Learn a New Language and Culture With CU Sign

CU Sign, the University’s sign language club, is designed to foster awareness of Deaf culture and build a welcoming community for students to learn American Sign Language. The club, which was founded in 2009, holds lesson-based sessions where students can learn sign language, as well as a range of other events.

Who Can Join

Any Columbia University or Barnard College student can join, including complete beginners with no knowledge of Sign Language. Some people who take part in the group know Sign Language (some have family members who are Deaf), but many have no connection or knowledge of the language before joining.

Club Activities

CU Sign holds meetings twice a month on Mondays from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM in Lerner Hall. One of the two sessions held each month is a Sign Language lesson, led by a Deaf instructor. The other event is an activity, like the group’s recent Game Night (shown in the reel at left), potlucks, and movie nights (the group often shows CODA, the Oscar-winning movie about a girl growing up in a Deaf family; this November 9, they’ll screen Deafula, a horror movie widely considered the first feature movie performed in American Sign Language).

The group regularly collaborates with Teachers College’s American Sign Language Club, and also takes part in events happening across New York City, like American Sign Language slam poetry events, and visits to Deaf Broadway events, special showings where plays are performed in sign language. In December, they hold an end-of-year showcase featuring projects members have worked on, such as signing a song or a play. Food is available at many of the group’s events.

How to Get Involved

Follow the group on Instagram at @cusign or connect with them on LionHub. Email [email protected] with any questions. “Anyone with interest or curiosity about sign language should drop by and check us out,” club President Ammana Karmali (Barnard’27) said.