News

It took a long time for the press to gain freedom and respect in America. Now both are in peril.

It is a fundamental premise of modern U.S. higher education, and it is most certainly true of Columbia University, that scholarship and teaching are strengthened immeasurably by having a diverse faculty and student body.

I write to share the wonderful news that Columbia Professor Joachim Frank has won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Congratulations, first and foremost, to Professor Frank, who shares this year’s prize with scientists Richard Henderson of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England and Jacques Dubochet of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

President Bollinger rejects the idea that the students of today have an unhealthy aversion to engaging differences of opinion. He does, however, call on all universities to be at the forefront of defending the rights of all students and faculty to listen to controversial voices, to engage disagreeable viewpoints, and to make every effort to demonstrate their commitment to the sort of fearless and spirited debate that we are simultaneously asking of the larger society. 

I am writing to announce a new campaign that will be critical to fulfilling Columbia’s core mission and to serving its students, faculty, and the world.  Its name is the Columbia Commitment, and our aim is to raise $5 billion in 5 years. 

I write to announce my appointment of Dr. Jeannette Wing as the Avanessians Director of Columbia’s Data Science Institute and Professor of Computer Science.  Jeannette will report to the president and will lead the University’s research, scholarship, and teaching in data science...

I am pleased to announce my appointment of Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic to the rank of University Professor, our highest academic honor. Professor Vunjak-Novakovic is currently Mikati Foundation Professor of Biomedical Engineering...

Over the past two years, I have been holding discussions among numerous faculty, deans, and distinguished guests all focused on this essential question: How can we at Columbia (and in the academic community more broadly) better connect with the world at-large where laws and policies are made, actions taken, and norms and attitudes shaped?

I write to report that I have asked Jim Valentini, Dean of Columbia College and Vice President for Undergraduate Education, to lead a Steering Group on Mental Health, focused on our undergraduate community.  This group will try to marshal our internal resources from across the University...

I write to share that, at the most recent Trustee meeting, the Trustees voted to divest from companies substantially engaged in thermal coal production.  We also concluded that we should strengthen our existing efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, conduct additional research and policy analysis in the area of global warming and climate change...

Once again, I must write to you about government action negatively affecting our University community. The differences between the new executive order on immigration and refugee policies issued today and the now superseded January order (about which I wrote earlier) may or may not prove significant in the ultimate judicial determination of the order’s legality.

Over the past two weeks, we have been working with several other academic institutions (sixteen, including all Ivy League universities) on an amicus brief that was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York challenging the Executive Order regarding immigrants from seven designated countries and refugees. 

With the executive order issued by President Trump barring admission to the United States of Syrian refugees and imposing a 90-day ban on all immigrant and nonimmigrant entry from seven Muslim-majority nations, the fear so many have had about federal policies being changed in ways that could affect our community has become disturbingly real.
 

President Bollinger and Dean Awn Reflect on the Evolution and Revolution of GS and Global Education

I am writing because of concerns for our community arising out of yesterday’s national election. Certainly, not in my lifetime has there been a choice that is embraced by so many while also causing feelings of apprehension and vulnerability among so many others, including many students, faculty, and staff across our diverse University community.