CAMPUS TALK COMMENCEMENT SUMMER CAMP Gateway to Gateway Words of Minors hit the National Park| 3 wisdom | 4–5 Ivy League | 7

VOL. 32, NO. 14 NEWS AND IDEAS FOR THE COLUMBIA COMMUNITY JUNE 11, 2007 B-school Diversity’s Enters The SUMMER IN Uncertain “Zone” Future By Amelia Kahaney THE CITY By Fred A. Bernstein olumbia Business School s a professor of Constitu- will collaborate with the tional law, Columbia nationally known Harlem President Lee C. Bollinger Children’s Zone (HCZ) in often recounts the history Ca two-year partnership in which Aof the Supreme Court’s decisions the two institutions will, in effect, on segregation and affirmative help train each other’s students action. But when he told the story and staff. last month to an audience in Beginning in the next academic Harlem attending a discussion of term, some of the nonprofit’s staff the future of diversity, his account members will attend the school’s seemed particularly heartfelt: For management education offerings. the last decade, Bollinger has been At the same time, business school part of that history, as the defen- students will be able to intern at dant in two Supreme Court cases the social service, education and challenging affirmative action. community programs run by HCZ. The uncertain future of affirma- This is HCZ’s second collaboration tive action was the subject of a with Columbia, the first being an lively discussion among three ongoing partnership with the prominent legal experts on May 24 Mailman School of Public Health’s at the Schomburg Center for Harlem Health Promotion Center, which began five years ago as part of HCZ’s Asthma Initiative. “This collaboration provides our students and faculty the opportunity to be involved in, to learn from and to contribute to one of the most dynamic and important social service organiza- CHRIS TAGGART tions of our day,” said Ray Horton, Panelists discuss affirmative action. director of the school’s Social Research in Black Culture, a Enterprise Program and its Frank branch of the New York Public R. Lautenberg Professor of Ethics Library on Malcolm X Boulevard. and Corporate governance. Sponsored by Columbia in part- Founded in 1970, HCZ has 15 nership with the NAACP Legal centers serving more than 12,500 Defense and Educational Fund, the 90-minute conversatation featured A collaboration in provocative exchanges between Harvard Law School Professor Lani which both institutions Guinier, Ted Shaw of the NAACP learn from each other. Legal Defense Fund and Bollinger. In 2003, the Supreme Court children and adults, including over upheld the constitutionality of 8,600 at-risk children. It empha- affirmative action in one of the sizes not just education, social serv- EILEEN BARROSO cases in which Bollinger is a ice and recreation, but rebuilding By Dan Rivero the World: Oral History, Struggles for Justice and named defendant by a 5-4 the fabric of community life, and Human Rights Dialogues” will explore how oral history majority. But with opponents of focuses on areas where there are olumbia’s various campuses have grown qui- theories and methods relate to issues of human rights. affirmative action mounting new few other programs. The “zone” in eter since the end of classes, but faculty, staff For a trip to the gardens of Morocco or Brazil or a offensives, its future is in doubt. its name encompasses a 60-block and community members still have plenty to walk through Paris’ parks without leaving Morningside, “We are at a moment of crisis,” area in central Harlem, where a do besides catching a tan on Low Plaza. join landscape architects to explore those verdant Bollinger told the crowd. majority of children live below the CCafé Science doesn’t take the summer off. On June areas in several on-campus talks. On June 11, the topic “Affirmative action is under siege.” poverty line. 11, behavioral neuroscientist Sarah Woolley discusses will be Brazilian gardens and a South African lodge. The The discussion, moderated by “Given the extraordinary need in “Singing in the Brain: What Songbirds Teach Us about subject turns to historic and contemporary Moroccan former Mayor David Harlem, we are committed to the Brain and Communication.” gardens and Parisian parks on July 9. On both dates, Dinkins, a professor at Columbia’s expanding our services to as many Hamilton Lawn will turn into a dance floor for the talks take place at 6:30 p.m. in Havemeyer Hall, School of International and Public children and families as possible,” Columbia’s first-ever “Shall We Dance” summer movie room 309. Affairs, focused on ways to maintain said Geoffrey Canada, president and screenings and dance tutorials. On June 21, attendees Those looking to leave the Morningside classrooms diversity on campus, whether or not CEO of HCZ, who was honored by can participate in ballroom dance instruction from but still eager to participate in a discussion with one of affirmative action survives. The Columbia earlier this year for his 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., followed by a screening of the Columbia’s brightest can take a trip down to the audience included leaders of the continued on page 8 dance-themed documentary Mad Hot Ballroom. Latin Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New city’s black community such as dance instruction from members of Ballet Hispanico York (9 E. 91st St.) on July 21, where Catharine Percy Sutton, Eugene Webb, Hazel will be held on July 12 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., fol- Theimer Nepomnyashchy, director of Columbia’s Dukes and Paul Robeson Jr. lowed by a screening of Take the Lead, starring Antonio Harriman Institute and professor of Slavic languages at Guinier, a leading race relations Banderas. Both events will culminate with an open Barnard College, will moderate a panel on aspects of scholar, said she worried that even dance hour following the films. Further “Shall We Russian culture and the development of the Kirov Ring well-intentioned affirmative action Dance” dates will be announced over the summer. Cycle under the direction of its music director, Maestro “can be used to reinforce stereotypes The Libraries’ Oral History Research Office holds its Valery Gergiev. The panel will include Lynn Garafola, rather than to dismantle them.” summer institute on June 11 and 22. This year, “Telling dance professor at Barnard College. HARLEM CHILDREN’S ZONE continued on page 8

www.columbia.edu/news 2 JUNE 11, 2007 TheRecord

RECENT SIGHTING MILESTONES

LEE GOLDMAN, M.D., executive vice president of the University and dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, was awarded the 2007 John Phillips Memorial Award by the American College of Physicians. The award is given for outstanding work in clinical medicine. Goldman also was honored by the American Heart Association, receiving its AHA Quality of Care and Outcomes Outstanding Achievement Award.

AKEEL BILGRAMI and NICHOLAS DIRKS received a $350,000 Mellon Foundation award for a four-year project to assess the state of core academic disciplines and evaluate and compare long-standing disciplinary divisions. Their “Consortial Disciplines” project, to be conducted from fall 2007 through spring 2011, will include a series of seminars and annual meetings at Columbia and three other universities that received Mellon grants for their own such projects. Bilgrami is the Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy and director of the Heyman Center for the Humanities; Dirks is vice president for the Arts and Sciences, professor of histo- ry and the Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences for 2006 to WALLACE S. BROECKER, Newberry Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

SUZANNE CARBOTTE, a geophysicist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, was named the Bruce C. Heezen EILEEN BARROSO Senior Research Scientist, the first to hold that position.

LORNA ROLE, a professor of anatomy and cell biology at THIS YEAR’S OLDEST GRADUATE the New York State Psychiatric Institute and at the Max Horlick was the only graduate at last month’s commencement to receive a degree dated 1954, well before most of his fellow College of Physicians and Surgeons, received the Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD: The 12,000 or so graduates (and perhaps their parents) were born. In May, the 89-year-old officially received his doctorate in French lit- Mental Health Research Association. This is her second erature—more than a half century after defending his dissertation. Abandoning revisions to his 180-page thesis, “The Literary such grant from NARSAD, which funds research on psy- Judgment of Michel de Montaigne,”after his wife fell ill, Horlick’s scholarly pursuits finally reached fruition at this year’s commence- chiatric disorders. Last fall, she also received the organi- ment, where he joined other newly minted Ph.D.s (pictured above) from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in celebration of zation’s 2007 Baer Prize for Schizophrenia Research. a job well done. It was Horlick’s children who resubmitted his dissertation to the University. Horlick wrote “a fine piece of work on an interesting topic,” said the professor who accepted his dissertation earlier this year, and thus another Columbia Ph.D. was born. WILLIAM B. EIMECKE, director of the Picker Center for Executive Education at the School of International and Public Affairs, will take a public service leave for the coming academic year to serve as deputy commissioner Down by the “C” Shore for strategic planning and policy in the New York City Fire Department. Dear Alma’s Owl, Who painted the big, blue “C” on the rock wall on the north shore of Spuyten USPS 090-710 ISSN 0747-4504 GRANTS & GIFTS Vol. 32, No. 14, June 11, 2007 Duyvil Creek, facing Baker Field? How long has it been there? —Columbia Fan Published by the Lou Gehrig’s Disease Research Support Office of Communications and Public Affairs Dear “C”urious, WHO GAVE IT: Leonard and Clair Tow Charitable Trust About two months ago, when I flew HOW MUCH: $12 million up to Baker Field for the start of base- WHO GOT IT: Medical Center ball season, I took in the fantastic view WHAT FOR: TheRecord Staff: Center for Motor Neuron Biology and of the Harlem River Shipping Canal, the Disease Editor: Bridget O’Brian Hudson River and the New Jersey HOW IT WILL BE USED: To support recruitment, Graphic Designer: Scott Hug Palisades, not to mention the big blue research and management of the center and to Staff Writer: Dan Rivero ASK ALMA’S OWL University Photographer: Eileen Barroso “C” painted on the rock in the Bronx advance science that is relevant to ALS (amyotrophic opposite our playing fields and boat- lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) or Contact The Record: house. I’m happy to make another trip came time to repaint the “C” in the motor neuron biology. t: 212-854-3282 up there now that the weather’s turned. 1980s, an enterprising engineering stu- f: 212-678-4817 dent named Daniel Eiref designed a e: [email protected] “C” rock was created in 1895 when Schizophrenia Research Facility the Spuyten Duyvil Creek was rerouted scaffolding system that was safer for the The Record is published twice a month during to become the Harlem River Shipping painters. One might expect the “C” to WHO GAVE IT: Stephen and Constance Lieber and Essel the academic year, except for holiday and be painted the official Columbia blue vacation periods. Permission is given to use Canal, exposing a flat rock face of Foundation Record material in other media. Fordham gneiss on the northern shore. and white colors, but according to HOW MUCH: $9.2 million Prendergast, the true colors used are WHO GOT IT: Columbia University Medical Center Traffic White and Ultramarine Blue. WHAT FOR: Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research David M. Stone For all that effort, though, crew races Executive Vice President HOW IT WILL BE USED: To expand the center and launch for Communications don’t take place on the Harlem River a new comprehensive psychiatric care clinic at its East Shipping Canal in front of the “C,” but 60th Street location. rather several miles away at Orchard Correspondence/Subscriptions Anyone may subscribe to The Record for $27 Beach in the Bronx. Before the Orchard New Journalism School Space per year. The amount is payable in advance to Beach location, races passed under the Columbia University, at the address below. High Bridge of the Croton Aqueduct on Allow 6 to 8 weeks for address changes. WHO GAVE IT: Vincent A. Stabile Foundation and Daniel the Harlem River. Rowing is one of the J. Edelman (CC’40, JRN’41) Down by the “C”, 1961. sports that continues after the academ- Postmaster/Address Changes WHO GOT IT: Graduate School of Journalism Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and That was a few years before Baker Field, ic year is over—our crew’s final regattas WHAT FOR: Stabile Student Center additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send and of course long before the rock had were on the Cooper River in Camden, HOW IT WILL BE USED: For construction of new student address changes to The Record, 535 W. New Jersey from May 31 through June 116th St., 402 Low Library, Mail Code 4321, a “C.” The “C” made its debut in 1952 space at the journalism school. New York, NY 10027. when the coxswain for the heavy- 2. You never know what may happen at weight crew team, Robert Prendergast, an away regatta. In 1878, it was Scholarship Support got an idea for how Columbia’s crew Columbia’s crew that won the famed could show school spirit. He asked for Henley course in England. They were WHO GAVE IT: Frank Lopez-Balboa (CC’82) and Victor and received permission to paint the the first-ever foreigners to accomplish Lopez-Balboa (CC’82) “C” on the 100-foot rock from New such an upset. HOW MUCH: $1 million York Central Railroad, now Metro WHO GOT IT: Columbia College Columbians sometimes ask Alma Mater for North, which owns the property. WHAT FOR: Frank and Victor Lopez-Balboa Scholarship TheRecord welcomes your input for news guidance, but to whom does she turn when she The 60-by-60 foot “C” was painted HOW IT WILL BE USED: To provide need-based financial items, calendar entries and staff profiles. needs information? Minerva’s familiar is the by Prendergast with the crew team’s aid to students who live in or have emigrated from You can submit your suggestions to: wise owl, hidden within the folds of her gown. help, with painters hanging from a Cuba or other countries in Central and South America. [email protected] Send your questions for the owl to boatswain’s chair suspended from drill [email protected]. Authors of letters holes in the top of the rock. When it we publish receive a Record mug. TheRecord JUNE 11, 2007 3

TALK OF THE CAMPUS Entering a New Gateway By Bridget O’Brian

An international design competition aimed at making a lit- tle-used national recreation area accessible to New Yorkers has yielded an unexpected pair of first-place winners: Ashley Scott Kelly and Rikako Wakabayashi, design students who graduated so recently that they don’t yet have their architec- tural licenses. Wakabayashi will be a first-year student at Columbia’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) in the fall. The two beat out more than 100 entries from firms large and small with their design plan for Gateway National Recreation Area. The area encompasses 27,000 acres of wet- lands and wildlife refuge stretching through Queens,

Brooklyn and Staten Island before ending at a spit of land in COURTESY VAN ALEN INSTITUTE Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and has largely been neglected since Part of the winning design for the Gateway National Recreational Area. becoming a national park in 1972. The competition was conceived in a partnership between ments with the representation of digital information and focus- egy of jetties, marshlands and sea level that they call ecotones. GSAPP and two other organizations: the Van Alen Institute, es on using mapping and other research techniques. The two Gateway’s diverse estuarine wildlife habitat is home to more which works with civic and community groups to advance labs were instrumental in preparing a 144-page report with than 330 bird species, and is an important stopover for migra- design and debate through competitions, publications and background information and analytical work for designers, tory birds traveling on the Atlantic Americas Flyway. The site is exhibitions, and the National Parks Conservation Association, planners, stakeholders and politicians in hopes of inspiring pro- also a fish and shellfish breeding ground—quite a feat, consider- an advocacy group for the National Park Service. posals that could transform the future of Gateway. ing that it is situated next to John F. Kennedy International The competition was an outgrowth of talks between the Kelly and Wakabayashi, both of Brooklyn, are recent grad- Airport, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of New York. National Parks Conservation Association and GSAPP. Dean uates of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban A 14-member selection jury included Dean Wigley, city offi- Mark Wigley put the association in touch with Sarah Williams, Planning at the University of Michigan. Their plan, “Mapping cials and world-renowned architects. Second place winner was director of GSAPP’s Spatial Information Design Lab, and Kate the Ecotone,” calls for a highly visible public infrastructure North Design of , with its “Reassembling Ecologies” entry. Orff, who runs its Urban Landscape Lab. Williams’ lab experi- that creates a microcosm of shifting habitats, a designed strat- Third place went to three students from Virginia Polytechnic. 30 Years Post-Apocalypse

By Adam Piore screening discussions with several other film luminaries. Werner Herzog, who screened Rescue Dawn; Arthur Penn The last time allowed his wife Eleanor screened his 1975 classic Night Moves; and director Guillermo to film one of his cinematic efforts, she captured the director Del Toro screened Pan’s Labyrinth. Other guests included on the edge of panic, as he grappled with production crises, Stephen Frears, who directed The Queen; Tom DeCillo, writer spiraling costs—even a typhoon—to make Apocalypse Now. and director of Living in Oblivion; legendary documentary The result, released some 15 or so years after the fact in filmmaker Albert Mayles; and Molly Shannon, star of Year of 1991, was Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse. the Dog. “I call it ‘Watch Francis Suffer,”’ Coppola told an excited But it was the Coppola event that proved most exciting of audience on May 19. “I was desperately frightened—I risked all for many students. Roberto Bentivegna, a second-year MFA everything I had.” film candidate and recipient of a Carla Kuhn Guest Speaker Wouldn’t it be nice, he thought, if audiences could “see Fellowship, was in charge of booking the speakers. Coppola what that weird guy was like 30 years later” after he “got him- was at the top of his list from the beginning. self in a situation where he could make any movie he liked?” “He was one of the few people that may actually go The result is Coda: Thirty Years Later, a documentary once through the Hollywood system and survive it and make again filmed and produced by his wife about the making of strange, very personal films,” Bentivegna says. “At this point Coppola’s forthcoming film Youth Without Youth, starring Tim he’s 68, and he’s got this huge legacy.” Roth. Almost 700 students packed into Miller Theater to view At the event, Coppola spoke about his desire to “become this update on the self-described “weird character.” The that elderly retired man that doesn’t play golf, but makes art screening was followed by a lengthy question-and-answer films.” He said he was seeking a second youth and praised that period with the legendary director. ingredient that gives every young filmmaker an advantage— The event was the season finale of the School of the Arts’ ignorance. “Because you wouldn’t attempt half the stuff if you Carla Kuhn Guest Filmmaker Series, which brings influential knew how hard it would be.” filmmakers to campus every week during the school year to Risk-taking, Coppola opined, is key to success. “What you talk about their work. Some counted this year’s series among do as a filmmaker is throw your heart out there, and then you DAVID WENTWORTH the most successful. go out and get it,” he says, “and it will be interesting and the Francis Ford Coppola at Columbia. In addition to Coppola, audiences were treated to post- money will come without even thinking about it.” NEW LINK FOUND BETWEEN CIGARETTES AND CHILDHOOD ASTHMA By Amelia Kahaney environmental tobacco smoke in the home is associated with Childhood Asthma a 63 percent increased likelihood of developing asthma Renee Goodwin is looking for answers to a perplexing according to the Department of Health and Human Services. question. Why is it, she wonders, in the past several decades— has increased Goodwin’s findings are also consistent with the possibility with better nutrition, better prenatal care and greater at least that the correlation between cigarette smoking in adults and awareness about early childhood health than ever before— threefold asthma in children may help to explain discrepancies in that the prevalence of childhood asthma has increased at socioeconomic characteristics among pediatric asthma suf- least threefold? over several ferers. “Higher rates of cigarette smoking among lower Until now, researchers have only guessed at the reasons for decades. socioeconomic status segments of the population, are con- the growing asthma epidemic, but a new study authored by sistent with our theory,” she said, “since these are the same Goodwin, assistant professor in the Department of segments of the population among whom rates of childhood Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, finds asthma are currently the most concentrated.” evidence that supports her hypothesis that there is a link Only time will tell whether recent governmental efforts at between increased cigarette smoking over the past century smoking reduction, such as increased taxes on cigarettes, indoor and the disease, which typically strikes during childhood. smoking bans and state-sponsored smoking cessation programs, Goodwin’s study compared data from the National Health will result in reduced rates of childhood asthma. Interview Survey on the incidence of asthma among youth “Although cigarette consumption has declined in some with data on cigarette consumption in the United States from Approximately 4.8 million children under age 18 have segments of the United States population since its peak 1900 to 2003. “Our results,” she said, “suggest a parallel asthma in the United States, and globally at least six studies around 1981, the consequences and health effects of the increase in the rates of cigarette use among adults and have shown environment tobacco smoke to be a risk factor drastic [smoking] increase in the mid-1980s are still affecting asthma in children.” for the onset of asthma in infants and children. Exposure to adults and children,” Goodwin said. 4 JUNE 11, 2007 EXCERPTS FROM GRADUATION SP

WORDS OF “Our imaginations have trouble seeing their potential a compare our achievement against a greater achievemen is what a great university gives us the opportunity to do what those names chiseled across the top of Butler Libra

ANNA DEAVERE SMITH MATTHEW FOX SHIRIN EBADI SANTIAGO CALATRAVA Barnard College Columbia College International Affairs Fu Foundation SEAS

I’m pleased that I was asked to address the subject I want you to ask yourself a tough question, a final Peace is a fundamental human right without which Knowing that the engineering profession is rooted in of art and activism. It is true that some artists are final, if you will: How much of what you’ve done, up other rights, including the right to free speech, the and bases its knowledge on nature and the obser- activists and some activists are artists. There’s to this point in your life, has absolutely and singu- right to an education, the right to a fair and free vation of nature, a good engineer must work with always the concern that artists sacrifice their art larly been your idea? trial, and all other rights will be meaningless. But we nature and not against it. when they engage in activism. And I have sometimes must remember that not every peace is viable, and experienced activists as people who are not so How much have you lived for your passion, and how not every silence is peace.Viable peace is based on Works of engineering can, given their conceptual enchanted with metaphor and not so enchanted much have you lived out others’ aspirations for you? two important foundations: social justice and and formal qualities and also their beauty and dis- with the tendency that artists have to represent democracy. position, harmonize with their environment, making many sides of the story. I ask this because a commencement is a beginning, it more accessible and comprehensible. and I want to encourage you to use this beginning to How can we expect to live peacefully in this world I propose to you that the relationship doesn’t need strip away the expectations that others have for you when more than 80 percent of the wealth of this In that way, they can satisfy the necessities of a to be so black-and-white…. and begin writing the story of your own life…in your globe rests in the hands of about one percent of its society in constant development, one that demands own hand…guided by your own interests. inhabitants? Today close to 1.2 billion people, all kinds of infrastructure and public works in It is most vibrant when it is exactly a relationship almost one-sixth of the population of the planet, live response to its even more demanding comfort and with the sorts of tensions that relationships have. I Many of you have this picture of where you want to under the poverty line. security needs. myself steered away from politics, taking the advice be 20 years from now. Few if any of you will be of the playwright Ionesco, the French playwright standing exactly in that position you imagine. And if …And increasingly another threat to peace comes It is the duty of the engineer to project and build who, when asked why he chose playwriting over you are one of those few, I worry you won’t have from non-democratic states who resort to acts of this infrastructure. But never forget that the princi- becoming a statesman, said because as a play- allowed yourself to be open to the spontaneity and violence, punishment and imprisonment to repress ple of your profession lies in the knowledge of the wright he could have more than one idea. That is to infinite possibilities that life presents. any voice of opposition. And on the other hand, laws of nature. say, he could represent more than one side. most regretfully, we see that democracy has turned But, when it comes to the future, and the choices into an excuse for the killing of defenseless innocent Thus, begin with the certainty that the works of engi- ...Art constantly requires us to look at what is more you will begin to make in defining that future for people today. neering can and should be beautiful, harmonious, than possible, to look underneath the evidence, yourselves…the safest choice may not—probably will and respectful of the setting where they are placed. beside the point and to make leaps of faith. And not—be the best choice, especially as it relates to I urge you to remember that democracy is an his- The word “technique” derives from the Greek “tekni- that, in the looking, can be a kernel of activism. each and every one of you ending up doing some- torical process that needs to mature, and democra- ki,” which itself comes from the Greek word “tekni,” thing you love…. cy cannot be exported to other nations through the which means art. Accordingly, you must understand use of military attacks. We must uphold peace, but professional technique as a vehicle to generate art, …Something that challenges you…that inspires prior to that, we must recognize the importance of the art of your time. you…that feels deep down inside you, like the very democracy in social justice. thing you were meant to do. And I tell you that the 20th century’s art would be lesser without accomplishments such as the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. Smith is an actor, playwright and professor in the Ebadi is a lawyer and founder of the Children’s Rights Department of Performance Studies at the Tisch School Support Association in Iran. She won the 2003 Nobel of the Arts at New York University. Fox (CC’89) stars in the ABC drama Lost. Peace Prize for her human rights work. Calatrava is an architect, artist and structural engineer. PEECHES, COMMENCEMENT 2007 Photos by Eileen Barroso and Chris Taggart 5

F WISDOM and can do so only when we try ourselves and then nt, and then repeat the process again and again. This o, and this is what Columbia does so well, and that's ary signify in stone.” —Columbia President Lee C. Bollinger

KATE LEVIN THELMA GOLDEN BENJAMIN BRADLEE JUDGE ROBERT SACK School of Continuing Ed School of the Arts School of Journalism School of Law

…Art is, of course, different. At its best, it creates …As I stand here today thinking of what it is I can Journalism isn’t dead. People will always want the As lawyers, we should learn radical doubt. But we ineffable experiences. It’s illogical, it’s beautiful, it’s say to you as you all are graduating from art school, truth. And the best way to get it to them is simple: give it the trappings of a string of certainties. We, if transforming. How do you measure imagination? fully acknowledging that none of you came to art Stories, good stories. not the world, must be comfortable with that. How do you decide how much is enough? school to learn how to make art, and unlike many of your colleagues who are graduating today, you’re not There’s a lot of handwringing about the media late- …This is [not] likely to make us very popular. And here’s a further complication: Because culture even leaving with a skill that can be tested so that ly; I think if they remembered to focus on stories, Perhaps it is the sense of lawyers as creatures of rel- is most often experienced at the individual level, there could be some sense of what proficiency instead of each other, things would be a lot better.A ative truth, the case at hand and its rewards—as advocating for public support can be particularly you’ve gotten. good, well-written story, one that changes how you hired guns—that helps the bar to its frequent difficult when someone finds an exhibition, perform- think about something, makes you feel good or bad appearance at the low end of America’s whom-do- ance or individual work of art objectionable…. What I know from having the privilege of working or however you’re supposed to feel—that will always you-admire scale. But at least insofar as that view is with artists is that you came here to turn a passion, be in demand. based on the shifting sands of the positions that we Because art is most often thought of not as a public something that you have probably always lived with take, I think the majority to be wrong. I think that service but as a matter of personal taste, if individ- and live with the idea of, into your profession, that Phil Graham is famous for saying that journalism, there is less danger in our professional careening ual elements are found offensive, the entire premise you came here to really be able to spend the time daily journalism, is the first rough draft of history. I from one stance to the next than there is in others’ of government support comes under attack. to shape your ideas and your vision and begin to think you could put a great degree of emphasis on permanent commitment to perceived absolutes. present them out in the world. rough, but I think what he said is true. It’s not possi- Read any day’s newspaper. There is far more to fear It’s worth noting that this doesn’t happen with other ble to get everything right in one day or one story.The from stagnation, the wallowing in certainty—from areas of public service. If people don’t like the You came to have the advantage to work with great whole truth takes too long to emerge, and it consists inhumanity fed by self-assured hatred and bigotry— garbage collection schedule on their street, they artists, in the form of your faculty and the many that of too many strands for a single journalist to catch in than there is from doubt. don’t call for the elimination of the Department of you probably have had the advantage of being the single sitting that daily journalism demands. But Sanitation. around, being here in New York, to help you shape if you’re patient and you keep working at it, the truth I think, then, that Learned Hand was right: “If we are those ideas so you could be part of what is the does emerge, as people get their stories straight, and to be saved, it must be through skepticism.”Or as he Because culture is aspirational, because its impact incredible cultural conversation that exists in this time opens people’s minds and mouths. said more famously, in remarking on his faith in “The is ineffable, it is at once enormously powerful and contemporary moment. Spirit of Liberty” in 1944, the spirit of liberty is in enormously vulnerable in the context of government. Because the truth is tough to get every day, we’re part “the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.” So what you’re really receiving today is not so much going to make mistakes. It’s inevitable.And you will, For those of you familiar with the culture wars of the a degree but a charge. It’s a charge for you to put too, but you can distinguish yourself by how you Of course you can’t wear uncertainty on your sleeve. 1980s and 90s, this is nothing new. But whatever your ideas into action, to begin to move your prac- respond to them. When you have doubts, listen to That’s a dreadful way to inspire confidence in those your politics, it’s a fundamentally reductionist argu- tice forward. them. Hear them out. Get people to argue against who will depend on your judgment. But arrogance is ment that pits individual taste against public access you, and then for you, and see where you fall. not a virtue; doubt is not a sin. I suggest that you, to some of the greatest ideas and institutions our as lawyers, take comfort in your skepticism. society has to offer.

Golden is director and chief curator of the Studio Bradlee is vice president-at-large and former editor of Sack is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Levin is New York City’s commissioner of cultural affairs. Museum in Harlem. the Washington Post. Circuit. 6 JUNE 11, 2007 TheRecord

NEW ON THE SHELVES Compiled by Dan Rivero

ummer’s arrival doesn’t mean that Columbia University professors take a break from teaching. On the contrary, they already have recommended reading on its Not way to your local bookstore, as works of science, history, law, philosophy, finance, culture and fiction are set for publication in June, July and August. SGeographically, this summer’s crop of books travels around the world, from the United States to China, Russia and the Middle East. They look back—far back, to 479 BCE, in pro- Exactly fessor emeritus William Theodore de Bary’s . Confucian Tradition and Global Education And as in Escaping the Resource Curse, they also look forward, as three of Columbia’s most-renowned academics—political science professor Macartan Humphreys, Earth Beach Institute director Jeffrey D. Sachs and Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz—team up to explore and propose solutions to the conundrum of why countries rich in natural resources often fall victim to poverty, corruption, civil war or deep economic crisis. Reading Wherever you find yourself this summer, you’ll be able to travel through space and time with the help of one or more of the following titles.

Confucian Tradition and China’s Financial Action, Art, History: The Columbia History of Desiring Arabs Global Education Transition at a Crossroads Engagements with Post-World War II America BY JOSEPH A. MASSAD BY WILLIAM THEODORE DE BARY,WITH CONTRIBU- EDITED BY CHARLES W. CALOMIRIS Arthur C. Danto EDITED BY MARK C. CARNES (UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS) TIONS BY CHEUNG CHAN FAI AND KWAN TZE-WAN (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS) (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS) EDITED BY DANIEL HERWITZ AND MICHAEL KELLY Among the shocking violations of the (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS) (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS) China’s growing role in global economic Mark Carnes, a Barnard history pro- prisoners at Abu Ghraib, the most noto- Drawn from a series of lectures by affairs has placed the country at a In this volume, philosophers and art fessor, brings together renowned rious and disturbing was sexual torture. William Theodore de Bary, the John crossroads: How many and what type historians revisit Arthur Danto’s theo- scholars specializing in economics, Military personnel justified this tech- Mitchell Mason Professor Emeritus of international capital market transac- ries of art, action and history as well foreign affairs, political science and nique as an effective tool for interro- and provost emeritus of Columbia, tions will be allowed? What kind of rela- as his innovations as a philosopher social and cultural history to address gating Arabs, who are perceived as the book is a synthesis of essay and tionships will the Chinese government of culture, exploring the importance changes in America’s psychological, repressed and especially susceptible debate concerning the future of develop with foreign financial institu- of his philosophy and criticism for the social and political identities over to sexual coercion. These abuses laid Chinese education and the potential tions? This book, edited by Columbia’s contemporary art world. Danto, the past half-century. Topics include bare a racist and sexually charged political uses of Confucianism in the Henry Kaufman Professor of Financial Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy scandal culture, consumer culture, power dynamic that reflected centuries contemporary world. As moderniza- Institutions at the Graduate School of Emeritus at Columbia and a long- America’s response to the outside of Western assumptions about Arab tion and the rise of English as a global Business and a professor at the School time art critic for The Nation, continues world, the intersection of social prac- sexuality. Desiring Arabs uncovers the language threaten East Asia’s cultural of International and Public Affairs, out- the conversation by adding his own tices and governmental policies and roots of these attitudes and analyzes diversity, de Bary argues that keeping lines the trajectory of China’s financial commentary to each essay, extending the effects of technological advances the impact of Western ideas—both Confucianism alive in China is not markets since the advent of reform and the debate with characteristic insight, on American life. about sexuality and about Arabs—on only a matter of Chinese identity but addresses the contemporary research grace and wit. Arab intellectual production. also a critical part of achieving a mul- of prominent Chinese, European and ticultural global education. American scholars.

State Death: The Politics The Grammar of Criminal Escaping the Resource Russian Foreign Policy in The Bestiary and Geography of Law: American, Curse the Twenty-first Century & BY NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER Conquest, Occupation, and Comparative, and EDITED BY MACARTAN HUMPHREYS, JEFFREY D. the Shadow of the Past (DIAL PUBLISHING) Annexation International. SACHS AND JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ; EDITED BY ROBERT LEGVOLD FOREWORD BY GEORGE SOROS This new novel by Christopher, a pro- BY TANISHA M. FAZAL Volume One: Foundations (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS) (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS) fessor in Columbia’s creative writing (PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS) BY GEORGE P. FLETCHER Columbia’s Marshall D. Shulman program, tells the story of Xeno Atlas, (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS) Half of the countries that existed in In this volume, leading economists, Professor of Political Science brings a young man in the Bronx whose lawyers and political scientists 1816 have disappeared. Since World The Grammar of Criminal Law is a three- together leading historians and polit- Sicilian grandmother’s strange stories address the fundamental decisions War II, however, few states have expe- volume work that addresses the field of ical scientists to examine the foreign of animal spirits are his only escape a country must make when faced rienced what Fazal, assistant profes- international and comparative criminal policy of contemporary Russia over from the legacy of his mother’s early with an abundance of a natural sor of political science, calls “state law, with its primary focus on the the course of four centuries. death and his stern father’s long resource. Edited by three distin- death.” Exploring 200 years of military issues of worldwide concern such as Contributors explain the impact of absences at sea. Eventually, Xeno guished Columbia professors, the invasion and occupation, from 18th- genocide, torture and other interna- empire and its loss, the interweaving turns his early fascination with ani- topics include asymmetric bargain- century Poland to present-day Iraq, tional crimes, as well as domestic of domestic and foreign impulses, mals into a personal obsession: his ing power, limited access to informa- she explores what has changed. efforts to combat terrorism. Written in long-standing approaches to nation- search for the Caravan Bestiary. This tion, failure to engage in long-term Essentially, it is the U.S. mandate to the spirit of Cardozo Professor of al security and the effect of global- medieval text, lost for 800 years, sup- planning, weak institutional struc- prevent the violent takeover of states, Jurisprudence George Fletcher’s ization over time—patterns that have posedly details the animals not tures and missing mechanisms of a doctrine whose success is depend- Rethinking Criminal Law, this work is marked Russian foreign policy granted passage on the Ark—griffins, accountability. The writers and edi- ent entirely on the nation’s appetite to essential reading in the field of inter- throughout history and still persist hippogriffs, manticores and basilisks. tors also provide solutions. enforce it. national and comparative law. today. TheRecord JUNE 11, 2007 7 GS Turns 60 By Erich Erving

his year marks a special milestone for the School of General Studies (GS). Columbia’s school for nontra- ditional students is celebrating its 60thT anniversary. With a smattering of alum- ni events and an exhibition in the Visitors Center, the celebration is characteristically low-key, but it’s as good a time as any to reconnect with the school’s history. GS may be the youngest of the undergrad- uate schools at Columbia, but its roots go far- ther back than its 60 years. In 1831, Columbia offered just a few courses to work- ing adults. In 1891, the University began offering classes to non-matriculated students, including women. These classes would be developed into the Teaching Extension in 1904, which would in turn be renamed University Extension in 1921 when it began to offered a bachelor of science degree. Columbia stepped up to the challenge of educating soldiers as they came home fol- lowing World War II. It was in 1947—two years after the war ended—that University Extension became General Studies: the first coeducational undergraduate school at 1950 GS YEARBOOK 1950 GS

Columbia. The school’s nontraditional stu- dents were (and still are) defined by a mini- mum of a one-year gap in their educational life or by part-time attendance due to pro- fessional obligations. GS students are Olympic medalists (Trent CU SUMMER Dimas, GS’02, who won a gold medal in gym- nastics in 1992), editors (R.W. Apple of , who graduated in 1961), writers (Hunter S. Thompson, GS’58), politicians SPORTS CAMPS ATHLETICS COURTESY COLUMBIA (Howard Dean finished the Postbac Premed Program at GS in 1975); artists (Donald Judd, By Melanie A. Farmer coach Norries Wilson, whose camp will Columbia has been offering the sports ’58) and singers (Pat Boone ’57.) Dimas says teach ninth- through twelfth-graders the camps since 1996. Most camps are sport-spe- that “after retiring from over 20 years of athlet- uring the school year, Columbia’s fundamentals of the game, complete with cific, with the exception of Columbia Cubs ics, GS gave me time to recalibrate my life. GS athletic staff pushes the members afternoon and evening competitions. Camp, which provides a mix of sports train- provided the opportunity to explore interests of its 29 intercollegiate teams to Each camp caters to a targeted age group ing along with a focus on nature and arts and and an academic pedigree that I had many do their very best. Come summer, for boys and girls, and most emphasize the crafts. Taught by a team of undergraduate withD University athletes scattered near and basic skills for a given sport along with indi- and graduate students, the Cubs Camp tar- years earlier set aside to pursue becoming an Olympic champion.” far, Columbia’s coaches set their sights vidual development, sportsmanship and gets six- to 12-year-olds and focuses on In the spring 2007 issue of The Observer, lower—quite a few inches lower. expert instruction from a mix of NCAA boosting confidence and creative abilities. a GS publication, Dean Peter Awn calls GS a Starting in June, the athletics department Division I coaches, professional athletes and The cost of Columbia’s sports camp varies “work in progress.” The future is always mys- will host summer sports camps for children collegiate student-athletes. The Brendan depending on the age of the child and the terious, but this year, for the first time in GS aged six to 18. From wrestling to soccer, Buckley Lion Wrestling Camp for boys and choice of program. For a complete list of the history, Class Day was held on South Lawn from football to volleyball—the athletics girls ages 10 to 18, for example, will focus on camps being offered this summer, visit because there were too many students for an department has all the bases covered. teaching essential wrestling techniques, but www.GoColumbiaLions.com. Most camps are indoor ceremony. 1,200 students attend GS Campers who enroll in a Columbia sports will also incorporate sessions on self-disci- multi-day, with overnight options available for and 265 graduated this year—up nearly 11% camp work with some of the very best in col- pline and mental preparation skills, which are high school age girls and boys in field hockey, from last year’s 239. legiate sports, including Lions’ head football key to successful wrestling at all ability levels. basketball, football, lacrosse, and wrestling.

Senate Update: Two Senate Resolutions Bog Down at Final Plenary

By Tom Mathewson noted that the Trustees had not exercised their power under wills” than a genuine “constitutional” conflict. the University statutes to reject the 2003 resolution, conclud- The Senate approved a motion by Samuel Silverstein (Ten., Controversial resolutions to limit next year’s ing that as a result the 2003 guidelines should be published in CUMC) to table the resolution by a vote of 20–9, with 10 guideline rent increase for Columbia apart- the Faculty Handbook. abstentions. ments and to require the publication of a Provost Allen Brinkley tried to set aside the question of Separately, a resolution from Housing Policy, presented by Senate-approved policy regarding deans and whether the Senate makes university policy, arguing simply that co-chair Christopher Small (Research Officers), called for lim- department chairs in the Faculty Handbook reached the floor it does not have the authority to require his office to publish iting “annual percentage rental increases in university housing late at the last plenary of the academic year on May 4. Further anything in the Faculty Handbook. He said the Senate is free to (including the increase for 2007–08) to no more than the discussion on the issues was put off until the fall. publish its own policy guidelines on its own Web site. Faculty median annual percentage salary increase (retention increas- The Senate-approved policy in question was a set of guide- Affairs co-chair Robert Pollack (Ten., A&S/NS) replied that the es excluded)—until the administration presents a long-term lines for deans and department chairs in their dealings with provost “owns the handbook, but who owns the policy?” financial plan for university housing.” The measure met firm faculty. The Senate unanimously adopted a March 2003 reso- The provost said he chose not to publish the guidelines opposition from Bollinger, who said the Senate should no lution. The resolution also called for publishing the guidelines because there was no support for them among deans and more try to mandate rent increases than to try to mandate as an appendix to the Faculty Handbook, a step the he chairs, when the language was circulated for comment before salary increases. Nearly two hours into the meeting, and with- provost’s office has since refused to take. the 2003 resolution. Recalling that debate, in Bollinger’s first out a quorum present, the meeting came to an end. In response to that refusal, the executive committee of the year as president, Duby said he doubted deans and chairs Senate in April approved a new resolution by a vote of 9-0, would have accepted any guidelines regarding their conduct. The above was submitted by Tom Mathewson, manager of the affirming its policy-making role for the University. (The President Bollinger disagreed with Duby on that. He said ten- University Senate. His column is editorially independent of The President, provost, and two other members of the 13-member sions inevitably arise among a university’s “multiple centers of Record. For more information about the Senate, go to: executive committee did not vote) The resolution further power”, but the present disagreement is more a “contest of www.columbia.edu/cu/senate. TheRecord SCRAPBOOK JUNE 11, 2007 8

In The Shadow of Lou Gehrig Bike riders and people with ALS, known more commonly as Lou Gehrig’s disease, completed a 150-mile bike and wheelchair journey in May to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for the devastating illness. The ALS Ride for Life began April 28 in Montauk, Long Island, ending one week later with a celebration at Columbia on May 6. This is the 10th year of the ride, which has raised more than $2 million to fight ALS. Lou Gehrig himself attended Columbia College from 1921 to 1923 and played baseball on Columbia’s South Lawn, where this year’s Ride for Life ended. DAVID WENTWORTH

Goodbye Galil EILEEN BARROSO Dean Zvi Galil, long a favorite faculty member of Secret Pulitzer Winner students and faculty at the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, enjoyed several Iranian photographer Jahangir Razmi came to farewell festivities in May before departing for Tel Columbia to pick up his Pulitzer Prize 27 years after he Aviv University, where he will become president. On won it. Razmi’s picture of a firing squad in Iran was pub- May 7, he gave a tour of the school to HRH Princess lished around the world and was the winner of the Spot Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand (above), News Photography prize in 1980, but had been published danced with his wife, Bella, at a farewell party (top anonymously because his editors feared for his safety. His right) and posed with a stick-figure version of him- identity was revealed last December by The Wall Street self on campus (right). Journal. “It was a secret that I kept for many, many years,” Razmi said after the ceremony, speaking through an

interpreter. “I was waiting for the right moment.” EILEEN BARROSO

The “Zone” Affirmative Action continued from page 1 continued from page 1 leadership and social enterprise. Guinier said she is beginning to question the entire Canada was the speaker at the Business School’s notion of merit. “I’m worried that the way we have gala reception in February for its Social Enterprise thought about diversity is an exception to a rule, and Program. He recently was appointed by Mayor Michael the rule is defined as merit,” she said. “It becomes an Bloomberg to co-chair a task force aimed at reducing uneasy bargain, my call to you tonight is that we begin poverty in New York City. to question that bargain.” Under the relationship, an HCZ staff member will President Bollinger responded by saying that “race” attend the school’s Executive MBA program and 20 and “merit” are not separate considerations. employees will participate in programs at the school’s Admissions officers “look at an astounding array of Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. In addition, personal attributes” under the University’s admissions several faculty members will provide management policy. In terms of ability, the differences between consulting services on HCZ projects. groups are “so small that to single out this particular For its part, the collaboration also will provide for criterion and to say that it shows that a group of peo- paid summer internships for MBA students working ple are not qualified is really an outrage,” he added. with HCZ, as well as informal exchanges organized by More and more, Shaw said, he hears that affirmative the Business School’s Social Enterprise Program and action should be based on class, not race. But since the the student-run Social Enterprise Club. majority of poor people are white, he says, such a shift Support for the collaboration was provided by a would leave black and Latino students underrepresent- grant of some $300,000 from the Carson Family ed. He had these words for those who say it is time for Charitable Trust, the philanthropic foundation of busi- a color-blind society: “I refuse to let go of the issue of ness school alumnus Russell L. Carson. Carson, class of race, because the issue of race has not let go of us.” ’67, is on the school’s Board of Overseers and endowed Questions from the audience filled the last part of the professorship held by business school dean R. the talk, handed to Mayor Dinkins on cards he read Glenn Hubbard. aloud, and so many of them the panel had little time Last year, HCZ received a $25 million grant from the for answers. At the end of the discussion, Bollinger Starr Foundation. The grant will be distributed over WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? summed up the consensus of the panel. “We have five years, allowing the organization to grow and add come a long way since Brown vs. Board of Education,” programs for more children. In addition, HCZ has said HINT: Business students might find inspiration in this while contemplating their he said. “And we have to be very, very careful that what it plans to launch a $100 million capital campaign for future careers. we have achieved is not reversed, even more than it future projects. ANSWER TO LAST CHALLENGE: The back of chairs for graduation. Winner: Laura Grevi. has been in the past couple of decades.”