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CAMPUS BULLETINS
 WELCOME,
’04: The first College class to number over 1,000 has arrived
on campus, and if there were concerns that increasing the class
size (albeit only by about 50 students) might result in a diluted
talent pool, those have been laid to rest. Admissions officers had
more students than ever to choose from, and the resulting group of
matriculants has the highest mean SAT scores in school
history.
A
record 13,464 applications were received for the Class of
’04, up 3.5 percent from a year ago and 55 percent since
1995. Of these, 12.99 percent were admitted — down from 13.6
percent last year and the first time Columbia’s admit rate
has inched below 13 percent.
Of
those 1,749 accepted students, 1,015 promised to register — a
yield rate of 58 percent, up from 55 percent a year ago and an
indication that the College is increasingly a school of choice.
Those 1,015 matriculants (the exact number of class members was not
available when this issue went to press in August) had a mean SAT
verbal score of 701.3 and a mean SAT math score of 696.6. The mean
combined SAT score of 1,398 was up a tick from last year’s
1,394, and up significantly from 1,303 five years ago.
Columbia received 1,331 applications for early decision, up 15
percent from a year ago and up 74 percent from 1996 — an
indication that the College is not just a school of choice, but a
school of first choice.
And
if you were wondering whether applying for early decision (and
making the commitment to attend if accepted) increases a
student’s chances for admission, consider that the College
admitted 474 early decision candidates, 35.6 percent of all early
decision applicants — nearly triple the total admit rate, and
more than triple the admit rate of “regular”
applicants.
SUMMER OF
STARS: Warm summer evenings under dark, starry skies were available
to College students in a five-week, five-credit summer astronomy
program offered at the University’s Biosphere 2 Center near
Tucson, Ariz. Summer of Stars was an intensive immersion course in
astronomy designed for the adventurous liberal arts major looking
for a serious introduction to the field.
Last
fall, astronomy enthusiasts like Madeline Reed ’00,
Kate Grossman ’01 and Chelsea Ward ’00
headed to southern Arizona for the “night life” at
Biosphere 2 Center for the Universe Semester. The very dark, very
clear night skies are even harder to resist during the summer
months. “You can’t even see the Milky Way in New
York,” one student said.
The
centerpiece of the astronomy program is the new Biosphere 2
Observatory, with its 24-inch reflecting telescope. Dedicated last
fall, the observatory provides students with research quality
equipment to study astronomy. “Putting your hands on a
telescope, learning it, using it on a nightly basis —
that’s what makes astronomy real to a student,” said
astronomy professor David Helfand.
The
Summer of Stars program took advantage of southern Arizona’s
status as a premier center for astronomical observation. Guest
lectures featured world class astronomers, while field trips took
students to the nearby Kitt Peak National Observatory and the famed
Mirror Lab at the University of Arizona, where some of the most
technologically advanced telescope mirrors in the world are
produced.
Since 1996, approximately 650 undergraduate students have
participated in the interdisciplinary, hands-on learning
experiences offered at Biosphere 2.
Kendra Crook ’95
FUND
RISES: For the third year in a row, the Columbia College Fund
posted record contributions. Thanks to the generosity of alumni,
parents, students and friends of the College, more than $7.5
million in unrestricted gifts was received, an increase of more
than 7 percent over last year’s $7 million. An additional $20
million in gifts were received for capital purposes at the College,
chiefly scholarship endowments and gifts for new and renovated
facilities, bringing total contributions to about $28
million.
The
College Fund Committee, working in conjunction with the development
staff in the alumni office, was led for the second year by chairman
Robert Berne ’60, with six vice chairs supporting his
efforts: Abby Black-Elbaum ’92, Steve Jacobs
’75, Conrad Lung ’72, Evan Ratner
’85, Larry Rubinstein ’60 and Steve
Schwartz ’70.
One
highlight was the record participation by the Class of 2000, with
more than 20 percent of graduating seniors choosing to support the
College Fund. Young alumni giving also was stimulated by last
year’s launch of the Hamilton Associates honor society for
young alumni/senior class donors.
Gifts to the Fund allow Dean Austin Quigley and his
staff to pursue initiatives to improve the services and resources
offered to students of the College. Unrestricted gifts are those
which give the dean the most flexibility to use where he sees the
need, providing current and immediately usable funds for the
College’s many programs, including financial aid and student
services.
WE’RE NO. 1: A recent article in The New York Times
looked at the way universities are trying to turn more of their
intellectual capital into financial capital and reported that
Columbia leads the nation in income from patents and royalties
— nearly $100 million last year, more than $144 million this
year. Columbia Provost Jonathan Cole ‘64 was quoted as
saying it was possible to pursue such revenues while safeguarding
the underlying values of the university: “I think the
dominant values are predominantly the same as they used to be. The
income is only a means to continue to pursue our
mission.”
CASTING A
STONE: University Professor Edward Said aroused controversy
in July when, during a visit to Lebanon, he was portrayed in a
photograph hurling a stone toward the Israeli border. The
photograph was distributed by the French news agency Agence
France-Presse and published in the New York Daily News and
the Columbia Summer Spectator, among other media outlets.
Said claimed he did not aim the stone at Israeli soldiers, and
according to an account in the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir,
it did not hit anyone, but rather struck a barbed wire fence in
front of a watchtower from which Israeli flags were flying. The
action received significant media coverage in the Middle East:
critics labeled it inflammatory, while Said described it in a
written statement as “a symbolic gesture of joy that the
occupation had ended.”
BROWN
PUNISHED: Brown’s football team was ruled ineligible for this
year’s Ivy League championship because some coaches, alumni
and staff were found to have violated financial aid rules. It is
the first time the Council of Ivy Group Presidents has ruled a
school ineligible for the title in the league’s 56-year
history. “The council is determined to make clear that the
remedies for violations of this rule will be severe,” said
Columbia President George Rupp, the council’s
chairman. The council also reduced by five the number of players
the Brown football program is able to recruit in each of the next
two years. The infractions reportedly ranged from offers of
financial aid in violation of the Ivy League ban on athletic
scholarships to improper contact with prospects at an annual
football banquet.
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