Financial Aid Payola Scandal: Good Night, and Good Luck Not Pissing Yourself
Everyone feels like they’re getting screwed over by the financial aid office. But if you go to Columbia, there’s a distinct chance you’re not imagining things. There is a major, major payola scandal brewing in higher education right now, and one of the alleged villains is David Charlow — the school’s executive director of undergraduate financial aid. The attorney general of New York says Charlow netted some $100,000 by investing in a company he was recommending to students — and while one Columbia guy we know of uses Student Loan Xpress and loves ‘em, that has “flaming conflict of interest” written all over it.
Our interest in the story was mostly piqued, though, when we heard that CTV — not the Spectator, not Bwog — was the first campus news organization to report Charlow’s suspension. For the unfamiliar, this is a fledgling channel mainly known for having $6,500 of equipment destroyed by a backflipping frog mascot in February 2006 and accidentally airing hardcore pornography in October; for them to get the scoop on something this big is kind of like your little brother using a complete sentence for the first time.
Correspondent Eric Hirsch ‘09 wears a single expression during the one-minute segment, and the name of that expression is “terrified.” It’s not “Boom Goes the Dynamite” — quite — but you get the impression Hirsch is worried that by saying the news out loud, he will break it. Hey there buddy, it’s okay! You li’l newscaster you! Normally we hate on shoddy student videos, but this is like watching a yearling topple over in a pasture. How can we say anything but “awww”?
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April 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Oh, c’mon, he does just fine.
April 6th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
I think the problem is caused not by Mr. Hirsch but by CTV making him do a single four minute take.
April 6th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
i think he looks sexy. very sexy.
April 7th, 2007 at 10:54 am
he’s cute
April 7th, 2007 at 10:55 am
he’s cute
April 7th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Oh my little Hirschy Kiss!
April 7th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Dude looks scared throughout the whole clip…
April 7th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
He’s pretty adorable.
April 8th, 2007 at 12:29 am
yea, basically this guy is pretty good looking.
April 8th, 2007 at 11:33 am
he’s cute, as in I want to pat him on the head like a puppy. Hot, not so much.
April 8th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
if you think this guy is cute, you should have gotten a look at the camera man
April 8th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
i dunno about all that, but i do hear he tells a mean joke.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
That guy is not nearly as hot as Boom Goes the Dynamite guy – now that guy was a stone fox.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:11 pm
That guy is not nearly as hot as Boom Goes the Dynamite guy – now that guy was a stone fox.