A Racial Reckoning

Addressing Racism Initiative 

The COVID-19 pandemic and the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless other African Americans at the hands of police have highlighted race relations and the pervasiveness of racism in our society. Institutions of higher education have historically been a part of the cause, and have the potential to be part of the cure, with respect to structural racism. 

We posed the question: What is the role of the academy in dismantling structural racism? We provided opportunities for members of the Columbia community to consider this question in a series of panel discussions:

• June 2020: University Life Forum: Black Lives Matter, Protest and Creating Change (co-sponsored) panel discussion. 
• June 2020: Panel Discussion: Addressing Racism: A Call to Action for Higher Education with Diana Hernandez, Valerie Purdie Greenaway, Malo Hutson, Jennifer Manly
• Book Club Panels and Discussions. In collaboration with our colleagues at Teachers College and Barnard, each school will hold a conversation about a book related to the theme of race and racism. So far, we hosted a discussion on Noel Ignatiev’s How the Irish became White, and Teachers College led a session with Martha S. Jones, author of Birthright Citizens. Barnard will host a discussion with Claudia Rankine on her book, Citizen, in early 2021.
• October 2020: How To Be An Antiracist Discussion with Professor Ibram X. Kendi, cosponsored with the School of Social Work

In July, our office, in collaboration with the Columbia School of Social Work, developed a three-session Mini-Institute on Addressing Anti-Black Racism. This course was facilitated by Social Work faculty Dr. Courtney Cogburn, Dr. Jalana Harris, Dr. Zuleka Henderson and Dr. Ovita Williams. Approximately 70 faculty participated in our pilot this summer, and the Council of Deans, representing all of the Schools at Columbia, took part in the Institute in the fall.

We then launched an Addressing Racism Seed Grant funding Initiative to provide resources for projects to foster collaborative dialogue, action, and insight for systemic change towards racial equity. Smaller awards were funded up to $5,000, and complex projects, such as interdisciplinary collaborations, were funded up to $10,000. We had originally planned to fund 20 projects but, due to the generosity of the University Trustees, we were able to support 58 projects.