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Diplomas can be issued to people who have never set foot on campus. All it takes is money and an agenda... Agreed. The same applies to a lesser extent to Foreign Exchange Studies at Columbia University.
Just as may be the case with Judge Carter's new Legal Clerk, Siddharth Velamoor, a young Barack Obama could have participated in the foreign studies programs offered through Columbia University in the early 80s. Obama may have taken full advantage of his mother being in Indonesia and using a passport through her and her step-father Lolo Soetoro. Although the Soetoro's divorced in 1980, it's quite possible Obama retained those privileges under Islamic Indonesian law. Obama's mother, Ann Dunhan, had many international ties that could have helped with her son's international studies as well. Dunham’s employment included teaching English at the American embassy in Jakarta, consulting (setting up a village credit program) for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID, also known as the International Development Agency), program officer specializing in women’s work for the Ford Foundation in Jakarta, bank consulting work in Pakistan (microfinance programs for the poor), and employment with Women’s World Banking. Conceivably, ANY foreign university is possible, as long as it could be accepted and justified by Columbia University. The Global Public Policy Network, the Utrecht Network, or other Foreign Exchange networks jointly recognized by the schools allows for A LOT of flexibility. Obama could have gotten a lot of assistance from Columbia to participate in foreign exchange college programs from people like: - his professor Edward Said, a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, political activistWaivers from the department or college Deans would make it easy for a young, pioneering minority-status student to be accepted into virtually any school overseas. Such waivers would eliminate or reduce any issues regarding Honors requirements, admission standards, program prerequisites, etc. Further, ONLY the schools, the student and anyone who's seen the student's FULL transcript would even know the student was in foreign studies overseas. If one did not have access to the college transcript, the diploma would simply indicate "Master of Arts, Political Science, Columbia University" — with NO indication of the foreign studies. I think it's less likely that Obama could have done this while at Occidental, but it's VERY possible while at Columbia and even Harvard (at least for a couple of semesters and/or summer sessions). This is from a Columbia archive from the 90s:
Student-Initiated Study Abroad Guidelines   |
