The Columbia University Senate voted on April 1, 2011 to lift the ROTC ban on campus. Columbia couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate date to pass this resolution. The 51 individuals who voted for this measure truly are April fools. Why? Because they allowed the program back on campus under the premise of “non-discrimination” after the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” (DADT), while ROTC was first banne...
...hip to the media, private funding, and politics of individual professors have been thrust into a contentious and lengthy debate. This debate is part of a larger question regarding the state of academic freedom in the American University. Tenure at Columbia and Barnard The Columbia tenure process is lengthy and complex. It is akin to the process of political appointments in the government, and given a certain set of circumstances, both cases beco...
It hasn’t even been four years since KAUST, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, was founded in the village of Thuwal in Saudi Arabia. The university’s vision is to become a world leader in research for disciplines of engineering, mathematics, and other physical sciences. Its campus is housed on 8,900 acres of desert, and features state-of-the-art laboratories including rare equipment for nanofabrication and imaging, and even...
Illustration by Justin Walker The Obama campaign’s direct and wide-scale efforts to mobilize the public in 2008 resulted in voter turnout rates unheard of since the 1960s. However, a report released by the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University predicts that there will be a drop in voter turnout for the 2012 elections due to political disenchantment among young voters. As the report summarizes, “Obama the preside...
...tem seems impressive. In 2009, Chile outscored all Latin American countries in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Since 1990, university attendance has tripled, and Chilean students often attain higher test scores than their Latin American neighbors. But in reality, education in Chile is flawed and disturbingly unequal. While Chilean universities l...
Illustration by Stephanie Mannheim In April 2009, Columbia University’s Task Force on Undergraduate Education released “An Agenda for the Future,” a cheery strategic document, which, translated into two words, read: excelsior, Columbia! On pages 16 and 17, the report rejoices in and urges forward the internationalization of Columbia – not just the establishment of foreign outposts vis-à-vis Global Centers and the development of the Global Core...
...y, the effect was to exacerbate inequality. Many credible studies of educational research—conducted by institutions including the National Center for Performance Initiatives, the Institute for Education Sciences, and Stanford University—have called into serious doubt claims in favor of merit-pay for teachers, standardized testing as a holistic measure of academic learning, and charter schools as improvements on the model of traditional public sch...
...independent student run presidential debate in the history of Mexico ahead of the July 1 election. Valeria is a 22-year-old law student at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México born into a Mexican and German family of university professors. She is an alumna of the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore and a spokesperson for the organization in Mexico. Valeria has lived in Germany, India, Argentina, Buenos Aires, and Chiapas...
...c of these new, politically invested Arabic students: “Since I wanted to work in facilitating Middle Eastern-US relations,” she says, “it was incredibly important that I learn the language of the region.” At George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs, students are required to take a language. When faced with the task of choosing one, freshman Mara Leff saw Arabic as an opportunity to break with the Romance languages she...
...how his election would be of particular interest to students. Columbia Political Review: Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion is a 50-year undertaking that will certainly have effects on the local Harlem community. How can the university ensure that it serves to enhance the community while simultaneously benefitting from it? Clyde Williams: As the largest employer and force in the District, it is essential that Columbia and the Uptown community co...
Follow us at
Like us on
Recent Comments