Northattan

Grant's Tomb is one of Morningside Heights' key tourist attractions. Photo by Bebeto Matthews/AP

A 15-year lobbying effort to have Morningside Heights designated a historic district is about to pay off, but the area marked for approval may be much smaller than some had hoped.

Since 1996, the Morningside Heights Historic District Committee has argued that the area from 110^th to 129^th streets, between Riverside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue, is worthy of historic district status from the Landmarks Preservation Commission, pointing to its architecture, elevated natural boundaries and high density of historic institutions. Yet since the commission officially began discussions in September 2010, it has agreed to cite only the area between Claremont Avenue and Riverside  — a small fraction of the original proposal.

Gretchen Borges, vice president of the Historic District Committee, says the original proposal does a historic neighborhood greater justice. “All the land was owned by institutions for a long time, so when development occurred, it occurred all at once,” Borges said “So the neighborhood seems all of a piece because it was basically built all at the same time, and that’s not characteristic of the rest of New York. It makes the neighborhood stand together in a coherent way that we would like to see preserved.”

The Landmarks Preservation Commission did not respond to a request for comment. Its final decision is still pending, and expected within the coming weeks.

With historic district status, Morningside Heights architecture would be protected as New York City landmarks. A co-op apartment or business hoping to replace its windows would face little conflict obtaining a permit, but ambitious changes to a building’s design would be subject to formal review with the landmarks commission.

“People are under the mistaken impression that once you’re designated, your buildings are frozen in time,” said Gregory Dietrich, the founder of Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting and a supporter of the historic designation. “Any visit to the Landmarks Commission on a Tuesday, when they hold the hearings, will tell you otherwise. They’re constantly approving new additions.” Dietrich points to the approval of a large addition to the base of Hearst Tower, a landmarked building on 57^th Street,  as an example of how flexible the commission can be.

The area encompassed by the committee’s proposal already includes several designated landmarks. The 116^th Street subway station, Riverside Park and Grant’s Tomb are registered as state or national landmarks, giving the city little authority over them St. Paul’s Chapel, Fire Station 47 and St. Luke’s Hospital are already New York City landmarks.

Low Library is the only section of Columbia University currently with landmark status. Committee members note that Columbia, one of the crown jewels of the area, has been reluctant to get on board. Dietrich says that Maxine Griffith, executive vice president for Government and Community Affairs, has told the Morningside Heights group that it was premature to talk about Columbia’s involvement before the  city had set the district’s boundaries. Columbia is not part of the landmarks commission’s proposal, but would be covered by the Morning Side Heights group’s plan.

But Dietrich speculates that other motives may be at work. He notes that Emily Lloyd, executive vice president of the university, commissioned an inventory on historic properties and produce design guidelines on future alterations within the neighborhood. Dietrich believes the Northwest Science Building, which began construction on 120^th and Broadway in 2007, might not have received a Certificate of Appropriateness. “With district status,” said Dietrich, “at the very least there would have been consideration that this is a very historic crossroads.”

New York State Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, a founding member of the historic committee, notes that Columbia was actively engaged with the committee during its first proposal in 1996, but persuaded the committee not to include Morningside Drive, where the university owned property. “I think that’s ridiculous,” said O’Donnell. “What is a historic district? It’s an area where buildings are consistent. I think if you look at the structures on Morningside Drive, they are as consistent as the buildings on Riverside Drive. I would like someone to point out to me the differences.”

Columbia’s communications office did not respond to a request for comment.

Andrew S. Dolkart, a Morningside Heights historian and an architecture professor at Columbia, said he thinks the university is “perfectly happy not having landmarks in the area,” adding, “There are certainly some sites it’s no secret that Columbia would like to develop, and designation would probably inhibit it.”

Regardless of the landmarks commission’s decision, the Morningside Heights Committee plans to continue lobbying for wider district recognition. “We do have resources at our disposal,” said Dietrich.

Columbia University cadets prepare the American flag to be raised on the flag poll at Low Library. Photo by Alex Luchsinger/Northattan

Dozens of military veterans, cadets and onlookers gathered Thursday to honor Veterans Day at the first color guard ceremony held on Columbia University’s campus in 40 years.

It was a small moment, but a significant one for military veterans on a campus that once boiled with anti-Vietnam War fever and has banned the military’s Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) since 1969.

“There are a few students who really worked diligently to bring this back to campus,” said Amber Griffiths, Veterans Benefits Counselor at Columbia University, as the color guard hoisted the American flag at Columbia’s Low library Thursday in honor of Veterans Day.  The color guard – consisting of six ROTC cadets and a non-commissioned officer – raised the flag to signal the start of the official duty of the day, or reveille.  This ceremony is conducted daily on military bases and postings throughout the world.  Several veterans, decked out in their service uniforms draped in medals, popped to attention and saluted the flag.

“It makes me proud to represent, not just that I’m a veteran, but I’m a Columbia veteran,” said Marco Reininger, President of the Columbia US Military Veterans and former Army Sergeant.

Columbia’s website describes a “long and storied history of partnership with the nation’s armed forces.” General Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the university’s most famous graduates, served as Columbia president after he left the U.S. presidency. And ROTC was a campus fixture dating back to its origins in 1916; a plaque at Butler Library honors the 23,000 Navy midshipmen who trained at Columbia and later fought in World War II.

But the military’s ROTC program was thrown off Columbia and other Ivy League campuses around the country, following protests against the Vietnam War.

A movement to return ROTC to some of those campuses – including Columbia – began in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. Advocates said the armed forces had long been misrepresented and portrayed in a negative light on campus, in part because of the absence of ROTC.

But several student, faculty and alumni efforts to restore ROTC have failed, largely because of the U.S. military’s continued “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits gay, lesbian or bisexual service members to disclose their sexual orientation.

After one failed effort in 2005, when the university Senate overwhelmingly rejected ROTC’s return, Columbia President Lee Bollinger said that the school’s nondiscrimination policy would be violated if ROTC training returned to campus but refused to accept openly gay or lesbian students.

“The university has an obligation, deeply rooted in the core values of an academic institution and in First Amendment principles, to protect its students from improper discrimination and humiliation,” Bollinger wrote in a letter to The Wall Street Journal.

The university points out that Columbia students can still participate in ROTC, but to do so they have to attend training at other New York City schools: St. Johns, Manhattan College or Fordham University.

John McClelland commanded the color guard ceremony Thursday.  He is a former Army Ranger and Columbia student, currently enrolled in an off-campus ROTC program through Fordham.  McClelland said he wants to see ROTC restored at Columbia, though.

“I think we need to invest in our military, even in spite of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” he said. Columbia’s stance on “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a principled one, McClelland said, but he said he wished the university would use its influence to try to change the military’s policy. Without that change, “I don’t think [ROTC is] going to come back to Columbia’s campus,” he said.