Columbia U janitor graduates, will keep cleaning

Columbia U janitor graduates, will keep cleaning For years, Gac Filipaj mopped floors, cleaned toilets and took out trash at Columbia University. Bollinger presided over a ceremony in which General Studies students received their graduation certificates. "I asked people, that are the best schools in New York?" he says. Part of his $22-an-hour janitor's pay still goes back to his brother, sister-in-law and two kids in Montenegro. Filipaj also saves by not paying for a cellphone; he can only be reached via landline. Filipaj wasn't much older in 1992 when he left Montenegro, then a Yugoslav republic facing a brutal civil war. For now, he's trying to get "a better job," maybe as supervisor of custodians or something similar, at Columbia if possible. He fled after almost finishing law school in Belgrade, Yugoslavia's capital, where he commuted for years by train from Montenegro. At first in New York, his uncle in the Bronx offered him shelter while he worked as a restaurant busboy. On Sunday morning in the sun-drenched grassy quad of Columbia's Manhattan campus, Filipaj flashed a huge smile and a thumbs-up as he walked off the podium after a handshake from Columbia President Lee Bollinger. Later, Filipaj got a big hug from his boss, Donald Schlosser, Columbia's assistant vice president for campus operations. "I love Seneca's letters because they're written in the spirit in which I was educated in my family - not to look for fame and fortune, but to have a simple, honest, honorable life," he said. His graduation with honors capped a dozen years of studies, including readings in ancient Latin and Greek. "This is a man with great pride, whether he's doing custodial work or academics," said Peter Awn, dean of Columbia's School of General Studies and professor of Islamic studies. shift as a "heavy cleaner" - his job title. , in Roman and Greek classics. Someday, he hopes to become a teacher, while translating his favorite classics into Albanian. "They say, 'Aren't you. His ambition is to get a master's degree, maybe even a Ph. He wishes his father were alive to enjoy his achievement. To relax at home, he enjoys an occasional cigarette and some "grappa" brandy. For Filipaj, the degree comes after years of studying late into the night in his Bronx apartment, where he'd open his books after a 2:30-11 p. Columbia U janitor graduates, will keep cleaning Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 15/05/2012