By AAUP News
Photos: YouTube Screenshots\Wikimedia Commons
NEW YORK CITY – On Thursday, March 27th, faculty, staff, and students of the Columbia University Irving Medical Center will speak out about the federal government’s ongoing and unprecedented assault on Columbia University and, by extension, all institutions of higher learning in America. The gathering comes two days after the national American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for improperly revoking $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University.
This latest attack by the Trump administration has created instability and a chilling effect on college campuses across the country. The AAUP and AFT, on behalf of their members of Columbia University’s faculty in both the humanities and sciences, allege in the suit that this coercive tactic not only undermines academic independence, but stops vital scientific research that contributes to the health and prosperity of all Americans. The terminated grants supported research on urgent issues, including Alzheimer’s disease prevention, fetal health in pregnant women, and cancer research.
WHAT: Professors, medical researchers, graduate students from public health, medicine, and nursing will share stories about how these attacks are affecting the life-saving research, training, and teaching being carried out on the medical campus. Speakers will include researchers who lost funding due to Trump’s cuts. They will urge the Columbia administration to stand up to the Trump Administration’s attacks and protect the university as a critical institution for sustaining democracy and advancing knowledge.
WHEN: Thursday, March 27th, 1:30PM
WHERE:
Haven Plaza
67-55 Haven Ave, New York, NY 10032
At the intersection of W 168th St and Fort Washington Avenue
WHO:
- Jennifer S. Hirsch, PhD, Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
- Melanie Wall, PhD, Professor of Biostatistics (in Psychiatry), Mailman School of Public Health and Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Ezra Susser, MD, DrPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
- Lew Ziska, PhD, Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
- Andrew Moran, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Delivette Castor, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences (in Medicine and in Epidemiology), Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Carolyn Westhoff, MD, MSc, Professor Emerita, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center
- Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele, MD, Professor of Developmental Neuropsychiatry at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Director of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), and Columbia University
- Estefannia Palacio, Masters Student, Columbia University School of Nursing
About the American Association of University Professors:
The mission of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.
