Columbia University President Lee Bollinger speculated Monday that President Barack Obama planned to return to his alma mater's New York-based campus, potentially to teach, after leaving office, though a White House spokesman said the president has not finalized any plans.
Bollinger told a school convocation on Monday: "We look forward to welcoming back our most famous alumnus, Barack Obama, in 2017," according to the Columbia Daily Spectator.
Later on Monday, the university issued a statement to clarify that Bollinger didn't necessarily intend to insinuate that Obama was coming back to teach at the school, from where he graduated in 1983 and taught constitutional law before being elected to the Senate in 2004.
"Lee Bollinger's comment at Convocation today that he was looking forward to welcoming back Columbia's most famous alumnus only reiterated the May 12 statement by the Barack Obama Foundation that it 'intends to maintain a presence at Columbia University for the purpose of exploring and developing opportunities for a long term association' and reflected no further developments concerning President Obama's plans," the statement said, according to Politico.
White House deputy press secretary Jen Friedman told Reuters in a statement that while Obama "has long talked about his respect for Columbia University and his desire to continue working with them ... at this point no decisions have been finalized about his post-presidency plans."
Rumors of Obama's return to Columbia have been floating around since the New York Post speculated as much back in April, and Michelle Obama and daughter Malia were spotted earlier this year touring college campuses in New York, including Columbia.
