Occupy CU, residents protest M'ville jobs plan

Students and locals joined hands on Friday as they marched on College Walk and up Broadway to the Columbia Employment Center to protest the effects of the Manhattanville campus on Harlem residents.

The Coalition to Preserve Community, the Congregations for Peace and Justice at St. Mary’s Church, Occupy Columbia, and Occupy Harlem organized the march to protest their belief that Columbia has unfairly expanded into Harlem.

“When people start questioning things and increasing their awareness, that’s what’s going to put pressure on the University to change its ways,” Nino Rekhviashvili, BC ’14 and a member of Occupy Columbia, said.

The crowd's biggest complaint was the lack of jobs that have resulted from the Columbia expansion. While the University has promised West Harlem a net gain of 6,000 jobs, the protesters claimed that they will not benefit current Harlemites because most will require a degree or will be contracted minimum wage jobs.

Shirrel Patterson attended the march with her niece and baby nephew. A member of St. Mary’s Church, Patterson is currently unemployed and hopes for a brighter future for her nephew.

“I hope that by the time he is of age it’ll be much easier for him to find a job, to finish school. I would not like for him to go through anything like this,” Patterson said. “Many of us would love to work at this school. I’ll work in the mail room, anywhere, just give me a chance.”

Banging drums and shaking tambourines, the group of about 50 linked arms in a human chain, stopping every few blocks to gather in a circle and share their individual experiences. By the time they reached the employment center, on Broadway south of 125th Street, police had already begun erecting a barricade to control sidewalk traffic.

Layan Fuleihan, CC ’12, said she attended the march because she believes her own school is taking advantage of community residents.

“As a student, I feel like I have to be involved because Columbia is doing this in my name with my money, so I feel like it’s my responsibility to speak out,” Fuleihan said.

Hannah Wolfe, an assistant professor of clinical psychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons and a Harlem resident for 15 years, said that she has seen the devastation that gentrification has had on the community.

“Families and small businesses have been forced out. The area the Columbia expansion has destroyed is derelict,” Wolfe said.

The Coalition to Preserve Community has been protesting Columbia's expansion since 2003, often holding marches outside the employment center.

The protest attracted students from other area schools as well. Russell Weiss-Irwin, a first-year at City College of New York, spoke to the crowd about how the administration at CUNY has created new housing programs to attract out-of-state students, instead of focusing its resources on improving education for city and local residents.

“The people at the top have prioritized white people above the working class,” Weiss-Irwin said. “Columbia and CUNY are controlled by people whose ideology is that making things better means making things whiter.”

According to Rekhviashvili, who is on the community outreach working group of Occupy Columbia, there are plans to reach out to more student groups and schools within the Columbia community next semester to bring together the movement.

“We’re going to focus on unifying active Columbia students, connecting to Harlem, and connecting to the greater student movement,” Rekhviashvili said. “We’re not here to make a little bit of noise and then go home—we’re here all the way.”

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