Utter Abstractions at Columbia

18 December 2006 The Weekly Standard Scrapbook item "Utter Abstractions at Columbia".  Note: Responding to Prof. Andrew Delbanco's New Republic article the Weekly Standard notes "Delbanco never mentions in his essay that in Columbia's case (as with many other elite universities) there is a simpler explanation than social class for the situation he laments. Columbia banned the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) from its campus in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam war. And as recently as May 2005, Columbia's Senate (an advisory panel of faculty and students) voted 53-10 to keep Morningside Heights pristinely military free."  See the 1 January responseby Austin Byrd.

Marine Corps Commissioning Ceremony at Columbia University - Mark Xue, CC 06

16 December 2006 Marine Corps Commissioning Ceremony at Columbia University - Mark Xue, CC 06.

Here we go again...

5 December 2006 BWOG (Columbia University Blue and White Blog) item "Here we go again...".  Note:  An item on the incident in which Columbia student Matt Sanchez was insulted for his military service is followed by a wide-ranging discussion that included ROTC.  Issues discussed include the question of why Columbia bans ROTC, citing discrimination against gays, but does not ban Red Cross blood drives in which gay men are not allowed to give blood.

Diversity Double-Talk: Ivy's 'Inclusion' Excludes Military

4 December 2006 New York Post column "Diversity Double-Talk: Ivy's 'Inclusion' Excludes Military" by Matt Sanchez.

Letter from Baghdad - Dispatch # 2

2 December 2006 The Eye (Columbia Spectator) article "Letter from Baghdad - Dispatch # 2" by Josh Arthur CC '04.  Note:  Arthur, recently graduated from Columbia and ROTC, describes how Iraqis are targeting each other more than Americans, but counterinsurgency remains important.

The Academy and Iraq: War College

1 December 2006 The New Republic article "The Academy and Iraq: War College" by Andrew Delbanco.  Note:   Prof. Delbanco writes "For the vast majority of students and faculty in places like Columbia--it's different for support and maintenance staff, who are more likely to have friends or family in the line of fire--war is an utter abstraction rather than an imaginable fact.  Perhaps the deepest divide in our country today runs between those for whom the war is a relentless threat to loved ones and those for whom it is a TV show to be switched on and off.  At places like Columbia, the former is our most underrepresented minority group."  See the 18 December Weekly Standard response and the 1 January response by Austin Byrd.