Carss Columbia

05/07/2024

05/07/2024

*AAADS/IRAAS Statement on Police Siege and Occupation of Campus**
The African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, and Institute for Research in African American Studies unequivocally condemn the police siege of the Columbia University campus on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, and the ongoing occupation by the New York City Police Department, invited by university leadership. This action is causing profound harm and breaking the bonds of trust.

Police on campus makes us less, not more, safe . Research, and lived experience—especially of Black students, staff, faculty, and of those who are undocumented, makes this abundantly clear . Choosing their own safety and rebuking the choice of Columbia University’s leadership, many of our community members are boycotting the Morningside campus until police are uninvited. In a first step on the long trail back from broken trust: university leadership must remove police from our campus and neighborhood.

See especially:
Purnell, Derecka. Becoming abolitionists: Police, protests, and the pursuit of freedom. Astra Publishing House, 2022;

Kaba, Mariame. We do this' til we free us: Abolitionist organizing and transforming justice. Vol. 1. Haymarket Books, 2021;

Dizon, J.P.M., Salazar, Maritza E., Yucel, Elif, Lopez, Edgar Fidel, “Campus Policing: A Guide for Higher Education Leaders,” Pullias Center for Higher Education, Rossier School of Education, University of California, 2020, https://pullias.usc.edu/download/campus-policing-a-guide-for-higher-education-leaders/

Ritchie, Andrea J. Invisible no more: Police violence against Black women and women of color. Beacon press, 2017;

Kelley, Robin DG, Anjali Kamat, Arun Kundnani, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Vijay Prashad, Alex S. Vitale, Alex Sanchez et al.
Policing the planet: Why the policing crisis led to Black Lives Matter. Verso Books, 2016.
See especially:

Engram Jr, Frederick V. "Why Are There Cops Here? How Anti-Blackness Increases Police Interactions on White College Campuses." In International Forum of Teaching and Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 13-59. American Scholars Press, Inc., 2023;

Campbell, Felicia, and Pamela Valera. "“The only thing new is the cameras”: A study of US college students’ perceptions of police violence on social media." Journal of Black Studies 51, no. 7 (2020): 654-670;

Watkins, Grace. "'Cops Are Cops': American Campus Police and the Global Carceral Apparatus." Comparative American Studies An International Journal 17, no. 3-4 (2020): 242-256;

Rodríguez, Dylan. "Beyond" Police Brutality": Racist State Violence and the University of California." American Quarterly 64, no. 2 (2012): 301-313;

Smith, W. A., Allen, W. R., & Danley, L. L. (2007). “Assume the Position . . . You Fit the Description”: Psychosocial Experiences and Racial Battle Fatigue Among African American Male College Students. American Behavioral Scientist, 51(4), 551-578. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764207307742

https://afamstudies.columbia.edu/iraas/history

https://afamstudies.columbia.edu/news/aaadsiraas-statement-support-students

03/22/2024

09/08/2022

Clergymen, abolitionist, and reformer Theodore Sedgwick Wright was born a free man in 1797 (no exact date known). He attended the New York African Free School. In 1829 he became the first African American graduate from Princeton Theological Seminarian. After graduation Wright became pastor of the First Colored Presbyterian Church in 1833 now St. James Presbyterian Church in Harlem.

Wright despised slavery and racism and spoke openly about it, in those days a very dangerous thing to do. He is best known for his works as an abolitionist and devotee of black civil rights. Throughout the 1830s he was an agent of the New England Anti-Slavery Society which sponsored his travels and lectures condemning racial prejudice. As slavery was in the process of being abolished in New York, Wright was one of the first to speak out against racism. At a convention of both black and white delegates, he firmly stated, “It is an easy thing to ask about the vileness of slavery, but to treat the man of color in all circumstances as a man and brother -- that is the test.”

Wright’s two most influential speeches were “The Progress of the Antislavery Cause” and “Prejudice Against the Colored Man.” He was one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society. He helped form the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. For years Wright acted as a conductor for the Underground Railroad in New York and used his house as a station. Wright was also Chairman of the New York Vigilance Committee established to try to help fugitive slaves evade slave catchers and resist their being returned to the South.

Throughout the 1830s Wright circulated petitions to the New York legislature for the termination of property requirement mandates exclusively for the state’s black voters. In 1833 Wright was elected vice-president of the Phoenix Society, an organization which worked toward the improvement of the African American training “in morals, literature, and the mechanical arts.” On May 29, 1837 he married Adaline T. Turpin from New Rochelle, N.Y. In 1841 Wright was elected treasurer of the Union Missionary Society which sent missionaries to Africa.

By 1843 disappointed with the slow movement to abolish slavery changed his views on a non violence stance to end slavery. At that year's National Negro Convention in Buffalo, he supported Henry Highland Garnett call for a slave uprising. In 1844 Wright joined the Liberty Party and became a member of the committee that chose its presidential and vice-presidential nominees. He worked tirelessly as an abolitionist for the next 3 years until his premature and untimely death in 1847 at the age of 50 in New York City the circumstances and cause of his death is largely unknown.

05/26/2022

Announcements Josef Sorett Appointed Dean of Columbia College May 24, 2022 Photo: Diane Bondareff. Dear fellow members of the Columbia community: I am delighted to announce that I have appointed Josef Sorett to serve as the next Dean of Columbia College and Vice President of Undergraduate Education,...

04/07/2022

https://www.ircpl.columbia.edu/calendar/the-sexual-politics-of-black-churches
Booktalk tonight with Dr. Barbara Savage, Dr. Nyasha Junior Dr. Brad Braxton, & Dr. Josef Sorett

A book talk with Josef Sorett (Columbia, Religion), Barbara Savage (UPenn), Brad Braxton (St. Luke’s School), and Nyasha Junior (Temple) This book brings together an interdisciplinary roster of scholars and practitioners to analyze the politics of sexuality within Black churches and the communit

11/12/2021

Join us for Webinar 4:
CARSS Center is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: CARSS Grant Recipients Projects--Online Developments
Time: Nov 12, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Through a generous grant from the LUCE Foundation, CARSS sponsored a request for proposal for a Rapid Response Grants Program. This evening our Recipients will share their projects and learnings.Link to join Webinar
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/95593726973?pwd=SWp1VC8zaHFUc2JNWnBWOG42RVIzZz09
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/95593726973?pwd=SWp1VC8zaHFUc2JNWnBWOG42RVIzZz09

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, confer...

11/09/2021

Join us for Webinar 3 of 4:
CARSS Center is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: CARSS Grant Recipients Projects--Arts & Performance
Time: Nov 10, 2021 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Through a generous grant from the LUCE Foundation, CARSS sponsored a request for proposal for a Rapid Response Grants Program. This evening our Recipients will share their projects and learnings.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://columbiauniversity.zoom.us/j/91528192860?pwd=ajZYVFkzOWdKMjVmT2pqVnlwbGJpQT09

Meeting ID: 915 2819 2860
Passcode: 7581200

Dial
1 646 876 9923 US (New York)

11/23/2020

https://twitter.com/CARSSColumbiaU/status/1330237330217721862?s=20

“ is pleased to announce sixteen grant recipients, all of whom are located across the worlds of the arts, academia and activism and are doing distinctive work at intersections of black studies and and the study of religion. ”