To the editor:
We read with interest your Nov. 5 editorial, “Studying in the City of New York,” calling for more courses that “move beyond our campus and engage the city.”
We agree, and would like to call your readers’ attention to several initiatives in the American studies program that encourage students to combine classroom learning with public service in the larger community.
This spring, in partnership with the Double Discovery Center, we will again offer a seminar called Equity and Access in Higher Education (open to students from all majors), led by former dean of students, Roger Lehecka, in which students study U.S. higher education while committing several hours per week to working with high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds who hope to become the first member of their family to attend college. Also in partnership with DDC, we are offering a year-long course on “Freedom and Citizenship” led by Roosevelt Montas, director of the Core Curriculum, for rising seniors from under-resourced public high schools. This course involves Columbia students—both undergraduates and graduates—as teachers and mentors.
We are also expanding our curriculum to include new seminars that emphasize service learning in the city. A seminar on “Immigrant New York,” to be taught by Rebecca Kobrin of the history department, is scheduled for fall 2010. In this course, students will read in the historical literature while participating in a community organization that assists new immigrants to the city.
Other such seminars are in the works for the future, and we welcome student interest.
Casey Blake, professor of history and chair of the American studies Committee on Civic Engagement
Andrew Delbanco, Julian Clarence Levi Professor in the Humanities and director of the American studies program
Nov. 9, 2009
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