Columbia students call out university leadership for lack of 'institutional transparency'
An Ivy League student newspaper ran an op-ed that critiqued the Columbia administration’s lack of transparency, including its decision not to allow an interview with the new acting president.
The editors write that Columbia has an 'opacity that keeps most of its constituency in the dark about administrative decision-making.'
An Ivy League student newspaper ran an op-ed that critiqued the university administration’s lack of transparency, including its decision not to allow an interview with the new acting president.
In their May 6 op-ed, two of the editors of the Columbia Daily Spectator, Shea Vance and Heather Chen, contend that Columbia University “has long grappled with issues of institutional transparency,” describing that the school has an “opacity that keeps most of its constituency in the dark about administrative decision-making.”
“The past two years at Columbia have brought this issue to the forefront, as we have observed the University turning inward during this extended moment of crisis,” the editors continue, critiquing the university’s “hesitancy to publicly engage with constituents.”
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Chen and Vance write that the Daily Spectator’s policy is to reach out for an interview with each of Columbia’s new presidents, but that it has only received two presidential interviews in the last few years, despite “countless requests.”
Recently, the paper’s request to interview the new acting president, Claire Shipman, was denied. “Though we were disappointed by this,” the editors wrote, “we were not surprised,” adding that they found it “necessary to raise concerns about the serious issues surrounding institutional transparency and student press access at Columbia.”
Shipman is the school’s fourth president in less than two years, as noted by The Washington Free Beacon.
The Columbia administration has received a significant amount of negative press in the past two months. In March, the Trump administration revoked over $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University due to its failure to protect Jewish students.
“Freezing the funds is one of the tools we are using to respond to this spike in anti-Semitism,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell said at the time. “This is only the beginning.”
Later, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also froze all new grants to Columbia amid ongoing Title VI investigations. The NIH’s grant cancellation started in March and continued through April, ultimately terminating more than 400 grants and $250 million.
Following the grant cancellation, the university administration, including acting president Shipman, announced that it will terminate around 180 research staff due to lack of funding.
“Across the research portfolio we have had to make difficult choices and unfortunately, today, nearly 180 of our colleagues who have been working, in whole or in part, on impacted federal grants, will receive notices of non-renewal or termination,” Columbia administration officials explained on May 6.
Campus Reform has contacted Columbia University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
