12 CommentsA group of Columbia and Barnard alumni have formed a new committee to boycott the University’s scheduled May 31 and June 1 reunions. The group will create an alternate event and send funds from ticket sales and donations to organizations providing aid in Palestine.
A group of Columbia alumni have formed a committee titled the “Columbia Alternative Reunion Committee” to boycott the traditional University-sponsored reunions that are scheduled to occur on May 31 and June 1, according to a statement released on May 4. The group will use the money that would have gone toward tickets and donations to Columbia and Barnard to send aid funds to Palestinian people.
In their statement, the group expressed they are “unable to reconcile the University’s recent actions with the values and principles that defined our education at Columbia and Barnard,” citing the University’s “brutal repression of student and faculty voices, and the use of law enforcement against peaceful protestors” as reasons for their secession from the University’s events. In addition, the group signed a petition in support of “students’ right to free speech and assembly, and on-campus advocacy for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians.” After the April 17 and April 30 arrests, faculty members and several University organizations, such as the Barnard and Columbia chapters of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), have condemned the Columbia administration’s decision to authorize the arrests of student protesters.
They continued by calling for the University to divest from “companies supporting Israel’s government” and reprieve for student protesters and faculty members who have “unfairly” received punitive disciplinary actions from the University “for exercising their free speech in calling for freedom, safety, and self-determination for the Palestinian people.”
The group’s alternative reunions will be held on the same days the University’s events are scheduled, May 31 and June 1. They invite “all who feel similarly or wish to learn more in good faith.”
They concluded their statement by stating that all money originally intended for donations to Columbia and ticket sales would instead be sent to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, and World Central Kitchen. They included links for fundraisers set up by the new committee.
The organizations they linked have recently been reported on in the media due to events surrounding their work in Gaza. UNRWA was recently defunded by several countries, including the US, due to a claim from Israel’s government that the agency’s workers participated in the October 7 attacks. A recent report from a French government official stated there was no support for this allegation, and Germany has reinstated its funding to UNRWA. The World Central Kitchen (WCK), founded by chef José Andrés, provides food to people affected by disasters and war. Recently, seven of its members were killed by an Israeli airstrike as they served food to people in Gaza.
The statement concluded with the Columbia Alternative Reunion Committe’s links to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, and World Central Kitchen.
The full statement can be found in its entirety below:
Columbia University Alumni Boycott Reunion, Redirect All Donations to Aid for Palestine Until Student Demands Are Met
Organizers have planned an alternative event that will not financially support Columbia.
WE STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THOUSANDS OF ALUMNI AND THEIR STATEMENTS
New York, NY – We, the alumni of Columbia University and Barnard College, write to announce a boycott of the upcoming Columbia College, SEAS, and Barnard alumni reunions, scheduled for May 31st to June 1st. We will be redirecting the money that would otherwise have gone towards tickets to reunion events, as well as all other alumni donations, to direct aid to Palestine.
We are unable to reconcile the University’s recent actions with the values and principles that defined our education at Columbia and Barnard. The University administration’s brutal repression of student and faculty voices, and the use of law enforcement against peaceful protestors, have forced us to remove ourselves from any and all initiatives sponsored by the current Columbia University administration until these wrongs are rectified.
We join thousands of alumni from 20+ organizations in signing onto an alumni petition expressing our complete and unwavering support for students’ right to free speech and assembly, and on-campus advocacy for the dignity and human rights of Palestinians.
We call upon the University to meet the demands of student protestors for divestment from companies supporting Israel’s government, disclosure of those investments, full amnesty for students and professors unfairly disciplined for exercising their free speech in calling for freedom, safety, and self-determination for the Palestinian people, and all other demands outlined in detail in our petition.
We will be hosting alternative reunion events on Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1, in solidarity with student and faculty protestors and unaffiliated with Columbia University. This alternative reunion is welcome to all who feel similarly or wish to learn more in good faith.
Our alumni donations and reunion ticket events will be redirected from Columbia University to the following causes:
United Nations Relief and Works Agency: UNRWA USA is an independent nonprofit supporting the work of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East through fundraising, education, and advocacy
Palestine Children’s Relief Fund: The PCRF is a legally registered non-political, non-profit, 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization established in 1991 by concerned people to address the medical and humanitarian needs of Palestinian and Arab youths in the Middle East.
World Central Kitchen: WCK is an NGO, non-for-profit organization that recently resumed operations of providing meals to millions of Gazans facing starvation after losing 7 of its members in an Israeli air strike.
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12 Comments
@D. Max Moerman As a CC alum, I would like to sign the statement. Could you please include a link to direct interested alums?
@Anonymous https://wearecolumbia.org/
@CC’13 Instead of reunions, let’s all host a separate fundraisers for causes unrelated to Columbia, that makes a lot of sense.
@Jeff How in the world do you think this is “not related to Columbia” now? Have you been watching the news?
@Yahya Sinwar Where can I sign?
@Anonymous The links are in the article.
@rsp Sorry — my comment was already probably too long. But I do want to mention the harm that the protests have done to the campus workforce, whose work has been disrupted and many of whom have lost income. Also the workforce in the area whose access to their work was interrupted, prolonged or even prevented by the disruption of streets and transportation. They are all working-class, probably making good union wages, but not all of them. And perhaps their hourly wages were not reduced by the time lost. But certainly some workers did lose. But, hey, this is a problem on our doorstep. And not a problem of the privileged white folks in those tents. To be fair, a consciousness of those communities is not really very present in their minds.
@Anonymous Does anyone have information on this group and how to get involved? Odd that there are no links or contact information in this article.
@Anonymous The links are literally in the article.
@Anonymous Where? There are 8 hyperlinked pieces of text in the article and none of them links to a page for “Columbia Alternative Reunion Committee”. Can someone please post the link?
Strangely a google search on that phrase turns up nothing (except this article), as far as I could see.
@Anonymous https://wearecolumbia.org/
@Anonymous Well done!