Sign up

Author: standcolumbia

  • Issue #063: After 250 Years, a 1775 King’s College Diploma Finally Comes Home

    The Stand Columbia Society is pleased to report some happy news. Last week, a King’s College Bachelor of Arts diploma issued in 1775 to John William Livingston unexpectedly showed up on the market. A small group of donors we are in contact with quickly raised the funds in a single afternoon to purchase it and…

  • Issue #062: A Note from the Stand Columbia Society

    Three hundred and sixty-three days ago, just short of a year, we sent out the first issue of the Stand Columbia Society’s weekly newsletters. We did so with a simple conviction: that institutions matter, that history matters, and that accountability to both is not optional. The chaos then engulfing Columbia—and what we suspected was yet…

  • Issue #061: The Conscience of Columbia College: A Conversation with Dean Emeritus Robert E. Pollack, CC ‘61

    TL;DR This week, the Stand Columbia Society is honored to share a wide-ranging and deeply personal conversation with our dear friend Dean Emeritus Robert E. Pollack, CC ‘61, longtime professor of biology, and one of Columbia’s most quietly formative moral voices of the last half-century. In this interview, Pollack reflects on what it meant to…

  • Issue #060: What it Takes to be Columbia’s President: A Conversation with Professor Emeritus Robert A. McCaughey

    TL;DR Two weeks ago, Columbia announced its fully-constituted presidential search committee. The committee’s composition is heartening: small enough to work, broad enough to listen, and representative of the diversity of viewpoints in our community. And as its members continue their work, we thought there might be quiet value in returning to first principles. The Stand…

  • Issue #059: Columbia University is Following Through on its Commitments

    TL;DR This week’s piece will be boring and legal, but very important. After the settlement with the federal government, we wanted to track Columbia’s progress to see if it was making changes. We are glad to report that it is, with revisions to the University Statutes. A quick reminder on power and authority: the highest…

  • Issue #058: We Have a Deal

    TL;DR Today, Columbia University and the federal government announced a deal. You can read details of it here. The Stand Columbia Society believes this agreement represents an excellent outcome that restores research funding, facilitates real structural reforms, and preserves core principles of academic freedom and institutional autonomy. It delivered much of what the Stand Columbia…

  • Issue #057: Parsing the Shipman Statement on Combatting Antisemitism

    TL;DR The Stand Columbia Society generally analyzes facts, not rumors. In the past few weeks, many media outlets have commented on a “deal” between Columbia and the Trump administration, but the fact remains that no deal has been announced. However, last week’s statement by Acting President Claire Shipman is something real. But like with many…

  • Issue #056: How the One Big Beautiful Bill Reshapes Columbia’s Financial Model

    TL;DR A little over a week ago, President Trump signed the One, Big, Beautiful Bill (“OBBB”) into law. You can read the full legislation here. To be clear: the Stand Columbia Society is politically neutral. The Stand Columbia Society therefore focuses its discussion on the OBBB insofar as its impacts Columbia. Today’s issue will break…

  • Issue #055: We Modeled the Breakup of Columbia University. It Went About How You’d Expect.

    TL;DR Own goal week  It’s been a pretty bad week for Columbia.  In soccer parlance, Columbia made a series of “own goals” this week. First, while the University is in delicate negotiations with the government, it announced the appointment of Professor Farah Jasmine Griffin to the rank of University Professor—its highest academic honor. No one…

  • Issue #054: What If There Is No Deal?

    TL;DR Picture this: after a change of government that was decidedly hostile to their enterprise, Columbia’s acting president leads a small group of faculty to flee New York and set up a university-in-exile—in Canada. Actually, that really happened. In 1783, during the British evacuation of New York, when Charles Inglis—then both rector of Trinity Church…