Recently, a conservative blog called The Blaze floated the rumor that Obama didn’t actually go to Columbia. So, we did some sleuthing of our own (i.e., we checked his senior yearbook) to see if there’s any evidence that Obama really was on campus at some point.

Okay, so we didn’t actually find any. He’s not pictured in the yearbook…

…but that’s not really unusual, considering you have to actively try to get your photo in the yearbook.

Oh, well. Even if his photo were there, someone would probably still find a way to deny he was ever here. Since we couldn’t actually find photographic evidence of his presence, we instead decided to collect evidence of how his time here might have been. What were the Obama years (fall of 1981 to spring of 1983) like?

For one thing, there was a rifle club. And they really, really wanted you to know they existed. That is until ’83, when to quote their blurb in the yearbook, “The powers that be decided that the funds provided by a commercial enterprise moving into FBH [Ferris Booth Hall] were more important than the members of the club.”

Feminism was still a prevalent force on campus.

AHH, women!

The security guards were still not having it.

Talk to the hand

What’s wrong with this picture?

Naturally, the throne of the Society of Women Engineers was occupied by a man.

CAVA was way more fun.

Is that an ambulance or the Mystery Machine?

Secret societies were a little less secret.

Merrill Lynch started recruiting waaaay later. (Their “Corporate Intern Program” was advertised in the yearbook for graduating seniors.)

What are juniors supposed to do?!

And, of course, Low steps were still the best place to hang out in the sun.