Current-founder Bari Weiss, CC '07, writes in the (possibly ill-fated) New York Sun today about the 19 incoming Columbia GS first-years who had previously served in the Armed Forces.
(According to Weiss, GS was created in 1947 partly as a response to the high number of ex-soldiers returning from WWII.)
Weiss spoke to a number of the 19 first-years about the differences between military life and academic life, and reactions range from confident about success ("You sit down next to these girls who are 18 years old and they've got plastic jewelry from Claire's and they're trying to understand the rise and fall of the USSR. They can do it; but we've seen dictators rise and fall") to thankful for the ability to appreciate the civilian life: "I'm just happy to be alive. I'm ecstatic here."
