Our Transformed University: Academic Freedom and Shared Governance at Columbia

Taking Stock and Next Steps

This is a hybrid event. Both in-person and remote attendance is limited to CUID holders. Registration is required for both in-person and remote participation. A webinar link will be distributed to registered guests in advance of the event. In-person attendance is on a first-come, first-seated basis. Press attendance is in-person only.

What has changed at Columbia? What does the university's Agreement with the Federal Government and the policy decisions that preceded it mean for our shared governance? What are their implications for Academic Freedom–in the classroom, on campus, and in the world? What do a changed system of discipline and new but vague policies on antisemitism and other 'controversial subjects, institutional neutrality and 'civility' imply for intellectual life at Columbia? What is the role of the Board of Trustees in reshaping our institutional culture and practices of faculty self-governance? The Agreement has and will impact research agendas and pedagogical practice in the sciences and the humanities, as well as the professional schools, in different ways. But the transformations of the last two years affect all at Columbia. In this forum, faculty from across the disciplines will present analyses, ask questions and suggest alternatives for a more robust defense of shared governance and academic freedom in the service of research and learning.

Speakers:

• Dave Pozen, Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law
• Joseph Slaughter, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature; Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Human Rights
• Jeanine D’Armiento, Professor of Medicine in Anesthesiology; Chair, Executive Committee, University Senate
• Marianne Hirsch, William Peterfield Trent Professor Emerita of English
• Shana Redmond, Professor of English and Comparative Literature
• Joachim Frank, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of Biological Sciences; 2017 Nobel Laureate, Chemistry

Convener and introductory remarks by Rosalind Morris, Professor of Anthropology
Moderated by Rhiannon Stephens, Professor of History, and Madeleine Dobie, Professor of French and Comparative Literature

Sponsored by the Columbia Chapter of the AAUP
Cosponsors: Committee on Global Thought, INCITE Institute, Knight First Amendment Institute, Center for Constitutional Governance, Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender