Our Aims
Protect our students. Protect our schools. Protect our Constitution.
Academic institutions, like the rest of our nation’s institutions, are not our enemy. They are democracy’s best hope against those who seek to subvert it. We do not aim to establish ourselves in opposition to university administrations. Rather, we aim to achieve wide-reaching consensus amongst the constituents of America’s academic institutions. In doing so, we can imbue our schools with the collective power to resist attacks on academic freedom while safeguarding the liberties of their students. We hope students, alumni, administrators, and Americans everywhere will join us in advocating for the following three goals:
Halt all deportations without due process, and demand immediate hearings for all students in custody.
Restore federal funding to universities that have been targeted by the Trump administration.
Commit to upholding academic freedom and ensure fiscal and academic independence at universities and colleges.
Statement of Support for Columbia Students Detained and Deported: Release a statement in support of Mahmoud Khalil and Ranjani Srinivasan, and all other Columbia students who have been deported, or detained without due process, had their visas canceled, or have been otherwise targeted for their free speech and political expression. This action would be in line with actions taken by peer universities such as Tufts University and Georgetown University.
Safeguard International Students: Bar ICE and DHS officers from entering campus grounds or university housing without a judicial warrant under any circumstances. Commit to withholding any student information, to the fullest extent allowed by law. Offer academic and housing accommodations to students facing threats related to their citizenship status.
Protect Academic Freedom: Reject any federal consent decree over Columbia University. Reverse the unprecedented transfer of oversight over the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department to the Senior Vice Provost, and restore control of educational programs, curricular decisions, and hiring practices to the department’s faculty. Commit to shielding all departments from external political pressure to ensure that education remains free from undue government influence.
Increase Transparency: Create meaningful engagement mechanisms, with students and faculty representatives, two key stakeholders on this campus, and collect their input for decisions that will affect their lives, work, and education. Add a student-faculty liaison position to the Board of Trustees to guarantee direct representation.
Look Forward: Draft a 4-year plan to ensure that Columbia will be able to create the necessary financial independence required to maintain autonomy over the treatment of its students and the academic curriculum on campus.
We hope to work with President Claire Shipman and the Columbia Board of Trustees on a path forward toward achieving those three goals, and we believe that to do so, the following steps are essential: