Hard to relate

We, Columbia University, have a public relations problem. No, I’m not referring to our proclivity to invite world leaders with questionable human rights records to campus. Nor am I referring to our school’s reputation for leftism (leading a good friend of mine to declare us “The University of Stalin”). The intellectual class, for better or worse, is “not cool.” We, as Columbians, pride ourselves on our intellectualism. We survived the gauntlet of college admissions: endless counselors, achievement tests, application essays, and interviews. We are, in the eyes of the public, the “elite”­—literally, the one percent. Here in our haven of Morningside Heights, locked in our ivory tower (more specifically, in the fourth floor of Butler), we can find solidarity in our mutual accomplishment. It is in our little six-square-block preserve where we can “let our freak flag fly” and bare unabashedly the pretentious intellectual buried within.

And this is all well and good. These spaces should exist—top universities should serve as breeding grounds for networking and discussion. But what happens when we leave? When we are forcibly evicted from our safe space and are forced to communicate with—dare I say it—normal people?

Unfortunately for us, the Core doesn’t have a class that teaches us how to communicate with the outside world. We have been branded “out of touch” by the casual Middle American. They might have a point—we attend a school that charges significantly more the annual median personal income in tuition. An Ivy League degree is often not an advantage—rather, it invites accusation of elitism. We are not one of “them,” but something else: look at Bill Clinton. When Clinton filled out his inner-circle with too many Ivy League graduates, he was lambasted as being unable to relate to “Real America.”

There appears to be a disconnect between those educated at “elite universities” and this elusive “Real America.” Members of the former react with disgust and thinly veiled contempt when they thought voters had pushed social conservative Rick Santorum to a narrow second-place finish in Iowa. But they are not alone in their contempt. A California congressman recently criticized President Obama as “Professor Obama”­­—too well-educated to know what was really wrong with this country. Since when did “professor” become an insult? While it is easy to dismiss the episode as “typical” of his party, I would disagree. What we have is an image problem.

The educated American class—us—has either been unwilling or unable to engage the American public in a way that instills trust. From the outside looking in, it’s not hard to see why. Didn’t Ivy League-educated Wall Street executives run the economy into the ground? While Ivy League-educated politicians and bureaucrats wrung their hands and proved ineffective at stifling the crisis across two successive administrations? We must shoulder part of the blame for this mistrust—while the ivory tower is warm and safe, there’s a whole kingdom out there that we are answerable to.

I hate the people who point to Europe, sigh, and utter the inevitable “In Germany/Finland/Switzerland such and such is so much better.” But I’m going to be that person briefly. From the outside looking in, they appear to have few problems with the highly educated running things. Over lunch, a flustered history teacher from Italy once exclaimed to me—“Why is it that here it is good to be inexperienced? Don’t you want the smartest people in charge?” Berlusconi jokes aside, I think she had a point. For whatever reason, we have not convinced the American public that we have the know-how to be in charge.

Keep an open mind—they see a group of people, largely upper-class and from the East Coast, who have little interest in improving the lives of the “little guy” or in ever visiting the “fly-over states.” One reason for this is that it is true. The less-affluent section of American society is underrepresented at Columbia. Nearly half of Columbians are from the Northeast. This is not representative of the public at large.

We need a public relations makeover. We need to show that we are not only a global university, we are an American one as well. Let’s recruit a student body that is more indicative of the financial and regional demographics of this country. But beyond that, let’s be more open to fact that we are in the position, and have the obligation, to be leaders. Our Global Centers—whatever they are—sound great. But what about increasing the number of initiatives closer to home? Let’s make this great university more accessible to more people (read: lower tuition). Let’s show the American people that their intellectuals work for them too. Let’s make being smart cool again.

Andrew Godinich is a Columbia College junior majoring in sociology and Portuguese studies. He is the Latin America and Caribbean affairs correspondent for the Columbia Political Review. Too Be Frank runs alternate Thursdays.