Janice Lozano
An image of a Columbia University student ID card has been circulating on social media platforms, including Facebook, claiming that Barack Obama registered at the university as a foreign student under the name Barry Soetoro. This claim is false. The image is a fake, and the ID card has been digitally altered. The original ID card belonged to a different student, Thomas Lugert, and was posted online in 1998. Furthermore, Columbia University did not start using digital ID cards until 1996, three years after Obama graduated, and the photograph on the card was taken in 1999, when Obama was in his late 30s.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Columbia University student ID card claim | Fake |
| ID card name | Barry Soetoro |
| ID card type | Foreign student |
| ID card year | 1981 |
| ID card photo | Not a picture of Obama as a 20-year-old college student |
| Actual ID card owner | Thomas Lugert |
| Actual ID card year | 1998 |
| Digital ID cards introduced at Columbia University | 1996 |
| Obama's graduation year | 1983 |
| Obama's major | Political science |
| Obama's alias in Indonesia | Barry Soetoro |
| Obama's Indonesian stepfather's name | Soetoro |
| Obama's birthplace | Honolulu, Hawaii |
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What You'll Learn
Obama's Columbia ID card listed him as a foreign student
An image of a Columbia University student ID card has been circulating on social media, claiming that Barack Obama registered at the university as a foreign student under the name Barry Soetoro. However, this claim is false. The image is a fake, and the ID card has been digitally altered. The original ID card belonged to a different student, Thomas Lugert, and was issued in 1998. Columbia University did not start using digital ID cards until 1996, three years after Obama graduated.
Firstly, the pictured card couldn't have been issued to Obama in 1981, as digital ID cards were not introduced at Columbia until 1996, and the photograph on the card was taken several years later when Obama was in his late 30s and serving as an Illinois state senator. Secondly, Obama stopped using the name "Soetoro" (his stepfather's surname) when he moved back to Hawaii at age 10. Thirdly, the photograph on the ID card is not a picture of Obama as a 20-year-old college student; it was taken several years later during or after his time at Harvard Law School. Finally, Columbia University has confirmed that the ID card is fake, stating that they "didn't even have such IDs then" and that they don't label student IDs with "foreign student".
Numerous rumours have been circulated over the years claiming that Barack Obama attended college in the United States as a foreign student. Evidence of this, supposedly, was a 1981 Columbia University student ID card that identified him as such. This, however, is false. Obama did, in fact, attend Columbia University and graduated in 1983 with a major in political science. He lived off-campus, pursuing a political science degree, specialising in international relations. He described his time at Columbia as a "quiet" and "intense period of study".
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The ID card was fake
Firstly, Columbia University did not start using digital ID cards until 1996, 13 years after Obama graduated with the class of 1983. The photograph of Obama used in the claim was taken in 1999, when he was in his late 30s and serving as an Illinois state senator. It was not a picture of him as a 20-year-old college student in 1981. Secondly, Obama stopped using the name "Soetoro" (his stepfather's surname) when he moved back to Hawaii, his birthplace, at the age of 10. There are no records of Obama using this name while attending Columbia University.
Thirdly, Columbia University has confirmed that the ID card is fake, stating that they "didn't even have such IDs then" and that they don't label student IDs with "foreign student". Multiple fact-checking organizations and media outlets have confirmed the authenticity of Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate, debunking "birther" theories claiming he was born in Kenya and therefore ineligible to be President of the United States. These theories have been promoted by fringe groups and individuals, including former President Donald Trump.
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The ID card belonged to Thomas Lugert
The ID card that has been circulating on social media platforms, claiming to be former US President Barack Obama's Columbia University student ID, is not real. The ID card pictured is not a Columbia University student ID issued to Barack Obama; instead, it is an altered version of a Columbia University ID card issued to another student, Thomas Lugert, in 1998. The pictured card couldn't have been issued to Obama in 1981, as digital ID cards were not introduced at Columbia until 1996, and the photograph on the card was taken in 1999, when Obama was in his late 30s and serving as an Illinois state senator.
The ID card, which first surfaced online in 2012, includes a photograph of Obama with the name "Barry Soetoro" and the words "Foreign student" underneath. The name "Barry Soetoro" reflects the surname of his Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro. However, Obama stopped using this name when he moved back to his birthplace, Hawaii, at the age of 10. There are no records of Obama using this name while attending Columbia University.
The image has been digitally altered to feature a more recent photograph of Obama and replace the word "student" with "foreign student". Columbia University has confirmed that the ID card is fake, stating that they "didn't even have such IDs then" and that they do not label student IDs with "foreign student". Additionally, the photograph on the ID card is not a picture of Obama as a 20-year-old college student; it was taken several years later during or after his time at Harvard Law School.
The false claim that Obama's Columbia University ID card shows he was a foreign student is part of a larger conspiracy theory that he was not born in the United States and was therefore ineligible to be President. Obama took the rare step of publishing his long-form birth certificate in 2011 to prove that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and rebut these conspiracy theories. Multiple fact-checking organizations and media outlets have confirmed the authenticity of Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate.
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Obama used the name Soetoro as a boy in Indonesia
There have been numerous rumours circulated over the years claiming that Barack Obama attended Columbia University as a foreign student under the name Barry Soetoro. However, this is false. The image of the purported Columbia University student ID card with the name "Barry Soetoro" and "foreign student" is not a real Columbia University student ID issued to Barack Obama. It is an altered version of a Columbia University ID card issued to another student, Thomas Lugert, in 1998. The digital ID card format in the image wasn't introduced at Columbia until 1996, and the photograph is from several years later, during or after Barack Obama's time at Harvard Law School.
Obama did, however, use the name Soetoro as a boy in Indonesia. Soetoro was the surname of his Indonesian stepfather, Lolo Soetoro, who he lived with in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971. Obama attended the Indonesian-language Santo Fransiskus Asisi (St. Francis of Assisi) Catholic School and became fluent in Indonesian. During his time in Indonesia, Obama's stepfather taught him to be resilient and gave him a pretty hardheaded assessment of how the world works. In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his grandparents, and he continued to use the nickname "Barry" until he visited Kenya in 1980.
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Obama was born in Hawaii
Several conspiracy theories have circulated claiming that former US President Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore not a natural-born citizen. These theories allege that Obama was born in Kenya and that he attended Columbia University as a foreign exchange student under the name Barry Soetoro. These claims have been proven false.
Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961, at Kapi'olani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was a natural-born citizen of the United States, and his father, Barack Hussein Obama, was a British subject from Kenya. Birth notices for Obama were published in two Honolulu newspapers on August 13 and 14, 1961, and his father's immigration file also states that Obama was born in Hawaii.
In 2008, Obama's literary agency, Acton & Dystel, printed a promotional booklet that misidentified Obama as "born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia and Hawaii." This error was not discovered until 2012, and the booklet's editor took responsibility for the mistake. Despite this, conspiracy theories about Obama's birthplace persisted, and in 2011, he released his long-form birth certificate to rebut these claims. The Hawaii Department of Health has also stated on numerous occasions that Obama was born in Hawaii.
The image of Obama's Columbia University student ID card that identifies him as a foreign student is a forgery. The ID card pictured is not an authentic Columbia University student ID issued to Obama but an altered version of an ID card issued to another student named Thomas Lugert in 1998. Additionally, the digital ID card format used in the image was not introduced at Columbia University until 1996, and the photograph on the ID card is from several years later, during or after Obama's time at Harvard Law School.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, Obama used the last name "Soetoro" as a boy in Indonesia. "Soetoro" was the surname of his Indonesian stepfather. However, he stopped using this name when he moved back to Hawaii at the age of 10.
No. An image of a Columbia University student ID card has been circulating on social media, claiming that Barack Obama registered at the university as a foreign student under the name Barry Soetoro. However, this image is fake. The ID card pictured is not a real Columbia University student ID issued to Barack Obama; it is an altered version of a Columbia University ID card issued to another student, Thomas Lugert, in 1998. The pictured card couldn't have been issued to Obama in 1981, as digital ID cards were not introduced at Columbia until 1996, and the photograph on the card was taken years later, when Obama was in his late 30s and serving as an Illinois state senator.
People circulated these rumours to try to demonstrate that Obama was not a U.S. citizen and was therefore ineligible to be President of the United States. In 2011, Obama took the rare step of publishing his long-form birth certificate to prove that he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and rebut conspiracy theories claiming he was not born in America.
