On Inauguration Day, Obama’s call for change will be answered by Columbia students and faculty, many of whom will be skipping class for the first time. As Barack Obama, CC ’83, is sworn in as America’s 44th President, thousands of rosy-cheeked Columbians will shift gears from their typically studious ways on the first day of classes to sip hot cocoa and witness history.
Since the start of the semester falls on Inauguration Day, Tuesday will become a quasi-official University holiday. University President Lee Bollinger has invited students, faculty, and alumni to watch the inauguration live on a JumboTron at the Low Plaza. The inauguration will also be aired in Barnard College’s James Room. Expectedly, many students and faculty will be forgoing classes in order to watch the first Columbia College graduate get sworn into office.
“I haven’t ‘cancelled’ the class, just moved it to Low Plaza,” history professor Anders Stephanson said. “Seems [like] an occasion not to be missed in real time ... not only, rightly, for celebration but also for historical memory as well as critical reflection on what makes an event, and especially a historic one.”
Literature Humanities professor Judith Wermuth-Atkinson cited similar reasons for canceling her class, acknowledging the importance the event plays for today’s generation of students. “Why would I miss the opportunity to let my students experience perhaps one of the greatest moments of their own time?” she asked. “This is how we learn to understand history, and how we become socially and politically engaged.”
Others opted to hold class but remain open-minded about the day’s pressing significance.
“I fully understand that many, if not most, students will choose not to attend this first lecture, and I fully respect this decision given the historic nature of President-elect Obama’s inauguration,” chemistry professor Ruben Gonzalez said. “Students who choose not to attend my class will not be judged or penalized in any way.”
Sean Knox, GS ’11, said that his teachers were supportive of his decision to miss the first two days of classes in order to view the inauguration in Washington D.C. “My classes are my top priority, so I e-mailed all of my professors and I explained why this day is so important to me,” said Knox, who was a full-time volunteer for Obama during the campaign season.
Still, other professors insist that classes must go on, claiming that watching the inauguration live is not critical for a full appreciation of the day’s importance.
“My own humble opinion is that students should go to class and watch the speech later on YouTube,” political science professor Jack Snyder said.
History professor Richard Wortman said that students should attend class and view the inauguration on television or online. “The event is undoubtedly of great historical significance, but so are the hearings on cabinet nominations, reports from Gaza, Iraq, and Afghanistan, yet one must proceed with the serious study of history if one is able to place ‘history in action’ in proper historical perspective.”
Some are skeptical about the very notion of canceling the first day of classes.
“Of course, Barnard canceled classes for President Spar’s inauguration,” mathematics professor David Bayer said. “But it would look odd to selectively cancel classes for incoming presidents that aren’t idiot world-wreckers—we’re supposed to appear impartial.”
Barnard history professor Robert McCaughey agreed. “I find it hard to believe that large numbers of faculty [members] will not be meeting scheduled classes next Tuesday and will not be doing so because of the inauguration. My understanding is that the University Senate sets the academic calendar, not individual faculty or students.”
He did note, however, that the day’s events did not pan out in quite the same way during the two Bush inaugurations, which he did not remember the University officially acknowledging.
Yet Columbia students and faculty have their heads turned toward the future, as Obama promises to herald “A new birth of freedom” on Jan. 20.
“As far as I’m concerned, history is action, and I wouldn’t want anyone to miss it,” history professor Carol Gluck said.