IvyGate is at Columbia University, liveblogging the ServiceNation presidential candidates forum.  Check in while we let you know our every semi-relevant (grammatical accuracy not-guaranteed) thought:

6:15: IvyGate is on Low Steps, currently an epic camping ground:

More coverage, after the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

Misguided optimism abounds on Columbia's campus as many of its 25,000 students plan on entering the ticket lottery for the McCain-Obama ServiceNation Presidential Forum -- and, ugh, "day of remembrance" -- next Thursday, September 11th.

Heads of the student governing boards, taken by surprise about the entire event, wrote a joint letter to President Bollinger asking that the lottery "not favor any one group of students over another," but the Spectator reports that "there are 200 seats in the lottery for full and part-time students for admission," so most will have to settle for a Jumbotron on the lawn, a la Ahmadinejad.

It's safe to say that Obama, CC '83 and communist-consorting, drug-quaffing elite flaneur, will receive a more enthusiastic reception than McCain, who was heckled during his Class Day speech in 2006, unless friends of his daughter Meghan (CC '07) turn out in force. Read the rest of this entry »

After last week's interview, anti-feminist crusader Roy Hollander got some negative press. (As opposed to the rave reviews he usually gets on websites like AmericanWomenSuck.com. True story. Check it out!) But you will be pleased to hear that Roy is doing just fine, and still fighting the good fight, even if O'Bama isn't.

from: Roy Den Hollander
to: Maureen O'Connor
subject: Thanks

Maureen,

Thanks for doing the story. I thought it was a good piece--accurate. The only change since we talked was that O'Bama chose Biden as VP. Sen Biden's the one responsible for the VAWA act, so I'll be voting for Nader or if I move to Russia for Putin.

Thanks again.
Roy

Read the rest of this entry »

This Labor Day weekend, I interviewed Lauren Salz, Executive Director of the Columbia University College Republicans, for a Q&A with Youth Vote '08. According to her, all of the right-wing groups on Columbia's campus have a budget smaller than the International Socialist Organization. This *exclusive* IvyGate iteration has bonus questions and a picture. Swanky!

NS: Why did you get involved with the CUCR?
LS: I wasn't originally planning to join any campus political group. I had just taken a year off from school and worked on a campaign [Tom Kean for U.S. Senate] and I had enough of partisan politics. But then I got to Columbia and realized I needed to have an outlet to talk to other conservative students.

Did you anticipate feeling politically isolated at Columbia?
Not at all. Maybe I was naive, but I thought that since Columbia was such an elite university, I would find people willing to listen. I also had no idea about Columbia's radical activist tradition. Prior to my first week of classes, I had never heard of the events in '68, although I did hear about the Minutemen incident. Read the rest of this entry »

From a mystery source within the Obama campaign come some updates/accusations targeted at proactive Obama-lovers in the ivy league. According to the political blog Open Left, Obama’s campaign has “had it up to their ears” with ivy interns getting in the way of business, even adding fuel to the Republican’s fire. Contributer “KosherDutchAfro” writes:

My source within the Obama campaign in Chicago has told me campaign employees have had it up to their ears with overly ambitious Ivy League volunteers who have been causing problems for the campaign by putting their individual ambitions over the larger goals of the campaign as a movement. This employee and fellow South Side native has shared with me that the campaign is getting a sense that the attitudes of dedicated Ivy League volunteers had, over the course of the primary, given Republicans enough stories to run with the ‘elitist’ trope in the general election.”

What are these kids doing: arguing over who gets to plug those numbers into an excel sheet? Or… maybe it would be more relevant to ask: who is this KosherDutchAfro, and why all the crazy haterade for us innocent ivy leaguers with big political dreams? Because later on in the post he writes about how Obama’s loss to Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary can be blamed on “pushy” Penn students:

In Pennsylvania, where the campaign lost big time to Hillary due to pushy Penn students stoking conflict with long-time city activists, the Obama campaign has instituted a training that teaches volunteers how to be senstive to existing communities.”

OK. Fine. We know that this sort of insensitivity can be a problem not only amongst ivy league students, but also within the ivy league administration. So maybe this kind of training isn’t such a bad idea after all. But isn't blaming Obama's loss on a few Penn students taking it a bit far? And wait…didn’t Obama attend ivy league universities himself? According to the mystery source, “Senator Obama himself feels Ivy League graduates have held sway over Washington too long and even though he attended Harvard and Columbia, if elected, he intends to do very little hiring from the Ivies.”

Now this is truly scary. Because if this is potentially true, it’s grim news for us rising seniors. Hell, if nepotism is going out of fashion in politics, I’m never getting a job next year.

UPDATE: Information has emerged which casts doubt upon the motives and claims of the tipster "AfroDutch." It appears that nothing he told us can be taken as reliable -- to the extent that this post should be considered wholly compromised. There is absolutely no evidence of bad blood between the Obama campaign and Ivy Leaguers. -HP

The Daily Pennsylvanian - yet again proving true the axiom that Ivy League Dailies have no senses of humor - wants to make sure that you do not enjoy April Fool's Day. After campus pranksters began placing tickets to a "secret" Obama event scheduled for April 1 in Easter eggs scattered around campus, the newspaper's "journalists" decided that most students probably wouldn't be able tell the whole thing was a joke and that they therefore had to "break" the "story."

For some, April Fools' Day has come early -- despite the "Obama" eggs scattered around campus and the flyers posted on Locust Walk saying otherwise, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama will not be speaking at Irvine Auditorium tomorrow night."

I guess the DP was worried that some incredibly gullible hopemongers in the student body would fall for the prank, which obviously would have been tragic.  God forbid kids who believe everything they ever see or read should have to suffer the non-existent consequences of their non-actions.

Still, the DP was too lazy to do any follow-up: who was behind the hoax?  What did students think of the hoax? Etcetera.

As our tipster wrote, "I don't know whether to laugh or cry."

Happy April Fool's, folks.

With the exception of our of endorsement of Francis Martel, IvyGate hasn't traditionally thrown its weight behind presidential contenders. But in light of the excitement Barack Obama has generated throughout the Ivy League - and the excitement he's generated in our own heads - we hereby Barack the Vote. We endorse Barack Obama for President.

Let's go through some of the support Obama has garnered. First, we owe Andrew Mangino a mea culpa; it turns out the YDN does not consist of Clinton stooges. Following the lead of their Editor-in-Chief, the YDN has endorsed Obama:

An Obama presidency promises a reassertion of the natural, American optimism for which JFK stood, but also new reforms of which he could only have dreamt. Let us not let this moment slip away."

So has the Crimson:

Obama represents an opportunity for a Democratic nominee who represents the value of service, intelligence, and judgment, and, most of all, an opportunity for real change, unburdened by favors owed and ideals lost.

And then there are the literally zillion articles about student support for the junior Senator from Illinois. Brown loves Obama; Columbia student and ex-IvyGate contributor J.D. Porter endorses Obama; at Cornell, 1,100 people "Rocked for Barack"; Larry David came to Dartmouth just to talk about Obama; and a different Prince columnist seems to endorse Obama every other day.

After the jump: some more thoughts about America's future.

Read the rest of this entry »

A recent Huffington Post article has uncovered a piece of truly startling news: your professors are giving crazy amounts of money to Democrats, and just about none to Republicans (it’s 86%-14%, to be exact). Most people will shrug it off, but we’re hoping this will galvanize the like 27 Ivy League celebrants of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week to go on a hunger strike.

Ivy League professors have given $470,000 this election cycle, which is significantly less than just about every special interest group ever. Obama has taken in $205K from this very important lobby; Hillary has received $147,000. Even Mitt has got in the game, amassing $33,000. If only BYU was in the Ivy League!

Poor conservatives! They’re really struggling these days, what with control of the White House, the Supreme Court, and until recently, Congress. At least the liberals still have their Ivory Tower.

After the jump: the HuffPo’s article in full.

Read the rest of this entry »