Campus Access Advisory Committee Update

The Campus Access Advisory Committee, established by President Jennifer L. Mnookin and co-chaired by Engineering School Dean Shih-Fu Chang, Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor of Engineering, and Geraldine Downey, Robert Johnston Niven Professor of Humane Letters in Psychology, has begun its work.

The committee’s charge is to advise Mnookin and the University’s senior leadership team on how to make the Morningside campus more open by recommending principles, conditions, and practical steps Columbia can take while preserving appropriate safeguards for the community and the University’s academic mission.

“Maximizing our openness within the practical realities of operating a complex urban university should serve as a guiding principle,” Mnookin said. “I look forward to finding a path forward and appreciate the guidance that I know will be forthcoming from the Campus Access Advisory Committee in the months ahead.”

Already, working with the President’s Office, Chang and Downey have assembled a committee that includes students, faculty, staff, alumni, and representatives of the Morningside Heights community. Those members are:

• Halla Al-Moradi, President, School of Professional Studies Student Government
• Katherine Brooks, Collection Analysis Librarian
• Jelani Cobb, Dean, Journalism School; Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism
• Victor Edwards, Chair, Manhattan Community Board 9
• Honey Sue Fishman, Assistant Vice President, Housing and Student Center Operations
• Jenny Gao, President, Engineering School Graduate Student Council
• Turkuler Isiksel, Associate Professor of Political Science; Director, Sakip Sabanci Center for Turkish Studies
• Gussie Kappner (BC’66, SW’85), Board Member, Morningside Heights Community Coalition
• Donna MacPhee (CC’89), Vice President, Alumni Relations; President, Columbia Alumni Association
• Dennis Mitchell, Dean, College of Dental Medicine; Professor of Dental Medicine (Community Health and Periodontics); Senior Vice President, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
• Hikma Omer, Vice President for Campus Life, Columbia College Student Council
• Dave Robinson, President, Morningside Heights Community Coalition
• Ian Rottenberg, Dean of Religious Life; Director, Earl Hall Center; Associate Chaplain
• Henning Schulzrinne, Julian Clarence Levi Professor of Mathematical Methods and Computer Science; Professor of Electrical Engineering
• Daphna Shohamy, Kavli Professor of Brain Science; Director and Chief Executive Officer, Zuckerman Institute; Co-Director, Kavli Institute for Brain Science
• Nachum Sicherman, Carson Family Professor of Business; Chair of Economics Division
• Matthew Waxman, Liviu Librescu Professor of Law
• Raymond Yu (CC’89, SEAS’90), President, Columbia College Alumni Association

The co-chairs have also launched an informational website and feedback form for community members to share input.

“We are grateful to the members of the committee who have volunteered their time to help us in this very important endeavor,” said Chang. “We are looking forward to developing recommendations based on broad community input that will assist President Mnookin and the University leadership as we move toward expanding campus access.”

“We appreciate the committee’s thoughtful engagement to date. As our work progresses, there will be additional opportunities for the community to share their perspectives and feedback with us,” added Downey. “The advisory committee’s website will also have a form that affiliates and neighbors can use to share their thoughts with the committee.”  

The Campus Access Advisory Committee was announced in a message from the president at the beginning of this semester, in which she outlined her intention to move progressively toward increasing access to campus in a thoughtful manner based on information and capacity.