There was a pretty big contingent of black students at Columbia back then. Many of them felt alienated from the “normative” student body. While white, Asian and hispanic students hung out on the steps of Low Library, the black students would tend to hang out together leaning against a wall opposite the steps. As a rule, the students in that group pretty much kept to themselves.
In addition, a late transfer student would not have been widely known, since most of the required courses generally were taken in the first two years.
Having said that, I think it is extremely troublesome that nobody but a putative ex-roommate admits to remembering Obama while he was at Columbia. To me, this points to his spending his time in New York doing something other than attending college. If he went to General Studies rather than Columbia College, it is even more likely that he rarely set foot on the campus, but was busy with other things.
One other point of interest: Local 1199, was quite active around Columbia at that time and was a radical force. When they went on strike at Columbia many of the radical students supported them. There also was a radical group called the Columbia Tenants Union run by a wild man named Bruce Bailey, who ultimately was found cut to pieces in a couple of garbage bags. There also were a few radical student groups like the Sparticists (very small) and the Revolutionary Student Brigade, which would demonstrate every so often. I wonder whether our President was hanging out with the fringe groups that were less than engaged in campus activities.
Yikes! This was in the 80’s?
“. I wonder whether our President was hanging out with the fringe groups that were less than engaged in campus activities.”
I think this is pretty much a given.
ping, see last paragraph
Whether your Pres_ _ent hung out with SEIU radicals back then or not, he certainly seeks their advice now, as he has related to his kneepad sycophancy in speeches, even naming the SEIU bigs he consults. Are we to believe SEIU has grown less radical int he intervening decades? Yeah, right ...