Announcing the University International Student Hardship Fund

Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:

As I shared with you several weeks ago, one of my priorities for this year is to strengthen engagement across our University, including the meaningful dialogue of leaders at all levels with the many groups and communities that make up this vibrant institution. Such engagement is critical for our ability to understand the diversity of perspectives and experience across the University, to learn about new ideas and new approaches that can help us do better, to identify issues and concerns, and to encourage and model the open dialogue and pursuit of knowledge that is so important for our mission.

Today, I am writing to update you on one part of that effort: our approach to engaging with our students over the last few weeks and our plans for the months ahead. Columbia is extraordinarily fortunate to attract brilliant, dedicated, imaginative students across our schools and there is no doubt that their insights, creativity, and energy are central to our success.

One message that I have heard clearly from students is how important it is for leadership to be visible and present, a message that is strongly aligned with my preferences and priorities. Luckily, students have been extremely gracious in inviting me and other leaders to events including move-in, new student orientation, welcome barbecues and cocktail parties, activity fairs, and even a speed-friending festival. I have met hundreds of students from across the country and the world, each one excited to be at Columbia and many with words of advice and encouragement.

In addition to joining these activities, our leadership team and I have spent time with student leaders and other organized student groups in more structured conversations about the opportunities and challenges we face. Over the weeks to come, we plan to meet with student representatives from the University Senate (including the Student Affairs Committee), undergraduate and graduate student government representatives, and University Life ambassadors. These conversations are particularly important for understanding the issues that are affecting the student experience and developing potential approaches to make progress together.

Engagement over the last weeks has helped us to see what we need to set in motion to address key issues for students and student groups in the long term, as well as steps that can be taken now to address immediate concerns. Our implementation of these ideas is informed and supported by the experience and operational expertise of the central and school teams. A few examples of the steps we are taking that result from this engagement process include:

• We are launching a University International Student Hardship Fund for students experiencing financial hardship due to natural disasters, humanitarian crises, armed conflict, and other crises. This fund will support living expenses for degree-seeking students.
• We have learned that students impacted by events both global and local may have specific space needs for gathering, meeting, and grieving together; in response, University Life and our Facilities and Operations team have worked to make spaces available to meet these needs and the needs of others who seek private spaces for community activities. These can be arranged by contacting [email protected] or [email protected].
• We have opened more gates at Morningside to help everyone get to class and other activities more quickly and have added signs to ensure that our community knows that our public safety team is here to help and answer questions. We are working to understand when we can open the Morningside campus more fully, since we know that the current restrictions continue to create challenges for our students, faculty, staff, and neighbors in Morningside Heights.

Of course, in addition to learning from our students, I have benefited from the opportunity to join many school faculty meetings, meet with the Morningside Faculty Advisory Council and other faculty groups, work closely with the Senate Executive Committee, and participate in several meetings of administrative staff including a wonderful Columbia College All-Staff Meeting last week. Throughout these meetings, I have been so impressed by the deep commitment of these groups to advancing engagement across the University, whether through school-level discussions, small group meetings, or developing innovative new ideas like the Listening Tables that are being hosted by the Trust Collaboratory at Columbia to promote listening and dialogue on campus. Next week we will be sharing the next steps in the Campus Climate Collaborative, including ways to participate, access to shared resources and opportunities for programmatic support. I am grateful to Dennis Mitchell for his dedication to that effort and his continued leadership in this critical area.

I have absolutely no doubt that the strength of our University lies with the extraordinary people—students, faculty, staff—who bring Columbia to life every day. Each person I meet tells me that is what brought them to Columbia and that is what keeps them here. It is the intellectual and creative energy that each of you contribute to Columbia that motivates our mission—and creates the unique and dynamic environment of our University.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out.

All my best,

Katrina A. Armstrong
Interim President
Columbia University in the City of New York