I think I had seen this somewhere, but had forgotten it. Senator Obama is a fellow alumnus of Columbia College, class of 1983. He is the first Columbia alumnus (of any school) to be elected President of the United States. The Roosevelts (Theodore and Franklin Delano) attended Columbia Law School but never graduated. And, of course, before he was President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower was President of Columbia University.
As President Bollinger says in the press release, Columbiua alumni signed the Declaration of Independence, and have served as Mayors of New York and Governors of New York (as well as many other cities and states). But, this one is special.