The presidential race that captivated the country for months held a special resonance on campus, as Barack Obama, CC ’83, became not only the first black person to win the office, but also the first Columbia College alumnus to do so.
Leading up to the election, members of the Columbia University College Democrats campaigned for Obama and other party politicians in Virginia, and when he won, students in Morningside Heights spilled out from the gates and into the streets, dancing up into Harlem with joyous zeal.
“This was a shining moment in America’s history,” University President Lee Bollinger said. “Columbia had a special connection to it and a feeling about it that, I felt, sort of resonated and rippled through the institution. And the little event that I held and organized on the steps was a really memorable moment.”
Bollinger’s “little event” drew a crowd of thousands to Low Plaza, as students, faculty, staff, and locals watched Obama’s swearing-in ceremony on a jumbo-tron.
Around the neighborhood, New Yorkers also gathered together for the inauguration. Outside the Adam Clayton Powell building on 125th Street, Leon—a 31 year-old from Harlem—said that this was the first election in which he voted. “Growing up, I didn’t think this would really have been possible,” Leon said, adding, “I thought that maybe one day race relations would improve to the point where America could have a black president, but not this soon. You always have your doubts, but now we know that anything can happen.”
“It’s one of those moments where the right character is fitting the right moment,” history professor David Eisenbach said. “It’s almost like Barack Obama was made for this transitional moment in American politics—and it’s like he was made by this transitional moment in American politics. Where, for the first time, things are so crazy—up is down and down is up. ... It’s only possible where a guy like Barack Hussein Obama’s name can become president of the United States.”
Moreover, “Columbia University is freakin’ crazy about him,” New York State Coordinator for Students for Obama, Jared Walker, CC ’09, noted in anticipation of his arrival for the ServiceNation Presidents Forum this fall.
Still, despite his popularity on campus, Obama did not particularly cater to the crowd at his alma mater.
“He doesn’t appear to make a big deal of his having gone to Columbia. In fact, he barely ever mentions it,” history professor Eric Foner said during the election.
At the ServiceNation forum, Obama said, “This is my alma mater. And I want to thank”—he was then cut off by overwhelming applause, and continued—“I was saying, though, that the neighborhood’s changed. When I came here in 1980—some of the apartments around here didn’t look quite like what they look like now. And I could afford them. I don’t think I can now.”
Obama lived off-campus after transferring from Occidental College in Los Angeles. His political science classmate, Michael Ackerman, CC ’84, recalled him as “almost chameleon-like, spy-like, slipped in and out. He tried to keep to himself.”
But now that he has won his White House bid and finished off his first 100 days, Obama may be back.
“He promised me he would come and speak. I think I’m the only person in the world he made that promise to,” Bollinger said.
Bollinger explained that Columbia officials are working on bringing the president to campus, though he noted the challenge in negotiating Obama’s schedule.
“I’m confident that will happen,” Bollinger added. “I don’t know when.”
