Former Dartmouth provost Lee Bollinger was inaugurated as the 19th president of Columbia University in a ceremony on Oct. 3., in which he delivered a speech that emphasized the importance of affirmative action.
Bollinger was provost at Dartmouth from July 1994 to the end of fall 1996.
Columbia's trustees voted unanimously to have Bollinger replace the former president, George Rupp, in fall of last year. He began work shortly after Rupp's retirement in June.
"Assuming this position as president of Columbia means more to me personally than I can possibly say," Bollinger said in his inaugural address.
During his time at Dartmouth he played a part in appointing the current deans of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration and the Thayer School of Engineering, helped develop Berry Library and taught courses in the government department.
"He has certainly made a difference, an impact, wherever he's been," Tuck School Dean Paul Danos said. "He's a strong leader with very strong ideas about scholarship."
The provost is generally considered the No. 2 official in the College's executive office. He is responsible for strategic plans and initiatives, and for coordinating institutional academic, financial and facilities planning, according to the provost's website.
Between his time at Dartmouth and his current presidency at Columbia, Bollinger was president of the University of Michigan, where he made headlines defending Michigan's affirmative action policies in two suits -- one brought against the law school and the other against the college.
The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the law school case, Grutter v. Bollinger, for trial. A decision in the college case, Gratz v. Bollinger, is still pending in appeals court.
"Over the past four decades, our American universities have done their part to fulfill the promise of Brown," Bollinger said in his address. "It would be an American tragedy if this progress were stalled by a reversal of Constitutional doctrine now nearly a half-century old, as determined opponents of affirmative action are at this moment trying to do."
A graduate of the University of Oregon and Columbia Law School, Bollinger served as law clerk for Chief Justice Warren Burger on the Supreme Court. In his speech he predicted that the affirmative action issue would come before the Supreme Court this year and said, "The outcome will have direct relevance to Columbia, as it will for all higher education."
One of the challenges that Bollinger faces in his new position is administering changes to Columbia's graduate school of journalism, where he has postponed the search for a new dean in order to reassess the school's curriculum.
Bollinger also addressed Columbia's need for more campus space.
"Whether we expand on the property we already own on Morningside Heights, Manhattanville or Washington Heights, or whether we pursue a design of multiple campuses in the city, or beyond, is one of the most important questions we will face in the years ahead," Bollinger said.
Emphasizing the arts, Bollinger said he is working on a partnership between Columbia's school of the arts and such institutions as the Apollo Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company of Great Britain.
