Dear President Bollinger,

We, a collection of faculty members at Columbia University, support the student members of Columbia Divest for Climate Justice (CDCJ) currently occupying Low Library. We demand that they be protected against suspension and expulsion, and that you directly and immediately engage with CDCJ members rather than through intermediary university delegates.

You have said before that it is the administration’s duty to act on demands that have “campus consensus.” The students occupying Low Library have received widespread support from the campus community since the beginning of their action--the Student Governing Board, Columbia College Student Council, and nineteen other student groups have released statements speaking out against the threats of disproportionate punishment with which protesters have been threatened.

Last night, Rules Administrator Suzanne Goldberg wrote a letter to the seven students occupying Low, claiming that, “the sanction of suspension is what I anticipate assessing to be most relevant for the University Judicial Board to consider." Such a statement is outside of Professor Goldberg’s authority as Rules Administrator, as it is the role of the University Judicial Board to determine sanctions for students in violation of the Rules of Conduct. Furthermore, we consider suspension and expulsion disproportionately severe punishments for a nonviolent act of civil disobedience. With its rich legacy of student activism, Columbia claims to value and promote free speech; it would be a violation of these beliefs to suspend or expel students simply for seeking action from their administration.

Professor Goldberg’s email also said that “the President will not meet with an organization whose members are in active violation of University rules." Given Professor Goldberg’s role as Rules Administrator, we find that it is inappropriate and unproductive for her to be the channel of communication between you and students. As such, we urge you to directly engage with CDCJ members by meeting with them in person, as you had previously indicated you would.

Sincerely,

1. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
University Professor

2. Lydia H Liu
Wun Tsun Tam Professor in the Humanities in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society

3. Neferti Tadiar
Professor and Chair of Women's Studies at Barnard College

4. Peter Smith
Dean Emeritus, School of the Arts

5. Eric Foner
DeWitt Clinton Professor of History

6. Adam Sobel
Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics

7. Timothy Mitchell
William B Ransford Professor of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies

8. Mae Ngai
Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of History

9. Gil Anidjar
Professor in the Departments of Religion, the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS), and the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society (ICLS)

10. Todd Gitlin
Professor of Journalism and Sociology
Chair, Ph.D Program in Communications

11. Lila Abu-Lughod
Joseph L. Buttenweiser Professor of Social Science in the Department of Anthropology and the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality

12. Stephanie McCurry
Professor of History

14. Elizabeth Blackmar
Professor of History

15. John Collins
Associate Professor of Philosophy

16. Brinkley Messick
Professor of Anthropology

17. Marilyn J. Ivy
Associate Professor of Anthropology

18. Maria Diuk-Wasser
Associate Professor of Ecology Evolution and Environmental Biology

19. John Pemberton
Associate Professor of Anthropology

20. Eitan Grinspun
Associate Professor of Computer Science

21. John Markowitz, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry

22. Jim Manley
JC Levi Professor of Life Sciences

23. Karen Barkey
Professor of Sociology and History

24. Andrew S. Kanter
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biomedical Informatics

25. Christian Rojas
Professor of Chemistry at Barnard College

26. Elizabeth Irwin
Associate Professor of Classics

27. Trey Ellis
Associate Professor in the Graduate School of the Arts

28. Andreas Huyssen
Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature

29. Peter E Libre, MD
Assistant Clinical Professor of Ophthalmology

30. Karen Smith
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

31. Chisa Hidaka
Lecturer in Dance at Barnard College

32. Denise Milstein
Lecturer in Discipline, Department of Sociology

33. Anthony Annett
Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Earth Institute

34. Elena Crete
Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Earth Institute

35. Ryan Swaney
Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Earth Institute

36. Robert A. F. Thurman
Jey Tsong Khapa Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies

37. Tom Kalin
Professor of Film

38. John I Glendinning
Ann Whitney Olin Professor at Barnard College

39. Deborah Valenze
Professor of History at Barnard College

40. Albert Boulanger
Senior Staff Associate at the Center for Computational Learning Systems

41. Elizabeth Olson
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Auditory Biophysics

42. Michela Biasutti
Lamont Associate Research Professor

43. Alice Kessler-Harris
R. Gordon Hoxie Professor of American History

44. Courtney Bender
Professor of Religion

45. Liz Moyer
Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Earth Institute

46. Laurence P. Mark, M.D.
Associate Professor of Anesthesiology

47. Allison Busch
Associate Professor of Hindi Literature

48. Thomas Yarnall
Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Religion

49. Aiko Voigt
Associate Research Scientist at Lamont-Dohert Earth Observatory

50. Wael Hallaq
Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities

51. Elizabeth Bernstein
Associate Professor of Sociology & Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College

52. Elena Dana Neacsu
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Barnard College

53. Stathis Gourgouris
Professor of Classics, English, Comparative Literature & Society

54. Catherine Fennell
Associate Professor of Anthropology & CSER

55. Sheldon Pollock
Raghunathan Professor of Sanskrit and South Asian Studies

56. Rebecca Jordan-Young
Associate Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Barnard College

57. Elizabeth A. Povinelli
Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology

58. Ross Hamilton
Professor of English at Barnard College

59. Bette Gordon
Professor in the School of the Arts/Film

60. Richard Billows
Professor of History

61. Sarah Muir
Term Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Barnard College

62. Ralph Ghoche
Term Assistant Professor of Architecture at Barnard College

63. Sylvere Lotringer
Professor Emeritus of French

64. Francesco Volpe
Associate Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics

65. Ayten Gundogdu
Assistant Professor of Political Science

66. Nadia Abu el-Haj
Professor of Anthropology at Barnard College

67. Reinhold Martin
Professor of Architecture in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

68. Premilla Nadasen
Associate Professor of History at Barnard College

69. Sonam Singh
Adjunct Lecturer of English at Barnard College

70. Sevin Yildiz
Term Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Barnard College

71. Nara Milanich
Associate Professor of History at Barnard College

72. Marcelo Lopez-Dinardi
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Barnard College

73. Tal Malkin
Associate Professor of Computer Science

74. Stephen A. Edwards
Associate Professor of Computer Science

75. Taylor Carman
Professor of Philosophy at Barnard College

76. J.C. Salyer
Term Assistant Professor of Practice at Barnard College

77. Jonathan Crary
Meyer Schapiro Professor of Modern Art and Theory

78. Marwa Elshakry
Associate Professor of History

79. Rosalind Morris
Professor of Anthropology

80. Yvette Christianse
Professor of English and Africana Studies at Barnard College

81. Kim F. Hall
Lucyle Hook Chair of Africana Studies and English at Barnard College

82. Mary Helen Kolisnyk
Lecturer in English at Barnard College

83. James Graham
Director of Publications and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation

84. Jane Gaines
Professor of Film

85. Kendall Thomas
Nash Professor of Law

86. Ellie Hisama
Professor of Music

87. Thai Jones
Herbert H. Lehman Curator for American History and Officer of the Libraries

88. Tom Waters
Adjunct Lecturer in Urban Studies

89. Michael I. Weinstein
Professor of Applied Mathematics and Mathematics

90. Shamus Khan
Associate Professor of Sociology

91. Bruce Robbins
Old Dominion Foundation Professor in the Humanities

92. Upmanu Lall
Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering

93. Joseph Massad
Professor, Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

94. Stephen Gregory
Professor of Anthropology and African-American Studies

95. David F. Weiman
Alena Wels Hirschorn '58 Professor of Economics at Barnard College

96. Madeleine Zelin
Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies

97. Owen Miller
Adjunct Lecturer in History

98. Nicole Marie Gervasio
Adjunct Instructor in English and Comparative Literature

99. Laura Ciolkowski
Associate Director and Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality

100. Frederick Neuhouser
Professor of Philosophy at Barnard College

101. Zoe Crossland
Associate Professor of Anthropology

102. Katherine McIntyre
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

103. Jaime Green
Adjunct Instructor in Undergraduate Writing Program

104. Claudio Lomnitz
Campbell Family Professor of Anthropology

105. Matthew Hart
Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature

106. Carin Jean White
Adjunct Instructor in English

107. Elliot Ross
Instructor in Undergraduate Writing Program

108. Sonia Pereira
Adjunct Assistant Professor in Economics

109. Andrea Crow
Graduate Instructor in English and Comparative Literature

110. David Lurie
Associate Professor of Japanese History and Literature

111. Farah J. Griffin
William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies

112. Johannes Urpelainen
Associate Professor of Political Science

113. Gauri Viswanathan
Class of 1933 Professor of the Humanities

114. Elizabeth Hutchinson
Associate Professor of Art History at Barnard College

115. Celia E. Naylor
Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History at Barnard College

116. Anupama Rao
Associate Professor of History at Barnard College

117. Brian Bartell
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

118. Jean E. Howard
George Delacorte Professor in the Humanities

119. Alisa Solomon
Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism

120. Marianne Hirsch
William Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Compative Literature

121. Alexandra Watson
Adjunct Professor of English

122. Alan Stewart
Professor of English and Comparative Literature

123. Gil Eyal
Professor of Sociology

124. Dan O'Flaherty
Professor of Economics

125. Peter Rosenblum
Former Lieff Cabraser Clinical Professor of Human Rights

126. Jonathan Weiner
Maxwell M. Geffen Professor  of Medical and Scientific Journalism

127. Helen Benedict
Professor at the Graduate School of Journalism

128. Nan A. Rothschild
Professor of Anthropology

129. Macartan Humphreys
Professor of Political Science

130. David Scott
Professor of Anthropology

131. Pam Cobrin
Director of Writing and Speaking Programs at Barnard College

132. Eliza Zingesser
Assistant Professor of French and Romance Philology

133. Amy L. Fairchild
Professor of Sociomedical Sciences

134. Erik Gray
Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature

135. Susan Crane
Professor of English and Comparative Literature

136. Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies

137. Warren Kluber
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

138. Katharina Ivanyi
Assistant Professor of Religion

139. Christia Mercer
Gustave M. Berne Professor of Philosophy

140. Tana Wojczuk
Lecturer in English

141. Teresa Sharpe
Lecturer in Sociology

142. Wayne Proudfoot
Professor of Religion

143. Meehan Crist
Writer in Residence, Department of Biological Sciences

144. Nicholas Dames
Theodore Kahan Professor of Humanities

145. Nicole Robertson
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Architecture at Barnard College

146. Patricia Dailey
Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature

147. Robert Gooding-Williams
M. Moran Weston Professor of Philosophy and Black Alumni Council Professor

148. Susan Witte
Associate Professor, School of Social Work

149. Ameya Tripathi
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

150. Victoria Wiet
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

151. Vicki Lens
Associate Professor, School of Social Work

152. Elizabeth R. OuYang
Adjunct Professor, Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race

153. Carla Shedd
Assistant Professor, Sociology and IRAAS

154. Gray Tuttle
Leila Hadley Luce Associate Prof of Modern Tibetan Studies

155. Matthew L. Jones
James R. Barker Professor of Contemporary Civilization

156. V. Page Fortna
Harold Brown Professor of US Security and Foreign Policy

157. Jeremy Luban
Former Richard J Stock Professor of Medicine in Infectious Diseases

158. Kim Hopper
Professor, Sociomedical Sciences

159. Kathryn Tabb
Assistant Professor, Philosophy

160. Pablo Piccato
Professor, History

161. James Shapiro
Professor of English and Comparative Literature

162. Anne Higonnet
Professor of Art History at Barnard College

163. Timothy Donnelly
Associate Professor of Writing

164. Valeria Tsygankova
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

165. Aaron Passell
Term Assistant Professor of Urban Studies

166. Karen Santos Da Silva
Lecturer in French at Barnard College

167. Alyssa Greene
Graduate Instructor in Germanic Languages

168. Brian Kilgo-Kelly
Associate Professor of French at Barnard College

169. Ann DeWitt
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Creative Writing

170. Marcel Agüeros
Assistant Professor in Astronomy

171. Amy E. Johnson

172. Andre Ivanoff
Associate Professor of Social Work

173. Paula Hopkins
Instructor of English and Comparative Literature

174. Joanne Bauer
Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs

175. Debra Minkoff
Professor and Chair of Sociology at Barnard College

176. Katherine Biers
Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature

177. Brent Hayes Edwards
Professor of English and Comparative Literature

178. Kaiama L Glover
Associate Professor of French at Barnard College

179. Jessica Hallock
Graduate Instructor of English and Comparative Literature
Society of Senior Scholars in English