Northattan

Is Columbia University still in the running, in the hot, higher-education competition to build a $100 million engineering school in New York City?

Columbia University's Manhattanville development. Photo by Richard Drew/AP Photo.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn’t saying, though he did indicate on Wednesday that the city has eliminated a few of the seven proposals it’s been considering since late October.  Which ones? The mayor and his aides wouldn’t list them.

Columbia’s bid, which goes up against rival proposals from Stanford, Cornell and other prestigious institutions from around the country  (and India), is the only one that would build the city’s new high-tech graduate school in Northattan — on the university’s Manhattanville property where an expanded campus is already under construction.

The mayor’s plan for a high-tech “applied sciences” school  aims to attract more engineering talent to a city whose academic community has conspicuously lacked it, and Columbia hopes to gain a hometown advantage. In a recent interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, the university’s president, Lee Bollinger, referred to bids from institutions outside of the city as “branch campuses.”

“It would be a pity if there were an undue fascination with the new and the novel,” he told the magazine.

But this latest proposal for Columbia’s Manhattanville property comes at a time of increasing neighborhood outcry over the school’s Harlem expansions.

Local residents have been asking more and more if Columbia has been as good a New York neighbor as Bollinger claims. Of particular concern is the West Harlem Local Development Corporation, the nonprofit organization tasked with distributing about half of the $150 million that Columbia pledged to give West Harlem for community needs as part of its negotiations for the Manhattanville expansion.

Formed in 2006, with its Community Benefits Agreement with Columbia finalized in 2009, the WHLDC was intended to help ensure that $20 million of the Columbia money is allotted for an affordable housing fund, another $20 million for in-kind benefits, and $30 million for construction of an elementary and middle school in West Harlem.

But five years later, the West Harlem Local Development Corporation has no mission statement or website. It holds no public meetings, has no headquarters, and does not even have a public phone number.

While the WHLDC has received $3.55 million of Columbia’s money, the organization has not revealed how any of this money has been spent. Others have reported on some of the spending: the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development says it got  $300,000 to hire Harlem children for summer jobs, while DNAInfo reported the WHLDC has spent $400,000 in consultants and $300,000 in programming.

The lack of transparency has prompted criticism and calls for reform from an array of politicians. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued  a subpoena in November for the organization’s records, and Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem has publicly supported calls for an audit.

“The organization is weak,” said Vincent Morgan, a Harlem-based Democrat who has announced his candidacy for Rangel’s congressional seat. Morgan has made headlines recently for his outspoken criticism of the WHLDC. “The area is over 40 percent Hispanic, Dominican Americans, and there aren’t any Dominicans on the board! From a community standpoint, there are no lawyers, no bankers, nobody to know what to ask out of a contract,” Morgan said. (While the WHLDC has not officially made public any information on its board members, their names have leaked on the Internet, and consist of mostly local politicians and community representatives.)

Steps at the front of the Low Memorial Library, at Columbia University. Photo by AP Photo.

The many complaints about the development corporation’s lack of action has sent a question resonating throughout the community: has Columbia turned a blind eye to Harlem?

Thomas G. Lunke, director of planning at the Harlem Community Development Corp., said it’s not the first time Columbia has appeared to ignore community needs. Some years ago, said Lunke, Columbia agreed with community leaders that it would do a survey of northern Manhattan businesses and notify them of contracting jobs needed at the university. “Columbia has millions of dollars in contracts that they let every year, so businesses in northern Manhattan can fulfill those contracts,” said Lunke. “They said they would get back to us, but they never did.”

Still, with Columbia’s Manhattanville expansion in its early stages, and the results of the mayor’s engineering school contest still under deliberation, Curtis L. Archer, president of the Harlem Community Development Corp., said he wants to remain optimistic.

“You have to realize this is a process. Hopefully there will be somebody with strength and vision to chart a vision that will be inclusive of the community,” he said.

It’s unclear whether the current controversy over the West Harlem Local Development Corporation will have any impact on Mayor Bloomberg’s choice of which school gets to build the new engineering facility. Although a special advisory panel, the City Council and others will help vet the proposals, the mayor’s office has made clear that the final choice -– expected by January -– will be Bloomberg’s. Richard Hornsby, Columbia’s communications and public affairs director, declined to comment on the competition because the judging process is still under way.

Columbia’s proposed Institute for Data Sciences and Engineering was a last-minute entry, and it is up against strong bids from New York University, Cornell and Stanford. Unlike those schools, which hope to build on city-owned property on Roosevelt Island, Columbia’s proposal utilizes only university-owned land in Manhattanville.

Despite its roots in the city, Columbia’s proposal is considered a long shot.

“I think it’s safe to say that the city wouldn’t be doing this in the first place if there was a perception that Columbia and NYU were doing a fantastic job in applied sciences,” said Goldie Blumenstyk, writer for the Chronicle of Higher Education.  “If they can organize themselves to get greater activity out of Columbia, and get some of these other places to contribute to the New York economy — Stanford, Cornell — why not?”

UPDATE (Dec. 7, 2011): Mayor Bloomberg’s shortlist of candidates has been narrowed down to four applicants, The New York Daily News reports. Amity University and a group including New York Genome Center and Mount Sinai School of Medicine have reportedly been eliminated from the shortlist, leaving Columbia in competition with Cornell, Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and New York University. The Columbia Spectator notes that the final result should be announced in January.

Johnny Depp spoke as part of a panel on his new film "The Rum Diary." Photo by E.D. Cauchi/Columbia Journalism

“I like that the characters that he chooses are very quirky, and have a lot of depth,” said Columbia journalism student Zoe Read of Johnny Depp, while waiting in line for Depp’s appearance Monday night at Columbia. “Roles like ‘Benny and Joon,’ for example – not many people could have been able to play them.”

“I agree with everything,” said Marie-Sophie Schwarzer, another student. “Also, ‘Edward Scissorhands.’”

“Also, he’s hot,” added Dalal Mawad.

Sentiments like these were widely expressed among the students who began lining up 90 minutes early at Columbia’s Miller Theatre last night to hear Depp speak about Hunter S. Thompson. In an event timed to coincide with the release of “The Rum Diary,” Depp’s new film based on an early Thompson novel, Depp participated in a panel discussing Thompson’s journalistic legacy.

For a panel assembled for the edification of journalism students, the tenor in the room was unusual: As the journalism dean, Nicholas Lemann, took the stage to emcee the proceedings, he was met with anticipatory hoots, cheers and catcalls. More cheering greeted Depp as he finally took the stage, joined by guests including documentarian Alex Gibney and the film’s director, Bruce Robinson, for whom applause was polite, though decisively less pronounced.

Based loosely on Thompson’s experiences as a young writer in Puerto Rico, “The Rum Diary” follows a very Thompson-like writer as his ethics are questioned at a crumbling community newspaper in the tropics. Thompson’s first novel, “The Rum Diary” remained unpublished until long after his later first-person, wildly subjective books and articles (including “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “Hell’s Angels”) changed the medium. Why Depp, the star of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and a former People Magazine “Sexiest Man Alive,” was at a journalism school event about a movie in which excessive drinking plays a major role is a tale unto itself.

The process began last March, when Assistant Dean Irena Choi Stern, who had friends at the Film District, which is distributing the movie, learned that the company was looking for ways to market the film to college students, and hoped to arrange a screening at either Columbia or New York University, and Stern convinced Film District that Columbia’s journalism program gave it a natural advantage. What followed was a long negotiation, resolved only just over a month ago, involving much wrangling on where the appearance would fit into Depp’s promotional schedule.

While Columbia has played host to guests ranging from Henry Kissinger to Noam Chomsky to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a celebrity of Depp’s variety raises its own particular challenges. In recent years, only George Clooney’s 2005 appearance to discuss his journalism-themed film “Good Night and Good Luck” has been comparable, and appearances by paparazzi at that event informed preparations for Depp’s visit.

“I would say security detail is a big one,” said Stern. “He has his own security group that works with him, and we are working very closely with campus security. It’s not like having even a movie star of a different generation come, where it’s a little more sedate. This is teenage girls kicking it up a few notches.” As it turns out, teenage girls and paparazzi were conspicuously absent from the event, security remained cautious – those who attempted to grab a quick cellphone picture of Depp were quickly and audibly reprimanded by the theater’s staff.

Despite his fame, Depp’s appearance was approved for Columbia only because its focus was entirely centered on Thompson, “I think we have to strike this balance between fame and insight,” said Sree Sreenivasan, dean of student affairs, who says that Columbia generally declines offers for advanced promo screenings for films. “We have to be careful about these celebrity-type things because, just because someone’s famous doesn’t mean they have a lot of insight, or that they’ll be helpful to our students.”

After weeks of buildup, Depp’s appearance filled the 688-seat Miller Theatre to near capacity.  The one-hour talk was rigorously focused on Thompson, and Depp spoke no more or less than any other panelist, but each time he met with thunderous applause. Some students were seen filing out as “The Rum Diary” began; Depp himself did not stay for the screening.

When asked about why the former Sexiest Man Alive is a bigger draw than, for example, Noam Chomsky, Stern was realistic. “Because every person who goes to the movies or watches television knows Johnny Depp. Does Noam Chomsky have that kind of exposure? No. If you’ve been in his class or have his books, maybe, but there’s nothing quite like film to get your face and name out there.”

On a gray Monday morning during final exam week, Caroline Gagné, a sophomore at Columbia College, casually sat on a bench against the wall outside of Butler Library, smoking a Camel Light cigarette and drinking a cup of coffee. Just a normal smoke break – except that this time, by lighting up right beside the library, Gagné was in violation of a new policy on campus.

Caroline Gagné, a sophomore at Columbia, smokes her morning cigarette outside of Butler Library. Photo by Katrina Kaufman/Northattan.

The University Senate passed a resolution on Dec. 3 that prohibits smoking within 20 feet of all campus buildings on Columbia’s Morningside campus. Technically, the smoking ban is now in effect, but students are not being held accountable for transgressing it yet, according to Michael McNeil, Director of Columbia’s health services program Alice!, which promotes health initiatives to students.

“We feel it is our responsibility to allow some time to disseminate information to the institution, move receptacles, and put up proper signage before action will be taken to enforce this policy,” said McNeil, who also chaired the campus Tobacco Work Group that spent the past two years reviewing Columbia’s tobacco policies.

The university’s goal is to have all of that in place by Jan. 18, the first day of spring semester, said McNeil.

So Gagné, who was smoking about a foot away from Butler Library, was safe for the moment – and not too worried about the future..

“Twenty feet away is not that big a deal,’ she said. “I don’t think it would be that much of a sacrifice.”

A map showing the effect of a 20 foot ban on Columbia

If Gagné does violate the smoking ban once it’s formally in effect, she could be subject to a warning. But McNeil said that enforcement of the ban is a community issue and hoped that faculty and students will help enforce the policy on campus.

“We see no need for a heavy handed approach to this at all,” said McNeil. “We’re not expecting an issue. When people are aware or they are reminded, they generally comply.”

The Senate debate early this month initially considered banning smoking 50 feet from all Morningside campus buildings. The limit was reduced to 20 feet due to concerns about compliance and enforceability, according to Alex Frouman, a student senator for Columbia College. Frouman said that a 20-foot ban seemed more feasible, in part because banning smoking 50 feet from any building would de facto create a total smoking ban in the northeast part of the Morningside campus.

Some in the Senate favored a flat ban on smoking anywhere on campus. But after a contentious debate, the 20-foot ban was passed by a 31-13 vote in the University Senate,

Despite the lopsided vote, some senators say the debate is not over.

Mark A. Cohen, a Columbia Business School professor, is calling for a full smoking ban on campus.

“It’s a dangerous issue, and on top of that it’s unsanitary, unsightly and it ought to be something that the university rids itself of categorically,” said Cohen, a former smoker.

A student smokes near Avery, ignoring the building's current 50 foot smoking ban. Photo by Katrina Kaufman/Northattan.

The 20-foot ban complies with New York State law, which requires that colleges and universities forbid smoking within 20 feet of college residence halls. The state ban does not cover other academic buildings, but the university wanted to implement a consistent rule throughout campus, according to McNeil.

The university’s former smoking policy only prohibited smoking near residences halls. Certain buildings had imposed their own rules, such as the architecture school’s Avery Hall, which has maintained a ban on smoking within 50 feet of the building. The new 20-foot ban creates a uniform campus policy, negating specific building restrictions like the one at Avery.

With this policy, Columbia joins over 500 U.S. colleges and universities – about a fifth of all higher education campuses in the country – in implementing a smoking ban. At least 446 of these campuses are 100 percent smoke free, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

Campus-wide bans have been controversial at some institutions, such as the University of Kentucky, where pro-nicotine students staged a “smoke-out” in protest, according to the Time magazine article “Campus Smoking Bans? Some Saying ‘Lighten Up.’”

“A full ban would be unfair,” said Gagné “People would be late for class and on Broadway smoking thousands of cigarettes. People would still smoke on campus and get into trouble. Smoking is an addiction that some people aren’t ready to give up.”

But Cohen pointed out that Columbia’s Medical School campus on 168th Street and Broadway already instituted a full smoking ban and said the main campus also should act consistently with that decision.

A law student extinguishes her cigarette in a receptacle outside the Law School

“I understand the trauma of a smoker who is being deprived,” said Cohen, “But so what? It’s not something the university should support. It’s a poisonous habit.”

“I think the 20 or 50 foot rule is silly because are you going to have public safety officers walking around with tape measures?” he continued. “Are you going to delineate lines on the sidewalk to figure out where you can smoke?”

Brian Rice, a smoker and Columbia Law student, thinks that a 20-foot ban is reasonable, but he also opposes a full ban. “I think it would have the effect of just externalizing the problem, forcing the university’s smokers, along with their smoke and litter onto Columbia’s neighbors. I question the feasibility and desirability of enforcing such a ban.”

Rice admitted that smoking is a lonesome habit on this campus. Only about 16 percent of Columbia students are smokers, according to McNeil.

Smoking is legal as long as smokers meet New York state age regulations, said McNeil, but private organizations and public venues have the authority to establish guidelines limiting or banning smoking on their premises.

Ron Mazor, a student senator for Columbia Law School, is against a full smoking ban but feels that the new 20-foot ban is a fair compromise. He expressed concern that a full ban would infringe upon the rights of smokers at Columbia. Mazor does not smoke.

“I think smokers are a significant and valued group of people on campus who should be treated with consideration for their personal choice regarding a legal habit,” said Mazor.

He added, “Smoking restrictions that go significantly beyond state law, such as a full ban, only serve to alienate them and create severe hardship for them while on campus. Such a ban is antithetical to creating a tolerant space of free, open exchange and interaction.”

Cohen plans to propose a full ban resolution at the Senate’s next meeting on Feb. 4.

Columbia University’s sheltered fraternity row on West 114th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway was tense Tuesday, after New York City police staged a dawn raid to arrest five undergraduate students on charges that they sold ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, LSD and Adderall from several fraternity houses and campus dorms.

Columbia frat boys shielded themselves from reporters as they entered the Alpha Epsilon Pi brownstone on West 114th Street. Photo by Carlos Mayorga/Northattan.

Along fraternity row, students rushed down the street, covered their faces with hoods and turned away or even cursed at reporters swarming outside the brownstone fraternity houses. As a Channel 2 news crew filmed outside one house, residents inside lowered all the blinds.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said undergraduate student Mark Holloway of the drug bust.

“I want to feel bad for the kids. People here are smart,” said Columbia junior Lew Bibler, 20, who lives near the frat houses, reflecting the somber reaction of many students at the news swirled around campus. “I’m sure they’re good kids. College is expensive.”

The arrests marked the climax of “Operation Ivy League,” a five-month undercover narcotics investigation, in which police say they made 31 drug buys totaling $11,000 from Columbia students at Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Psi Upsilon fraternities, as well as the Intercultural House and East Campus dorms.

Harrison David, 20, faces the most serious charges of the five students for his sale of cocaine, according to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

The arrested students, Harrison David, Adam Klein, Chris Coles and Jose Stephan Perez, all 20; and Michael Wymbs, 22, were arraigned this afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court. All five pleaded not guilty, and bail was set for each. The Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said Wymbs was released quickly when his parents arrived with a cashier’s check to post bail. The office said the other students would be sent to Riker’s Island jail Tuesday night if bail was not paid.

The operation also led to arrests of three people who police say supplied the students with drugs to sell on campus: Roberto Lagares, Megan Asper and Miron Sarzynski,. Sarzynski faces additional charges of plotting to kidnap a pair of rival cocaine traffickers.

Police said that in searching the five Columbia students’ rooms this morning, they found a bottle of LSD, 50 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets, 15 Adderall pills, more than half a pound of marijuana and approximately $2,000 cash.

New York City Police Detective Stephen Arienta said that Coles, who is charged with selling marijuana, told arresting officers this morning “I just sell it to pay tuition.” Arienta said David told the officers “Why do you think I have to do this,” that his father  “won’t pay my tuition.”

Adam Klein, 20, is accused of selling Altoids laced with LSD. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

Intelligence from other investigations and some community complaints called into Crimestoppers led to the initial investigation, said Kati Cornell of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office. Cornell said that Operation Ivy League began with an investigation of David. A young undercover officer posed as a would-be distributor who wanted to sell drugs at another school outside of New York City. David referred the undercover officer to the other students, who also supplied the officer with drugs, according to Cornell.

An acquaintance of David, who declined to be identified, described him as a “low-key guy, subdued in a pothead kind of way.”

Another student who asked not to be identified said he knew Mike Wymbs as “a normal, likeble guy. The fact that he is very much a conventional Columbia kid who was probably preparing for finals when this happened underscores just how surreal the bust is.” Wymbs was also the former vice president of the School of Engineering’s student council.

Few students expressed surprise to hear of a campus drug bust. “It was common knowledge,” said Ashley, a resident of East Campus, of the students’ drug dealing on campus. “That’s gonna happen at any school.”

Columbia University reacted to the arrests with an official statement, noting that “the alleged behavior of the students involved in this incident goes against not only state and federal law, but also University policy and the principles we have set – and strive together to maintain – for our community.”

Jose Stephan Perez, a.k.a. Stephan Vincenzo, 20, one of the arrested, was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Photo courtesy of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Police said they arrested Lagares, one of the alleged drug suppliers, on Sunday afternoon in Bedford Stuyvesant. Sarzysnski and Asper were arrested on Oct. 27 in the East Village. Sarzynski had sold cocaine, LSD and DMT to undercover officers on multiple occasions and manufactured drugs in his apartment with the help of Asper, his girlfriend, according to the police charges.

Police said Sarzynski also attempted to hire an undercover policeman to kidnap rival cocaine traffickers whom he believed had stolen money from him. According to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office, Sarzynski told the undercover officer that he would shock the victims with a stun gun, hit them in the head and rob them. Police said he said, “Then I would have done something nasty like put a few drops of acid in his mouth and then leave him there.” Sarzynski also told the officer to kill the victims if no ransom money was provided.

“An ominous aspect of this investigation was the involvement of college students in the violent drug dealing business,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “The students arrested today supplied dangerous substances to their friends and other students to turn a quick profit, but subjected themselves to risks, of which they were either ignorant or in denial. These students were playing with fire.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly added, “The fact that a supplier to Columbia students was willing to kill his rivals should demolish any argument that drugs on campus is a victimless crime. This is no way to work your way through college.”

Marines talk to children receiving school supplies at the Primary School in Now Zad, Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Jason Brezler.

Students from the Columbia SIPA Veterans Association (CVSA), at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, are holding the second annual School Supply Drive for children in Afghanistan hoping to crush last year’s bounty that yielded over 600 pounds of paper, notebooks, crayons and other school supplies.

A rotating team has been on guard and taking donations on the 4th floor of SIPA building since Nov. 8, and will be there until Nov. 24.

Jay Ross, an Army captain and SIPA graduate student, is the co-founder of the drive, which sponsors, a small farming village in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. “This town was pretty dilapidated because of the Taliban,” said Ross. Ross and fellow SIPA student, Rudy Rickner, had a Marine Civil Affairs officer as a contact on the ground in Afghanistan, who ensured that the mission was carried out, and the donations were delivered to the school.

Now Zad, once home to 30,000 people, had been deserted for nearly four years after the Taliban seized control of the village in 2005. Last December, 1,000 Marines and Afghan security forces launched an operation to regain control from the Taliban. Operation “Cobra’s Anger” was a success, allowing many of the villagers to return home and rekindle a sense of normalcy.

Those efforts to rid the Taliban have made it possible to open a school in Now Zad, however, with little money or support, the children lacked the proper supplies to equip them for the school year. That’s when SIPA students stepped up and lent a hand, kicking off an annual school supply drive, something they hope to maintain as long as there’s a need for the program.

“Last year we had everything from binders to pencils, books, paper. We ended up donating 600-pounds of supplies,” said Ross, also adding that they took in around $500 in cash donations, which they used to buy more supplies for the children at stores in New York. “This year we’re expecting even more. We’ve already been doing really well and we’ve collected a few hundred dollars in cash, too.” Ross added that several students from the school of General Studies are volunteering at the donation table this year, partly because of all the donations, and to extend the collection times.

Amber Griffiths, Veterans Benefits Counselor at Columbia University, Griffiths is also collecting donations in her office at Columbia’s Student Services.” From what I have seen, the veteran student population has a unique desire to help and make a difference in the world; precisely the reason they are willing to sacrifice so much,” she said. She says she is thrilled to be a part of the drive.

“Education, in my mind, is the single most valuable component to positive change within a community. It makes the difference,” said Griffiths, “I understand we are not solving the world’s problem with a school supplies drive, but I think if we have an opportunity to help a child, an opportunity which requires very little effort on our behalf by the way, how can we not?” she said.

Roughly 40 veterans are enrolled at the School of International and Public Affairs, and over 300 are in various schools across the university – over 50 at the School of General Studies alone. Many are drawn by the increased GI Bill benefits, which pay a generous portion of tuition and living expenses, as well as the Yellow Ribbon Program, where participating universities – including Columbia – match funds provided by the government.

Jay Ross graduates in the spring of 2011, and plans to move to return to Seattle to be with his fiancée. Ross said he hoped that incoming SIPA students will continue to provide supplies to children in Afghanistan, or develop future, need-based programs around the world.