UPDATE: Jade Bonacolta has been fired from The Spectator for plagiarism.

Earlier today, we reported on a Columbia Spectator article that had a suspiciously similar lede to a certain other paper’s coverage of the same topic: the university’s acquisition of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s archives. Since then, The Spectator has removed the article in question and replaced it with an Editor’s note confirming that at least three paragraphs in the story “were largely identical” to ones in The New York Times aka the Grey Lady aka the national newspaper of record. (The full text of the now removed Spectator article can be found at the end of this post.)

To make matters worse, the Columbia student — Jade Bonacolta, a Spectator associate arts and entertainment editor — stole the material from New York Times writer Robin Pogrebin: a Yalie. This is just like Jonah Lehrer ripping off Fareed Zakaria, amiright?

Presented below are the three plagiarized Spectator paragraphs alongside their original New York Times source material:

Spectator:

“Frank Lloyd Wright was notorious for saving everything, from his personal correspondence to scribbles on Plaza Hotel napkins. Since Wright’s death in 1959, these relics have been locked in storage.”

New York Times:

“The Modernist architect Frank Lloyd Wright wasn’t a hoarder. But he did save just about everything — whether a doodle on a Plaza Hotel cocktail napkin of an imagined city on Ellis Island, his earliest pencil sketch of the spiraling Guggenheim Museum or a model of Broadacre City, his utopian metropolis. Since Wright’s death in 1959 those relics have been locked in storage at his former headquarters —Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wis., and Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Ariz.”

Spectator:

“Among the University’s future collection are the famous original drawings for Wright’s Fallingwater, a home designed amid a rushing stream in Pennsylvania, and the Robie House, a Prairie-style building on the campus of the University of Chicago.”

New York Times:

“Among the gems in that material are drawings for Wright’s Fallingwater, a home cantilevered over a stream in Mill Run, Pa.; the Robie House, a Prairie-style building on the University of Chicago campus; Unity Temple, a Unitarian Universalist church in Oak Park, Ill.; and Taliesin West.”

Spectator:

“‘While Wright is typically thought of as a lonely genius, you move him into the Museum of Modern Art, and he’s dialoguing with Le Corbusier in the company of Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, and Louis Kahn,’ said Barry Bergdoll, chief curator of architecture and design at the MoMA.”

New York Times:

“While Wright is typically thought of as ‘a lonely genius,’ Mr. Bergdoll said, ‘you move him into the Museum of Modern Art, and he’s dialoguing with Le Corbusier in the company of Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto and Louis Kahn.’”

There you have it. And not only did Bonacolta lift basically full sentences from The New York Times, she went a step further and took a full direct quote from someone she most likely never even spoke to and changed it. Fact: if it’s not in quotation marks, they probably didn’t say those words.

Click through for the full text of the original Spectator story. Read the rest of this entry »

UPDATE 2: The Spectator has posted an updated Editor’s note, and has verified “that at least three paragraphs were largely identical to those in the New York Times piece.” The writer’s other work is now also being investigated by the paper.

UPDATE: The Spectator has removed the story in question. Click through at the bottom of this post to see the original article.

Columbia’s recent acquisition of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s archives is a huge score for the university, and any art-aware student should be very excited. In fact, the arts writers at The Columbia Spectator were so excited, they seem to have gone right out and copied The New York Times. Uh oh!

Some of you may know Columbia best as the former home of noted poet plagiarist Jonah Lehrer, and his legacy seems to be alive and well. A tipster alerted us to some, let’s say, similarities in The Spectator’s and The New York Times’ opening paragraphs covering the archive’s move.

Here’s the lede from The Spectator’s story on the acquisition, published September 5^th:

“Frank Lloyd Wright was notorious for saving everything, from his personal correspondence to scribbles on Plaza Hotel napkins. Since Wright’s death in 1959, these relics have been locked in storage.”

Now, here’s the lede from the New York Times article covering the same news, published two days earlier (bolding ours):

“The Modernist architect Frank Lloyd Wright wasn’t a hoarder. But he did save just about everything — whether a doodle on a Plaza Hotel cocktail napkin of an imagined city on Ellis Island, his earliest pencil sketch of the spiraling Guggenheim Museum or a model of Broadacre City, his utopian metropolis. Since Wright’s death in 1959 those relics have been locked in storage at his former headquarters —Taliesin, in Spring Green, Wis., and Taliesin West, in Scottsdale, Ariz.”

And, just for reference, here’s the official press release. Not a mention of a Plaza Hotel napkin in the whole thing…  Read the rest of this entry »

Jonah Lehrer never wanted to be a journalist. As a Columbia University undergrad in the early 2000s, Lehrer — who gained notoriety this summer for his shoddy journalistic ethics, which led to the end of two magazine staff contracts and the recall of his best-selling book — just wanted to sit around and write poetry. In 2000, Lehrer was one of the directors of “The Columbia Review,” a campus literary journal, in which he declared, “I want to be a poet like Smokey Robinson.” An unconventional choice, no doubt, but the man did write “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me.”

Perhaps more revealing to Lehrer’s present situation, though, is a passage we discovered in a poem of his titled “The Frustrated Monologue” (bolding below ours):

“to reveal
the terrible truth
hidden inside the detail.
I am lying and I am a liar
and the rocks of Flaubert are blue
because blue is a cliché.”

So, forget the self-plagiarism, the falsified Bob Dylan quotes, and everything else that Lehrer messed up on, guys. The man’s not a journalist, he’s a poet! This makes everything better, right? Right?

No. Read the rest of this entry »

A member of the South Korean boy band U-KISS—which stands for “Ubiquitous Korean International idol Super Star”—plans to endure many terrifying Core-induced nightmares this autumn, according to Bwog:

According to tipsters, AJ, one-seventh of the Korean boy band U-KISS, will be officially joining the Columbia student body this fall. In fact, he “safely arrived at the Columbia University a few days ago” “and was busy to finish some works prior to the beginning of the semester!”

Also, a few U-KISS fans discovered Bwog’s coverage:

withJSK · 2 1 · 15 August 2012 at 2:52 pm
what’ major’s he study???
Ahn · 2 1 · 15 August 2012 at 3:51 pm
I believe his major is Psychology! ^^ whoever wants to see him! go on and grab him! lol
vina · 0 1 · 15 August 2012 at 5:32 pm
Wanna know about AJ? better u ask to every account twitter called KISSme(s).. we’ll answer everything.. :D .. AJ do your best on your study..?!!

It gets better:

Anonymous · 2 5 · 15 August 2012 at 7:07 pm
I was so surprised you posted the MV saying that “We are not sure which one is AJ”
Don’t you think he will be sad when he sees this article???
Jacque · 1 1 · 15 August 2012 at 7:32 pm
This is a little funny to me… I hope Jaeseops treated well at the college. -hates using his English name omg its so boring-  Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that time of year again. While the Ancient Eight are preparing themselves for the quickly upcoming academic year, here at IvyGate, we’re looking for new talented contributors to join our elite ranks. And, as we’ve said before, “Experience is arbitrary.”

Seriously though, we want you! We’re looking for the next crop of newsies to break the big stories, investigate enticing leads, and cover the day-to-day foibles of the Ivy League. We’re looking for columnists to give their opinions on Ivy League sports, ethics, and whatever else you can think of (we’re open). We’re looking for design and multimedia mavens to create images, cut videos, and generally make us look as pretty as possible.

Have your work read by literally thousands of eyes every day, including some of the snarkiest most beautiful and intelligent commenters in the game. Join the entity recently referred to as a “blog” by The Huffington Post, ABC News, and many other equally impressive outfits. And look out, because there’s a website redesign coming soon that’ll knock your socks off.

If anything here appeals to you, or you have something slightly/wildly different in mind, or you have no idea what you’d want to do, hit us up at tips@ivygateblog.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

The New York Times simply called it “unorthodox.” The New York Observer had the subtle and succinct headline, “Here Is the Craziest Building in Harlem, if Not the Entire City.” Curbed writes, “The building will also include a terrace with views of the Hudson River — very important for the acquisition of medical knowledge.” In the words of principle architect Elizabeth Diller, “It’s like a vertical landscape, a vertical living room.”

Not only that, but it’s about to be permanently etched into the city skyline, and will be visible from the George Washington Bridge and Riverside Park.

Also, one side of it is glass.

It turns out Barbara Walters isn’t the only to get into Columbia. According to the New York Post, Kazakhstan native Daniyar Nazarbayev, Columbia class of 2010 and the nephew of the president of Kazakhstan, allegedly conned his way into the university by forging paperwork from a high school in Kazakhstan he didn’t actually attend. In truth, Nazarbayev had been shipped off to get his schooling in Switzerland, but failed to graduate.

A “knowledgeable source “ tells the Post that these allegations had been reported to Columbia, but that it was “unclear” what, if any, action had been taken. Seeing as he graduated and all that, we’re going to go ahead and assume that either these charges are totally bogus or Columbia didn’t do very much. Read the rest of this entry »

This is embarrassing (and disgusting):

That last bit is wrong, based on Columbia professor Richard Wald’s correspondence with Barbara Walters:

From: Richard Wald [XXXXXXXXX]

Sent: Friday, January 27, 2012 10:30 PM

To: Walters, Barbara

Subject: Re: Updates

The degree she is applying for is not in the Journalism school but in International Affairs. However, through the Admissions Office network, I will get them to give her special attention. I am sure they will take her.

We can’t decide which is more foul: Walter’s quid pro quo, or the recently-leaked emails of State Department official and Columbia alum Brett McGurk, Obama’s nominee for US Ambassador to Iraq:

McGurk has so far refused to comment on a collection of racy emails he purportedly exchanged with reporter Gina Chon while both were working in Iraq in 2008. McGurk, who was married at the time, was serving as chief negotiator during the 2008 U.S.-Iraq security agreement talks. Chon was covering the negotiations for the Wall Street Journal. McGurk later divorced his wife and married Chon.

[...]

The emails are sexually explicit with references to masturbation. In one, Chon jokingly refers to reporters as vultures attacking sources, to which he replies, “If treated to many glasses of wine — you could be the chosen vulture.”

McGurk also talks about bringing the reporter with him to dinner with a leading Iraqi politician. He ultimately does not, but later writes, “I had a very good day with the Iraqis … the best yet. Can’t tell you about it of course. But you should definitely stay past Sunday.”

Columbia! Get it together!

Yesterday morning, Columbia President Lee Bollinger received a copy of a strangely-formatted letter in which Randy S. Raghavendra, a former employee who filed a suit against several Columbia employees in 2003 over alleged employment malpractice, accuses the university’s 19th President of “the total destruction of [Raghavendra’s] livelihood [and] professional career”; “the continuing irreparable harm and unbelievable pain and suffering being caused to him and his family during the past NINE years”; and “reckless disregard for the law.”

The letter was delivered to Manhattan’s U.S. District Court, where a judge will determine if Raghavendra’s request for motion will enter the court’s docket. According to Raghavendra, Bollinger and/or Columbia has delayed payment on a settlement the opposing parties reached in 2009, since which Raghavendra has accrued over $100,000 in credit card debt. Raghavendra also alleges that Bollinger continues to “illegally discriminate and retaliate against the [Raghavendra] by not hiring him to any of the over 100 positions he had applied for and continues to apply for since July 2009.” Read the rest of this entry »