President Barrack Obama holds a special place in the hearts of Columbia students as the only CU graduate to be elected President of the United States. The 2011 Student Council hopes to use this sentimentality to convince the President to speak at commencement - an initiative known as the POTUS Project.

Sean Udell, Columbia College's Class of 2011 President, noted that "the enthusiasm I heard from people when Obama came to Service Nation - even though they weren't going to get a ticket to watch him speak - you could really feel that excitement. Same thing for when Eric Holder came and spoke at both the College and Law School Class Days. You know, we take a big sense of pride in the people who come and engage our community and so that's the idea behind this project."

As one of its main goals, the Project recognizes the importance that President Barrack Obama has in the community and wants to make sure that the entire student body can be involved in his appearance at Columbia. The Student Council does not want to limit the Project to the class of 2011 and hopes that the movement can bring the community closer.

"And we're talking about ways, if President Obama were to come, to get the community to actually watch it. Which would be moving people to Baker Field where they could watch -even if you're not 2011 - they could watch it at Baker Field and sort of engage the community that way."

As part of the campaign, the student council is asking students to write letters, make videos and attend activities centered around Obama and his presence at the school. They hope to show Obama that Columbia University is a more united community than ever before.

"But I think, whether or not you are going to get to watch Obama speak at commencement, the fact that he's coming back to his family and sort of reuniting with the family is really exciting for a lot of students regardless of class year."

To learn more about the POTUS Project visit potusproject.wordpress.com.