FACULTY Q & A AT ISSUE SCRAPBOOK June Cross’ The fad for memoirs Nobel laureates and double life | 4 and blogs | 5 world leaders | 8

VOL. 32, NO. 2 NEWS AND IDEAS FOR THE COLUMBIA COMMUNITY SEPTEMBER 29, 2006

EVENT SERIES ALUMNI AFFAIRS WLF Opens COLUMBIA with Stiglitz LAUNCHES MAJOR Forum FUNDRAISING By Mary-Lea Cox CAMPAIGN

he Nobel Prize-winning By Marcus Tonti economist Joseph Stiglitz remembers entering a oday bookstore in Taiwan some launched a $4 billion 20T years ago and wondering how fundraising campaign in he would feel if he saw a pirated global style, with simulta- copy of his latest book on the neousT events in , London shelves. Although he knew all the and Hong Kong. arguments in favor of protecting The campaign seeks to add $1.6 intellectual property, he also knew billion to Columbia’s endowment, the costs to the public good of with special emphasis on financial restricting the transfer of ideas. aid and faculty support across the He decided that on balance he campuses. Also sought is $1 billion would prefer to see a pirated ver- for new and renovated facilities and sion of his book—and was pleased $1.4 billion for spendable support of when he indeed found one. programs throughout the University. The former World Bank chief Increasing alumni engagement is economist, who is now a University another explicit campaign goal. Professor at Columbia, delivered this President Bollinger, joined by anecdote to a packed audience gath- several University trustees and ered in Roone Arledge Auditorium for the start of this year’s World $425m earmarked for Leaders Forum, on Sept. 18. Columbia College and The event also kicked off Stiglitz’s SEAS financial aid tour for his new book, Making Globalization Work, the follow-up other campaign leaders, presided to his 2003 bestseller, Globalization at the New York event, which took and Its Discontents, in which he sav- place at Columbia Law School. aged the International Monetary “How can we, in our time, do the Fund for pursuing policies in Africa work needed to lift up generations and Latin America that have created of Columbians yet to come?” asked an even wider disparity between rich Bollinger. “To answer that question and poor countries. requires the collective commitment The need to reduce that disparity of a University campaign, one as is still Stiglitz’s obsession, but he has ambitious as the academic ambi- now moved on to practical solu- tions it will make possible.” tions. Acknowledging the change in Bollinger’s words were beamed focus, Stiglitz told the Columbia via satellite link to audiences in audience that his book title says it all: London and Hong Kong. The “It says that globalization is not London group was joined by Provost working very well, but it also con- EILEEN BARROSO Alan Brinkley, and the Hong Kong veys the sense of optimism that group by Vice Provost for Inter- there are practical, concrete things PROFESSOR TURNS JOURNALISTS INTO HEAVYWEIGHTS national Relations Paul Anderer and we can do to make it work better.” political scientist Xiaobo Lü. Reform of the intellectual prop- journalist and journalism school professor Sam Freedman is a pro at coaxing books out of seasoned The launch event also featured erty regime to achieve the right bal- journalists and at teaching them how the publishing industry works. The stats say it all. In the 15 years since he started his a panel discussion, “What Don’t ance between profitability and the book-writing seminar, his students have produced 21 books; another 16 are under contract. And now he is also filling the We Know?” Several Columbia pro- public good is one such measure. rather large shoes of James Carey, the long-serving CBS Professor of International Journalism who passed away in May. fessors—maternal and fetal health Freedman is teaching Critical Issues in Journalism, a course developed by Carey to explore the social role of journalism from continued on page 8 legal, historical, ethical and economic perspectives. Another hefty task, but the packed lecture halls prove he’s up to it. continued on page 8

CONFERENCE Integrating Eastern and Western Medicine

By Dan Rivero Integrative Medicine Program and Tibet House the key presentations. U.S., brought together researchers and scholars After spending several days engaging in deep Barefoot for a change, scientists and religious from the Indo-Tibetan tradition with leading conversation and admiring the tranquil moun- scholars meditated together, contemplated the Western scientists in the fields of longevity, tain setting, participants agreed that meditative, words of the Dalai Lama, and spoke of a regeneration and health to discuss advances in yogic and related practices have the potential to modern scientific revolution at last week’s the profession and to work on creating a enhance both psychological and physiological conference on integrative medicine, held at program of collaborative research. On Thursday, well-being. the Menla Mountain Retreat in the Catskills. Sept. 21, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Moreover, recent preliminary research sug- The conference, cohosted by Columbia’s wrapped up the conference with a response to gests that there may be surprisingly extensive, continued on page 6 www.columbia.edu/news 2 SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 TheRecord

RECENT SIGHTINGS MILESTONES

DAVID BLUM, an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Journalism, has been named editor in chief of the Village Voice.

The Graduate School of Journalism has appointed SHEILA CORONEL as the inaugural director of its newly opened Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism. Coronel is an award-winning investigative journalist well known for her coverage of the Philippines govern- ment during times of corruption and upheaval.

PIERRE FORCE, chair of the Department of French and Romance Philology and head of Columbia’s Maison Francaise, has been named Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (the French National Order of Merit). A specialist in 17th-and 18th- century French intellectual history, Force is the author of works on Moliere, Pascal and Adam Smith.

CAROL GLUCK, George Sansom Professor of History, has received Japan’s highest civilian honor, the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, in honor of her contributions to the development of Japanese stud- ies and her promotion of cultural and scholarly exchange between Japan and the .

Former Washington environmental official NILDA MESA has been appointed as Columbia’s first director of environmental stewardship. She will be working closely with students, faculty and staff to implement practical programs to conserve resources and to pro- mote a culture of environmental awareness.

MIT’s Technology Review has named LIAM PANINSKI, assistant professor of statistics, as one of the year’s 35 outstanding innovators under age 35, for his use of statistics to decipher electrical signals from the EILEEN BARROSO brain—work that is bringing “mind reading” closer to HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING becoming reality. If you happened to be in the vicinity of Riverside Park at an unusually early hour on Thursday, Sept. 7, then you may have seen a group of run- EDITOR’S NOTE ners whizzing by.This year, over 800 students, administrators and faculty participated in President Bollinger’s 5K Fun Run. The event marked the fifth An article in the last issue reporting on Columbia’s Columbia run held by Bollinger, who discloses that he often exercises on Columbia’s indoor track or around the Central Park reservoir. “It’s a high participation in ’s Summer Youth energy activity that’s relaxing,”he said in an interview with Runner’s World two years ago. In fact, not all participants were in it just for fun; some were Employment Program should have included the members of the track and cross-country team, and a few were also getting in shape for November’s New York City Marathon. Nevertheless, a good detail that 80 percent of the students were placed at time was had by all, including the volunteers—athletes, faculty and staff—from the Office of Intercollegiate Athletics and Physical Education, who sup- Columbia University Medical Center, which also ported the runners along the way. President Bollinger held his first Fun Run on October 3, 2002, the day of his inauguration. administers the program. What is a satyr doing reclining on the edges

USPS 090-710 ISSN 0747-4504 of Lewisohn Lawn? Vol. 32, No. 2, September 29, 2006

Dear Alma’s Owl, In 1907, Pan came to Columbia. Calling Pan Published by the “a very remarkable work of art,” Daniel Chester Office of Communications I was sitting on the ledge near Dodge Hall and Public Affairs sipping my iced tea the other day, when I French encouraged McKim and landscaper spied with my little eye what I thought was a Frederick Law Olmsted to create a setting for satyr next to the bushes. What, pray tell, was him in “The Grove,” a park at the north end of t: 212-854-5573 it doing there? campus. At that time, the statue was also a f: 212-678-4817 — Statue Ponderer fountain: the lions’ heads on its green granite base spouted water into a reflecting pool sur- Columbia Record Staff Dear Ponderer, rounded by a pink stone exedra. In 1959, Pan’s quiet grove would be covered Editor: Mary-Lea Cox Graphic Designer: Scott Hug That’s no ordinary satyr: it’s the Great God over with Mudd, and Columbia considered Staff Writer: Dan Rivero Pan whose adventures have included travel, selling him—either to a museum, a municipal- University Photographer: Eileen Barroso disrobing and a narrow escape from a smelter. ASK ALMA’S OWL ity or for scrap metal. It was finally decided that

Contact The Record: Pan was designed by the he should stay on campus. After a t: 212-854-3283 sculptor George Grey Barnard couple of changes of venue f: 212-678-4817 (1863–1938), no connection to (including, somewhat controver- e: [email protected] the college but a good friend of sially, next to the chapel), the The Record is published twice a month during Morningside campus architect statue landed in its current home, the academic year, except for holiday and vacation periods. Permission is given to use Charles Follen McKim and of the behind the hedge on the Lewisohn Record material in other media. sculptor Daniel Chester French. Lawn, in 1975. Barnard, McKim and French had Unfortunately, with all his David M. Stone all studied at the Ecole des Beaux- peregrinations, Pan lost his Executive Vice President Arts in Paris in the 1880s. plumbing and exedra, and, even for Communications Some of Barnard’s other works more scandalously, his fig leaf. include the allegorical “Two Rumor has it that a group of Correspondence/Subscriptions Natures” (now at the Met) and a Barnard students stole the leaf as Anyone may subscribe to The Record for $27 per year. The amount is payable in advance to controversial depiction of the crowning glory to Barnard’s Columbia University, at the address below. Abraham Lincoln (now in Greek Games. More likely, it Allow 6 to 8 weeks for address changes. Manchester, England). broke off during one of Pan’s Barnard began work on Pan in many moves and a thorough Postmaster/Address Changes 1894 for placement in the search in Art Properties should Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and entrance to the Dakota, on 72nd uncover it, so to speak. additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Record, 535 W. St. But Pan was never to reside at 116th St., 402 Low Library, Mail Code 4321, that address—nor was he to live in Central foundries on the map—Pan did travel: first to Columbians sometimes ask Alma Mater for guid- New York, NY 10027. Park, Newark, Syracuse, Buffalo, Denver or St. the Paris Exhibition of 1900, where he won ance, but to whom does she turn when she needs Louis, all of which sought him as a perma- the gold medal; then to the Pan-American information? Minerva’s familiar is the wise owl, Please Recycle nent resident. Exposition in Buffalo, New York, garnering hidden within the folds of her gown. Send your ques- Completed in 1898 as the largest single another gold; and finally to the Louisiana tions for the owl to [email protected]. bronze casting—a feat that put American Purchase Exposition. Authors of letters we publish receive a Record mug. TheRecord SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 3

TALK OF THE CAMPUS Compiled by Mary-Lea Cox New on the Shelves

ith the advent of fall comes a new crop of books from the Columbia faculty. We present just a few that have received wide- spread attention in recent weeks, includ- Wing Joseph Stiglitz’s blueprint for addressing the ills of globalization, Nicholas Lemann’s retelling of a critical piece of Reconstruction history, and Irwin Redlener’s proposals on how to prepare for natural and man-made disasters. While some Columbia faculty are sorting out our nation’s problems, others offer help with sorting out our personal lives. Edward Mendelson has earned critical praise for his feat of teasing out practical wisdom from classic novels and Esther Perel for her nuanced account Building Red America: The Future of the Voting Activism, Inc.: How the Redemption: The Last Battle of the problems plaguing modern couples. Closer to The New Conservative Rights Act Outsourcing of Grassroots of the Civil War home, Wm. Theodore de Bary’s collection of essays on Coalition and the Drive for EDITED BY DAVID EPSTEIN, RODOLFO DE Campaigns Is Strangling BY NICHOLAS LEMANN (FARRAR STRAUS Columbia’s living legacies has made a splash. The book is Permanent Power LA GARZA, SHARYN O’HALLORAN AND Progressive Politics in GIROUX) RICHARD PILDES (RUSSELL SAGE the perfect gift for dedicated followers of New York BY THOMAS B. EDSALL (BASIC BOOKS) America FOUNDATION) The dean of the Graduate City’s Ivy League university, as well as for newcomers BY DANA R. FISHER (STANFORD who feel daunted by its long and august history. Distinguished Washington Post UNIVERSITY PRESS) School of Journalism delivers a The policy debate surrounding journalist Thomas Edsall, now grim account of Reconstruction the future of the Voting Rights a faculty member at the Columbia sociologist Dana and its end in 1875 in Act is the subject of this edit- Living Legacies journalism school, delivers a Fisher argues that the Mississippi, based on a wealth ed volume produced by at Columbia penetrating analysis of the American Left relies too of military records, congres- Columbia political scientist EDITED BY WM. Republican Party’s plan to heavily on paid canvassers to sional investigations, memoirs, David Epstein—a must-read for THEODORE DE BARY become the permanent deliver its messages, at the press reports and the invalu- anyone interested in the future (COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY majority party and what that expense of building local able papers of the war hero of civil rights in America. PRESS) would mean for America. volunteer networks. Adelbert Ames. Professor and provost emeritus Wm. Theodore de Bary has edited a major work that captures Columbia’s rich intellectual history in all its glory. Highlights include: Eric Foner on historian Richard Hoftstader; Isaac Levi and Sidney Hook on John Dewey; David Rosand on art historian Meyer Schapiro; John Hollander on critic Mark Van Doren; Donald Keene on Asian studies; Jacques Barzun on history; Eric Kandel on geneticist Thomas Hunt Morgan; and Rosalind Rosenberg on Franz Boas and his three most famous pupils: Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead and Zora Neale Hurston.

The Things That Matter: Mating in Captivity: Americans at Risk: Why We Making Globalization Work Tupac Shakur Legacy What Seven Classic Novels Reconciling the Erotic and Are Not Prepared for BY JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ (NORTON) BY JAMAL JOSEPH (ATRIA) Have to Say About the Stages the Domestic Megadisasters and What We of Life BY ESTHER PEREL (HARPERCOLLINS) Can Do The Nobel Prize-winning econo- The acting chair of BY EDWARD MENDELSON (PANTHEON) BY IRWIN REDLENER (KNOPF) mist offers a blueprint for how Columbia’s film division Using case histories, psy- to fix the problems globaliza- has produced the official English professor Edward chotherapist Esther Perel, who The leader of the Mailman tion has created for develop- biography of the Mendelson approaches seven recently joined the faculty of School’s National Center for ing countries, as documented rap/hip-hop artist Tupac classic works of fiction, all by the Mailman School of Public Disaster Preparedness offers five in his previous work, Shakur, with removable women novelists, for practical Health, explains why the megadisaster scenarios, both Globalization and Its Discontents. reproductions of Tupac’s insights on coping with life’s American penchant for equality, natural and man-made. He con- This time, he presents con- handwritten lyrics, challenges—from birth to mar- togetherness and absolute can- cludes with a detailed proposal crete steps for ensuring that notebook pages and personal memorabilia, as well as a riage woes to fears of aban- dor is antithetical to erotic of steps to ensure that America the economic benefits of glob- CD featuring rare interviews. donment and death. desire in both sexes. is better prepared. alization are widely shared.

File: Blogging RECONSTRUCTING Current Mood: Academic Geek RECONSTRUCTION

hen journalists aspire to Journalism professor June Cross, for instance, raq is not the first time Americans have In particular, he said that Lemann’s deci- become the next Matt Drudge used blogging to record her impressions of struggled with the messy process of - sion to focus on Adelbert Ames—a Union or Arianna Huffington, they go what it was like to get a book published and post-war recovery. Columbia historian general who, as Mississippi governor, made a to Sreenath Sreenivasan (J’93). promoted. It reads like a director’s commen- Eric Foner and Graduate School of valiant yet unsuccessful attempt to defeat IJournalism Dean Nicholas Lemann both say white supremacy—distinguished his work WSreenivasan, a lecturer at the journalism tary on a DVD. school and W-ABC’s “Tech Guru,” taught And, although many academics are that the nation has yet to debunk the myths from the historian’s approach, which tends sold-out workshops on blogging this sum- uncomfortable with the idea of commenting surrounding the experiment of post-Civil to avoid the personalization of history for mer for alumni and colleagues. on topics outside their expertise, a brave few War Reconstruction. fear it will detract from the presentation of a But if Sreenivasan is on the cutting edge are writing on just about anything that cap- On Sept. 19, the two professors met on broader historiographic analysis. of this new movement, other Columbia pro- tures their fancy. Environmental scientist Bill the stage of SIPA’s Altschul Auditorium to Lemann, for his part, noted that while he fessors are hot on his heels. Menke has used his blog, www.ldeo.colum- celebrate the publication of Lemann’s new didn’t have the journalist’s usual advantage Earlier this month, three of Columbia’s bia.edu/users/menke/blogs/index.html, to work, Redemption: The Last Battle of the of live interview subjects, he did have access most renowned economists—Joseph express his opinions on everything from the Civil War. The book tells the story of post- to Ames’ correspondence with his wife. True Stiglitz, Jagdish Bhagwati and Jeffrey war in Iraq to advanced placement courses in war Mississippi, which historians now agree to the period, these letters were vivid and Sachs—signed on as guest bloggers on suburban schools, as well as on the usual was the scene of the war’s last battle. Whites full of detail, giving Lemann the sense of Managing Globalization. Daniel Altman, a environmental issues—whales, tsunamis and waged a campaign of unrelenting violence having spoken to Ames directly. columnist with the International Herald global warming. against newly freed blacks, resulting in the In addition, although contemporary jour- Tribune, hosts the blog as a supplement to Likewise, English professor Jenny restoration of white power and the century- nalists often don’t choose historical topics, his business column. Davidson called her blog Light Reading so long imposition of “Jim Crow” segregation. Lemann felt that Reconstruction history is Not all professors, however, are looking that she would have license to comment Foner complimented his colleague for highly relevant to the way Americans view the for a high-brow blogging experience. A few not only on what she has read but also on conducting research worthy of a historian all issue of race to this day. In the long struggle to are attracted to the medium precisely her daily life. On Sept. 21, for instance, she while telling his story with the verve of a jour- be able to look at our national history dispas- because of its informality, permitting them to noted that New York restaurants can’t make nalist. He said that Lemann had followed his sionately, without the distortion of racism, record their impressions more spontan- a proper fruit crumble. “Really, crumble is a journalistic instincts in presenting the tragedy historians and journalists have played—and eously than other forms of communication. deep-dish phenomenon,” she wrote. of Reconstruction in a gripping narrative. continue to play—a critically important role. 4 SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 TheRecord

FACULTY Q&A

THIS NEWLY TENURED JOURNALISM PROFES- SOR HAS DEDICATED HER LIFE TO CREATING DOCUMENTARIES, INCLUDING ONE ON HER OWN LIFE AS AN INTERRACIAL CHILD. AND NOW SHE HAS WRITTEN HER LIFE AS A BOOK, HER FIRST.

BS Frontline producer June Cross, It seems that your mother wasn’t bitter currently a professor at the Graduate Q.either. School of Journalism, is a pro at She wasn’t bitter, just scared. She lived telling people’s life stories. Now she A.in constant fear of being found out: Phas tackled one of the toughest stories of her that she wasn’t good enough, glamorous career: her own. enough, pretty enough, smart enough. Once Cross was born in 1954 in New York City to she told her story for the documentary, she Norma Booth, a white woman who was an finally realized she was enough. I was glad I aspiring actress, and James “Stump” Cross, a was able to give her that before she died. well-known black vaudevillian. By the time she was a year old, her parents, who never EILEEN BARROSO People thought your documentary married, were estranged, and her mother Q.would be a cathartic experience, but I raised Cross by herself. understand you didn’t feel that way. By the time Cross was four, she could no JUNE CROSS I don’t know where people get this longer “pass” as white, and her mother sent A.idea that when you release something, her to live with a black couple in Atlantic Interviewed by Melanie Farmer it’s cathartic. There was nothing cathartic City. In the summer, Cross would still visit her about it. It was painful. It was hard. It was like mother, who eventually married white actor childbirth. I’m glad to have done it; I’m also Larry Storch and moved to Hollywood. “When making the documentary, I pretended I glad it’s over. Norma would introduce Cross as her niece or adopted daughter. was doing a story about some other person What brought you to teaching In 1996, Cross produced a documentary Q.journalism? called Secret Daughter: A Mixed-Race named June. For writing the book, I had to I’d been a producer for PBS for several Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her A.years, and one day I just decided I Away, which won an Emmy and a duPont- needed a change. Tom Goldstein had just Columbia Journalism Award. She recently dig in to how I felt about all of it.” become the dean here, and I ran into him at a released a memoir expanding on the film. journalism convention. The timing was right. Cross’ friends and colleagues have ex- pressed surprise at hearing her story. Today hard question, and then just throws it out turned up and said: “Now we understand— Congratulations on your tenure. the only “double life” Cross leads is her shut- there. While making the documentary, I pre- we could never figure you out.” If I was wor- Q. tle between academia and filmmaking. She tended I was doing a story about some other ried at all, it was about the sense in the black I got word that the vote had come excels at both. This past summer, she person named June who just happened to community that when you tell this kind of A.through a week before the book came received tenure at Columbia as well as a look like me and had my family history. story, you’re really trying to say that some out. And the week after the book was pub- Katrina Media Fellowship from the Open part of you isn’t black: “I’m not that black, I lished, I found out about the Katrina fellow- Society Institute to make a documentary How did writing the book compare to have a white mother.” I didn’t want the doc- ship. Literally within the space of two weeks, exploring racial inequality in the aftermath Q.making the film? umentary to be perceived as my bid for two life-changing events occurred. of Hurricane Katrina. For writing the book, I had to dig in to claiming whiteness but rather as my desire to A.how I felt about all of it. That was a embrace my American-ness and get every- What will the Katrina documentary be What was it like to essentially conduct an much different journey. It was a lot of “writ- body to start thinking about the ways in Q.about? Q.investigative report on your own family? ing down the bones,” as Natalie Goldberg which Americans really are a mixed-race I will look through the eyes of one I had to use every technique I’d ever would say. people. Looking back at our family lineages, A.family to assess the impact of the A.learned as a reporter. I collected the rel- many of us have mixed parentage. Katrina diaspora on America. evant public records, and then tried to double- Did you know you would write a book check by interviewing family members. Both Q.when you produced the documentary? A number of reviewers have expressed How do you come up with your story my mother and father had been disowned At that time, there was interest in Q.surprise that you show no trace of bit- Q.ideas? because of their liaison; then, when my moth- A.doing a made-for-TV movie, but I terness or anger in your book. I knew I wanted to do something about er and father split, I didn’t know anything decided I’d prefer to write my own book, I don’t feel any. I should point out that A.Katrina and that I wanted it to be about about my father. To complicate matters further, telling the story the way I remembered it, and A.there’s a disconnect between the loss and memory and what happens to fami- my mother was constantly reinventing herself. then, if Hollywood wanted to turn it into a book’s subtitle—“The Mother Who Gave Her lies that are torn apart. But I didn’t know For instance, she told me she was on the story about a tragic mulatto, they could do so. Away”—and what the book is really about. I exactly what I wanted to do, so I kept going to Olympic team, but it turned out she’d tried out never really felt that my mother gave me New Orleans. Finally, I found an 84-year-old for it but didn’t make it, and in any event the Were there questions you didn’t ask your away. My perception is that my mother was great grandfather who was cleaning up his Olympics were canceled that year (1940). Q.mother because you lost your nerve? too busy to raise me, so she sent me to live yard, having given up on all forms of govern- with relatives, and I still saw her when I ment assistance. I said, “That’s my guy.” How did you prepare yourself to inter- A.No. could. She had three children and in reality, Q.view your mother for the documentary? she didn’t raise any of us. She was one of June Cross will read from her memoir on When I worked with Connie Chung at Were you worried about how your those people who isn’t meant to be a moth- October 24 at 7:00 p.m. at Barnes and Noble A.CBS, one of the things she told me was Q.friends and colleagues might react? er. Plus I was able to turn what bitterness I in Brooklyn Heights (106 Court Street), and that she puts a wall between herself and the At a recent book signing in Atlantic had into a passion for reporting stories that on December 6 at 6:00 p.m. at New Lots subject when asking someone she likes a A.City, some of my high school buddies unearth the hypocrisy of race. Library in Brooklyn (665 New Lots Ave.). TheRecord SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 5 AT ISSUE NEW PUBLISHING TRENDS: Memoirs & Blogs

olumbia faculty members are now Rather, I tend to read blogs that contain cul- blogging away, others are writing tural and/or literary commentary: Maud memoirs and personal essays, and Newton’s, for instance. still others are trying their hand at To some extent, “memoir” is a category realityC TV. From this, we can deduce that the publishers invented to give certain autobio- fad for real people and real stories is here to graphical fictions the appeal of authenticity stay. But how real are these real-life stories? and truthfulness. That said, Mary Karr’s The And what exactly is fueling these trends? Liars’ Club is a wonderfully good memoir, The Record recently spoke to three written in some of the most beautiful prose Columbia faculty and one staff about their you’ll ever see; and I cast no aspersions on experiences with memoirs and/or blogs: her truthfulness when I say it could easily • ANNE BURT, Office of Communications and have been published as a novel instead. Public Affairs. She recently edited an antholo- I don’t see memoir writing and blogging gy of personal essays on stepfamilies: My as very closely related, except insofar as we Father Married Your Mother (Norton, 2006). all have a desire to tell our stories—and, as • NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER, professor in the readers, to find interesting first-person Writing Division, School of the Arts, novelist voices to enrich our imaginative lives. and poet. During the brouhaha over James Interestingly, reading the letters of some Frey’s alleged memoir last January, he was of the 18th-century writers I love gives very widely quoted as saying that if memoirists dis- much the same feel as reading a blog. Burke’s tort the facts, they should be writing novels. letters are very interesting; Byron’s are won- • JENNY DAVIDSON, associate professor of derfully good. And just imagine if Jane English and comparative literature. She has Austen had kept an anonymous blog! written a novel and keeps the blog Light Reading: jennydavidson.blogspot.com. SREENATH SREENIVASAN: With more than • SREENATH SREENIVASAN, associate profes- SCOTT HUG 50 million blogs out there, there’s a lot of sor of professional practice and dean of stu- blogging going on—and I’d be the first to dents, Graduate School of Journalism. He Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood interests me. For me, blogs work like op-ed admit that not all of it is good. Most blogs are holds workshops on blogging for journalists Among Ghosts successfully intertwines per- pieces or letters to the editor. just public ramblings by folks whose and runs the Dean of Students Blog. sonal history with literary magic. Blogs are popular because people have a thoughts aren’t worth lot to say. They are as self-absorbed and reading—and, in fact, ANNE BURT: I find the personal essay—a dis- NICHOLAS CHRISTOPHER: I don’t agree with opinionated as their predecessors, and tech- are read only by the tilled form of memoir, focusing on a slice of those who say that this is “the age of the nology offers them a ready means of writer and his mother. the writer’s life within the context of greater memoir.” There are many more novels, short expressing themselves. One no longer has to Blogging has taken issues—intensely satisfying both as a writer stories and highly personal poetry collec- submit a piece to an editor to publish it; it off because it’s easy to and a reader. Most of tions being written and published than can simply be posted as a blog. do and because peo- us like essay collec- memoirs. I have no It would be easy to say that memoir writ- ple want to share their tions because of our particular interest in ing and blogging are related, but in fact the ideas with the world. desire for multiple per- reading the memoirs memoirist probably has to spend a great deal The hard part is having something to say. spectives on events. of people who have of time shaping and relating his material; the I don’t do personal blogging myself, but I The length is also a had little life experi- blogger can dash off a fragment of a frag- certainly read some of them. If I could read bonus: it’s like attend- ence. The memoir that ment (and perhaps a very good one) in anyone’s personal story, I’d choose the updated ing a dinner party an artist, scientist or much less time, much as I am expressing my memoirs or blog of General Colin Powell. where all of the guests public figure might opinions in these answers—far more rapidly I especially enjoy personal digests by people are not only smart and write in the latter part than it would take me to write an essay for a who are good at filtering the welter of infor- funny and articulate, of his/her life can be book, anthology or magazine. mation found on the Web—for instance, the but they know when to stop talking. illuminating, enter- popular media blog Poynter.org/romenesko. The form isn’t new: Montaigne is usually taining or instructive, because it encom- JENNY DAVIDSON: Light Reading gives me a Jim Romenesko, a former reporter, started this considered the progenitor in the West, but it passes a good deal of time, experience and way to comment on what I’m reading or blog on his own, and in 1999 he got hired by dates back even further than that. Philip the creative imaginativeness necessary to otherwise thinking about in a mode that’s at the Poynter Institute, a media training think Lopate’s wonderful The Art of the Personal shape the events of one’s life into a narrative once less formal and more flexible than a tank in Florida, to do his blogging on their site. Essay includes works from 10th-century that someone else would want to read. conventional book review or academic article. Romenesko uses blogging as a way to Japan and the ancient Greeks. The memoir is popular today for obvious extend his “brand.” Andrew Sullivan is anoth- I’m also an avid reader of literary mem- reasons: our culture celebrates the confes- er good example of a journalist with a unique oirs. I’m actually less interested in the life sional and the sensational; and gossip and blogging style. Now Time.com is hosting events of the memoirist than I am in how he “true stories” are disseminated on television Sullivan’s blog, The Daily Dish, on its site. or she tells their story. This is particularly and the Internet at a rate unimaginable some Of course, the personal voice of the blog- true when the writer isn’t a head of state, a 30 years ago. ger is part of what draws us to a given blog, The above are highlights of the responses we mountaineer trapped in a blizzard or a polit- I do not read any blogs except political but I don’t find myself drawn—either as a received, which are published in full online: ical prisoner. Maxine Hong Kingston’s The ones on occasion if the topic especially reader or a writer—to very personal blogs. www.columbia.edu/cu/news. VIEWS IN THE NEWS Maternal Health Crisis New Way into Tibet

In a recent column about the crisis in prenatal care and emer- The Qinghai-Tibet railway line, which was completed this sum- gency obstetric services in Sub-Saharan Africa, New York Times mer, connects Beijing with the “roof of the world” in just 48 hours. journalist Nicholas Kristof cited statistics provided by LYNN When asked to comment on whether this could crush traditional FREEDMAN, head of the Averting Maternal Death and Disability Tibetan culture, ROBERT BARNETT, who lectures at SIPA in con- program at the Mailman School of Public Health. According to temporary Tibetan studies, told NPR’s All Things Considered that Freedman’s calculations, we could provide all effective interven- the problem lay with China’s “sledgehammer” version of tions for maternal and newborn health to 95 percent of the modernity: “You send in a huge amount of subsidies to build up world’s population for an additional $9 billion per year. infrastructure. A huge number of workers and technicians come in. And the people who are there may or may not get much Disaster Therapy benefit from that.”

In a recent interview with Newsday, RANDALL MARSHALL, a Japan’s New Leader trauma expert at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, reported that there is great hope for those still experiencing post- At 52, Shinzo Abe is Japan’s youngest prime minister, but as political traumatic stress disorder five years after 9/11. Marshall and his science professor GERALD CURTIS noted in a recent interview with team have successfully treated 200 such patients with a mix of Agence France-Presse, he will have an uphill struggle in convincing cognitive behavior therapy, consisting of exposure to the feared Japanese youth he can relate to them. “Abe does not have a zappy environment through virtual reality, and the antidepressant Paxil. slogan that’s going to turn people on,” Curtis commented, adding Their book, 9/11: Mental Health in the Wake of Terrorist Attack, is that he will need “to focus on substance, not on style, or else people due out this month from Cambridge University Press. will think of him as a weak shadow of Koizumi.” 6 SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 TheRecord

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS OCTOBER 2–13 ARTS TALKS CAMPUS SPORTS SCIENCES

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY October 2 October 3 October 4 October 5 October 6 October 7 October 8

Unveiling of Tesla Make the Most of Book Talk “9/11: Book Talk Photography Introduction to Bronze Statue Your Benefit Randall Balmer of The Legal Issues Let loose your Exhibition Columbia in Dedication and Options, 2007 Barnard College 5 Years On” inner (or outer) Photos of the Brooklyn tribute to “forgotten American First of 14 information ses- discusses his new work, Thy Roundtable debate among geek with Garth Sundem, Gorbachevs, Reagans and University representatives will scientist” Nikola Tesla. 11:00 sions on open enrollment Kingdom Come: How the international law authorities author of Geek Logic. Bushes in the final Soviet be present to speak about the a.m.–12:00 p.m. Seeley W. (Oct. 18–Nov. 10). Religious Right Distorts the on the need for a new global 2:00–4:00 p.m. Alfred Lerner years. Closes Oct. 18. college experience, as well as Mudd, Room 1300. 9:00–10:00 a.m., Interchurch Faith. 6:00–8:00 p.m. Alfred counterterrorism organiza- Hall Bookstore. bkscolum- International Affairs Bldg, to provide information about [email protected]. Lounge. For details on this Lerner Hall Bookstore. bksco- tion. 4:00–5:30 p.m. Jerome [email protected]. 12th Floor. the admissions and financial and other sessions, go to: [email protected]. L. Greene Hall, 1st Floor, aid processes. Prospective stu- Statistics www.hr.columbia.edu/hr/ben Room 104. 212-854-1366. Earth Science Lamont-Doherty’s dents, friends, family, guidance Seminar efits/page-section.html. Book Launch Colloquium Annual Open counselors and alumni are Mary Sara Women’s banking Book Talk Natalie House invited to attend. 2:00–4:00 McPeek from the University of Harriman experts discuss Rodric Mahowald, scientist with the “Oceans of Discovery.”10:00 p.m. Poly Prep, 9216 Seventh Chicago discusses using Institute Seminar their new book, Transforming Braithwaite, for- National Center for a.m.–4:00 p.m. Open to the Avenue, Brooklyn.To sign up, go genetic linkage to inform Klara Khafizova of Microfinance. 6:00–9:00 p.m. mer British ambassador to Atmospheric Research, speaks public. www.ldeo.columbia.edu. to: www.studentaffairs.colum- positional cloning. Kainar University, Kazakhstan, International Affairs Bldg, , discusses his new on “The Role of Humans in bia.edu/admissions. 12:10–1:00 p.m. Room 903, on Kazakhstan and the Room 1501. 917-273-4561. book, Moscow 1941: A City Perturbing Atmospheric Iron Football vs. Iona 1255 Amsterdam Ave. Tea Shanghai Cooperation and Its People at War. Deposition.” 3:30–4:00 p.m. Lawrence A. Wien and coffee will be served Organization. 12:00–2:00 p.m. Field Hockey vs. Sponsored by the Harriman 61 Route 9W, Monell Building Stadium, Baker beforehand, Room 1025. International Affairs Bldg, Hofstra Institute. 4:00–6:00 p.m. Auditorium, Palisades, NY. Field, 12:30 p.m. 212-851-2132. Room 1219. ar2052@colum- Field hockey International Affairs Bldg, [email protected]. bia.edu. Venue, Baker Field, 7:00 p.m. Room 1219. ar2052@colum- Cheres Ukrainian bia.edu. “Issues of Folk Orchestra Film Screening The Grand Tour: Religion and Fiery instrumen- Meeting on the “Mozart in Italy” Book Talk Science” tals and spirited songs from Elba (1949, Featuring the Andrew Delbanco, American history professor Ukraine, Romania, Moldova, USSR), directed by Grigori Grand Tour Orchestra, NYC’s Julian Clarence David Hollinger of University Hungary and beyond. Aleksandrov. Introduced by newest period-instrument Levi Professor in the of California, Berkeley, kicks Sponsored by the Ukrainian Andrey Shcherbenok. In ensemble, with mezzo- Humanities, discusses his new off the Committee on Global Studies Program. Introduced Russian with English subti- soprano Stephanie Houtzeel. book, Melville: His World and Thought’s inaugural fall semi- by Maria Sonevytsky. tles; first U.S. screening. 8:00 p.m. Teatro, Casa Work. Sponsored by Friends of nar series. 4:10–6:00 p.m. 7:30–9:30 p.m., International 6:30–8:30 p.m. International Italiana. Tickets $20; $10 for Columbia Libraries. 6:00–8:00 Schermerhorm Hall, Room Affairs Bldg, Room 1501. Affairs Bldg, Room 1219. students and seniors. 212- p.m. Butler Library, Room 203. 501. Open to the public. 212-854-4697. [email protected]. 854-1623. [email protected]. [email protected].

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY October 9 October 10 October 11 October 12 October 13

Italy at Columbia CERC Book Launch IGERT Fellows’ Blood Drive Columbia musicol- Seminar Shareen Hertel Presentations 1:30–7:00 p.m. ogist Giuseppe Brian Dixon on discusses her new With Kirk Teacher’s College Gerbino lectures on Italian “Population Growth: book, Unexpected Power: Knobelspiesse, Sam Krevor Conference Room, 1st Floor. composer, violinist and singer Unprecedented and Conflict & Change among and Jonathan Levine. Claudio Monteverdi. 10:10 Unsustainable.” Sponsored by Transnational Activists. Sponsored by the Earth “Research a.m. Teatro, Casa Italiana. the Center for Environmental 4:00–5:00 p.m. International Institute’s IGERT Joint Strategies of Free and open to the public. Research and Conservation. Affairs Bldg, Lindsay Rogers Program in Applied Men and Women [email protected]. 4:00–5:00 p.m. Schermer- Room, 7th Fl. 212-854-7156. Mathematics and Earth and Scientists” Editor’s Pick horn Extension, Room 1015. Environmental Sciences. Lamont-Doherty Earth COLUMBIA FOOTBALL Harriman [email protected]. Memorial Service 2:45–3:45 p.m. Seeley W. Observatory Earth Science Institute A celebration of Mudd Building, Room 214. Colloquium with Harriet The Lions’ victories in their first two games of 2006 Seminar SCE Information the life of Open to the public. Zuckerman of the Andrew W. gave Norries Wilson the distinction of being the first With Gerald McDermott of the Session Michael Riffaterre, university [email protected]. Mellon Foundation. to win his first two games as Columbia head coach Wharton School on “State Learn about the professor emeritus and a 3:30–5:00 p.m. 61 Route since Lou Little in 1930. Afterwards, he was self- Crafting and Bank School of Continuing renowned literary theorist Chemistry 9W, Monell Building effacing. “I’m happy for the kids,” he said. Catch Restructuring in East Central Education’s new Master of who specialized in the study Colloquium Auditorium, Palisades, NY. Wilson in action at the three remaining Lions’ home Europe.” 4:10–6:00 p.m. Science in Fundraising of French literature. He spent Haw Yang of the [email protected]. games: Iona on Oct. 7, Dartmouth on Oct. 21 and International Affairs Building, Management. 6:30–8:00 p.m. more than 50 years at University of California, Cornell on Nov. 11. Room 1219. ar2052@colum- Lewisohn Hall, Room 602. Columbia. 5:00 p.m. St. Berkeley, discusses high-reso- Promenade bia.edu. RSVP required: 212-854-9699. Paul’s Chapel. lution single-molecule spec- Concert troscopy and 3D single- Miller Theatre’s Go online! Volleyball vs. Film Screening “Politics and nanoparticle tracking. new Promenade Concert Complete event listings: Cornell Maksimka (1952, Academic 4:30–6:00 p.m. Havermeyer Project aims to provide Levien USSR), directed by Freedom” Hall, Room 209. 212-854- orchestral programming for www.calendar.columbia.edu. Gymnasium, Dodge Fitness Vladimir Braun. Introduced by With Stanley Fish of FIU’s 2202. all New Yorkers. 8:00–10:00 Center, 5:00 p.m. Irina Novikova. 6:30–8:30 p.m. College of Law. 6:15 p.m. p.m. Riverside Church Nave The Record welcomes your input for news items, International Affairs Bldg, Heyman Center, 2nd Floor, (Riverside Drive & 120th St.). calendar entries, and staff profiles. You can now Room 1219. ar2052@colum- Common Room. heymancen- Tickets: $10 (no discounts submit your suggestions directly at: bia.edu. [email protected]. apply). 212-854-7799. www.columbia.edu/cu/news/newcontent.html.

AROUND TOWN So you want to watch dance: where Dalai Lama should you go? continued from page 1 fertile common ground between Eastern and Western medical perspectives. I recommend the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, for a cross- At the conference itself, this ground was occupied section of styles. Right in our own back yard, there’s the Dance Theatre of by co-organizers Mehmet Oz, vice chair of the Harlem. Beginning in November, they hold open houses on the second department of surgery at CUMC and a cardiothoracic Sunday of every month. surgeon, and Robert Thurman, Columbia’s Jey Tsong — Marcia Sells, Government and Community Affairs Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies. Oz, who promotes the use of integrative thera- Get tickets for the inaugural performance of Sugar Salon at Symphony Space, pies for patients with cardiovascular diseases, 95th St. and Broadway. Sugar Salon is a collaboration between Barnard quizzed the Dalai Lama about the impact of stress College and Williamsburg Art neXus, designed to nurture the next generation on aging, asking whether suffering—mental or of women choreographers. physical—serves a higher purpose. — Mary Cochran, Barnard College Dance Chair The Dalai Lama responded that a peaceful mind and benevolent spirit are correlated with extensive If you want to try out something that looks like dance but also has all the com- www.dancetheatreofharlem.org health benefits at all levels: molecular, cellular, ponents of martial arts, then I suggest capoeira: it’s a performance art invented physiological and psychological. But, he empha- by African slaves in Brazil 450 years ago. Washington Heights High Bridge sized, doctors must also start treating their patients Do you have suggestions for things to do Recreation Center is hosting a batizado ceremony on Oct. 29, with many top around town to share with other Record readers? more humanely. artists coming in from Brazil. E-mail us at: [email protected]. “The first thing I’d do is train doctors in — Jasjit Smith, Communications and Public Affairs compassion,” he said. “Many doctors treat patients like machines.” TheRecord SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 7 BREAK TIME STAFF Q&A Autumn EVELYN Abundance KIRCHER By Erich Erving Interviewed by Dan Rivero he first day of autumn fell on Sept. 23 this year, and we city dwellers, as POSITION: much as anyone else, began yearn- Assistant Director of Admissions, ing for the fruits of the upcoming School of General Studies harvest.T Fortunately, we can get a taste of the season in our own backyards by visiting one LENGTH OF SERVICE: of the city’s many greenmarkets. 3 years Morningside Heights has a farmers market twice a week, Thursdays and Sundays, on COLUMBIA HISTORY: Broadway between 114th and 115th. If you’re Kircher graduated from GS in 2001, magna cum laude. working uptown, you can get fresh fruits and She coached Columbia’s ballroom dance team and vegetables at the market held every Thursday was awarded an Alumni Key for service. on 175th St. and Broadway. There’s even a greenmarket on Saturday mornings in Isham, two blocks south of Baker Field, between Park he may be wearing a crisply pressed Terrace West and Seaman Ave.—great if you’re business suit, but her inner self is clad headed to a Lions game. Here are a few of my in a ruffled tango outfit. We present favorite stands and their produce: Evelyn Kircher, former professional Sdancer and now assistant director of admis- BETH’S FARM KITCHEN sions at the School of General Studies. Sitting There are only two places that grow figs authoritatively in a Columbia conference locally, one in Brooklyn and the other in room, her feet glued to carpet—not traveling Queens; thus it’s a real treat to get Beth’s spe- wildly across a ballroom floor—Kircher still cial fig preserves in early October from her has the poised air of a dancer. But rather stand at the Morningside Heights market on than dancing with one partner, she builds Thursdays (she also offers many other vari- relationships with new people every day. eties of jams, fruit spreads and chutneys). If Ten years ago, Kircher cha-cha’ed her way you can’t wait for the figs, try the quince into Columbia. Upon reaching a crossroads in that’s available in late September. her professional career, she sensed that some- thing was lacking: she was developing an SAMASCOTT ORCHARDS unquenchable passion for literature. She asked This stand, in Morningside on Thursdays and one of her Latin dance students, retired Sundays (and at Inwood on Saturdays), spe- Columbia professor Patrick Griffin, if he knew cializes in strawberries, and if the frost is as late any good book clubs she could join. Griffin this year as it was last, the fruit may still be instead told her about Columbia’s General available in November. Soon they will be offer- Studies program, and in 2001 Kircher gradu- EILEEN BARROSO ing their other specialty, cauliflower—in tradi- ated from Columbia magna cum laude with a tional white and Technicolor purple. Winter degree in English. “I love to see people who’ve hitchhiked around squash and pie pumpkin (the smaller, denser Today, she continues to serve Columbia as ones for cooking rather than carving) started an administrator. She no longer teaches the world end up at Columbia. General Studies showing up earlier this month. And for those dance, except to friends. The Record recently with a case of the munchies, the stall also sat down with Kircher to discuss her past has so many mavericks.” offers apple cakes, pies, cookies and biscotti, as and current waltz through life. well as apple cider donuts. Why did you decide to leave such an of you couples fallen in love on this promo- taken a break in their educations to pursue STANNARD FARM Q.established career? tion?” I had. I became engaged to my dance their careers. They are often our best students. Almost every week in autumn brings a new I have feelings about the art form and partner at the time. Part of the promotion had The discipline required to focus, to learn and temptation when it comes to apples: sweet A.how it has changed. It used to be me dancing on the George Washington Bridge. practice a dance routine, transfers to studying or tart for baking or not. Stannard Farm is about the ballroom. Now it’s become dance It was freezing. You wouldn’t think it was possi- for a degree. currently selling Macoun apples and expects sport, and while impressive, some of the ble to dance on a bridge, but there’s a ledge to have Winesaps in November. magic and authenticity has been lost. there. Anyone can do it. Why did you come back to General Watching people dance used to be a Q.Studies? TREMBLAY APIARIES voyeuristic experience. It was like seeing a How did your education at Columbia I truly love General Studies. For the first If the turning of the leaves makes you sad, love story unfold in front of you. Today you Q.help you with dance? Do dancers fare A.six months, I worked in alumni affairs then you might take cheer from the nectar are no longer swept up emotionally. well in an academic setting? for GS and helped to orchestrate the school’s of local flowers, which is easily obtainable After I left Columbia, I went to manage first-ever alumni reunion. I then transferred to from Tremblay Apiaries. They sell their How was your experience dancing for A.Dance Times Square. My education was admissions, where I’m constantly inspired by honey and other bee-related wares at all Q.Julio Iglesias? extremely helpful in that experience. And applicants’ life-stories. I love to see people three markets: Morningside, the Thursday Julio was promoting his “Tango” album, you’d be surprised at how many former who’ve hitchhiked around the world end up at market near the Medical Center and the A.and we were dancing on stage at Sony dancers are at Columbia. General Studies usu- Columbia. General Studies has so many mav- Inwood market by Baker Field on Saturdays. Music Studios. He came in and asked, “Have any ally has a contingent of dancers who have ericks; it’s something of a phenomenon.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... SAL BERNARDINO

WHO HE IS: Manager of Bulk Mail handles incoming mail), helped him land a job as a machine operator at the Mailing Center, YEARS AT COLUMBIA: 38 now known as Bulk Mail. He worked there while taking English classes at Columbia. For WHAT HE DOES: Beginning at 7:30 every the past 20 years, he has served as bulk mail morning, Bernardino handles all outgoing manager, which includes handling the mail for the entire University—not only University’s relationship with the post office. Morningside but also Lamont-Doherty and the Medical Center. On average, he oversees BEST PART OF HIS JOB: “I get to work 4 million pounds of mail each year—the with everyone at the University. I’m a people numbers have been declining, he says, since person.” the advent of e-mail. He always stays until the job is done, even if it means the occa- MOST MEMORABLE TIME ON THE JOB: sional weekend visit. The anthrax scare after 9/11. “It took some months for things to get back to normal.” HOW HE CAME TO COLUMBIA: At 17, he emigrated from the Dominican Republic, and IN HIS SPARE TIME: “I go home and his brother, who was already working at watch baseball. I love the Yankees; in fact,

EILEEN BARROSO EILEEN Columbia in the Central Mail Room (which I’m seeing them play tomorrow.” TheRecord SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 8

2 1 12 11 SCRAPBOOK Nobel Laureates & World Leaders olumbia is often host to Laureate Bengt Samuelsson (left) dignitaries and luminaries, and philanthropist Jack Rudin. but even by its own stan- With the opening of the UN dards, September was a General Assembly on Sept. 12, heads Crecord month. No fewer than eight of state stopped by for the World 3 Nobel laureates, along with other Leaders Forum, and Joseph Stiglitz 10 leading scientists, turned out to cel- launched his new book, Making ebrate the 80th birthday of Dr. Paul Globalization Work. 7. Papua New Marks with a special dinner and Guinea Prime Minister Michael symposium, “Frontiers of Biomed- Somare discussed his country’s ical Research in the 21st Century.” approach to development. 8. Ivo Marks spent 30 years at Columbia Sanader, prime minister of Croatia, before leaving in 1980 to head up conversed with students following the Memorial Sloan-Kettering his address on Euro-Atlantic integra- Cancer Center. 1. Guest of honor tion in Southeastern Europe. Paul Marks (left) with former 9. Joseph Stiglitz outlined his pre- Columbia colleague Eric Kandel. scriptions for reducing the gap 2. Barbara Walters with Marks’ wife, between rich and poor countries. Joan. 3. President Bollinger opening 10. George Soros responded to 4 the Marks symposium. 4. Biotech Stiglitz. 11. Bolivia’s first indigenous 9 investor Frederick Adler (center) president, Evo Morales, addressed with two of Columbia’s Nobel Prize- ethnic inequality in his country. winning neuroscientists: Eric Kandel 12. Mary Robinson, former presi- (left) and Richard Axel. 5. Paul’s son dent of Ireland and now at SIPA, Dr. Andrew Marks, who chairs joined other women leaders in Columbia’s center for molecular discussing a more comprehensive cardiology, with Walters. 6. Nobel definition of security.

5 6 7 8

Stiglitz Forum Columbia Campaign continued from page 1 continued from page 1

Others include abandoning the West’s unfair policy of specialist Mary D’Alton, Nobel laureate and neurosci- agricultural subsidies, setting up international tribunals entist Eric Kandel, physicist Brian Greene, cultural to rule on unfair tax competition or health standards, critic Margo Jefferson, and historian Carol Gluck— and ending the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve cur- along with trustee and business leader Vikram Pandit, rency by introducing “global greenbacks.” debated the issues likely to dominate the frontiers of Responding to Stiglitz’s presentation were economist scholarship in years to come. Nancy Birdsall, Open Society Institute founder George Scheduled to run through 2011, the campaign Soros and New York Times journalist Tina Rosenberg, all of encompasses smaller initiatives spearheaded by indi- whom applauded the prescriptions on offer. vidual schools and programs, such as the $100 million “This book is likely to be called politically naive by campaign to mark the Graduate School of Journalism’s naysayers,” Birdsall said, but it has broken new ground centennial, announced earlier this week. as “an eloquent defense of the possibility that global- At the time of its official launch, the campaign had ization can be fair and just.” raised $1.6 billion in cash and pledges. Recent gifts Soros said that Stiglitz’s powerful combination of the- include $29 million from Robert Yik-Fong Tam (BUS’50), oretical knowledge and practical experience meant that a banker, and his sister, Wun Tsun Tam, an educator, to the book delivered a comprehensive analysis of the issues. support a number of faculty positions and provide seed For Rosenberg, the book represents no less than a money for the Committee on Global Thought. And revolutionary tract about globalization. “But so far, University trustee Gerry Lenfest, LAW’58, has pledged to there is no revolution,” she told the students in the match $48 million in donations to endow faculty chairs audience. “That part is up to you.” in the arts and sciences and at the law school. Significantly, the campaign launch comes on the heels The World Leaders Forum, which was launched three of last week’s announcement that, beginning next year, years ago as part of President Bollinger’s global uni- Columbia will replace loans with grants for students in versity initiative, continues throughout the year. To Columbia College and the School of Engineering and access videos of the Stiglitz panel and other recent WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? Applied Science whose families earn less than $50,000 per World Leaders Forum events—including talks by year. Indeed, one prominent goal of the campaign is rais- Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Michael Somare, HINT: It’s indoors and on Morningside campus, albeit seen from a fresh per- ing $425 million for financial aid in those two schools. Republic of Croatia Prime Minister Ivo Sanader, and spective. Can you guess what it is? Send answers to [email protected]. former President of Ireland Mary Robinson—go to: First to e-mail us the right answer receives a RECORD mug. To watch the Webcast of the campaign launch event, www.worldleaders.columbia.edu. ANSWER TO LAST CHALLENGE: “The Eye” on East Campus go to: alumni.columbia.edu/campaign/launch.