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SUMMER 2010 COLUMBIA MAGAZINE Starry Messenger Neil deGrasse Tyson brings the heavens down to Earth C1_FrontCoverGold.indd C1 6/7/10 8:37 AM Process CyanProcess MagentaProcess YellowProcess BlackPANTONE 871 C C2_CUCNY.indd C2 6/4/10 2:09 PM CONTENTS Summer 2010 26 12 32 DEPARTMENTS FEATURES 2 Letters 12 The Musings of the Spheres By Paul Hond 6 College Walk Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson Rules of the Game . Chairman of preaches a galactic gospel meant to awaken us the Boardwalk . Beat the Rap to our humanity. Will we listen? 40 In the City of New York 20 From Boots to Books Should the U.S. hold the trial of accused By Cindy Rodríguez 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Veterans of America’s wars are coming home Manhattan? Julie Menin doesn’t think so. to new educational opportunities. Three Columbia students tell their stories. 44 News 26 Autism, Unmasked 52 Commencement 2010 By David J. Craig How can doctors detect autism? What is its biological 54 Newsmakers profi le? What causes it? Columbia researchers are getting to the heart of a little-understood condition. 56 Explorations 32 2010: An Artspace Odyssey 58 Sports This year’s MFA thesis show is a study of what happens when different media collide. 60 Reviews 36 Poland’s Bitter Spring 66 Classifi eds By John Micgiel In the wake of the April plane crash that killed much 68 Finals of the leadership of Poland, a Columbia professor in Warsaw examines the fallout —— and the future. Cover: Portrait of Neil deGrasse Tyson by Tanit Sakakini 1 ToC_r1.indd 1 6/8/10 4:22 PM letters NETHERLAND I can readily identify with Steve Duncan’s Your article on Steve Duncan was abso- Paul Hond’s chronicle of Steve Duncan’s emotions about exploring tunnels. As an lutely fascinating. The photographs of urban exploring (“The Night Hunter,” engineering student in the early 1960s, I Duncan holding onto a manhole cover with Spring 2010) was a delight to read. As a attended many classes in Pupin Hall. one hand while steadying himself with the municipal employee, I’ve had the chance to I don’t quite remember how I discovered other was simply great. Add to that the fur- spelunk the storm sewers underneath Dal- the entrance to the tunnel connecting the tive look in his eyes, as if he were a sewer las, and have seen undiscovered craftsman- buildings along the west side of campus, rat coming out to do some mischief. The ship and hidden beauty dating to the Works but the secret passageway is etched into my photos — all wonderful. The picture of Progress Administration. I would be remiss, student memories. It was during extreme the Fleet River sewer in London shows a however, not to offer some caution: Noxious winter weather that this corridor became wonder of architectural masonry. I would gases are heavier than atmospheric gases, particularly handy, helping me to avoid the not be surprised if down the line Duncan and thus gravitate to low-lying areas, such freezing crosswinds. fi nds the organ used by the Phantom of the as tunnels. The Occupational Safety and I accessed the tunnel through an incon- Opera. You never know. Health Administration provides guidelines spicuous door inside the School of Mines Alfred Hamady ’44CC for confi ned-space entry, which include car- that I believe is now the Mathematics Battle Creek, MI rying an oxygen tank and a four-gas meter, Building. It was eerily lit by a few light- to monitor ambient oxygen content, natural bulbs emitting a dusty glow, and one SUSPICIOUS MINDS gas and combustibles, carbon monoxide, would walk along large-diameter pipes, I read “Defending the University” (Spring and hydrogen sulfi de (sewer gas). There which perhaps may have distributed steam 2010) with interest, since after more than a should be a colleague at ground level and for the heating system. quarter century as a professor I have grown a predetermined plan to get out fast should This provided us weary students with very suspicious of universities. I’m afraid the alarm on the meter sound. contrasting and comfortable warmth while that Jonathan Cole’s evasive answers to the A fi nal tip is to carry an extra-high-pow- crossing campus. The trick was to know Columbia interviewer’s questions did noth- ered fl ashlight. Had I relied on the fl oodlight which of the unmarked passageways led ing to allay my doubts. I note, for example, on the camera I was carrying (which went to which buildings. In my case, this tunnel that when the interviewer asked whether the dark in the middle of my walk) to record guided me to what was then the mechanical voices of well-informed nonfaculty critics my fi ndings, I would likely still be stranded engineering lab in the basement of Pupin. I should be heard, Cole’s answer was that their underneath the Texas State Fairgrounds, had arrived home, warm and cozy, ready freedom of speech should not be restricted. I 1000 feet from the nearest access manhole. for an exploration into thermodynamics. would have liked Cole to indicate an interest David Recht ’04GSAPP Nicolas Kariouk ’61SEAS in listening, or, if he thought no listening was Irving, TX Baton Rouge, LA warranted, to say so directly. 2 Columbia Summer 2010 2-5, 65 Letters.indd 2 6/4/10 2:22 PM COLUMBIA MAGAZINE When Cole said that universities expect agendas? And does Cole deduct anything Executive Vice President for University the state to allow them to be autonomous, from the university’s ledger of accomplish- Development and Alumni Relations and the interviewer asked, “Are you telling ment when society implements research Susan K. Feagin ’74GS society and the government, you just have fi ndings that later prove to be faulty? Executive Director of Communications to trust us?” Cole replied that he wants our I am much less pleased than Jonathan Offi ce of Alumni and Development graduates to support universities against Cole is about the enormous and continu- Jerry Kisslinger ’79CC, ’82GSAS “possible” intrusion. Would “Yes, society ally growing role that universities and their Editor in Chief just has to trust us” have been too honest? research play in our lives. For one thing, as Michael B. Shavelson The interviewer’s question about funding a citizen and a human being, I resent being Senior Editor also deserved an answer. It is incredibly viewed as a specimen. Jonathan Cole is a David J. Craig disingenuous for a former university pro- sociologist, so he knows what I mean. Senior Writer vost to suggest that there has ever been an Bruce Heiden ’72CC Paul Hond understanding between universities and Columbus, OH Staff Writer their fi nancial supporters that universi- Cindy Rodríguez ties are to be left autonomous. Any time Heiden is a professor of Greek and Latin at Contributing Editor a scholar, lab, or research center applies Ohio State University. Eric McHenry for a grant, they describe in advance what Designer the money will be used for. Columbia and Jonathan Cole responds: Eson Chan other major research universities have no It is unfortunate that after 25 years as a Assistant to the Editor problem accommodating themselves to the university professor, Bruce Heiden has let Allegra Panetto ’09BC demands of governments and other insti- his appropriate skepticism about the value Editorial Assistants tutional patrons. Judging from the inter- of great research universities turn into cyni- Isidro Del Valle, Kylie Rogers, Jay Yencich view, what bothers Cole about the U.S. cism. His suspicions are apparent in his government is the sometimes inconvenient response to a brief conversation about parts Web Editor Jacqueline Ballantine responsiveness of its elected offi cials to of my book, The Great American Univer- their constituents’ concerns. One wonders sity, with the editor of Columbia magazine. Mailing Address Columbia Magazine what kind of government Cole would pre- Heiden makes several points that require Columbia Alumni Center fer Columbia to work with. clarifi cation. Listening is, of course, a valu- 622 W. 113th Street, MC 4521 The interviewer quotes Cole’s cliché that able trait, and at universities it is particularly New York, NY 10025 Tel. 212-851-4155 great universities “challenge orthodox- valuable when the voices have enough exper- Fax 212-851-1950 ies . as well as social values, and public tise to make judgements about the quality of [email protected] policies.” Professor Cole: Universities are a a professor’s work — not when they don’t www.alumni.columbia.edu/magazine public policy. That is why they should be know what they are talking about. Address and Archive Assistance challenged more, by thinking people within University leaders should not simply tell [email protected] 212-851-4155 academia and outside — studied critically society to “trust us.” We should earn public To update your address online, visit as social institutions, not hidden behind a trust by demonstrating how the transmis- alumni.columbia.edu/directory self-serving mist of praise. sion and creation of knowledge has intrinsic or call 1-877-854-ALUM (2586). Cole talks about what universities have value and leads to discoveries, innovations, Associate Director, Advertising produced to change our lives, as if all of ideas, and concepts that change our ways Taren Cowan 212-851-7967 it were good. His story about the discov- of thinking and the quality of our lives. Of To download our advertising brochure ery of the prion narrates how a scientist course, not all that comes forth from great or submit a classifi ed advertisement with an unorthodox idea couldn’t get his universities is admirable.