Columbia University
We, faculty members of the History Department of Columbia University, condemn the use of police force against students, as well as the ongoing presence of the NYPD on our campus. We insist upon the rights of students and scholars to engage in nonviolent protest or public speech, and we deplore the arbitrary disciplining of students, faculty, or staff for doing so. We are also dismayed that the use of public force resulted from a decision-making process from which faculty were excluded.
We disagree about many of the issues being debated on campus this year, but we agree that history shows how deeply damaging it is for a university to meet students’ protests with violence and criminalization. Since the last time the police were called on this campus in large numbers, in 1968, Columbia has worked hard to restore community, build shared governance, deal peacefully with protest, and maintain a culture of respectful debate. We must hold on to this legacy.
SIGNED:
Pablo Piccato, Professor of History, Chair
Adam Kosto, James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization
Mae Ngai, Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies / Professor of History
Casey Blake, Professor of History
Pamela Smith, Seth Low Professor of History
Elizabeth Blackmar, Mary and David Boies Professor of American History
Amy Chazkel, Bernard Hirschhorn Associate Professor of Urban Studies
Caterina Pizzigoni, Associate Professor of History
Marc Van de Mieroop, Professor of History
David Rosner, Ronald H. Lauterstein Professor of Sociomedical Sciences/Professor of History
Lien T. Hang-Nguyen, Dorothy Borg Associate Professor in the History of the United States and East Asia
Alma Steingart, Assistant Professor of History
Gregory Mann, Professor of History
Samuel Roberts, Associate Professor of History, Sociomedical Sciences and of African American and African Diaspora Studies
Mark Mazower, Ira D. Wallach Professor of World Order Studies; Director, Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination
Charly Coleman, Associate Professor of History
Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences
Natasha Lightfoot, Associate Professor of History
Susan Pedersen, Gouverneur Morris Professor of History
Gregory Pflugfelder, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures
Sarah Haley, Associate Professor of History
George Chauncey, DeWitt Clinton Clinton Professor of American History
Celia Naylor, Professor of History and Africana Studies – Barnard College
Michael Witgen, Professor of History
Nara Milanich, Professor of History – Barnard College
Anupama Rao, Professor of History – Barnard College
Paul Thomas Chamberlin, Associate Professor of History
David B. Lurie, Associate Professor of History – Barnard College
Richard Billows, Professor of History
Catherine Evtuhov, Professor of History
Malgorzata Mazurek, Associate Professor of Polish Studies
Adam Tooze, Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of History
Karl Jacoby, Allan Nevins Professor of American Economic History
Anders Stephanson, Andrew and Virginia Rudd Family Foundation Professor of History
Neslihan Senocak, Associate Professor of History
Frank Guridy, Dr. Kenneth and Kareitha Forde Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies and Professor of History
Marwa Elshakry, Associate Professor of History
Matthew Connelly, Professor of History
Barbara J. Fields, William R. Shepherd Professor of History
Emmanuelle Saada, Professor, Department of French
Kimberly Philips-Fein, Robert Gardiner-Kenneth Jackson Professor of History
James Stafford, Assistant Professor of History
Ali Karjoo-Ravary, Richard W. Bulliet Assistant Professor of Islamic History
Tunç Sen, Assistant Professor of History
Angelo Caglioti, Assistant Professor of History
Gergely Baics, Associate Professor of History and Urban Studies, Helman Faculty Chair of Urban Studies – Barnard College
Camille Robcis, Professor of History and French
Lisa Tiersten, Ann Whitney Olin Professor – Barnard College
Robert Hymes, Carpentier Professor of Chinese History – East Asian Languages and Cultures
Gray Tuttle, Leila Hadley Luce Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies – East Asian Languages and Cultures
Paul Kreitman, Associate Professor of 20th Century Japanese History – East Asian Languages and Cultures
Hilary Hallett, Mendelson Family Professor & Director of American Studies
Sailakshmi Ramgopal, Assistant Professor of History
Premilla Nadasen, Professor of History – Barnard College
Rhiannon Stephens, Professor of History