AROUND THE QUADS

CAMPUS BULLETINS

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APPLICATIONS BEAT GOES ON: Columbia's status as a "hot school" shows no sign of peaking. Early decision applications to the Class of 2005 were up 13 percent over a year ago, continuing a pattern of double-digit increases in each of the past five years. Since early decision applicants commit to attending that school if they are accepted, this trend shows that Columbia is not just a school of choice, but of first choice.

Regular applications, still being processed at press time, are also expected to be up once again, though not as dramatically, as more highly qualified students choose the early decision procedure.

Dean Austin Quigley said approximately 47 percent of the Class of 2005 would come from early decision applicants, the same as last year. Class size also will remain the same, approximately 1,005.

Quigley noted that this year's early decision candidates showed greater diversity than in the past, and that the College easily could fill its entire class with highly qualified applicants from this pool if it chose to go that route, but that it prefers to keep more than half the places open pending receipt of the regular applications. The average SAT score of early decision applicants who were accepted was 1,412, up from 1,410 a year ago.

Al Gore (right) with University President George Rupp PHOTO: EILEEN BARROSO

GORED: Former Vice President Al Gore began a new phase of his career as an educator at the Journalism School earlier this month. His lecture about the relationship between the news media and public policy on Feb. 6 marked the beginning of his term as a visiting professor. He is scheduled to teach part-time for the 2001 calendar year.

Gore announced his intention to teach at three universities - Middle Tennessee State, Fisk and Columbia - on Jan. 25. Gore's spring engagement is for a special non-credit seminar which he is co-teaching with Richard Wald '52 and Craig Wolff called "Covering National Affairs in the Information Age."

"Al Gore will be an incomparable resource for our students and others at this university," said Tom Goldstein, dean of the Journalism School. "From his unique perspective, students will get to see how government and the press intersect."

STAR TURN: Julia Stiles '04 has earned acclaim for her starring role in the film Save the Last Dance, released in January. The first-year plays Sara, a high school student whose dream of becoming a professional ballerina is derailed when her mother dies in a car accident and she is sent to live with her father on Chicago's South Side, where she is one of few white students. She soon falls for a local teenager, Derek, who teaches her hip hop, and the film portrays how they deal with issues in their interracial relationship.

In an interview posted on the Web site Hollywood.com, Stiles spoke of being at Columbia: "I love it. I feel like I'm in the center of all this stimulus. There are so many things I want to study, and I love being around people my own age."

Among her classmates is Anna Paquin '04, who won an Oscar at age 11 for her performance in The Piano. "[She] and I have mutual friends, but I don't see her that much," Stiles told Hollywood.com. "I think we're both really afraid of being like, 'I'm an actress, you're an actress, let's hang out together.'"

Stiles also has a supporting role in the David Mamet comedy, State and Main, currently in theaters.

STUDENT MOURNED: The University mourns the passing of Andrea Melendez '03, who died on Wednesday, December 6, 2000, as a result of a fall down the stairwell of McBain Hall, where she lived. Melendez, 19, of Staten Island was found on the stairway landing shortly after 3 a.m. and was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital, where she died later that morning. University officials report there is no reason to suspect foul play.

Related Stories

• A New Look for Hamilton Hall • Four Alumni to Receive John Jay Awards on March 7 • 1950-51 Men's Basketball Team Honored • Arac Chosen to Head English Department • Roar, Lion, Roar • Rothschild Scholarship • Campus Bulletins • Alumni Bulletins • Transitions • In Lumine Tuo • In Memoriam