[The discussion on ROTC continues as Noah Baron responds to Learned Foote's op-ed in yesterday's Spec]
Long before my letters of acceptance and rejection from universities trickled in, I was sitting in a cafe with my Columbia interviewer—who, herself, had graduated not long ago. She had been a political science major—the same major which I then—and now—intended to pursue. Throughout the interview, one of the most salient features of my life had been my wide-ranging political activism. Not surprisingly, she asked me about it.
Before the interview, I had prepared answers to a wide variety of questions—such as “Why Columbia?” or “How come the Core is so very, very awesome?”—but I suppose this one had not crossed my mind. As I thought about it in the few moments of not-quite-awkward silence that ensued, I realized something.
[Noah Baron mulls a protest vote. See below for Xavier Sala-i-Martin's 