Any idiot who claims that there is no evidence that Barack Obama went to Columbia is either a complete retard or a complete liar.
"The Truth is Out There"
Michael Ackerman, Classmate
A young man with a red backpack often lingered outside the International Affairs Building. He was a commuter student, so he typically arrived early, but the door to his Modern Political Movements class was always locked until the last minute. His classmate, Michael Ackerman, CC ’84, always forgot whether his name was Barry or Barack. He knew that “Barak” means “thunder” in Hebrew, but Ackerman didn’t think he looked Jewish. Ackerman said he found his fellow political science major “charming,” but the two remained only casual acquaintances.
Barack Obama, CC ’83, was “almost chameleon-like, spy-like, slipped in and out,” Ackerman recalled. “He tried to keep to himself.”
According to Ackerman, who is now a lawyer in California, Obama sometimes played pick-up games of basketball and went to a few meetings of the Black Students Organization, but “he didn’t really hang out much” and kept his nose in the books. “At that time, a lot of commuters at Columbia weren’t as involved as people who lived on campus,” Ackerman said.
Jim Davidson, Classmate
… I met Barack Obama at Columbia University when we were both students there in Spring 1983… I was a student at Columbia University 1981–1985.
Not only did I meet and talk with Barack Obama at some length, he wrote an essay that was published in The Sundial magazine on campus in 1983. Over the byline “Barack Obama” is a discussion of the anti-war groups on campus, including Students Against Militarism, a group I was a member of. (I was also a member of Young Americans for Freedom.)…
So, in summary, I was a student at Columbia, I met Barack Obama, I knew he was a student, and he and I talked, among other things, about my involvement in Students Against Militarism, my discomfort with its connection to Maoists and Stalinists on campus, and my favourite hat with political buttons all over it.
Cathie M. Currie, Graduate Student
“I knew [Obama] while he was [at Columbia]. He was remarkable then, but not in the way that most people think of as “remarkable.” He was not trying to be noticed — he was studious and thoughtful. I said of him: “Whatever Barack decides to do for a career, he will be the best at it.” When he left our group he was often on his way to a library.”
“We played soccer on the lawn in front of Butler — I was usually the only woman playing and he treated me as equally as the others: if I was open, he sent the ball into the space in front of me, if I wasn’t open — he never made the silly passes that some men did to try to act like they were being egalitarian. The “into the space” passing was consistent — he was a superior strategist — and many of us had been college or semi-pro players. We always wanted him on our team.”
“After games we had discussions — and we found that the same thoughtfulness of play was evident in his thinking about policy and social issues. He was a serious guy, but always had a ready laugh or twinkle in his eye.”
“I was doing my Ph.D. — I assumed he was a fellow grad student. When I saw him on television at the Democratic Convention I was only surprised that I knew him, but entirely not surprised at his achievement.”
“The people who are making these claims, Fox et al, do not understand Columbia. I recently told a father of a current student that he should visit the campus on a warm Friday night to see the school environment that is uniquely CU — it is the same as when I studied there: hundreds of us sitting on the library steps doing school work on laptops.”
Currie isn’t surprised that he was not widely-remembered by fellow Columbia classmates. “My sense of it was that he was keeping a low profile,” Currie said.
He seemed like someone who had made a decision to prioritize his studies, she said. “We’d ask him to go out with us for beers after soccer,” she said. “He seemed like he wanted to, but then he’d step back and say, ‘Sorry, I’m going to the library.’”
"The Truth is Out There"
Michael Ackerman, Classmate
A young man with a red backpack often lingered outside the International Affairs Building. He was a commuter student, so he typically arrived early, but the door to his Modern Political Movements class was always locked until the last minute. His classmate, Michael Ackerman, CC ’84, always forgot whether his name was Barry or Barack. He knew that “Barak” means “thunder” in Hebrew, but Ackerman didn’t think he looked Jewish. Ackerman said he found his fellow political science major “charming,” but the two remained only casual acquaintances.
Barack Obama, CC ’83, was “almost chameleon-like, spy-like, slipped in and out,” Ackerman recalled. “He tried to keep to himself.”
According to Ackerman, who is now a lawyer in California, Obama sometimes played pick-up games of basketball and went to a few meetings of the Black Students Organization, but “he didn’t really hang out much” and kept his nose in the books. “At that time, a lot of commuters at Columbia weren’t as involved as people who lived on campus,” Ackerman said.
Jim Davidson, Classmate
… I met Barack Obama at Columbia University when we were both students there in Spring 1983… I was a student at Columbia University 1981–1985.
Not only did I meet and talk with Barack Obama at some length, he wrote an essay that was published in The Sundial magazine on campus in 1983. Over the byline “Barack Obama” is a discussion of the anti-war groups on campus, including Students Against Militarism, a group I was a member of. (I was also a member of Young Americans for Freedom.)…
So, in summary, I was a student at Columbia, I met Barack Obama, I knew he was a student, and he and I talked, among other things, about my involvement in Students Against Militarism, my discomfort with its connection to Maoists and Stalinists on campus, and my favourite hat with political buttons all over it.
Cathie M. Currie, Graduate Student
“I knew [Obama] while he was [at Columbia]. He was remarkable then, but not in the way that most people think of as “remarkable.” He was not trying to be noticed — he was studious and thoughtful. I said of him: “Whatever Barack decides to do for a career, he will be the best at it.” When he left our group he was often on his way to a library.”
“We played soccer on the lawn in front of Butler — I was usually the only woman playing and he treated me as equally as the others: if I was open, he sent the ball into the space in front of me, if I wasn’t open — he never made the silly passes that some men did to try to act like they were being egalitarian. The “into the space” passing was consistent — he was a superior strategist — and many of us had been college or semi-pro players. We always wanted him on our team.”
“After games we had discussions — and we found that the same thoughtfulness of play was evident in his thinking about policy and social issues. He was a serious guy, but always had a ready laugh or twinkle in his eye.”
“I was doing my Ph.D. — I assumed he was a fellow grad student. When I saw him on television at the Democratic Convention I was only surprised that I knew him, but entirely not surprised at his achievement.”
“The people who are making these claims, Fox et al, do not understand Columbia. I recently told a father of a current student that he should visit the campus on a warm Friday night to see the school environment that is uniquely CU — it is the same as when I studied there: hundreds of us sitting on the library steps doing school work on laptops.”
Currie isn’t surprised that he was not widely-remembered by fellow Columbia classmates. “My sense of it was that he was keeping a low profile,” Currie said.
He seemed like someone who had made a decision to prioritize his studies, she said. “We’d ask him to go out with us for beers after soccer,” she said. “He seemed like he wanted to, but then he’d step back and say, ‘Sorry, I’m going to the library.’”
