I arrived in Roone Arledge only at 1pm (The Blaaag needs to be better staffed), but got some interesting tidbits. The admins present were Dean Colombo, Dean Quigley, and Dean Friedman.

- Quigley thought that diversifying the faculty body could substitute the race and anti-oppression training that various student groups are proposing to those who teach the Core. Diversity in faculty and staff in higher level academia is indeed important, but can it substitute more efficient solutions to the problem? We don't think so.

- Colombo sounds a lot meaner than Quigley. Maybe the British accent throws us off.

- Vice Dean Friedman of SEAS says that students should be talking to administrators when hate crimes do not happen. "We might not agree with you, but we're listening."

- Quigley says that in the longer term it is a culture that we are trying to change at this university. At least we agree on something.

(The admins, you might have been able to see, under the Roone Arledge spotlights look so white.)

- We hear the meetings yesterday with PrezBo and the deans went strangely. Evidently, there is administration tension, added to the fact that PrezBo cannot do anything but spew the same old sh**. Just rumors.

- Today, October 11th, is also National Coming Out Day. Columbia Queer Alliance and Queer Awareness Month is hosting an event titled, "Coming Out Against Hate: One Columbia - United", a Q&A with administrators about the recent hate events on campus. The event will feature deans Austen Quigley and Chris Colombo, and will take place at noon in Roone Arledge Hall. Please attend and support your/our friends and allies.

- Also, tonight get dinner from 6:00 to 7:30pm in the newly inaugurated safe space: Earl Hall. Also a QuAM/CQA event, "United Against Hate" will focus on a broad range of hate-based attacks and bigotry at Columbia. Join the common meal and restore a feeling of community. (Might be the closest thing we come to one for a while... I don't know.)

- If you've been keeping up with the 114th St. police brutality incident on Sept 14th, stay tuned. We're meeting on Monday with administrators of multicultural affairs, student activities, and public safety. They seem to want to connect this to a larger trend with NYPD insensitivity, but we'll do our best to make them see the importance of this one case. We'll have more news soon, and are certainly not letting this go anytime soon. (Do we say this too much? Administrative red tape is a pain in the ass.)