On Thursday, September 10, News Editor Eira Prakash participated in a roundtable discussion with President Jennifer Mnookin to speak about a variety of topics pertaining to Columbia’s campus. 

President Jennifer Mnookin, Columbia’s newly appointed president, hosted a student journalism roundtable on Thursday, September 10, with representatives from four different campus-wide publications, including Bwog. President Mnookin spent about an hour discussing a variety of hot-button issues relating to Columbia’s campus, community, and student life. 

Mnookin began by introducing herself, and stated that while her predecessors had sat down with certain news organizations on campus, they had not engaged with diverse news sources, something she aimed to do. 

Campus Access and Safety

The conversation began on the topic of the gate closures. President Mnookin shared that she was looking forward to finding a “responsible shared path for further access.” She emphasized the recent campus access expansion, which allows members of the community to register for QR codes allowing them onto campus. Mnookin claimed that “over 1,000” community members have signed up for these QR codes. This expansion also allows for students and faculty to register more guests on campus, increasing the number for students from two guests to five. 

Additionally, Mnookin stated that she has had conversations with elected officials who, while publicly calling for the gates to be open, acknowledge in private that it needs to be done “carefully, in a way that we are confident can support success.” She stated that she understood that there were people who would like her to take faster action on opening the gates, but that she wanted to “take really seriously doing this responsibly and successfully.” 

This conversation came just a few days after President Mnookin announced the creation of a committee to reopen the gates in an email to the Columbia student body. She cited the creation of this committee as a way to help understand what risks people are afraid of in reopening the gates. When asked details about the creation of the committee, she said that she assumed it would be around 20 people selected in the “near future,” and that she was still working out what the makeup of this committee would look like. She said she hoped that information would come from the committee by the end of the semester, but that she was not making any direct commitments yet. 

When asked in particular about what safety risks Mnookin believes the gate closures help mitigate, she hesitated. She cited the committee again as one way to understand what risks people were afraid of, and find a shared path forward. She added that there would be a tradeoff in swipe access for buildings themselves if campus were to be opened. Mnookin ended the conversation around gates by stating that Columbia had become a type of “symbol.” She said that there were potential risks surrounding making the University a “public square,” and that the campus was a place of learning, rather than one of “symbolic politics.” 

University Governance

Before her appointment as President of the University, President Mnookin spent four years serving as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. When asked about her experience with University governance, she stated that flagship universities, such as UW Madison, have a strong “structure of shared governance.” Conversely, Columbia and private universities have “one structure,” which differs from her past experiences. 

She stated that she had a “very strong view” that shared governance is valuable to a University, but it is not the only method of governance. She discussed the University Senate, an elected body of the arts and sciences, and other various task-forces as all possible avenues of university leadership. She stated that she looks forward to continuing having “constructive relationships” with the executives of the University Senate, but that the recent creation of a task force by the Trustees, announced in an email to the community earlier this year, was asked for to ensure shared governance happened “successfully.” 

ICE on Campus

When asked about Columbia’s specific policy about ICE on campus, which differs from Barnard and the Jewish Theological Seminary, Columbia’s partner schools, President Mnookin stated that she was not aware of this difference. However, she stated that during her time at UW Madison, ICE was only allowed on campus when they had a legal warrant, and that she would look further into the issue at Columbia. 

Freedom of Speech

As chancellor of a public university, Mnookin said that she was legally bound to the First Amendment while at UW Madison in a way she is not while at Columbia. However, she still stated that she believes First Amendment values should be “our north star” at the university. She did emphasize the need for “time, place, and manner restrictions,” which are also “part of the First Amendment,” on things like protest activity. However, she stated that the approach to these restrictions should be “content neutral,” and that she was working on taking the issue seriously. 

Mnookin also cited the 2027 FIRE College Free Speech rankings, released  on September 9, in which Barnard and Columbia both moved up from their previous positions in the bottom five, but were still ranked relatively low, at 221st and 246th, respectively. She stated that this information shows that people are still afraid to express themselves, and that universities should be a place for discussion. However, she also noted that a number of students on Columbia’s campus who filled out FIRE’s survey stated that it was alright to use violence, and she hoped that number would “go down” in future years. 

She ended by stating that there are many people who believe in “free speech for me but not for thee,” in which individuals support free speech that supports their ideas and not others. She stated that she hoped to work to make Columbia a place where all people can express their views, regardless of their beliefs, and that that was one of the pillars of the First Amendment. 

Research Funding

President Mnookin noted the benefit of the “shared engagement” between the federal governments and universities around research funding. This includes benefits to the American economy and research infrastructure, which created a real benefit for the public. While UW Madison did not experience the same halt in research funding as Columbia, Mnookin stated that she dealt with questions around less funding in general as chancellor as well. 

Mnookin stated that the Trump administration chose to make “dramatic” changes, which she perceived as harming universities and research funding structure as a whole. In terms of methods forward, she stated that one avenue was to find other methods of funding, such as philanthropy, but that this would not “fill the hole” left by government funding. However, she emphasized that universities are the place in which research should happen, and that the government has given more money to universities recently during a competition run by the Department of Energy, demonstrating optimism about a potential path forward. 

Campus Expansion

When asked if she planned to continue expansion, Mnookin stated that while commitments were made before she came into office, she plans to execute those commitments, such as the creation of a new gym in Lerner Hall. She stated that this points to a larger question about what can be done to enhance the undergraduate experience in general, and ensure all students get the experience they need on campus. However, she noted that New York City also provides many resources to students that they would not get in smaller towns.

Mnookin also mentioned that the yield rate for the class of 2030 was higher than anticipated, creating a larger freshman class. She claimed that the same thing happened when she came to the University of Wisconsin, and that she was still able to give students a good experience, and would work towards that as President. 

The roundtable concluded with the officials thanking the student journalists, noting the value of diverse news sources and organizations on campus. 

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