Columbia Alums Return as World Leaders

Two Columbia alums who now lead former Soviet states discussed their nations’ futures at the World Leaders Forum yesterday morning.

Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia, Law ’94, and Toomas Hendrik Ilves of the Republic of Estonia, CC ’76, commented on their countries’ transitional economies, relations with the Russian Federation, and their time as students at Columbia. Saakashvili was elected to the Georgian presidency in 2004, while Ilves became the Estonian president in 2006.

After the speeches, President Ilves and his delegation joined Columbia College Dean of Academic Affairs Kathryn Yatrakis, other administrators, and a select group of students for a private luncheon after the event. Later, they toured Hamilton Hall before sitting down to discuss how Columbia has changed since Ilves’ time here along with his attempts to bring the Core Curriculum to Estonian universities.

“Rule of law, depoliticization of [the economy] ... this is what separates the successful countries from the unsuccessful,” Ilves said during the speech, at what University President Lee Bollinger dubbed a “mini-reunion” of Columbia graduates.

Saakashvili said, “Real leadership is about giving up, delegating powers.”

Both leaders noted mounting tensions and concern with their neighbor, the Russian Federation.

“How do we deal with authoritarian capitalism fueled by petrodollars?” Ilves asked, later citing Estonian-Russian relations as one of the primary reasons why he is such a strong proponent for European integration.

“If I never talked about Russia again in my life, I’d be okay with that,” he said. “We are focused on Europe.”

Saakashvili disagreed, saying that the best course of action is to remain calm. He nonetheless acknowledged that the Russian Federation is “becoming a closed society.”

Ilves, an outspoken advocate of the Core Curriculum, later connected his attempts at European integration with his academic experience at Columbia.

“The heart of liberal democracy is the Enlightenment, and if you don’t understand your own liberal roots, you don’t understand the society you live in,” he said. “You realize this when you meet others who don’t understand your roots.”

A psychology major here in the mid-1970s, Ilves’ years at Columbia were not part of New York’s finest era. “Columbia was falling apart at the time, the city was falling apart at the time,” he said.

“We generally view the 1960s, 1970s as a period of political activism,” Nirvikar Jassal, CC ’10 said. Contrary to this idea, Ilves claims that at best, students were trying to “reclaim their lost glories” and that there were not many issues to protest at the time.
In the mid-1990s, President Ilves, with the help of Dean Yatrakis, had attempted to institute a program similar to Columbia’s Core Curriculum in universities in Estonia.

He cited academic administrators with Soviet values as the main obstacle in achieving his goal then. The concepts of freedom of speech, a recurring theme on Columbia’s campus this week, and questioning a professor’s opinion were too radical for former Soviet leaders at the time. Ilves did note that given development in academic thought in Estonia, it may be time to revisit this plan.

Although most of the conversation with students surrounded Ilves’ penchant for the Core Curriculum, he also noted the quality of his peers was the highlight of his Columbia undergraduate experience.

“The fact that a professor can have a brilliant insight is expected, but it’s when someone else sitting around the table says something amazing, that’s when you feel the embarrassment of not having thought of it first,” he said.

Ilves also refuted the notion that the Core may be too focused on Western civilization, “If you don’t have a fundamental understanding of your own culture, then what’s the point” in studying other cultures he asked. “I think that the problem today is just the opposite, that people don’t understand the pillars of their own culture.”

When asked by Innokenty Pyretranker, CC ’10 and one of the students attending the meeting, what advice he would give Columbia students, Ilves simply answered, “Don’t do it for the money.”

Both post-Soviet leaders, Ilves and Saakashvili, have been active alumni throughout the past decade, and in recent years have invited Columbia students to intern in their governments through the Eesti Fellowship run by SIPA professor Jenik Radon, CC ’67.

The program started in 1990 and is open to undergraduates and graduate students and will include at least one position this summer in Estonia’s president’s office and one in the office of Georgia’s president.