University President Lee Bollinger sat down with about 50 undergraduates on Tuesday night to answer questions about embattled SEAS Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora, gentrification in Harlem, and McKinsey and Company’s recent report on Columbia’s Arts and Sciences, among other topics.
Undergraduates were chosen by lottery for the fireside chat, which Bollinger held at his house at 116th Street and Morningside Drive. Meanwhile, about 20 students attended an alternative event outside Bollinger’s house, hosted by Occupy Columbia.
Early in the evening, a student from the School of Engineering and Applied Science asked Bollinger about his “thoughts on the future” of the engineering school, in the wake of widespread faculty discontent with Peña-Mora that became public last semester.
“Feni is a new dean. He has a lot to learn,” Bollinger said. “Columbia is a complicated place.”
Still, Bollinger expressed confidence in Peña-Mora and in the future of the engineering school.
“I think there’s enormous potential in Feni … I’m optimistic that the school will continue on the same path it’s on now,” he said.
Asked about Columbia’s ongoing expansion project in Manhattanville, Bollinger also addressed the issue of gentrification in Harlem.
“We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to build very good relations with Harlem and about how to contribute to the betterment of Harlem,” he said. Gentrification, he added, is “something that Columbia can’t really control … The process is something much, much bigger than Columbia.”
When Yusuf Ahmad, CC ’12, asked a general question about the University’s transparency, Bollinger responded with what he admitted was a “general answer.” Ahmad followed up by asking why Columbia hasn’t released McKinsey’s report on the Arts and Sciences’ administrative structure, which some believe sparked philosophy professor Michele Moody-Adams’ resignation as Columbia College dean last year.
“The institution—we—decided not to release the McKinsey report,” Bollinger said. “And the reasons have to do with the promises made, the engagement of McKinsey—which were to be private, secret, not a public document.”
Ahmad said after the event that he was “shocked” by this answer.
“The reason they didn’t publish it is because that was in the original agreement … That raises questions about the process and why that was in there,” Ahmad said.
Mara Kravitz, GS/JTS ’12, agreed, calling Bollinger’s answers about the University’s transparency “a little fishy.”
Others, though, were less skeptical of Bollinger—Maria Laposata, CC ’15, said that Bollinger “could have convinced me of anything.”
The fireside chat “cemented my belief that Columbia’s bureaucracy is not as bad as people say it is,” she said.
Bollinger also got a chance to discuss one of his favorite topics—Columbia’s Global Centers. Both Bollinger and Vice President for Global Centers Kenneth Prewitt answered questions surrounding globalization at Columbia.
Prewitt described the fifth-year study abroad program unveiled in December, and the two administrators also gave students a glimpse into what Prewitt called the “big dream” for Columbia’s future.
“In two decades from now, every single person who comes to Columbia ought to spend an entire year around the globe,” Prewitt said.
Near the end of the event, Bollinger opened the floor for students to offer suggestions on what they would like to see improved about their education. Answers included more professional opportunities for liberal arts majors and the chance to learn the real-world applications of classroom knowledge.
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