By Ben Fractenberg
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS — Columbia grad students are upset at the university’s choice of Citi Group CEO Vikram Pandit as their commencement speaker.
The CEO, who copped much flak for his involvement in Citi's catastrophic management of the subprime mortgage fiasco, is set to give the speech at the May commencement of Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
"He represents an industry that, even when it was stable and not in crisis, paid itself outrageous salaries," Daniel Safran-Hon, 29, told Daily News.
The school’s dean John Coatsworth is adamant that he will not reconsider the choice, telling Columbia blog the Morningside Post that Pandit is the right man for the job.
“Vikram Pandit has been unusually forthright and thoughtful in his response to the criticism against Citi’s role in the financial crisis,” Dean Coatsworth told The Morningside Post on Monday.
“I think students will find Mr. Pandit’s views less predictable than they would expect.”
The dean has received about 15 emails from concerned grad students since he alerted them of his choice last Friday, according to the bolg.
Pandit has a PhD in finance from Columbia and serves on the school’s Board of Trustees. He has been CEO of Citigroup since 2007.
