MICHAEL ROTHFELD ’69 GEMMA TARLACH ‘90 BENEFICIARIES RECEIVES ALEXANDER PROVIDES A TOUCH OF REMEMBER HAMILTON MEDAL HOME IN ANTARCTICA JOHN W. KLUge ’37 PAGE 14 PAGE 72 PAGE 22 Columbia College January/February 2011 TODAY CCE Internships Prepare Students for the Future Students in Singapore spent the summer working at various businesses, learning about another culture and developing contacts through the Columbia network hoose as many as you like. C� Business n etworking � Social mixers for all ages � Lectures and presentations � Meet the author � Concerts � Special meals and wine tastings � Young alumni events � Events with other Ivy clubs � Private museum tours � Family fun events � Sporting events � Special interest groups � Broadway shows and of all kinds… backstage tours � …or start your own group It’s always your choice at the Columbia Club. Come see how the club’s many stimulating activities and events could fit into your life. For more information or to apply, visit www.columbiaclub.org or call (212) 719-0380. The Columbia University Club of New York in residence at 15 West 43 St. New York, N Y 10036 Columbia’s SocialIntellectualCulturalRecreationalProfessional Resource in Midtown. Columbia College Today Contents 14 22 16 34 30 80 38 COVER STORY ALUMNI NEWS DEPARTMENTS 42 2 CCE INT E RNSH I PS PR E PAR E B OO K SH E LF LE TT E RS TO TH E 16 Featured: History professor ED I TOR S TUD E NTS FOR TH E FUTUR E Samuel Moyn’s new book, The 3 Students get real-world experience before graduation Last Utopia: Human Rights in WI TH I N TH E FAM I LY through the Center for Career Education’s domestic History, traces the movement’s 4 AROUND TH E QUADS timeline as an ideology and and international internships. 4 2011 John Jay Awards discusses how human rights’ Honorees By Ethan Rouen ’04J unassailable status was 4 anything but inevitable. Columbia Campaign FEATURES Extended 44 B I TUAR ie S O 5 Bollinger Receives 45 Elizabeth A. Dwyer ’92 Five-Year Extension ROTHF E LD Recei V E S HAM I LTON ME DAL 14 The College presented Michael B. Rothfeld ’69, 71J, ’71 SIPA, ’71 47 C LASS NOT E S 6 CC Annual Fund Business with its highest honor at a black-tie gala in Low Rotunda. A LUMN I UPDAT E S Leadership Conference By Alex Sachare ’71; photos by Eileen Barroso 69 Tony Pagan ’85 7 Carnoy Named a 72 Trustee E M E MB E R I NG OHN LUG E Gemma Tarlach ’90 R J W. K ’37 8 22 Some of the students touched by John W. Kluge ’37’s 80 A LUMN I CORN E R Student Spotlight: generosity express their gratitude in heartfelt tributes. Tina Wadhwa ’07 used her Umar Agha ’11 Compiled by Shira Boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA Fulbright-MTV Fellowship 9 Alumni in the News to travel to India, where she 10 Campus News COLUMB I A FORUM explored residents’ escape 30 The DeWitt Clinton Professor of History Eric Foner ’63, ’69 from their difficult lives into 12 5 Minutes with … GSAS traces Abraham Lincoln’s journey to his stance against Bollywood films and music. Terry Plank slavery in this excerpt from his new book THE FIERY TRIAL: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Web Exclusives at college.columbia.edu/cct 34 TH E SUBTL E MA E STRO OF Sci SSOR SI ST E RS Scott Hoffman ’99 — Babydaddy to fans of his glam rock band FI R E wi TH FI R E Scissor Sisters — honed a strong work ethic at the College. Rock out with Scott Hoffman ’99 and Scissor Sisters’ first By Ben Johnson single on their most recent album, Night Work. 38 HO W TO COP E DUR I NG A Rece SS I ON ? TH E PO we R OF MUS ic START A FOOD OR BE V E RAG E BUS I N E SS Tina Wadhwa ’07 spent a year setting up dance and music Challenging economic times did not deter two groups of workshops for some of India’s poorest children. Watch the young alumni from starting businesses — custom chocolate children immerse themselves in the joy of two dance projects. and an alcoholic beverage. I V E OR E I NUT E S By Dina Cheney ’99 F M M Professor Terry Plank ’93 GSAS discusses the joys and FRONT COVER: CCE interns get a bird’s-eye view aboard the Singapore Flyer, DEREK TURNER ‘12; challenges of teaching science in the Core Curriculum. BACK COVER: EILEEN BARROSO COLUMBIA COLLEGE TODAY Letters to the Editor Kyle Smith and Tom Haggerty ’62 year where we only Volume 38 Number 3 Your article on Kyle Smith [November/ lost to Princeton but won the Ivy League January/February 2011 December] was terrific. He sure has a great championship anyway. EDITOR AND PUBLISHER attitude. I met him on my last trip to New Must we wait 100 years or so before we Alex Sachare ’71 York and was impressed. I have a gut feel- have championship seasons? Every other MANAGING EDITOR Ivy school has been able to win or share Lisa Palladino ing he will get the job done at Columbia. Unfortunately, when he at least five Ivy football or ASSOCIATE EDITOR men’s basketball champi- Ethan Rouen ’04J does we’ll probably lose him onships, while Columbia FORUM EDITOR to a higher-paying school … . Rose Kernochan ’82 Barnard But till then, it should be a has won only those two. CONTRIBUTING WRITER fun ride. Something is very wrong. Shira Boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA Good job. We need people who can EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS Bob Reiss ’52 bring home winning sea- Samantha Jean-Baptiste ’13 BOCA RATON , FLA . sons and championships. Atti Viragh ’12 GS The poor players cannot go ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, ADVERTISING [Editor’s note: The author is through the agony of de- Taren Cowan, 212-851-7967 a three-time letter-winner in feat year after year, and we ADVERTISING CONSULTANT Bruce Ellerstein, 917-226-7716 basketball and a member of cannot expect good players DESIGN CONSULTANT the 1950–51 team that went to come to Columbia. Do Jean-Claude Suarès 23–0 before losing to Illinois something about this Greek ART DIRECTOR in the NCAA tournament.] tragedy before we lose the Gates Sisters Studio two major sports through the agony of CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS This letter is in regard to your article con- constant defeat. Eileen Barroso cerning the new men’s head basketball Theodore Calvin Martin ’60 Char Smullyan coach, Kyle Smith. You mentioned that NEW CITY , N.Y. Columbia last won the Ivy League crown Published six times a year by the Student Life Columbia College Office of in 1968. Also mentioned was the 1950–51 Alumni Affairs and Development for team that won the Eastern Intercollegiate I read with interest the article about im- alumni, students, faculty, parents and Basketball Con ference title, the forerunner proved student services at Columbia friends of Columbia College. of the Ivy League, which was created in [Sept ember/October]. In my senior year, I Address all correspondence to: Columbia College Today 1954 and began competition in 1956–57. wrote a series of columns in Spectator gen- Columbia Alumni Center Permit me to mention that the 1946–47 tly poking fun at the low quality of stu- 622 W. 113th St., MC 4530 basketball team, of which I was an active dent services. The columns about health New York, NY 10025 member, won the Eastern Intercollegiate services and career services prompted 212-851-7852 E-mail (editorial): [email protected]; Basketball Conference title as well. The earnest conversations with well-meaning (advertising): [email protected]. same team won the following year, 1947– administrators seeking ideas on how to Online: college.columbia.edu/cct 48, for the first successive titles in the long improve; other columns (dining services, ISSN 0572-7820 history of Columbia basketball. I was faculty advising) didn’t even accomplish Opinions expressed are those of the no longer on the 1947–48 team, as I had that much. But nobody wrote in to say that authors and do not reflect official transferred to Harvard Medical School I was wrong in my assessment of service positions of Columbia College or Columbia University. on professional option. After completing quality. that year, I was placed in the 1948 Colum- I always thought that administrative © 2011 Columbia College Today All rights reserved. bia College graduating class. indifference actually had many positive ef- Dr. Murray Strober ’48 fects on student life at Columbia; it forced PASSAIC , N.J. students to be resilient, and in many in- stances united us against a common en- Agony of Defeat emy (a distraction from the more common Why in the name of whatever have we practice of aiming ill-advised barbs at each not been able to win a basketball or foot- other). It also prepared us for a post-gradu- ball championship since the 1960s? We ation world in which shabby customer ser- won one in basketball in 1968, the Jim vice was and is the norm. But on balance, CCT welcomes letters from readers about McMillian ’70 and Haywood Dotson ’70, of course, it’s a huge step forward for the articles in the magazine but cannot print or personally respond to all letters ’76L years, where Columbia was nation- institution to be providing better student received. Letters express the views of ally ranked only to lose to Davidson in services, and I certainly commend those at the writers and not CCT, the College or the University.