What's Been Happening This Summer Re: Efforts to Address Systemic Racism at SIPA
By Steven Lazickas and Hannah Stoddard
Hello Seeples,
Welcome to the academic year 2020-2021! Usually students are flying in from across the globe as the first day of school approaches, but this year many of us are zooming in instead. This summer has been…newsworthy, to say the least. Globally, nationally, and locally — a pandemic and a powerful resurgence in the movement toward racial justice have shaken the foundations of institutions previously thought to be, well, unshakeable. Among those institutions is our very own: Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Over the course of this turbulent summer, students have led efforts to address systemic racism at SIPA. Ongoing negotiations between students and SIPA’s administration are building on the previous work of student groups and the Diversity Committee and moving the school toward stronger commitments to anti-racism, equity, and inclusion.
The Morningside Post (TMP) began covering these efforts in June. You can read previous coverage from June 23 and July 13. On August 28, President Lee Bollinger wrote to update students that a medical school residence, Bard Hall, will be renamed to untangle the building from its namesake, Samuel Bard, and his association with slavery - a continuation of similar efforts across Columbia. Read President Bollinger’s announcement here. On July 20, Dean Merit Janow reached out to the SIPA community in an email to provide updates on “SIPA’s renewed efforts to foster greater diversity and inclusion within [the] community.” She stated, “now is the time to reflect on what needs to be done to challenge the persistence of racism in the US and globally, including specific ways in which SIPA can contribute to that crucial task.”
According to Dean Janow’s July 20 email, SIPA’s renewed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts include:
Conducting a school-wide self-assessment of diversity and inclusion at SIPA
Planning a series of conversations in the fall “to consider SIPA actions and progress in key areas such as student recruitment and financial assistance, faculty recruitment priorities, curricular perspectives, anti-racism education and other areas”
Adding expanded course offerings, including new courses on race, social justice, and public policy
Adding expanded capstone offerings which will include new clients and projects that focus on social justice and anti-racism
Continuing efforts to prioritize diversity, race and public policy in faculty hiring
Launching additional fundraising initiatives, including “a campaign focused on support for under-represented minority students”
Determining how best to strengthen administrative efforts “in support of a diverse and inclusive community”
Editor’s Note: Provided below is a brief snapshot of key events that have taken place over the summer. We encourage reading the linked stories above in full to learn more about the student-led efforts that preceded Dean Janow’s July 20 email, and all linked documents for important context in understanding this story.
Current student-led efforts toward anti-racist changes began with a petition addressed to SIPA’s administration on June 4. On June 11, Dean Janow, Professor Michael Nutter, and Dean Samantha Shapses held a meeting with student leaders to address demands outlined in the petition. Following the meeting, TMP sought statements from Dean Janow and the student leaders. These statements were published in an article (linked above) on June 23.
A second meeting between Dean Janow and student leaders took place on June 30. The students’ questions, comments and concerns following the meeting were sent to the administration in a public document on July 2. One section of the document raised concerns regarding Professor Mitchell Silber’s affiliation with NYPD and certain policies he promoted in a NYPD report that have been criticized by civil rights groups. The document called for the termination of SIPA’s relationship with Silber.
TMP’s July 13 article reported on the June 30 meeting and document, including the allegations against Silber and his course. The reference to these allegations prompted a group of Silber’s former students to write a Letter to the Editor in support of Silber, which TMP published on July 23. During the publishing process, TMP became aware that certain students had received information about an investigation being conducted by SIPA’s administration into the allegations against Silber. The details and extent of this investigation were confirmed in a report that was later published to SIPA’s website with an accompanying statement from Dean Janow. These documents can be referenced here. The investigation and report were completed by an ad hoc committee, convened for the special purpose of looking into the claims made against Silber. The committee, headed by Vice Dean Scott Barrett, found that despite the controversy, Silber had not violated Columbia University’s Code of Academic Freedom and Faculty Guidelines. The report recommended that no change be made to his role as Adjunct Professor at SIPA and no action be taken against him. A postscript at the end of the report stated that the publishing of allegations in TMP’s July 13 article forced the committee to “speed up [its] examination of the allegations.” Additionally, due to a potential conflict of interest, the decision was made to send the report and its recommendations directly to the Dean rather than sending it first to the Committee on Instruction (COI) as was originally planned, “since the author of the Morningside Post article is one of two student representatives on the COI .”
According to the report, the actions of the ad hoc committee were informed by SIPA’s and the University’s processes for exposing faculty misconduct, though they differed significantly from the SIPA procedures for addressing concerns about faculty conduct as described on the SIPA website. Notably, a student from the COI was not included in the ad hoc committee. It also appears that the students who made the original complaints were not informed of the investigation until after it had been completed.
When TMP reached out with queries about the investigative process, particularly the decision to send the report directly to the Dean rather than to the COI first, the Dean’s office declined to comment. However, a source close to the matter said that there is no formal procedure in place for addressing the allegations in this situation. The committee convened to investigate the claims made against Silber was not the sort listed in the official Student Grievance Procedures concerning faculty conduct.
Editor’s note: Steven Lazickas contributed reporting to and is an author on this story.
Since TMP’s last article, dialogue between student leaders and the administration has been ongoing. TMP will continue to provide coverage on these and similar efforts by students, faculty and administrators as the school year gets underway. We encourage students to contribute information or their perspectives concerning the ongoing advocacy efforts. As a final note, we encourage our fellow students to acknowledge the impact of structural and systemic racism on policy creation, implementation and outcomes: it is our responsibility as policy-makers, journalists, and other active participants in society.