.

What is the favorite piece of their wardrobe?

"I love ties.  This is actually his, it's a wool tie.  I have so many ties," said Genesis.

"Green. Green, like my green sweater," commented Nick.

How long did it take to get dressed this morning?

"An hour and a half, because I put on clothes and I was like, 'I don't want this shirt, I'll put on this shirt,' and then he suggested the sweater vest, and it definitely took a good hour and a half," Genesis admitted.

"Probably about five to ten minutes," Kate said.

"Not very long, five minutes," Stephen said.

City approves Columbia Baker Field expansion

The Department of City Planning voted 11-1 in favor of Columbia’s controversial expansion of the Baker Field Athletic Complex into the adjacent tidal marsh area.

The vote, which sparked outrage in the Inwood neighborhood, allows Columbia to bypass a law that requires waterfront property owners to open 15% of their land to public access.

If Columbia gets final approval to build from City Council, it will develop one tenth of the required amount as public space.

Sports Update

The Columbia women's basketball team's woes continue, losing two more on the road against Dartmouth and Harvard. They have dropped four straight, tying Cornell for the worst record in the conference with a record of 5-19.

Columbia men's tennis broke even this weekend at an indoor men's tennis championship event in Cambridge, Massachusetts, defeating Boston College 5-2, but losing 6-1 to Cornell in the second round. The team's record stands at 3-3 and the Lions play their second in-conference match against Brown on Sunday. Columbia women's tennis had their six match win streak snapped at the same invitational in Cambridge, falling to Penn on Friday and Dartmouth on Sunday. The Lions beat Cornell Big Red on Saturday.

Columbia wrestling continues to take down their opposition, winning at both meets this weekend, against Harvard and Brown. Junior Kevin Lester pinned Harvard's Andrew Knapp in a tiebraker in overtime to win the final match of the day.

Junior Kyra Caldwell shattered the record books on Saturday running the 60 meter hurdle in record time for an female ivy league athlete. The record was set in 2000 by a future Olympian in Brenda Taylor. Junior Sharay Hale also set a record for a female Ivy League athlete in the 200 meter dash. Her 53.02 second running of the 400 meter dash is currently the fourth best time in the nation.

Columbia Men's Basketball sees Crimson

Columbia men’s basketball had something to prove when they played the Harvard Crimson this past Saturday. The Lions had plowed through the conference-worst Dartmouth Big Green the night before. If Columbians were to beat their rivals from Cambridge, they would find themselves firmly situated in third place in the conference.

Columbia’s John Daniels and Mark Cisco were on the sidelines with injuries, so several bench players saw significant playing time.

The banged-up lions started very slowly going the first four minutes of the game without a basket.

Columbia would finish the first half respectably, trailing only by 9 to a Harvard team that had compiled an impressive 8-1 conference record heading into the game.

However, Harvard would extend their lead much to the dismay of Columbia faithful.

Shooting guard Noruwa Agho, who had 19 points against Dartmouth, shot only 2-12 from the field on Saturday.

Harvard had four different players in double-digit point totals by game’s end. Columbia had none.

Harvard shot a perfect 100% from the free throw line, nailing 12 for 12 in the second period. Harvard also doubled Columbia in total rebounds.

The Lions would score the fewest number of points in a game since a 2007 loss to Albany. With the 61-42 defeat, Columbia’s conference record falls to 5-5, putting them in a tie for fourth place in the Ivy League. Columbia will play four more games this season, beginning with a two-game road series against Penn and the league best Princeton this upcoming weekend.