Yesterday Jonathan Cole, Columbia's Provost, spoke to my department on the question of Columbia's ranking vis a vis other schools. He pointed out that Columbia has only 34 acres to work with, while Stanford has thousands. The clear implication is that Columbia will be bumping up against its neighbors in years to come. Some of you might remember that Columbia's bid to turn Morningside Park into a gym in 1968 led to the student strike. A couple of years ago there was a simmering dispute about using the Audobon building uptown, where Malcolm X used to speak, into a genetic research facility. Columbia had its way.
Louis Proyect
(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)