Announcements

All classes for the remainder of the semester will be conducted online. Students who are able to move out of undergraduate residence halls for the rest of the semester are encouraged to do so.

The person from our community who was exposed to the virus has been tested and the early results are negative. Classes will resume virtually tomorrow. Virtual classes will continue through the week after Spring Break.

Columbia is suspending classes on March 9 and 10 and preparing to shift to remote classes for the remainder of the week.

President Bollinger announces new steps in the formation of a climate change school and the appointment of a Climate Change Officer. The University will also seek divestment recommendations and is committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050. And as the University seeks to become more sustainable, Commencement 2020 will be plastic water-bottle free.

For more than seven decades Mike was an adored and respected Columbia fixture—first as a student, then teacher, Dean, Provost, and President who served for thirteen remarkable years. 

It is with deep sadness that I write regarding the tragic death of Barnard student Tessa Majors. As many of you may be learning this morning, Tessa was attacked while walking through Morningside Park yesterday evening. Despite the efforts of the doctors and nurses at St. Luke’s Hospital, Tessa succumbed to the injuries she sustained in the attack.

The experience of working at Columbia, Barnard, and Teachers College differs from other jobs by offering us an opportunity to be part of a distinctive community, one brought together by a laudable mission and enduring values. Columbia Community Service (CCS) combines our institutions’ resources to strengthen organizations that are serving the needs of families and individuals living in our community. Support for CCS is support for public service, and therefore central to our mission. If, in the past, you have joined other members of our community in this endeavor, thank you. If you have…

I write to share that G. Michael Purdy will be retiring from his position as the University’s Executive Vice President for Research on December 31, 2019.

The first initiative begins with the creation of a task force to consider what more the University should be doing with respect to climate change. A related and very significant second initiative also involves a task force and will focus on how to extend Columbia’s abilities to bring the extraordinary knowledge and capacities of the University in tandem with the wider academic community and actors beyond the campus to more effectively address pressing human problems. 

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

I do not usually circulate within the Columbia community things that I have written, but I am doing so in this instance because I know many around campus—faculty, students, and the administration—are alarmed by recent reports relating to the subject of this particular piece, now published in The Washington Post.  

As I note, the FBI has been encouraging university faculty and administrators to develop protocols to monitor foreign-born students and visiting scholars, with a focus on those who are ethnically Chinese…