New York has always had its share of pest problems, but in spring 2005 a new species of vermin began setting up camp in front of some of the city’s most august institutions. Like something from a nuclear-age horror movie, these grubby rodents were alarmingly large, often towering over fifteen feet tall when standing erect on their hind legs. Although New Yorkers have grown used to seeing these monstrous figures outside restaurants and building sites in recent years, the juxtaposition of one such grotesque, scab-encrusted rat with the serene sculptural figures in front of Columbia University’s gates was nevertheless more than a little jarring. Planted firmly next to “Letters,” the classically proportioned granite statue of a woman with an open book who greets visitors to the university’s campus, the huge inflated plastic rat figure was part of a weeklong strike by Columbia University’s graduate student employees demanding collective bargaining rights. Although the giant rat of Morningside Heights was placed in front of the university gates to support a specific campaign, it was a symptom of contradictions and conflicts that run deep in academia today.
