New school year for Columbia, same story for Harlem say anti-displacement advocates
As Columbia University kicks off another school year this week, the campus remains divided from the surrounding community, both literally and figuratively.
That community includes Harlem, where locals are pushing back against the institution’s planned development between 125th and 133rd Streets from Broadway to 12th Avenue. Meanwhile, recent pro-Palestinian protests led to restricted access on campus, further divorcing the university from its surrounding uptown neighborhoods.
“The relationship between the community and university right now is probably at an all time low,” said Dr. Dedrick Blue, vice chair of New York Interfaith Commission for Housing Equality. “Not since 1968 has the community been under more threat than what it is right now.”
Of course, 1968 similarly coincided with mass student demonstrations over issues abroad and at home, including a gym construction in Morningside Heights with a separate entrance for non-student locals.
When Nemat “Minouche” Shafik became university president last year, she made early efforts to connect with the neighborhoods surrounding campus. She credited Columbia’s “commitment to the notion that universities can and must engage beyond their walls,” a commitment which starts with the school’s neighbors.
Early on, Shafik followed up on such promises by meeting with local leaders including Council Member Shaun Abreu, Assemblymember Al Taylor, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
But as pro-Palestinian student encampments persisted throughout Shafik’s first year as president, the university cut off public access to the campus. Today, those restrictions remain through a color-coded threat tier system as students, staff and guests can only enter through designated checkpoints with a valid campus ID or proper authorization. And the protests returned on the first day of school on Tuesday, Sept. 3. Two people, both aged 21, were arrested according to an NYPD spokesperson. It is unknown whether they were students at press time.
Kai Cogsville, founder of Young Atlas and Defend Harlem, pointed out the symbolism and sees the closed campus as a disservice for locals seeking exposure to the Ivy League institution.
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“It’s obviously very metaphorical of such a barrier and it’s a physical one,” he said. “[Columbia] is a landmark in walking through the campus, and it’s just a beautiful place and a place to embrace [for] younger people, or anyone that wants to go to school … for people not to even be able to walk through that just doesn’t seem fair. It just shows how divided we really are.”
“It’s interesting to me that people can grow up in a neighborhood with one of the premier academic institutions in the world in their backyard and not be able to walk through it, not be able to touch it, not be able to access it,” said Blue. “It’s like a child on the outside of the gates of Disney World with no money to get inside to take the ride.”
Cogsville and Blue advocate for State Senator Cordell Cleare’s bill that “essentially stops the Columbia University Education Mixed-Use Development Land Use Improvement and Civic Project Modified General Project Plan.” Locals rallied on Juneteenth to support the legislation, which they hope can curb the school’s “land grab” of Harlem and delay the historically Black neighborhood’s ongoing gentrification.
But it will no longer be Shafik’s problem. She announced her exit last month and almost immediately crossed the Atlantic for a role in the British government. Her interim successor is Katrina Armstrong, a leading official for Columbia’s medical school. Cogsville hopes whoever ends up as the next president will both be more mindful of the school’s local impact as well as reattempt to create dialogue.
“It starts with stopping [the] displacement of tons of residents,” he said. “And [then] more of a partnership and a way to use each others’ resources for the betterment of both community and university. I’m not anti Columbia at all. I think it’s a great institution, and they do great work. It just has to be done in a more thoughtful way.”
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member who writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.
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