Occupy Wall Street class not yet approved

Columbia is not likely to offer a class about the Occupy Wall Street movement this semester, despite a course listing that was posted to the anthropology department’s website last week.

Associate Vice President for Public Affairs Brian Connolly told Spectator that Columbia’s Committee on Instruction has not approved the proposed class, which would allow students to conduct fieldwork at OWS protests.

“A few news outlets reported that Columbia would be offering a new undergraduate course regarding Occupy Wall Street,” Connolly said in an email. “News reports and some departmental postings regarding the spring semester were premature.”

The course listing was removed from Columbia websites earlier this week. And according to two members of the Committee on Instruction, the proposed course has not even been presented to the COI.

One of those COI members, political science professor Gregory Wawro, said that it’s “pretty late in the game” to start thinking about approving a course for next semester.

“Given that the semester starts in a week and a half, I don’t see how it could be offered in the spring,” he said. “But, it could be offered at a later time.”

Wawro added that the COI holds all proposed courses to a high standard and examines their syllabuses carefully.

“You don’t want to not follow the process because you want to rush something into the curriculum,” he said. “The COI is pretty differential when it comes to course approval.”

The course, titled, “Occupy the Field: Global Finance, Inequality, Social Movement,” would be taught by Hannah Appel, an anthropology professor who has written about her support for the Occupy protesters. Appel did not respond to request for comment Friday.

Astronomy professor and COI member Jacqueline van Gorkom had not heard anything about the proposed course before media reports this week, but she said it sounded like it would have a good shot at approval.

“It sounds like a very good idea—it’s something very interesting that is happening now, and it’s kind of crazy not to analyze that,” she said. “Aren’t we supposed to do that?”

Connolly said that the study of “contemporary political, economic, and social issues is entirely appropriate” at Columbia. Wawro added that an OWS course could still be offered in future semesters.

“The Occupy Wall Street movement does touch on a lot of important topics that students and faculty should be talking about,” he said. “I could see a course that would discuss the movement in the context of other movements within the United States and beyond.”

jeremy.budd@columbiaspectator.com