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Recent Bias Incidents
updated 10.12.07
To the Barnard Community--
As we now hear of another deeply distressing bias incident committed in our academic community, I write to express both my concern, shared by all of us at Barnard, and my agreement with the general position taken by Columbia President Lee Bollinger, as communicated in the e-mail I am forwarding to you. We cannot get into a cycle of outrage and response that may only encourage those who seek not only to vent their irrational fears and hatreds, but also to attract the maximum amount of attention.
I am confident that our strong community will come together not only to confront these senseless acts, but to address the less dramatic, but insidiously pervasive fallout of racism, prejudice, and stereotyping that pollute the cultural atmosphere in which we live and breathe.
I encourage you to attend one of the lunch-time drop in discussions that our Office of Multicultural Affairs will host next week on Monday, October 15th, Tuesday, October 16th, and Friday, October 19th in the Lewis Parlor in Brooks Hall. I also look forward to the discussion we will have at our first SGA-sponsored Town Meeting of the year.
--Judith Shapiro
-----Original Message-----
From: Columbia Community [mailto:PRESIDENT@CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU] On Behalf Of Lee C. Bollinger
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 5:21 PM
To: PRESIDENT@CUVMC.AIS.COLUMBIA.EDU
Subject: Recent Bias Incidents
Dear member of the Columbia community,
I am saddened to report that one of the bathrooms in Lewisohn Hall was sullied with an anti-Semitic smear. It has been promptly removed and is now being investigated.
I want to make two points. When words are the offender, as in this incident, I am reluctant to draw attention to them and will exercise restraint in doing so going forward. I do not want to broadcast, in any way, the message they attempt to send or empower those behind them. Despite the irrational, destructive hatred that persists in our society and world, we do not accept this anywhere at this University. No one among us should feel marginalized or threatened by words of hatred. We are one community; and as one community, we will overcome these hateful acts and hold each other to the highest standards of respect for the dignity and diversity of every individual.
In response to questions students have raised, I also want to reassure you that we have utmost confidence in our Public Safety officials and in the NYPD. Not only do they have well established communications protocols in place when there is an immediate threat of harm; they distinguish crimes that threaten our physical safety from incidents like the one that occurred today.
Sincerely,
Lee C. Bollinger
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