Students Demand Anti-Racist Changes at SIPA, Administration Responds
By: Steven Lazickas and Hannah Stoddard
Student organizers and SIPA administrators are in the process of negotiating for more robust institutional commitments to anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion at SIPA. Negotiations began in earnest on June 11, when Dean Merit Janow and David N. Dinkins Professor of Professional Practice in Urban and Public Affairs and former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and Dean Samantha Shapses met with students to discuss demands outlined in a petition sent to the SIPA administration on June 4. The petition, signed by over 200 SIPA students and alumni, called out Janow for what students described as a “lackluster response” to recent police brutality, systemic anti-Blackness, and resulting Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrations happening around the United States.
(Editor’s Note: The Morningside Post strongly encourages reading the student petition in full. The grievances and demands listed in the document are critical, thoughtful, and deliberate. We believe the full text of the petition provides important context in understanding this story as it develops.)
Janow sent her original communication to the SIPA community on June 1, a week after George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis. The short message aligned SIPA with the University at large and stated that SIPA condemns the “deaths of Black Americans George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others.” The communication’s second and final paragraph noted:
“In times like these, we reflect upon our mission - to impart the leadership, skills, and knowledge needed to engage critical public policy challenges in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. As leaders in public policy and international affairs, members of the SIPA community play an important role in defending the dignity and humanity of every member of our global society. These moments remind us of our duty and, sadly, highlight the difficult challenges we face in pursuing equality for all.”
Students responded to this communication by submitting the critical petition to Janow on June 4. The petition expresses students’ “immense disappointment and outrage” with Janow’s response, stating that it “echoes characteristics of institutional hypocrisy, performative allyship, and inauthenticity.” The petition criticizes Janow’s June 1 communication, as the message “never once reaches out to Black students at SIPA”. The petition calls Janow’s outreach “incredibly hypocritical,” observing the fact that SIPA only has a single class “dedicated to the intersection of race and policy,” and noting that there are “more classes devoted to topics such as corporate finance or social innovation” offered at the school.
The petition also acknowledges the school’s role in perpetuating structural racism and its failure to examine its relationship with the police. It concludes with a list of demands that call for targeted changes to SIPA’s curriculum, recruitment practices, and financial aid infrastructure; an increase in the “scope and powers” of the Diversity Committee; and an institutional commitment to “cater from Black-owned and people of color-owned restaurants and businesses at university events.”
When asked why the petition is particularly salient and imperative at SIPA - beyond the BLM movement and the current and historical sociopolitical context of the U.S. - the petition’s leaders Selena Batchily, Drashti Brahmbhatt, Asha Hardy, Jessica Hernandez, Ruby Khan, Benson Neethipudi, Shani Ogilvie, and Jason West, responded via email to The Morningside Post collectively:
“Columbia University has a long and vociferous relationship with the surrounding Harlem community, one that ignored SIPA’s own role in contributing to and maintaining structural racism in the United States and abroad. A school that champions itself as a leading global public policy institution has failed to offer classes on a topic that shapes virtually every public policy issue we will tackle in our lifetimes: racial justice. By blatantly ignoring racial injustices and whitewashing political contexts, we are doing a disservice to our students, and to the world we send them to lead.”
Janow responded directly to the petition with a second email to students on June 5. In this email, Janow stated that she has “seen the tremendous pain and anger among Black Americans, including Black SIPA students and alumni, among many others.” She went on to say:
“I am distressed that I failed to communicate in my earlier message my personal and institutional convictions such that some of you found my words to be insincere. I want you to know that I hear you. I hope that you will work with me and our entire community, not only to help one another, but to make changes wherever we can, including at SIPA.”
Janow stated in this email that she planned to respond to the steps suggested in the petition. On this, Janow said, “To help guide my response and to initiate what I hope will be an ongoing dialogue, I hope to meet in the coming weeks with students directly engaged in these matters.”
On June 11, petition leaders met with Janow, Nutter, and Shapses to discuss in greater detail the central demands of the petition, particularly “DEI & racial equity training, the SIPA curriculum, the Diversity Committee, and the relationship between SIPA/Columbia and Harlem,” according to the petitioners.
Reflecting on the petition and the meeting with administrators, the petition leaders stated in an email to The Morningside Post, “With over 200 signatures across current SIPA students as well as alumni, we feel that the petition shares concrete thoughts and recommendations shared widely within our community. It is clear that Dean Janow and other SIPA administrators recognize a Diversity Gap at our school and in a combined and committed effort with the student body, we all have the opportunity to make SIPA better than when we arrived.”
Janow and Nutter provided the following statement about the meeting via a June 16 email to The Morningside Post:
“Our first meeting with student leaders was constructive, and we appreciated the chance to hear their concerns. We are now actively considering how to make progress on the various issues they have raised such as additional coursework, deepening relationships with the surrounding community, further transparency around our efforts in various areas such as recruitment, student support, financial aid, training, amongst other matters. One thing is clear: there is a need for responsive action. We are committed to working with our students and, indeed, our entire community, so that we advance concrete actions as well as longer term and ongoing approaches. We take diversity, inclusion, equity and anti-racism extremely seriously and want to move forward on the broad areas identified by our students. As this is an ongoing dialogue, we will be back with more specifics and developments as our conversations continue.”
The petitioners are scheduled to meet again with administrators in the coming weeks to follow up on key action items outlined during the first meeting. Janow and Nutter have indicated that they intend to continue talks and action, and the petition leaders have stated their intent to hold the administrators to their word.
In their email to The Morningside Post, the petition leaders emphasized SIPA students’ roles as potential policymakers:
“While the realities of racial violence in the United States have garnered ample attention at this moment, and rightfully so, the situation also begs for an international framework of understanding. Institutional discrimination, systemic racism, and associated forms of violence are known throughout the world. They do not constitute a phenomenon exclusive to the United States by any means. From the United States to Palestine and from there to Myanmar, militarized police are orchestrating state-sponsored violence against minority groups. Furthermore, such violence need not be overt. Disproportionately high rates of hunger, malnutrition, and material poverty challenge the livelihoods of Black and brown people across the globe. This is to say, that the intersections of race, class, caste, religion, privilege, and policy can and must be examined in various contexts in order to comprehend this historical moment. Only in this way can we as policy thinkers respond responsibly to the inequities of the world, and dare to imagine new realities. It can’t be business as usual. We must challenge the notion of taking economics courses that routinely neglect the harm done to socially and politically marginalized groups by the application of their fundamental theories in service to the ownership class in our societies. We must interrogate the status quo with enthusiastic sincerity.”
This article is part of ongoing coverage on efforts to dismantle institutional racism at SIPA. As these endeavors continue, The Morningside Post will continue sharing updates with our readers.
Quotes from petition leaders are collective responses to questions posed by The Morningside Post via email and received June 19.