The New York magazine has provided what we feel is the most comprehensive coverage of the drug bust investigation yet in a feature dubbed The Columbia Kid.
In it, the author Robert Kolker starts off by narrating the relevant details of Harrison David's life the past two years, describing everything from David's financial woes to his marijuana dealings in John Jay as a freshman, to how David progressed to harder drugs, and even including a bit on David's salutatorian speech as a high school student.
David had to submit the text beforehand, but didn’t want to, so he wrote some nonsense and gave it to the principal, then spoke off the top of his head, ending by quoting Jimi Hendrix to a crush of applause. Three years later, Harrison is still proud of that speech.
Kolker follows that by describing the drug trade system at Columbia as a whole, how the five Columbia students got involved, and how they met each other.
In Kolker's jailhouse interview with David, David talks about his financial woes in depth. One excerpt Kolker wrote on his financial troubles:
David says he got $37,000 in financial aid each of his first two years, but needed to pay $54,000 in tuition and living expenses. He closed some of that $17,000 gap each year with a combination of Stafford and private loans. Drug dealing helped close some of the rest of it.
Kolker also says that David estimated that he was as much as $50,000 in debt, and that the University canceled most of his financial aid his junior year.
On the police investigation, Kolker lists various meeting places the downtown suppliers and the Columbia students allegedly frequented (517 West 113th Street, 49th Street and 10th Avenue). He also details the undercover cop operation, including dates on when the cops made purchases from each student.
