What We Just Won

What we just won: Administrative commitment to, and student involvement in, expansion of the OMA, expansion of Ethnic Studies, and transformation of Major Cultures into a seminar format on equal footing with CC and Lit Hum.

What the Next Five Years will bring is….


Ethnic Studies
For the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race (CSER):
• Three senior faculty hires
• Increased student participation in hiring process

Senior faculty hire for IRAAS (the Institute for Research in African American Studies)

Recruitment of a scholar in Native American Studies

Resources toward strengthened ties between CSER, IRAAS and IRWAG (the Institute for Research on Women and Gender)

Student participation in the Academic Review Committee on CSER allowing for student input in CSER's development


Office of Multicultural Affairs and Administrative Reform
Review of the OMA and the School of the Arts and Sciences to:
• Identify the unmet needs for the Office of Multicultural Affairs
• Access to the OMA for the School of General Studies
• Identify the needs for a Multicultural Affairs officer in the Arts and Sciences
• Create more safe spaces for a number of campus communities

The new location of an expanded Intercultural Resource Center will be announced and funded at the end of the semester

The Annual orientation for new faculty will include perspectives that address the power and privilege

Diversity education and training for Public Safety staff


The Core and Major Cultures
Increased student participation in the re-examining of the Core beginning this semester

Commitment to funding new Major Cultures seminars when approved by the Committee on the Core and the Task Force on Undergraduate Education


Faculty, Student and Alumni Oversight
A committee of faculty, students and alumni to ensure the progress of these concerns


We've gotten the ball rolling, Columbia. We've put these things on the table and won a commitment to raise the money so that they will actually happen. Now it's up to you, students and faculty of the entire university, to shape it.