The Low Down

We went into the vault for today’s episode, all the way back to a lecture that Professor Robert Young gave last year at the Columbia Global Center in Amman. We chose this particular lecture because Professor Young offers a historical perspective on an issue facing today’s society: migration.

Alex Finley* '94CC, '97JRN joined the CIA in 2003, where she spent close to six years as an officer of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, serving in West Africa and Europe. Before she joined the agency, she was no stranger to Washington DC or politics. As she puts it, "she chased puffy white men around Washington DC as a member of the wild dog pack better known as the Washington media elite."

After leaving the CIA in 2009, she returned to writing and soon found that her voice lent itself well to humor. In addition to her work for Slate, Reductress, and Funny or Die, she is also about to publish a book: Victor in the Rubble: A Satire of the CIA and the War on Terror, which goes on sale April 15. The book, which was inspired by her time at the CIA and some of the bureaucratic frustrations that she had, comes out next week. In a recent interview, Alex spoke about the book, her work with the agency, and what the future of the CIA might look like. 

We’re mixing things up a little bit here at The Low Down. We decided to feature a discussion from Past Present, a podcast that’s produced by three Columbia alumni: Nicole Hemmer '05GSAS, '06GSAS, '10GSAS (a research associate at the Miller Center for Public Affairs in Charlottesville, Virginia), Natalia Mehlman Petrzela '00CC (an assistant professor of history at The New School), and Neil Young '04GSAS, '05GSAS, '08GSAS (a historian and author of We Gather Together: The Religious Right and the Problem of Interfaith Politics).

On July 30, 2015 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that targets the global problem of wildlife trafficking, calling on all 193 UN member states to take on a series of actions to “prevent, combat, and eradicate the illegal trade in wildlife.”

Adopted by consensus, the resolution recognizes growing global concern over widespread poaching and trafficking – particularly of elephants and rhinos.

In this episode, three ambassadors to the UN from Botswana, Germany and Vietnam address the problem facing wildlife today.

This panel discussion was sponsored by the Columbia University Club of New York.

In this episode, Richard Bulliet, Professor of History and Middle East Studies at Columbia, and Dr. Nina Ansary '89BC, '91GSAS, '09GSAS, '13GSAS, the author of the book, Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran, discuss the women's movement in Iran and how Ansary's book breaks down stereotypical assumptions and the often misunderstood story of women in Iran today.

"Based on her doctoral thesis on the women's movement in Iran, Jewels of Allah shatters stereotypical assumptions and the often misunderstood story of women in Iran today. Challenging the dominant narrative of the demise of women and their downward spiral into passive submission since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Ansary argues that 'despite the current regime's best laid plans to redirect women into the private domain, the female population in Iran is distinguished by an unprecedented surge in female literacy and a flourishing feminist movement against the boundaries of traditional religious prescription.' " 

- Barnard Center for Research on Women (BCRW)

This talk was brought to you by BCRW and the Middle East Institute at Columbia University.

Each year, global leaders convene at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, to address topics at the forefront of the world agenda. Among those in attendance are prominent Columbia alumni and faculty.

This year's conference took place on January 20-23.

Hear directly from some of these Columbians, who provide insight on its significance and why you should pay attention.