For University President Lee Bollinger, the past academic year has been rife with challenges, both internal and external.
Last year could be characterized as a time when Columbia was under the world’s scrutiny, wheeling between controversies. While that aspect did not completely fade away this year, Bollinger largely focused on internal issues at the University. This inward turn included filling key administrative positions, building up the individual schools, and continuing projects such as the Manhattanville expansion and the capital campaign.
“Every year has its own character,” Bollinger said in a May interview. “What has seemed to me called for this year has been a very much internal focus.”
Both Bollinger and the University as a whole were put in the spotlight at the very start of the academic year, when then-presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama, CC ‘83, spoke at Columbia in September as part of a ServiceNation summit. This event directed public attention to the University, due to both the impending election and Obama’s status as a Columbia alumnus. Though the event was not sponsored by the University, Bollinger agreed to give ServiceNation the space, arguing that the event would have positive effects on Columbia’s service initiatives.
In reference to Obama’s inauguration, which elicited an unprecedented showing of school spirit, Bollinger noted the seemingly campus-wide sentiment that Columbia has been “part of a significant time in America’s history,” and that this feeling of connection to the inaugural events “resonated and rippled throughout the University.”
Although the plan had already been approved before this year’s beginning, Bollinger continued to steer Columbia’s large-scale expansion into Manhattanville, a project that has aroused controversy over Columbia’s right to invoke eminent domain and the future consequences of the expansion on neighboring communities.
An even more contentious issue in which Bollinger has been involved is the question of Columbia’s role concerning academic freedom and scholarly research in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences met in April to discuss the formation of an advisory committee that would use Columbia resources to tackle problems of travel facing Palestinians who wish to come to American colleges. The meeting was the culmination of letters and petitions in which they called on Bollinger to take a public stance, especially after he criticized the United Kingdom’s professors’ union for boycotting Israeli academic institutions in June 2007. But Bollinger declined to take sides on the debate this time around.
“I have always welcomed principled discussions about academic freedom and, in my own scholarship, have regularly addressed issues of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and academic freedom,” Bollinger wrote in a letter to faculty members in March. “In general, however, I do not speak out nor does the University take official positions on specific actions by governments in the many ongoing conflicts around the world that might in some way also threaten academic freedom.” Bollinger has declined to comment further on the topic.
Much of Bollinger’s time has been focused on making appointments for several key administrative positions. This year, Michele Moody-Adams was appointed dean of Columbia College and Feniosky Peña-Mora was appointed dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. A new University provost will be selected this month.
Each of these appointments signifies to Bollinger the opportunity to further pursue goals that he has deemed important for Columbia.
Moody-Adams represents “our effort to try to have greater integration of the college into [Faculty of] Arts and Sciences,” Bollinger said in May. He believes her appointment as made “for the benefit of the students and for the benefit of faculty.”
Peña-Mora, whom Bollinger refers to as “Fenny,” offers “the opportunity to have new leadership, to galvanize around [SEAS’] objectives, and to build.” Specifically, he cited Peña-Mora’s ambition for advancement in such areas as biomedical engineering, nanoscience, and computer science.
Bollinger also has a busy agenda in mind for the as-of-yet unannounced replacement for Alan Brinkley, the current provost who is stepping down at the end of the year.
“There will be many things that ... I’ll want that person to get done, one of which will be looking at the budget model across the whole University,” Bollinger said of the incoming provost’s responsibilities. Additionally, Bollinger expects the new provost to dedicate a large amount of time to advancing the Columbia Global Centers in China and Jordan, as well as working alongside Bollinger on Manhattanville and the University’s capital campaign.
He seemed relieved at the prospect of finally announcing the new provost, because it will mark the end of his major administrative appointments of the year.
“I think we’ll come to a point here where I will not have any more appointments to make,” Bollinger said, laughing. By next year, the deanships of most of Columbia’s schools and other top administrative positions will have been filled.
Much of Bollinger’s time has been directed toward addressing the effects of the financial crisis on Columbia endowment and day-to-day operations.
A testament to the student body’s curiosity about the University’s economic standing is the fact that nearly every single one of Bollinger’s fireside chats in the past academic year has been dominated by conversation about the crisis and what it means for students and faculty.
For instance, during his Feb. 12 chat, Bollinger stated that “the crisis is affecting us in all kinds of ways,” which “may become visible” to students in future months and years.
Still, Bollinger maintains that budget-balancing has not taken priority over his main goal of internal organizing the University.
“I would say, on balance, trying to work internally with the key leaders has been the emphasis of the year.”
Meanwhile, Bollinger has been working on a book about journalism, which is slated to be published next year.
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