Obama's missing college 'thesis' on Soviet nukes

various sources | various authors

[ETL]

Obama and the case of the missing 'thesis'
By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer
July 24, 2008

excerpt:

The hunt for Obama’s senior “thesis” began with a throwaway line in a newspaper article last October. The New York Times story, on Obama’s early New York years, mentioned in passing that the presidential contender had majored in political science at Columbia and had spent his time “writing his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament.”

Journalists began hounding Columbia University for copies of the musty document. Conservative bloggers began wondering if the young Obama had written a no-nukes screed that he might come to regret. And David Bossie, the former congressional investigator and “right-wing hit man,” as one newspaper described him, took out classified newspaper ads in Columbia University’s newspaper and the Chicago Tribune in March searching for the term paper.

Bossie came up dry, but said the effort was well worth it:

“A thesis entitled Soviet Nuclear Disarmament, written at the height of The Cold War in 1983, might shed some light upon what Barack Obama thought about our most pressing foreign policy issue for 40-plus years (U.S.-Soviet Relations),” he wrote in an e-mail to NBC News.

http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/07/24/1219454.aspx
_________________________________________________

Here is the passage from the New York Times that the above article refers to:

"He barely mentions Columbia, training ground for the elite, where he transferred in his junior year, majoring in political science and international relations and writing his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament. He dismisses in one sentence his first community organizing job — work he went on to do in Chicago — though a former supervisor remembers him as 'a star performer.'"

[snip]

"he [Obama] declined repeated requests to talk about his New York years, release his Columbia transcript or identify even a single fellow student, co-worker, roommate or friend from those years.

'He doesn’t remember the names of a lot of people in his life,' said Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman."

Obama’s Account of New York Years Often Differs From What Others Say
By JANNY SCOTT, October 30, 2007:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/us/politics/30obama.html?ex=1351396800&en=631bf83f428647f9&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss
_________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: Institute For Policy Studies (IPS)

IPS’s [Institute For Policy Studies] Washington, DC headquarters quickly became a resource center for national reporters and a place for KGB agents from the nearby Soviet embassy to convene and strategize. Cora Weiss headed one of the IPS's most successful forays -- into Riverside Church in Manhattan. She was invited there in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of "peace." In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations. During her decade-long tenure at Riverside, which became home to the National Council of Churches, Weiss regularly received Russian KGB agents, Sandinista friends, and Cuban intelligence agents. Weiss became infamous for her role in the psychological warfare conducted against U.S. prisoners of war held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War.

The Liberation News Service, which is a news source for hundreds of "alternative" publications nationwide (with antiwar, Marxist-oriented perspectives), was founded in 1967 with IPS assistance."

[lots more at link...]

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991
_________________________________________________

From the website of Riverside Church...

The Riverside Church
490 Riverside Drive
New York, New York 10027
212-870-6700

The Riverside Church is located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side near Columbia University.

http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/about/?directions
_________________________________________________

"She was invited there in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of 'peace.'

In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations."
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991
_________________________________________________

From the Columbia University website...

"Obama attended Columbia College from 1981 to 1983"

Source:
http://news.columbia.edu/home/1260

Here is a (long) link to a cached version of the source with quote highlighted. Caches are often good backups when an original source is taken down and/or replaced:
http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=%22Obama+attended+Columbia+College+from+1981+to+1983%22&fr=moz2&u=news.columbia.edu/barack-obama-cc83-first-columbia-graduate-elected-president-united-states&w=%22obama+attended+columbia+college+from+1981+to+1983%22&d=HQg1KJ2uSeBR&icp=1&.intl=us
_________________________________________________

Bill Ayers' education:
1987 - Ed.D, Columbia University, Curriculum & Instruction
1987 - M.Ed, Teachers College, Columbia University, Early Childhood Education
1984 - M.Ed, Bank Street College, Early Childhood Education
1968 - B.A., University of Michigan, American Studies
http://education.uic.edu/directory/faculty_info.cfm?netid=bayers
_________________________________________________

Bank Street College
Where We Are and How to Get Here:

Bank Street College is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at 610 West 112th Street, between Broadway and Riverside Drive.

Bank Street College is located in a bustling family and university neighborhood four blocks from Columbia University
http://www.bankstreet.edu/aboutbsc/visiting.html
_________________________________________________

Why Won’t Obama Talk About Columbia?
The years he won’t discuss may explain the Ayers tie he keeps lying about:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjY4YzdhMDBkZGQ3ZmU2MTUzYjdkMzc5ZjUzYmViZWM=

[ETL]

Amen. This and the birth certificate topic are really sad (but understandable instances) of flights of desperate fantasy.

Taking time off from DU today?

[JoyjoyfromNJ]

ping to self to review in detail later

[Houghton M.]

And responding to those who point this out by calling them DU trolls indicates that you have no real argument to make.

[ETL]

I specifically urged not to go down the rabbit hole of Obama’s phantom undergrad thesis. He didn’t write one. Period.

As smart as you are you must have noticed that the word 'thesis' was in quotes all throughout my post. That implies it wasn't really a thesis. Only the New York Times piece described it as a thesis.

[TalonDJ]

That book, literary analysts claim, was possibly ghost-written by Bill Ayers. Its style, vocabulary, sentence structure, philosophy and story line are eerily similar to Ayers' other works.

AND completely different than his other, more recent, book.

[ga medic]

“Obama did not attend “Columbia College.” He attended Columbia University’s “School of General Studies.” This is an alternative program run by the University and has evening seminars” and “special programs”, intended for part-time, or working students. It’s OK, but it ain’t “Columbia College.” Pretty much “walk-in” admission.”

I am pretty sure that you just made this up. There is no Columbia College in NYC, and Columbia University is not an alternative program with walk-in admission. I will never understand why FR posters make things up and post them. That is what the libs do, not conservatives. Please cite a source for your information.

[Parmenio]

I thought theses were the property of the universities, and were usually preserved.

Columbia College does not require a "thesis" for graduation. What the author of the article must be referring to is some time of senior paper. These are always returned to the student and are not kept by the Univeristy.

[Parmenio]

Columbia College does not require a "thesis" for graduation. What the author of the article must be referring to is some time of senior paper. These are always returned to the student and are not kept by the Univeristy.

...some type of senior paper. It's early ... need some coffee.

[ArrogantBustard]

I thought theses were the property of the universities, and were usually preserved.

Dissertations usually are, not sure about theses. In any case, folks I know who have written dissertations or theses were, at the time, quite proud of them and made sure to give copies to family and friends.

[Coyote Choir]

Your post was worth reading this morning, unlike my labored nothing on this topic, and I am going to watch for your name, as probably others already do. You sound rational and informative.

[ETL]

You have a LOT to learn about Obama and the commie left. I would seriously advise you check out my FR Home page. Seriously.

http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/

[The Californian]

bttt

[Kenny Bunk]

COLUMBIA SCHOOLS AND AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS

Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Graduate School of
Arts, School of the Arts and Sciences, Faculty of
Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of
Barnard College (Affiliate)
Business, Graduate School of
Columbia College
Continuing Education, School of
Dental Medicine, College of
Engineering and Applied Science, The Fu Foundation School of
General Studies, School of
Postbaccalaureate Premedical Program
International and Public Affairs, School of
Jewish Theological Seminary (Affiliate)
Journalism, Graduate School of
Law, School of
Nursing, School of
Physicians and Surgeons, College of
Public Health, Mailman School of
Social Work, School of
Teachers College (Affiliate)
Union Theological Seminary (Affiliate)

Source: Columbia University website.
Doc, to reiterate, The School of General Studies is a handy place. One could drop in and take a course not offered by one's own institution, or whatever. It is not the same as going to Columbia College. If you go to Columbia General Studies long enough, and take enough courses, and matriculate, you can get a degree from the University. You still did not go to Columbia College.

Columbia College is (a) small, (b) elite, (c) very hard to get into. Columbia General Studies requires you to be (a) breathing (b) be able to pay tuition one way or another.

I in no way wish to disparage Columbia General Studies, and this fantastic opportunity it offers folks who are not "mainstream" to acquire an education or follow some discipline in which they are interested. But, in this, it is no different or no more unique than Harvard, or Yale, or any another big-time University. So, BHO, Jr. is, or may well be, a graduate of Columbia University. He did not attend Columbia College. And his records at the University remain sealed, or lost, or hidden, or something, as do his records at Occidental.

The missing "thesis," IMHO, is probably nothing more than a required term paper in a particular course, and would not be filed in the Columbia Library.

The media went to great trouble to access every single course GW had taken at Yale, and only dropped the inquiry when it developed that he had generally higher grades than Kerry. Point is, both sets of records were AVAILABLE. Hello?

PS
In the late 50s, I took a science course I needed at Columbia General Studies because of scheduling conflicts at my much smaller college. Not bad!

[ETL]

Obama did not attend "Columbia College." He attended Columbia University's "School of General Studies." This is an alternative program run by the University and has evening seminars" and "special programs", intended for part-time, or working students. It's OK, but it ain't "Columbia College."

From the Columbia University website:

"Obama attended Columbia College from 1981 to 1983"

http://news.columbia.edu/home/1260

You may well be correct, however.

[Kenny Bunk]

From the Columbia University website: "Obama attended Columbia College from 1981 to 1983"

I think it's a bit of after-the-fact redaction. Apparently, no member of the Columbia College Class of 1984 has come forward to reminisce about the "good old days with Barry".

To the contrary, several have come forward to ask, "Who is this guy?" The Obama College Years: A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma?

[ga medic]

My apologies. I didn’t say this the way that I meant it, and I was incorrect. I should have said that there isn’t an independent Columbia College in NYC, that is not affiliated with Columbia University. In fact, Columbia College was officially changed to Columbia University, but undergraduate studies still retain the name.

It is completely untrue that the “Columbia University General Studies” program accepts anyone who walks through the door.

http://www.gs.columbia.edu/index_faqs.htm “Columbia University School of General Studies (GS) is as competitive as Columbia’s traditional, undergraduate colleges, which include Columbia College, the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science, and affiliate Barnard College. Though admission requirements differ slightly from the aforementioned schools because of our nontraditional student applicant pool, GS only admits the best and the brightest prospective students.”

And it appears the Columbia College of Columbia University believes that Barack Obama did not graduate from the Department of General Studies.

http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/jan05/cover.php

My apologies for the error.

[DrC]

“Columbia College does not require a “thesis” for graduation. What the author of the article must be referring to is some type of senior paper. These are always returned to the student and are not kept by the University.”

I don’t know specifically about Columbia, but at Princeton and Duke, seniors must (Princeton) or may (Duke) write a “senior honors thesis” which is not simply a term paper, (which is why it merits the moniker “thesis”). NYT obviously may have been sloppy in its reporting, but my presumption is that it used the term “thesis” because that’s how it was described to the reporter. So the mere fact that Columbia doesn’t require a thesis of all seniors does not mean that Obama could not have written one.

As for retention policies, universities do make a point of retaining these in bound form for their PhD students. But they make no similar effort to systematically retain the far larger volume of theses written by Masters students and seniors. I concur that today, such theses generally are prized by their authors, who generally make a point of at least retaining their own copy and even sending a bound copy to their advisor and/or parents. BUT Obama’s was written in 1983, when the cost of reproduction may have been much more prohibitive than it is today. So there’s nothing sinister or mysterious about Obama’s having failed to do so. Moreover, for all we know his grandmother did have a copy among her possessions, but Obama did a rather thorough job of keeping the press away from her.

To all appearances, Obama “travels light” (leaving aside his 500 person entourage to Europe). He’s no packrat, having apparently tossed all his papers related to being an Illinois legislator. Perhaps there was a sinister motivation to cover up corruption/malfeasance, but it may also simply be a lifestyle choice. Obama always has had his “eye on the prize” and relative to being POTUS, any accomplishments in college or his subsequent career are pretty small potatoes.

[Parmenio]

"So the mere fact that Columbia doesn’t require a thesis of all seniors does not mean that Obama could not have written one."

Columbia College does not require a thesis for any senior, period. I hardly think Obama would spend hours and hours writing a thesis if it were not required coursework. We can blame this whole flap on the incompetence of the NY Times in misreporting it.

[Kenny Bunk]

Though admission requirements differ slightly from the aforementioned schools because of our nontraditional student applicant pool, GS only admits the best and the brightest prospective students.”

Come on, Doc, even in my day we knew how to interpret College Catalog Shedazzle! Seriously, in my day just being registered at another college was enough to get you in the door and get your check cashed. And even in my day, if you did enough, and well enough at good old GS, you could get credit for it and graduate from the university.

In regard to BHO, Jr: Suffice it to say the man is the holder of some sort of credential from Columbia University. What it is, what he studied or what he did to get it will remain unknown to ordinary mortals for all time, if he has his way.

And he himself? Well, he apparently remains personally unknown to his Columbia classmates.

[ETL]

We can blame this whole flap on the incompetence of the NY Times in misreporting it.

Whatever you call the damn thing, he mostly likely DID write some kind of paper on Soviet nuclear disarmament. Plus, we have this KGB-front, Institute For Policy Studies, leading a "nuclear disarmament" movement out of nearby Riverside Church at precisely the same time Obama was at Columbia. We have Bill Ayers attending nearby Bank Street College, also at the same time. We have FBI confirmation that the Weather Underground were taught Marxist philosophy and "urban warfare" by the KGB while in Cuba. It is by no means a stretch to conclude that this idiot from Hawaii, or wherever, held/holds this position. I would bet my life on it that he was somehow mixed up in the Riverside Church/KGB-front thing. He might not have been aware what it was, but I think it's highly likely that he was influenced by individuals there. He's already admitted he attended several Socialist Scholars Conferences at the time. These things are crawling with pro-communist/pro-Russia PsOS.

From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: Institute For Policy Studies (IPS)

IPS’s [Institute For Policy Studies] Washington, DC headquarters quickly became a resource center for national reporters and a place for KGB agents from the nearby Soviet embassy to convene and strategize. Cora Weiss headed one of the IPS's most successful forays -- into Riverside Church in Manhattan. She was invited there in 1978 by the Reverend William Sloane Coffin to run the church's Disarmament Program, which sought to consolidate Soviet nuclear superiority in Europe -- in the name of "peace." In 1982 Weiss helped organize the largest pro-disarmament demonstration ever held. Staged in New York City, the rally was attended by a coalition of communist organizations. During her decade-long tenure at Riverside, which became home to the National Council of Churches, Weiss regularly received Russian KGB agents, Sandinista friends, and Cuban intelligence agents. Weiss became infamous for her role in the psychological warfare conducted against U.S. prisoners of war held in the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" during the Vietnam War.

The Liberation News Service, which is a news source for hundreds of "alternative" publications nationwide (with antiwar, Marxist-oriented perspectives), was founded in 1967 with IPS assistance."

[lots more at link...]

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6991