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In This Issue

• Spec: Spectador to close due to insufficient funding
• Spec: Alfred Lerner Hall purchased by Apple
• Spec: Columbia to annex East Prussia
• FEDBASH
• Emo-Kid? More like Elmo-kid. Communist!
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Tactlessness
• Top 11 Things to Do At Columbia (Fed Edition)
• Roaree Roars and Millie Whores
• The Colombia Daily Spectador (The Fed Version)
• Spec Sports: Gay wrestling, the new ice breaker?
• Spec: Bollinger's Journal, April 1st 2009
• Spec: Jody's Droppings
• Spec: Acceptance letter for class of 2013
• Passover and Easter: A Numbers Game
• Relax, It's Only a Movie
• You Haven’t Seen War Until You’ve Seen it Through the Eyes of a Basement-Dwelling Teenager
• The Fed Within A Pie Graph
• Clothes Hipsters Wear
• THE FED has this to say
• They Watch
• The Staff

Emily Hoffman

Spectador Bankruptcy: Spectador latest publication to fold due to Bernie Madoff

The Columbia Spectator will be publishing its final issue today.

The allegations directed at the Spectator during the past week have created a poisonous atmosphere-a noxious, seductive, yet ultimately deadly atmosphere-in which it is impossible for us to continue publishing. While we strongly believe that the allegations against the Spectator have been exaggerated, we do understand why people are angered and distraught.

We do not deny that mistakes were made. However, the staff of the Spectator maintains it did not intend harm. Nevertheless, ongoing coverage from certain local and national news outlets continues to distort the facts. We would gladly defend ourselves (and in so doing elucidate the heretofore nebulous reason for our closing), but we shall remain silent on advice of counsel.

What we can say is that it is impossible to maintain the inherent moral authority and credibility a newspaper requires when outside organizations are on a continuous, relentless, and vast campaign to undermine us. The salacious "facts" they have fabricated have resulted in a significant decline in advertiser revenue and a catastrophic drop in alumni donations. Combined with the current economic environment (many of our illustrious alumni were in finance), the Spectator is unable to secure future sources of funding.

Our mission at the Spectator has been to give a voice to the voiceless student, and we have a lot to be proud of. From our comprehensive coverage of the 1968 riots, to our annual groundbreaking series on the inequities of the housing lottery system and our comprehensive coverage of the aftermath of the 1968 riots, we have captured a unique perspective of Columbia in a way no other publication has even attempted to emulate.

Our trailblazing editorial page has astonished Columbians with its brilliance. Our staff editorials are the best in the business. There are no wasted words, not one. The Spectator has always advocated University projects that would enhance the lives of undergraduates and the world. Our mindful and diverse voice has allowed us to adapt to the multitude of media voices brought on by the Internet. Through it all, our 132 years of continuous publishing has affirmed our belief that we have been the best paper in Old New York-at least the best that was free.

Whither the future of Morningside Heights? Without the Spectator, the Columbia community has lost its only independent voice. Campus publications are in a sad state. The Current has admirable content, but is way too narrowly focused. The Federalist Paper is a toilet paper rag that isn't worth the petroleum-based ink and unrecycled paper it's printed with. The Blue and White has potential, but they will never stop their phallic devotion for David Remnick. And the day we rely on Columbia University's The Record for all our news would be the day we all become Communist.

However, we are not bitter. Or disillusioned. Serious independent journalism will continue, despite the murky days ahead. To future practitioners, bear this in mind: journalism must answer to no one and everyone. When you get shafted, take perverse pleasure in it and find a way to shaft them back. Take blow-by-blow accounts. Get down and dirty teasing out details from your sources. Protect yourself - don't come to your sources, make them come to you. Don't be afraid to seduce your ways into the highest corridors of power to get what you need. And above all, be fearless - don't fear sting operations, investigations, or subpoenas. Because that is what the Spectator does and that is what works.

All in all, as a wise man once said, all things must pass. And that these things, whether they are trees, clothing, or children, can be replaced anew. We at the Spectator now look to the future, where history has not been written. We look forward to a time when all of this can be left in the past and, as the Spectator has done for the last 132 years, placed in the proper perspective.