Dear General Body,

Following the reprehensible act of anti-semitic vandalism at Teacher College, yet another racist incident has occurred on Columbia’s campus. Hostility against students of color is not typically recorded or made public, creating the false illusion of a harmonic diverse community. In this case, this act was captured on video.

We, the Students of Color Alliance, vehemently denounce the racist conduct displayed by the student in the video, and all acts intended to intimidate, harass, or otherwise belittle anyone because of their race, gender identification, ethnicity, religion, disability status, or other marker of social identity. While we will continue to speak out against such blatant forms of racism, we also demand that the university take appropriate action to discipline the individual in question, and make sure such ideas have no space within the Columbia curriculum. To that end, we strongly urge a full reappraisal of the required courses of the Core Curriculum to include and foreground the histories, philosophies and cultures of people around the world, not just the greco-roman canon.

Such actions, rhetoric and ideas have no place at Columbia, an institution whose mission is to serve a broad, diverse student body, nor should it have a place in our broader community. As always, SoCA is here to provide safe spaces and resources for those in need of support. In times like these, community is survival.

We hope that fruitful discourse can come out of this unfortunate situation and that in the spirit of the holidays we can come together to accept and appreciate each other’s differences.

In Solidarity,
The SoCA Eboard