John Jay Awards Dinner Honors Alums

Wednesday evening’s John Jay Awards ceremony was a celebration of all things Columbia—the Core Curriculum, New York, and Barnard women.

According to honoree Robert Friedman, CC ’64, who joked that he’s so old that tuition his freshman year was just a tad over $1000, the most memorable aspect of the Columbia experience was not the academics.

“Freshman year, I met this terrific Barnard freshman,” he said, turning to the woman who eventually became his wife. “Thank you, Barbara, for giving me a second shot sophomore year after I invited you to the freshman carnival and you said ‘Get lost.’”

Friedman, who is chief legal officer at The Blackstone Group, and four other notable alumni were honored for their professional achievements and generosity to Columbia College before a packed crowd of alumni and John Jay Scholars at Cipriani in the 30th annual fundraiser for the John Jay Scholars program.

University President Lee Bollinger spoke about the importance of fundraising as Columbia seeks to expand in Manhattanville and expand financial aid offerings, and Columbia College dean Austin Quigley extolled the multitasking dynamism of college students and faculty.

The fundraiser seemed to take on an extra dimension of urgency during a week in which the University is expected to announce dramatic undergraduate financial aid reforms. Each of the several hundred alumni attendees paid hundreds of dollars for a seat at the event.

“We should remember that this nice black-tie event with all this pomp and circumstance is helping to do a lot of important stuff,” honoree Jonathan Lavine, CC ’88, a managing director at Bain Capital, said to the event’s attendees. “Twenty years from now, there will be another person up here who your donations helped.”

Each award recipient reminisced in turn about the impact that their years at Columbia had on their lives and careers. Columbia art history and archaeology professor Barry Bergdoll, CC ’77, who is also a chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art, said that his first year of college was marked by calamity after character-building calamity, from a fall heat wave to a campus food service strike.

“When I arrived there in 1973, it was a kind of hard or tough love,” he said, adding affectionately, “Columbia, oasis of inquiry, never more than two steps from the action.”

All of the award winners brought tables full of friends and family to the event, but Alexandra Wallace Creed, CC ’88, had an extra-special well-wisher. Introducing her speech was her boss, NBC news anchor Brian Williams, who congratulated all of the honorees in a pre-taped message.

The final recipient, Ronald Mason, CC ’74 and president of Jackson State University, said that as a university president himself, he couldn’t let the opportunity of a room full of captive alumni to pass by, despite contrary instructions from Bollinger.

“I asked President Bollinger and he said I couldn’t do it because it’s his show,” he joked. “So I don’t ask for any dollars, but if you have any loose change...”

jacob.schneider@columbiaspectator.com