Sunil Gulati was sitting inside his office at Columbia University late Monday morning when a student walked in and began to cry.

This, Gulati later explained, was not particularly unusual this time of year.

Since 2006, when Gulati was voted president of the United States Soccer Federation, his public profile and his professional commitments have steadily risen. In 2013, he was elected to the executive committee of FIFA, the powerful governing body of world soccer, and he began to distinguish himself as a reformer. Among his professional goals, he harbors a desire to bring the World Cup back to the United States.

But in that time, Gulati has also cultivated a separate identity — also celebrated, if less widely known — in academia as a lecturer in the Columbia economics department. A major element of this renown, wholly apart from soccer, has been a rousing lecture that he has delivered for years on the final day of each semester in his introductory-level course, principles of economics — which students often refer to simply as principles.

After 27 class sessions barreling through course material, the last lecture is his opportunity to remind students of the inequality in the world, point out their relatively privileged position in it, entreat them to have compassion for others and, as the often-emotional students make clear, tug a bit at their heartstrings.