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Janitor Filipaj, the Dream Pursuer
Verena Dobnik
1
For years, Gac Filipaj mopped floors, cleaned
toilets and took out trash at Columbia University.
A
refugee
from
war-torn
Yugoslavia,
he
made
a
living
working
for
the
Ivy
League
school
since
1993.
But
Sunday,
May 13, 2012,
was
payback
time:
The
52-year-old
janitor
put
on
a
cap
and
gown to graduate with a bachelor’s
degree in classics.
2 As a Columbia employee, he didn’t
have to pay for the classes he took. His favorite
subject was
the Roman philosopher and
statesman Seneca, the janitor said to the
Associated Press reporter
duri
ng a break from his work
at the student union building he cleans. “(1) 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.
3 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.m. shift as a “heavy cleaner”
—
his job title. Before
exam
time or to finish a paper, he’d pull
all
-nighters, then go to class in the
morning and then to
work. As his mother
tongue is Albanian, it took him almost seven years
to learn to master the
English
language
before
he
was
admitted
to
the
School
of
General
Studies.
(2)
His
graduation
with
honors
resulted
from
his
strong
will
to
overcome
all
the
difficulties
he
ran
into
in
the
following dozen years of
studies, including readings in ancient Latin and
Greek.
4
On
Sunday
morning
on
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,
who
presided
over
a
ceremony
in
which
General
Studies
students
received
their
graduation
certificates.
5 “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. “(3) He is very humble
and grateful, but he’s
one individual
who makes his own future.
”
1
6 It’s been a
long road for Filipaj who fled to the United
States in 1992, leaving behin
d his
parents
and siblings on a family farm
in Montenegro, then a Yugoslav republic. Filipaj
has always been a
dedicated
student.
When
he
was
living
in
Montenegro
and
working
on
his
family
farm,
he
attended
the
Law
College
in
Belgrade
as
a
part-time
student,
but
he
was
unable
to
finish
his
degree
due
to
the
cruel
civil
war
and
had
to
leave
his
homeland
during
the
last
year
of
his
studies.
7 At first in New York, his uncle in
the Bronx offered him shelter while he worked as a
restaurant
busboy.
“I
asked
people,
which
are
the
best
schools
in
New
York?”
he
said.
Since
Columbia
topped his list, “I
went there to see if I could get a job.” Filipaj
was accepted at Columbia as a
janitor.
8
Part of his $$22-an-
hour janitor’s pay
still goes back to his brother, si
ster-
in-law and two kids in
Montenegro.
Filipaj
has
no
computer,
but
he
bought
one
for
the
family, whose
income
comes
mostly from selling milk. Filipaj also
saves by not paying for a cellphone; he can only
be reached
via landline.
9
During
the
interview
with
the
Associated
Press,
Filipaj
didn’t
show
the
slightest
regret
or
bitterness about his hard
life. Instead, he cheerfully described encounters
with surprised younger
students
who
wondered
why
their
classmate
was
cleaning
up
after
them.
“They
say,
‘Aren’t
you...?’” he said with a grin.
10 His ambition
is to get a master’s degree, maybe even a Ph.D.,
in Roman and Greek classics. He
hopes
to become a teacher someday, while translating his
favorite classics into Albanian.
11
For
now,
he’s
trying
to
get
“a
better
job,”
maybe
as
supervisor
of
custodians
or
something
similar, at
Columbia if possible. He’s not interested in
furthering his studies to make more money.
“(4)
The richness is in me,
in my heart and in my head, not in my
pockets
,” said Filipaj, who is now
an American citizen. 12 Soon after, the
spirited, 5-foot-4 janitor picked up a broom and
dustpan
and went back to work.
2
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