It could be. Columbia is huge, most students live off-campus, and he was only there for two years. Plus NYC is a pretty impersonal place. And Barry Obama may well have been doing whatever hanging out he was doing, with a small clique of young black adults, who weren’t necessarily all Columbia students or even all students. If he’d been an exceptional student, holding leadership positions in campus organizations, etc., I’m sure some people would remember him, but from what little info is available, he was nto exceptional, either academically or in any other way.
I’ve been taking classes at City University of New York for the past 6 years or so, while working full time. I know 2 professors would remember me by name, but only because I went out of my way to interact with them (in order to take incompletes when work had interfered with my studying too much, but other topics came up that would have made me memorable). I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you couldn’t find a single student who would know my name now, though a few would have recognized it within a few months of the course ending. I’m in a fairly small class right now (about 20 students), and only know a couple of students’ first names (and don’t know how to spell them), and I don’t expect that to change by the end of the course. And just a couple of weeks ago, I bumped into a student who’d been in a course I’d taken a couple of years — we recognized each other’s faces, and remembered chatting before and had a nice chat, but I don’t have a clue what even her first name is, and I assume she doesn’t know mine.
If you’re not interested in making a big city university a central part of your life, it will afford you the same anonymity that the big city generally does. What I’d be interested to know is whether Obama was already being groomed by mentors of some sort, who set him up with off-campus jobs and social/political networks. It’s quite likely, since he was a capable black student, and somebody had almost certainly made an effort to get him transferred from Occidental to Columbia. My guess is that there are quite a few people in NYC who remember him from his Columbia days, but that they aren’t and weren’t affiliated with Columbia . . . and they aren’t talking, quite possibly because they were affiliated with radical leftist groups that wouldn’t look good on a POTUS’ resume.
He should have been in at least 20 classes {5/semester.) Somebody should have remembered him, or at least his name and that he was in one of their classes.
And, so this mystery man suddenly shows up as POTUS! It is obvious from watching this guy that he has no leadership skills or executive skills whatsoever. Nothing makes sense here... If he couldn’t lead at Columbia how can he lead the free world? Answer: He can’t...
So you're telling me that you had no personal association with any student there, made no friends among your fellow students, do not hang out with any fellow students. You just went to class, and went home after class.
I could see that with students who lived in NYC, had family in NYC, and had established friends independent of the college. But somebody who just landed in NYC and knew nobody there?
Isn't that a bit different than being a full-time student during your early 20's, either right out of high school or as a 2-year transfer?
-PJ
Obama's roomate Sohale Siddiqi's metapedia entry is interesting:
Sohale Siddiqi (also Hal Siddiqi) was the best friend and roommate of Barack Obama while he attended Columbia University in the early 1980s. He is identified as "Sadik" in Obama's memoir, Dreams From My Father. Obama describes Saddiqi as "a short, well-built Pakistani" who smoked marijuana and snorted cocaine. Siddiqi was from Karachi, Pakistan and came to America from London on a tourist visa. He overstayed his visa becoming an illegal alien.
Obama first met Siddiqi when he attended Occidental College in Los Angeles. Obama was living with a group of Pakistani students when Siddiqi arrived for a visit. Obama transferred to Columbia University and lived off campus with Siddiqi. Siddiqi was not a student and made his living working in restaurants. Together they lived in a drug-ridden slum apartment on 339 East 94th St. Siddiqi got the apartment by lying, saying he had a well paid job. The apartment was furnished by what they could find in the streets.
Obama and Siddiqi would go out together and enjoy the nightlife of New York City. Siddiqi claims Obama stopped using drugs when he arrived at Columbia. Obama eventually moved out when Siddiqi’s drug use began to interfere with his studies.
To help his old friend, Obama gave Siddiqi a job reference. Siddiqi is a recovering drug addict and now works for a community theater in Seattle. Siddiqi is a strong Obama supporter. On his phone message he says, "My name is Hal Siddiqi, and I approve of this message. Vote for peace, vote for hope, vote for change and vote for Obama."
I'm thinking: "Yeah, if I furnished my apartment with furniture you got off the street, chances are I wouldn't have people over too often either."