I arrived at Columbia as a graduate student in the fall of 1963. Though I'd visited New York a number of times, I hadn't really experienced life in a big city and certainly not life on a big urban campus.

Walking through the gates at 116th St. and standing in the middle of the quad for the first time remains an indelible memory: The sweeping steps, huge columns and Pantheon-like dome of Low Library rising to the left, the equally impressive colonnade and multi-storied windows of Butler Library at the end of the wide walkways on my right.

As many times as I made my way across this expanse --I was later a librarian in Butler for many years --I was always aware of being in a special place. Is there any other urban campus whose architectural heart is so majestic and thrilling?