[Brown Deer]

If O’s class had 600 graduates then perhaps 40 never knew him.

But the article said that they polled 400, not 40. In any case, Columbia's website states that they have under 7000 undergrads, with an 88% graduation rate, so you can approximate 1500 graduates in any given year. Considering the number of clases that he would have taken to graduate and the number of people in each class, he would of had to interact with a fairly large percentage of the class population. The odds that not one single person from a large random sample of 400 not ever hearing of him is most likely astronomical. What's even more amazing is that both he and Mr. Root had the exact same major, yet never attended a single class together.

[Pelagius of Asturias]

They polled 400. I wish I knew out of what colleges. Liberal Arts? Poli Sci? English? Who were these 400?