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Spring 2016 COLLEGE ENTREPRENEURS STUDENTS TURN THEIR BUSINEss Columbia IDEAS INTO REALITY College Today OLYMPIC HOPEFUL CCT KATIE MEILi ’13 AIms TO SWIM IN RIO PAINTING CENTRAL PARK ROGER PASQUIEr ’69’s BOOK SEES THE PARK THROUGH ARTISTS’ eYES TRUTH SEEKER CNN anchor and correspondent Poppy Harlow ’05 delves into the stories that matter Contents features 20 A Voice with Heart CNN anchor and correspondent Poppy Harlow ’05 is driven by the search for truth. By Lauren Steussy 26 A Culture of Creation Launching businesses and joining startups are tantalizing career paths for Columbia College students. By Nathalie Alonso ’08 30 Trials and Tribulations Swimmer Katie Meili ’13 sets her sights on Rio’s Summer Olympics. By Charlotte Murtishaw BC’15 Cover: Photograph by Rayon Richards Contents departments alumninews 42 Message from CCAA President Douglas R. Wolf ’88 36 Reunions are a chance to look back on who you were. 43 Alumni in the News 44 Lions Ashley Kahn ’83, Bob Cottingham Jr. ’88, Kerry Constabile ’01, SIPA’06 48 Bookshelf Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg by Shana Knizhnik ’10 and Irin Carmon 50 Class Notes 92 Obituaries 96 Alumni Corner 3 Within the Family by Editor Alex Sachare ’71 Keith O’Shaughnessy ’94’s leonine connections The Core teaches critical thinking and helped him to become a published poet. questioning, skills that serve whether in journalism or entrepreneurship. CCT Web Extras CCT 4 Letters to the Editor • John Jay Awards Dinner album 7 Message from Dean James J. Valentini • More from the Mini-Mini-Core The College is supporting its many • Dean’s Scholarship Reception album budding entrepreneurs in myriad ways. • Reporting by Poppy Harlow ’05 8 Around the Quads • Ashley Kahn ’83 Q&A post-Grammy win Wanda Holland Greene ’89, TC’91 • Poetry by Keith O’Shaughnessy ’94 named a University trustee. college.columbia.edu/cct 18 Roar, Lion, Roar Fencing retains the top spot in the Ivies; baseball seeks a fourth consecutive crown. Like Columbia College Alumni: facebook.com/alumnicc 36 Columbia Forum: Painting Central Park Follow @Columbia_CCAA Exploring a beloved landmark through artists’ eyes. Join the Columbia College alumni network: By Roger S. Pasquier ’69 college.columbia.edu/alumni/linkedin KELLY CHAN BC’17 KELLY Within the Family The Importance of Thinking Critically hen I was a writer/editor at Spectator thinking pretty faces with good hair (men and women) all around the about going into journalism and more specifi- dial who can do that. What grabbed my attention was an cally sports writing, two of the people whose interview she conducted with an economist who was on tour W work I most admired were Robert Lipsyte ’57, plugging his latest book. She asked all the expected ques- JRN’59 and Leonard Koppett ’44. Lipsyte was then a sports tions and he gave all the carefully rehearsed answers, sound- columnist for The New York Times whose forte was placing ing strikingly similar to what I had heard him say when he sports in the context of the larger world, and Koppett, also was interviewed elsewhere the day before. But every once in writing at the Times, was known for his analytical approach to a while the interview went off the beaten path; Harlow asked sports writing and his deft use of statistics to support his theses. a follow-up question that made it zig instead of zag, and the I was reminded of them because of our cover story on economist seemed surprised and somewhat unsettled. His Poppy Harlow ’05, a news correspondent and weekend answers became more genuine; Harlow had pushed him off anchor at CNN. It’s no surprise that all are Columbians, and script, and he was left to answer the questions directly, as one that all benefited from the cornerstone of the College class- would in a normal conversation. room experience, the Core Curriculum. A good reporter has to be able to think on his or her feet, What does the Core have to do with journalism? If there to react to what is heard and be able to take an interview in is a commonality that binds all branches of the Core, it is an unplanned direction. The “critical and creative intellectual that it seeks to teach students how to think critically. As the capacity” developed in the Core Curriculum enables one to do Core website notes, “The habits of mind developed in the just that. And even in this age of the 24-hour news cycle and Core cultivate a critical and creative intellectual capacity that the rush to “break” news without regard for context or con- students employ long after college, in the pursuit and the ful- firmation, when everything is sound bites and snippets, there fillment of meaningful lives.” is still some good journalism to be found if you are willing to This certainly is true for the young entrepreneurs described invest the time and effort to find and enjoy it. in one of this issue’s feature stories, “A Culture of Creation” (page 26). It is equally true for journalists like Harlow, lexis Tonti SOA’11, our managing editor for the past Lipsyte and Koppett, and the many others who studied at A four years, left CCT in January to learn what it’s like the College. to work in the commercial magazine field, becoming special The ability to think critically, to not take everything at face projects editor at The Week. If you pick up a copy or go to its value and not be afraid to question what you are being told, website (theweek.com), you’ll note that she is using her new is a vital skill for journalists. Virtually anyone can conduct married name, Alexis Boncy. an interview, preparing questions, jotting them down on a To say we miss Alexis is an understatement. Her imprint notepad for easy recital at the appropriate time and then can be seen throughout CCT, from the quality of the articles recording the subject’s responses. But the best answers, the (and the writers she brought on board to write them) to the ones that reveal and enlighten and make an interview come recent redesign/reimagination of the magazine, for which she alive, rarely come in response to those kinds of questions. was a driving force. She helped plan this issue, assigning sev- They come in response to the follow-ups, the questions good eral of the articles and writing two of them. We hope she will reporters ask when they hear something in a response that continue to contribute as her time permits. doesn’t quite ring true. Good follow-up questions are the Alexis was a diligent editor who worked well with our ones that make headlines. writers to shape and polish their articles. She brought a cre- I don’t usually watch the cable news channels, but on a ative vision to CCT, its content, its look and its feel. She was recent Saturday afternoon the temperature north of NYC a tremendously hard worker who was a pleasure to work with, was about 2 degrees and none of the 47 college basketball and she became a friend and very much a member of our games littering my TV caught my fancy. So I turned to CNN family. We wish her all the best. Newsroom Weekend, with Harlow as anchor. Since I had never seen our cover subject on-air, I figured I’d check her out — and I was pleased that I did. Harlow adroitly handled the anchoring duties, smoothly setting up stories and bantering with reporters to create a Alex Sachare ’71 pleasant viewing experience. However, there are dozens of Editor in Chief Spring 2016 CCT 3 Letters to the Editor The Joy of Looking Wonderful portrait of Professor Robert E. Harrist Jr. GSAS’81 (Winter 2015–16). He seems to embody the ideal College graduate, despite not hav- ing attended Columbia as an undergrad. Not only does his enthusiasm cross boundaries among art forms but he moves easily between Western and East- ern traditions. When I was majoring in art history more than 30 years ago, I took a strong interest in traditional Chinese landscape painting. With no other options, I was forced to create my own independent study project on the topic under the tutelage of Richard Vinograd, Columbia’s Chinese art expert at the time. There was little dialogue between the Asian studies scholars and their West- ern counterparts. I don’t know if it reflects a more open approach to cultural studies on the part of the University as a whole, or if it’s only Harrist’s idiosyncratic tastes, but this dual interest in our familiar Western canon with that of other cultures, particularly the Chinese, is timely and refreshing. Mark Brennan ’82 Brooklyn, N.Y. Feeling Adrift and not to dwell on my ethnic background For Who/Whom the Bell Tolls or that of my fellow students. Most of my In your Winter 2015–16 issue, Melissa interactions with fellow Columbia students I enjoyed your article on my former WKCR Mark-Viverito ’91 states that she nearly were positive and educational. I avoided the colleague Michael Oren ’77, SIPA’78 abandoned Morningside Heights altogether, ones that were prejudiced. (Winter 2015–16). But what’s this I see? feeling adrift on a campus with few other Dr. Roman Kernitsky ’62 A reference to “Oren’s children, whom he Puerto Ricans and, she felt, with little sup- Colts Neck, N.J. says are not right-wingers”? Whether this port from the administration. blunder was committed by author or edi- I was only one of two Ukrainian-Amer- Postcrypt tor or proofreader I know not, but whoever icans in my class, yet I did not feel “adrift.” (whomever?) was responsible should be There is more than one dimension to a Many sweet memories came to mind in read- required to retake Freshman Seminar, or human being.

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