Steven Marcus
Steven Marcus CC '48 PhD '61 was Dean of Columbia College for a short while. He continues to be George Delacorte Professor Emeritus in the Humanities. While he was an undergraduate, Marcus studied with Lionel Trilling. He is famous in the scholarly world for coining the concept "pornotopia" to describe a state in which "all men...are always and infinitely potent; all women fecundate with lust and flow inexhaustibly with sap or juice or both. Everyone is always ready for everything".
Marcus Commission Report
The Marcus Commission Report of 1979, formally titled "Report on the Presidential Commission on Academic Priorities in the Arts and Sciences", was a harsh assessment of that standing of the university among its peers. Steven Marcus led the commission. It brutally summarized Columbia's fall thanks to nearly two decades of budget crises: "We have fallen. The evidence is unambiguous, and candor compels us to acknowledge that we no longer occupy a position of distinct pre-eminence. In several disciplines we have fallen below the first rank."
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| Preceded by Jack Greenberg |
Dean of Columbia College 1993-1995 |
Succeeded by Austin Quigley |
