Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University
Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University
Japan Storm - Columbia College - Columbia University
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Volume 39 Number 2<br />
Winter 2011–12<br />
EDITOR AND PUBLISHER<br />
Alex Sachare ’71<br />
EXECUTIVE EDITOR<br />
Lisa Palladino<br />
MANAGING EDITOR<br />
Alexis Tonti ’11 Arts<br />
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT<br />
Karen Iorio<br />
FORUM EDITOR<br />
Rose Kernochan ’82 Barnard<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITER<br />
Shira Boss ’93, ’97J, ’98 SIPA<br />
EDITORIAL INTERN<br />
Benjamin W. Gittelson ’15<br />
DESIGN CONSULTANT<br />
Jean-Claude Suarès<br />
ART DIRECTOR<br />
Gates Sisters Studio<br />
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER<br />
Eileen Barroso<br />
Published quarterly by the<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>College</strong> Office of<br />
Alumni Affairs and Development for<br />
alumni, students, faculty, parents and<br />
friends of <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>College</strong>.<br />
SENIOR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR<br />
OF ALUMNI AFFAIRS AND<br />
COMMUNICATIONS<br />
Sherri Jones<br />
Address all correspondence to:<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>College</strong> Today<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong> Alumni Center<br />
622 W. 113th St., MC 4530, 1st Fl.<br />
New York, NY 10025<br />
212-851-7852<br />
E-mail (editorial): cct@columbia.edu;<br />
(advertising): cctadvertising@columbia.edu.<br />
Online: college.columbia.edu/cct.<br />
ISSN 0572-7820<br />
Opinions expressed are those of the<br />
authors and do not reflect official<br />
positions of <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>College</strong><br />
or <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>University</strong>.<br />
© 2011 <strong>Columbia</strong> <strong>College</strong> Today<br />
All rights reserved.<br />
Letters to the Editor<br />
ROTC<br />
David Stern ’66 may well<br />
not be “stuck in a ’60s mindset,”<br />
as he claims in his letter<br />
opposing ROTC’s return to<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong> (Fall 2011, college.<br />
columbia.edu/cct/fall11/<br />
letters_to_the_editor).<br />
However, he is not in command<br />
of current facts about<br />
the new relation between<br />
<strong>Columbia</strong> and ROTC.<br />
For decades before the<br />
Vietnam War, ROTC officers<br />
were routinely, often<br />
thoughtlessly, granted faculty status, and<br />
academic credit was given for courses that<br />
did not meet academic standards — a result<br />
of Cold War culture and legislative<br />
requirements. ROTC is returning — not<br />
only to <strong>Columbia</strong> but also to Stanford,<br />
Yale and Harvard — on wholly different<br />
grounds. These universities have full<br />
control of faculty appointments and the<br />
award of credit for courses, as stated in<br />
newly rewritten agreements with the Department<br />
of Defense. Drill in uniform —<br />
certainly with weapons — has long not<br />
been held on campuses that do not wish<br />
it. Uniforms are not routinely worn. <strong>Columbia</strong><br />
students in ROTC programs are<br />
not under military discipline. They enter<br />
the military after graduation, when commissioned<br />
as officers. In all relevant respects,<br />
they are indistinguishable from fellow<br />
students and have all the formal and<br />
informal rights enjoyed by other students.<br />
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WINTER 2011–12<br />
4<br />
Stern is certainly right<br />
that the Vietnam War was<br />
initiated and managed by<br />
civilians with the highest<br />
educational qualifications,<br />
including degrees from Ivy<br />
League institutions. Indeed,<br />
the invasion of Iraq was promoted<br />
by civilian advisers<br />
with the same qualifications,<br />
almost all of whom escaped<br />
military service during the<br />
Vietnam War while pursuing<br />
advanced degrees. Militarized<br />
civilian intellectuals<br />
are more dangerous than a professional<br />
military that knows firsthand the strategic<br />
and personal nature of war.<br />
It is a good idea to have an officer corps<br />
that includes those educated at excellent<br />
civilian universities in addition to the service<br />
academies. It also is a good idea that<br />
students who never enter military service<br />
have firsthand experience of fellow citizens<br />
who do serve in the military. Mutual<br />
comprehension between these groups is<br />
better for the nation than the reciprocal<br />
stereotyping and suspicious ignorance<br />
that has prevailed. ROTC at <strong>Columbia</strong> is<br />
a contribution toward those goals.<br />
Allan Silver<br />
emeritus Professor of soCioloGy<br />
neW yorK City<br />
Jenik Radon ’67<br />
I have known Jenik Radon ’67 (Fall 2011,<br />
college.columbia.edu/cct/fall11/alumni_<br />
profiles3) and some of his students since<br />
1993. The breadth of his interests and<br />
concerns remains jaw-dropping. His discipline<br />
and focus in getting things done is<br />
awe-inspiring. But I would commend him<br />
most for his devotion to his students. He is<br />
if anything devoted. I am certain that in every<br />
city and country he travels to he finds a<br />
student to help.<br />
Bohdan A. Oryshkevich ’68<br />
founder, usa/usa ProGram<br />
neW yorK City<br />
Piero Weiss ’50, ’70 GSAS<br />
Piero Weiss ’50, ’70 GSAS, an immensely<br />
talented pianist, musicologist and teacher<br />
at <strong>Columbia</strong> from 1964–85, passed away<br />
on October 2 at 83. I was privileged to