Closest thing to SIPA west of the Mississippi

For the past two days, SIPA’s penthouse has played host to a conference entitled “Mormonism and American Politics,” and Bwog was there in the form of honorary Salt Lake Citizen Clava Brodsky. Lucky she attended, since this topic seems rather, well, topical! What follows are her notes from the field.

Birds probably have the best view of New York City, but for us humans, we’ll have to make do with the 15th floor of SIPA. The Empire State Building shimmers in the distance, the campus lies far below like a stately forum, and the sky looks positively scrapable. What better venue to host the conference on the Mormon religion and its place in American life than this room in the heavens! The conference, hosted by CDTR (Center for the Study of Democracy, Tolerance and Religion) and IRCPL (Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life), was entitled, “Mormonism and American Politics: A Conference.”

Separation of church and state may be a fundamental tenant of American political life, but it doesn’t stop us from closely associating Republican candidate Mitt Romney with his Mormon faith. (Indeed, the organizers of the event, Jana Riess and Randall Balmer, had originally planned the event to fall on the weekend before the New Hampshire primary.) Many of the speakers mentioned Romney and his faith, but this was not the main focus of the conference. Instead, the papers predominantly focused on how the Church as a whole fits into the larger American context.

For Mormons, weird is the new normal, according to some of the talks at least. Professor David Campbell pointed out that Mormons see the epithet “peculiar people” as a compliment. Professor Russell Arben Fox insisted that “Mormonism is distinct from the prevailing civil order,” and journalist Peggy Fletcher Stack argued Mormons are “misunderstood” by mainstream media. Being “weird” almost seemed to be a point of pride and, as Professor Fox noted, shows that they “are members of the only True church on the face of the planet.” There may be a certain chic to being odd, but it rarely comes scorn-free. When one audience member pointed out that Christopher Hitchens said he’d never vote for a Mormon, another voice from the public shouted out, “Yeah, well, he’s dead!”

Claudia Bushman, professor of American Studies at Columbia, Joanna Brooks, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Diego State University, and Sally Barringer Gordon, Professor of Constitutional Law at UPenn, formed the spunky triumvirate, favoring a more critical approach to Church history and policy. Professor Gordon spearheaded the group and ended her talk on the victory of American law in 19th century Utah by taking a more pessimistic note. She looked at the transition from polygamy to monogamy in the State of Utah and highlighted the plight of displaced plural wives, who found themselves outside the law. (Barringer Gordon’s talk was magnificent. If anyone goes to UPenn Law School, take her class!) Bushman’s and Brooks’ talks focused on a more current issue and looked at the Mormon Church’s mobilization in support of Proposition 8. Rather than speaking to Mormons’ quasi-victimhood, their talks portrayed their own Church’s policies toward gay marriage as perpetuating and enabling the victimization of others. If this conference may speak for the larger Mormon community, it seems like there are some, who don’t want to see the Mormon Church as something wholly separate and weird. Instead, they want it to be American, not just in its origins, but in its ethics as well.

Salt Lake skyline via Wikimedia Commons.

He's wearing a purple tie today, too!

Well, this is uncomfortable.

About fifteen minutes ago, NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly was answering questions in former NYC Mayor/Columbia Professor David Dinkins’ SIPA class about urban public policy when a student pulled out a projector and began to screen images of police officers beating civilians on the wall behind Kelly. “We’d like to offer an alternative version,” one slide read.

People started shifting awkwardly in their chairs, then shifting much more awkwardly when the student turned the projector around so that the film was facing Kelly as he continued to speak. Kelly ignored the film, finished answering his question and called on another student, who was interrupted by a young man reading a textbook about military history.

This student stood up and called for Kelly’s resignation. “Are you serious, Kelly?” he asked. “Resign now.” Professor Dinkins sprung up from his chair and instructed the young man to “take it easy.” Several students asked if he was even registered for the course. “No, I go to NYU,” he said. A groan went up and students began asking him to leave.

“Well, this is very intimidating,” Kelly said, grinning.

The NYU student stood up, got his coat and textbook, told the class he’d been arrested three times for “freedom of speech on this land,” and walked out the door.

A few minutes later, another student asked Kelly why most people who are arrested are incarcerated for “drug crimes.” Dinkins said he didn’t understand the question, and things got confrontational between the student, Kelly, and Dinkins pretty quickly. The student’s SIPA colleagues were not pleased—a few students and a TA asked if she was registered for the class. “No,” she said, “but I do have a question.”

Commissioner Kelly, still grinning, leaned over to another guest for today’s class, New York District Attorney Cy Vance, and loudly whispered, “Says something about the security of this school, doesn’t it?”

Kelly got a round of applause as he left the class a half-hour before it ended.

A teach-in with Kyung Ji Rhee, from the Institute of Justice Reform and Alternatives, is planned in the SIPA 4th floor lounge at 6 PM.

That Photoshopping! Brutal!

“Office of Career Services” sipa_ocs@columbia.edu Date: November 30, 2010 15:26:53 EST To:

Hi students,

We received a call today from a SIPA alumnus who is working at the State Department. He asked us to pass along the following information to anyone who will be applying for jobs in the federal government, since all would require a background investigation and in some instances a security clearance. The documents released during the past few months through Wikileaks are still considered classified documents. He recommends that you DO NOT post links to these documents nor make comments on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter. Engaging in these activities would call into question your ability to deal with >confidential information, which is part of most positions with the federal government.

Regards, Office of Career Services

SIPA’s proves that it’s possible to make quite the commotion by protesting on Facebook. (HuffPo)

Our very own Juli Weiner gets noticed by The Drudge Report. (Wonkette)

A monster of a Sorting Machine works for the NY Public Library. (NYT)

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Photo via wikimedia

Photo via William Munoz’s Flickr

Photos by ECS

The United States’ war in Afghanistan is not working, and we’re not sure how to fix it.

This was the gist of Col. David Gray and Col. Gian Gentile’s (both of whom have served in Iraq and Afghanistan) talk last night at SIPA.

“We don’t have strategy,” Gentile said. “Instead we have commander’s talking points, maxims, and catechisms.” The prospects of counter-insurgency and nation building have “seduced” army officials to the extent that they lost sight of a bigger strategy.

According to Gray, the army initially wanted to leave a “light footprint” – utilizing strategic raids, advanced technology, special operations forces, intelligence agencies, and native human resources – to avoid attracting Al Qaeda fighters into a chaotic vacuum. And it worked just fine. For two years.

Gray painted a gloomy picture of the many challenges the army faced in creating a viable strategy. These included fighting government corruption, countering the rampant drug trade, and reeling in intractable drug lords, and dealing with the Pashtunwali tribal code to which 70 percent of Afghans subscribe: “In the morning they’ll offer you green tea and a goat grab…at night they’ll be shooting at you.” Moreover, tribal interests do not always align with the Afghan government’s interests. “Some guy from Mazari Sharif in the north isn’t crazy about going down to Kandahar in the south to fight,” he said.

Gray proposes creating an Afghan civil service to staunch corruption and recruit competent officials, but could not offer a strategy addressing the lucrative opium production that fills the Taliban war chest. According to a United Nations report, guerrillas in Afghanistan have secretly stockpiled 10,000 tons of opium. The New York Times said that is enough to satisfy every dope fiend in the world for two years.

Gentile said the current military approach was trying to emulate the Iraq troop surge. In 2007, President Bush deployed 20,000 soldiers into Iraq to secure Baghdad and Al Anbar Province. Violence in Iraq decreased, but it is uncertain whether this was a result of the surge or other reasons.

General Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of American forces in Afghanistan, has requested up to 40,000 troops within the next year. In a confidential report leaked to the Washington Post, McChrystal wrote that without more troops, the conflict in Afghanistan “will likely result in failure.”

Invoking the memory of Vietnam, Gentile warned against blindly sending more counter-insurgency troops and stressed the importance of aligning military means with political priorities. Sending troops designed for counter-insurgency, according to Gray, is “like asking a high school football team to go against Super Bowl champions.”

Nation-building, said Gentile, takes more than 40,000 troops. And it may take years, if not generations. There will be no swift victory.

When it came time for questions, the colonels were more often than not at a loss for answers.

Gray said people often ask him who the enemy is. “I wish I could [say]…The Hakani network, Hezbi Islami Party, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan…probably all and any of these,” he said. When a woman asked him who the US’ friends are, he responded, “I have no good answer.”

One person asked Gentile, “How do you think this will play out in domestic politics?” Gentile shook his head and deferred to Gray. “He’s the senior colonel. He gets the harder questions,” said Gentile as the audience laughed.

Another man asked about stopping heroin purchases by Western Europeans whose money eventually ends up in the pockets of the Taliban. “We take General McChrystal’s 40,000 troops and deploy them in…Amsterdam,” mused Gentile as everyone laughed.

The night ended as Gentile posed a question none could answer: “Can we really change Afghan society for the better at the barrel of an American gun?”

More photos of what you’re missing after the jump.

 -ARK

Among the big names: former California governor Gray Davis at the Law School graduation, former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft at SIPA’s Commencement, Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall at the J-School’s Class Day, New York Times medical correspondent Lawrence Altman at the Med School graduation, and senior advisor to Hillary Clinton Phillipe Reines at General Studies’s Class Day. Of course, some of the speechifying talent isn’t travelling very far: professors Jagdish Baghwati and Jeffrey Sachs will be speaking at the Ph.D. convocation and the Dental School graduation ceremonies, respectively.

Our favorite detail, though? Both J-School ceremonies are “closed to the media.” Full list after the jump.

Saturday, May 16

Business School Executive M.B.A. Recognition Ceremony

Speaker: Bruce Greenwald, the Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management and director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing

10 a.m., Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, Morningside Heights campus

Sunday, May 17

Business School M.B.A. Recognition Ceremony

Speaker: Robert Friedman, chairman and CEO of Radical Media

3 p.m., South Lawn, Morningside Heights campus

Monday, May 18

The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science Class Day

Speaker: James Albaugh, executive vice president of The Boeing Company

9:30 a.m., South Lawn, Morningside Heights campus

School of International and Public Affairs Commencement

Speaker: Brent Scowcroft, former U.S. national security adviser

2 p.m., Riverside Church, 440 Riverside Dr.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Ph.D. Convocation 1

Speaker: Jeffrey Henig, professor of political science and education

3:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Chapel, Morningside Heights campus

School of General Studies Class Day

Speaker: Philippe Reines, senior adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

5 p.m., South Lawn, Morningside Heights campus

Tuesday, May 19

Columbia College Class Day

Speaker: Eric Holder, U.S. attorney general

9:30 a.m., South Lawn, Morningside Heights campus

Graduate School of Journalism Day  (Closed to media)

Speaker: Joshua Micah Marshall, founder of Talking Points Memo

10 a.m., Miller Theatre, Morningside Heights campus

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences M.A. Convocation

Speaker: Anne Higonnet, professor of art history and archaeology

10:30 a.m., Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, Morningside Heights campus

Doctor of Physical Therapy Graduation

Speaker: Alma Merians, professor and chair of the Department of Developmental and Rehabilitative Sciences at the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

1:30 p.m., Alumni Auditorium, Columbia University Medical Center

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Ph.D. Convocation 2

Speaker: Jagdish Bhagwati, University Professor and senior fellow in international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations

3:30 p.m., St. Paul’s Chapel, Morningside Heights campus

Mailman School of Public Health Graduation

Speaker: Paul Farmer, the Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and founding director of Partners in Health

3:30 p.m., New Balance Track & Field Arena, 216 Fort Washington Ave., at 168th Street

School of Continuing Education Class Day  (Closed to media)

Speaker: Rita Charon, professor of clinical medicine and director of the Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia’s College of Physicians and Surgeons

5 p.m., Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, Morningside Heights campus

Wednesday, May 20

Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation Professional Degree Commencement   (Closed to media)

Speaker: Mark Wigley, dean of the architecture school

12:15 p.m. (second professional degree); 2:15 p.m. (first professional degree), St. Paul’s Chapel, Morningside Heights campus

Occupational Therapy Commencement/Convocation and Awards Ceremony

Speaker: Penelope Moyers Cleveland, president of the American Occupational Therapy Association

1:30 p.m., Alumni Auditorium, Columbia University Medical Center

College of Physicians and Surgeons Commencement

Speaker: Lawrence K. Altman, chief medical correspondent for The New York Times

2 p.m., New Balance Track & Field Arena, 216 Fort Washington Ave., at 168th Street

School of the Arts Presentation of Diplomas  (Closed to media)

Speaker: Jerry Saltz, art critic and columnist for New York magazine

2 p.m., Miller Theatre, Morningside Heights campus

School of Nursing Graduation

Speakers: Donna Shalala, president of the University of Miami; and Phyllis Farley, founder of Doulas to Accompany the Dying

2:30 p.m., New York City Center, 131 W. 55th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues

School of Social Work Graduation

Speaker: Diane Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector, the national leadership forum for America’s nonprofit organizations, foundations and corporations

3 p.m., Beacon Theatre, 2124 Broadway, at 74th Street

Graduate School of Journalism Commencement  (Closed to media)

Speaker: Alejandro Junco de la Vega, Mexican newspaper pioneer and publisher of Grupo Reforma

3 p.m., Roone Arledge Auditorium, Lerner Hall, Morningside Heights campus

Thursday, May 21

College of Dental Medicine Graduation

Speaker: Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia’s Earth Institute and Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development

10:30 a.m., New Balance Track & Field Arena, 216 Fort Washington Ave., at 168th Street

Law School Graduation

Speaker: Gray Davis, former governor of California

1 p.m., South Lawn, Morningside Heights campus

Image via Yahoo News Canada

John Solecki, the CC and SIPA graduate who was kidnapped in Pakistan two months ago, has been released, according to CBS News.

Prior to his capture, Solecki worked as the head of the UN refugee office in Quetta, Pakistan; on the 2nd of February, 2009, members of the Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) kidnapped Solecki and killed his Pakistani driver.  In exchange for his release, they demanded that the Pakistani government liberate over 1,000 pro-Baluchistan activists.

The circumstances under which the BLUF freed Solecki are still unclear, but CBS has a quote from an anonymous Western diplomat who says that the “‘release could not have been made possible without some trade-off. I am certain Solecki is a free man but in the process the Pakistanis must have released some people sought by nationalists from Baluchistan.’”

- Image via The Associated Press

A commenter alerted Bwog earlier tonight to the plight of UN official and CC and SIPA graduate John Solecki, who is being held hostage in Pakistan. Solecki, the head of U.N.’s refugee office in Quetta, Pakistan, was captured on February 2nd. On Monday, his captors said Solecki would be killed if their demands (which include the release of Pakistani political prisoners) are not met in four days. Solecki’s father, Ralph, is a professor emeritus at Columbia. While at Columbia as both an undergraduate and as a SIPA grad student, Solecki studied under Richard Bulliet, who wrote a touching column about him when he was first kidnapped.

In a ray of hope, an Iranian website quotes the Pakistani Interior Minister as saying that Pakistani security forces have discovered where Solecki is being held, and he will soon be released. Regardless, Bwog hopes for his safe return, and our thoughts are with his family.

Also, we don’t want to let any more time go by without congratulating Sam Daly, CC ’09, who last month recieved a prestigious Marshall Scholarship. Daly, whose “studies at Columbia have focused on African history and languages, specifically Swahili and Yoruba” will pursue a master’s degree at Oxford in the fall, joining Rhodes Scholar Jisung Park. Congrats to Sam!