President Barack Obama, CC ’83, announced on March 3 that he plans to nominate Julius Genachowski, CC ’85, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Genachowski would replace current Acting Chairman Michael Copps.
Genachowski earned his B.A. in history magna cum laude from Columbia College and later attended Harvard Law School. While at Columbia, he attempted to resurrect a weekly newspaper, Acta Columbiana—defunct since 1885—as a rival to the Columbia Spectator.
Genachowski is the seventh Columbia graduate that Obama has nominated for a position in his young administration, and if confirmed, Genachowski will be the sixth to actually assume a position.
Eric Holder, CC ’73, Law ’76, and a University trustee, won Congressional confirmation and was sworn in as U.S. attorney general on Feb. 3. Trevor W. Morrison, Law ’98, was appointed associate White House counsel to the president. Jeh C. Johnson, Law ’82, was chosen as general counsel to the Department of Defense. Lanny A. Breuer, CC ’80, Law ’85, is Obama’s nominee for assistant attorney general, and Jared Bernstein, Social Work ’94, is the chief economist under Vice President Joseph Biden.
In February, Obama nominated New Hampshire Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH), CC ’69, for commerce secretary, but Gregg ended his candidacy less than two weeks later.
Despite the extensive homage Obama has paid to Columbia in his administrative nominations, he has visited the Alma Mater only once since he declared his presidential candidacy, when he appeared at the Service Nation Presidential Candidates Forum alongside Republican opponent Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) last September.