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CONVERSATION AT ISSUE SCRAPBOOK Gregory Mosher The concept of Anniversary takes initiative | 4 the citizen-artist | 5 bashes | 8 Columbia College class president Seth Flaxman asked Václav Havel to autograph a Czech flag at the welcoming reception, Oct. 26. VOL. 32, NO. 4 NEWS AND IDEAS FOR THE COLUMBIA COMMUNITY NOVEMBER 10, 2006 Extreme Makeover: VÁCLAV HAVEL’S Student COLUMBIA OPUS Services By Dan Rivero nyone who walked into the personal office of Michelle Brown-Nevers this summer wouldn’t have found her Athere. Instead, they would have come across six members of her staff processing diplomas and trying to keep up their spirits despite the unexpected flooding of their build- ing, Kent Hall. On the weekend of June 23, flooding caused by renovations to Kent Plaza forced Brown-Nevers, assistant vice president for student administrative services and Václav Havel, then president of University Registrar, to displace 61 the Czech Republic, attempts people. At one point, she even vol- an unfamiliar art form at Prague unteered her own office to accom- Castle, circa 1997. modate half-a-dozen staff. Call it a baptism in disguise, but as the water seeped through the sec- TOMKI NEMEC ond floor of Kent, Brown-Nevers By Mary-Lea Cox and Dan Rivero campus while also connecting the campus to The campus, meanwhile, is gripped by a kind and Lisa Hogarty, executive vice the wider culture.” of Havelmania, with “Havel at Columbia” gigs president of student and administra- t long last, the curtain has risen on The opening act finally came on Oct. 26, happening almost daily, taking advantage of the tive services, were finalizing phase Václav Havel’s residency at Columbia— when Havel turned up at the Stone Rose, an artist-president’s presence to explore new con- a performance that has been several upscale bar in the Time Warner Center, for his nections between the arts and the world of ideas. Two years of behind-the- years in the making. CU Arts Initiative official welcome to Columbia. As Gustavo Pérez Firmat, David Feinson profes- Adirector Gregory Mosher, who is coordinating all And now we’re reaching the climax of the sor of humanities and one of Havel’s many scenes work helped cut red tape for students. the events associated with the visit of the Czech show as the former Czech president delivers the Columbia fans, put it: “Havel’s life and work playwright-turned-president, remembers when Core lecture on Contemporary Civilization to demonstrate that conduct and performance can one of their Student Services President Bollinger first floated the idea. sophomores today, the first of three scheduled go hand in hand. Even though in contemporary Transformation Initiative, which “President Bollinger suggested a Havel resi- performances during his seven-week residency, American society the citizen-artist seems to have involved tearing down many walls, dency to me in the second conversation we ever which ends on Dec. 15. The other two are a dia- been replaced by the citizen-celebrity, Havel’s both physical and bureaucratic. had,” Mosher said. “Havel is an exemplar of logue with President Clinton on Nov. 15 and a example is a powerful reminder that the arts can “In a way, the flooding helped everything the CU Arts Initiative is trying to discussion on human rights with Nigerian writer still be transformative.” accelerate the work of our renova- accomplish because he energizes the arts on and dramatist Wole Soyinka on Dec. 6. For event details, go to: havel.columbia.edu. tions,” Brown-Nevers said. A few weeks ago, with the restoration of the staff to their orig- LECTURE SERIES inal offices and a dry floor, Student and Administrative Services hosted an open house to celebrate the Bilgrami Conjures a World Re-enchanted newly transformed Student Services Center. By Mary-Lea Cox to focus on the roots of modern society’s “dis- “We wanted to cut the time that enchantment,” a term coined by German students spend here and we If last year’s Columbia-hosted panel discus- philosopher Max Weber in reference to the wanted to create an environment sion on the intelligent design controversy made process through which all aspects of the world that was warm and inviting,” one thing clear, it’s that the stakes in the debate become explainable by natural science. Brown-Nevers explained. are much higher than simply arguing about Bilgrami argued that there is a distinction To accomplish the transforma- whether the world was created in six days a few between a “thin” and “thick” notion of scientific tion, Brown-Nevers took a number thousand years ago. rationality. The former is politically and culturally of bold steps. First, she had the For Akeel Bilgrami, even though he is a secu- innocuous whereas the latter views nature in center’s navigation signs amended larist and an atheist, such spiritual yearnings are essentially predatory terms—as something that is for consistency, its walls repainted not only understandable but also supremely to be conquered with nothing but material gain as and its lighting improved. She also human. Columbia’s Johnsonian professor of phi- its end. Many of us recoil from this “thick” expanded the self-service corridor losophy has argued in many essays that in our concept, claimed Bilgrami, because it supports the from four to 10 kiosks. On the per- modern world, “religion is not primarily a matter destruction of nature and has disastrous cultural sonnel front, she arranged for the of belief and doctrine but about the sense of and political consequences. cross-training of employees who community and shared values it provides in con- Bilgrami devoted much of his talk to tracing had previously worked in the texts where other forms of solidarity—such as a the origins of “thick” rationality as well as the cri- registrar’s office and student strong labor movement—are missing.” tiques it has received over the years. He identified accounts, two separate areas. The Invited by President Bollinger and Provost the 17th century as the critical turning point, idea was that anyone at the front Alan Brinkley to deliver this semester’s when scientific theorists such as Isaac Newton desk should be able to field diverse University Lecture on Oct. 25th, Bilgrami chose and Robert Boyle put forward the idea of matter MICHAEL DAMES continued on page 8 continued on page 8 www.columbia.edu/news 2 NOVEMBER 10, 2006 TheRecord RECENT SIGHTINGS MILESTONES ROGER BAGNALL, professor of classics and history, is one of 10 corresponding fellows elected this year to the British Academy. Among the 65 newly elected members to the Institute of Medicine are four from CUMC: SUZANNE BAKKEN, alumni professor of nursing; BETTY DIAMOND, chief of rheumatology; SHERRY GLIED, professor and chair of the Mailman School’s health and policy management department; and STEPHEN GOFF, Higgins professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics. MEDHA BHALODKAR has joined CUIT in the newly cre- ated role of chief information security officer. History professor MATTHEW CONNELLY is currently a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, doing research on the history of how people think about and prepare for the future. RAY FISMAN, professor of finance and economics at the business school, has earned a Rising Star Award from the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program for his promising work on corporate social responsibility. VINCENT GUILAMO-RAMOS, an associate professor at the School of Social Work, has received the 2006 Comite Noviembre “Lo Mejor de Nuestra Comunidad” [The Best of Our Community] Award, in recognition of his work with Puerto Rican and other Latino families. JOSEPH HARNEY has been appointed to serve in the EILEEN BARROSO new role of vice president for procurement services in the Finance Division. FIDDLER ON THE STEPS JACQUELINE VAN GORKOM, professor of astronomy and Busking on the steps of Low may not make Rob Hecht a rich man, but the Illinois native, now a resident of Brooklyn, found it a pleasant way to an expert on the evolution of galaxies, has been elect- while away his time after the piano lesson he was supposed to teach got cancelled. “Usually I busk on the subway platforms,” he said, “but it ed as a corresponding member of the Royal Dutch was such a beautiful day, I decided to sit outside and fiddle. I enjoyed the sun and watching little kids dance.”Asked about his Columbia con- Academy of Sciences. nections, he reported that Barnard music student Hannah Kreiger-Benson is the vocalist for his band, House of Isness. But could he have also been drawn by the spirit of Jack Kerouac (CC’44), whose memory is being celebrated on campus this month? The band’s Web site lists the Phi Beta Kappa has honored CHARLES TILLY, Joseph L. famed beat poet as one of its influences. Buttenwieser professor of social science, with its 2006 Sidney Hook Memorial Award. FRANCES VAVRUS, associate professor of education at Is Bard Hall a musical Teachers College, has received a Fulbright scholarship to lecture and conduct research in Tanzania. USPS 090-710 ISSN 0747-4504 oasis for medical Vol. 32, No. 4, November 10, 2006 GRANTS & GIFTS Published by the students? Major Investment in Clinical Science Office of Communications and Public Affairs WHO GAVE IT: National Institutes of Health (NIH) HOW MUCH: $54 million Dear Alma’s Owl, WHO GOT IT: Columbia University Medical Center t: 212-854-5573 WHAT FOR: To improve medical care by developing new f: 212-678-4817 I was in Bard Hall the other day and heard piano music—what’s that about? approaches to reaching underserved populations. — Music to My Ears Columbia is one of 12 initial academic participants.