I suspected that he attended General Studies, but never have seen that written anywhere. Is this your theory, or did you see it stated elsewhere? Also, I had never heard that the College would issue degrees to GS students. Are you sure that this is correct? I am a Columbia College ‘78 graduate.
I agree that General Studies was a world unto itself, and that there was very little commingling of students from both schools. If he went to GS, it would be even more unusual that he would have transferred from Occidental. Generally, people in GS were working full time or had other things going on besides full-time academia. What was Obama doing?
“What was Obama doing?”
Working for the CPUSA, or some other revered institution? ;-)
Being groomed.
NYT
I had never heard that the College would issue degrees to GS students.
This was an established process. I have no idea how long it lasted, or when it began.
Are you sure that this is correct? I am a Columbia College ‘78 graduate.
Yes, and I forgive you. I fall somewhere between you and Aaron Burr.
I also thought that Obama may have been in the School of General Studies, but according to the University he was in Columbia College.
It's not uncommon for students at large state schools to be virtually anonymous -- unknown to their thousands of classmates. That may be true of SGS as well, so it's possible at Columbia.
What may be more interesting than this speculation is that, according the the university, Obama wasn't an honors graduate. I don't know how they did things at Columbia in the Eighties, but that may reflect low grades.