Thank you Mr. President, for remembering the little people
The New York Times has announced that President Barack Obama will speak at Barnard College's commencement ceremony. Having the president as commencement speaker is unequivocally a coup for any school. But there is some outrage on campus over this news.
Columbia and Barnard have a complex partnership - one I most certainly don't feel completely confident clarifying - which blurs the lines between the social and academic lives of the undergraduate schools. In a nutshell: we take each others classes (excluding the Core), dine in each other's dining halls (with restrictions), join the same clubs and organizations, even share the same spaces. But separate admission process, financial aid, Core Curriculum, campus traditions, and commencement ceremonies, among other things, constantly reaffirms that while Barnard is a Columbia partner, it's a separate institution.
Columbia students are displeased by the news because of two main reasons, if I am filtering the shouts correctly:
(1) Barnard didn't actively pursue his as a commencement speaker. Barnard already chose their commencement speaker. According to the NYT article, the White House called and they dropped her for Obama (which is an understandable decision given his title). On the other hand, Columbia, President Obama's Alma Mater, has been actively trying for three years to get him. Barnard gets him without even trying.
(2) Picking an all women's college would get President Obama the votes of women to support his re-election. But why another all women's college? Barnard is a great school, I'm sure, but there are other all women's colleges in the nation. Picking Barnard can only be viewed as an explicit rejection of this Alma Mater.
Politically, Obama is making a smart choice. Socially, he's in the wrong.
Columbia and Barnard have a complex partnership - one I most certainly don't feel completely confident clarifying - which blurs the lines between the social and academic lives of the undergraduate schools. In a nutshell: we take each others classes (excluding the Core), dine in each other's dining halls (with restrictions), join the same clubs and organizations, even share the same spaces. But separate admission process, financial aid, Core Curriculum, campus traditions, and commencement ceremonies, among other things, constantly reaffirms that while Barnard is a Columbia partner, it's a separate institution.
Columbia students are displeased by the news because of two main reasons, if I am filtering the shouts correctly:
(1) Barnard didn't actively pursue his as a commencement speaker. Barnard already chose their commencement speaker. According to the NYT article, the White House called and they dropped her for Obama (which is an understandable decision given his title). On the other hand, Columbia, President Obama's Alma Mater, has been actively trying for three years to get him. Barnard gets him without even trying.
(2) Picking an all women's college would get President Obama the votes of women to support his re-election. But why another all women's college? Barnard is a great school, I'm sure, but there are other all women's colleges in the nation. Picking Barnard can only be viewed as an explicit rejection of this Alma Mater.
Politically, Obama is making a smart choice. Socially, he's in the wrong.
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