The line that the Podium Girl was scripted to say when the camera moves in for her close-up was, "Enough of this fucking pessimism!" Due to the girl scouts selling cookies on the plaza at the time, the line was quickly revised to something cleaner, albeit after one take of the original line was shot.
The "smoke" in the hot boxing scene is actually fog from a fog machine previously used at a Halloween party at the director's fraternity.
The script was partially inspired by events that occurred on Cornell University's campus between 2006 and 2008, including the stabbing of a visiting student and the subsequent student reactions, as well as a heated debate over the right to conceal and carry weapons on campus sparked by the Virginia Tech massacre (a protester can be heard yelling, "Arm the student body!" and the slogan can be seen later in the film on a protest sign).
Much of the dialogue in the hot boxing scene was ad-libbed.