Unsound Principles

Today, student leaders from the University's undergraduate schools will have an opportunity to sign the Community Principles Initiative, a set of standards that are intended to create a more civil discourse at Columbia. However, despite the name, the Community Principles are not a set of standards agreed on by students from across campus–most aren't even sure what the CPI stands for, let alone what the actual ideals behind them are. For a university hoping to create a more transparent and focused conversation about how students should treat one another, this is an embarrassment. Columbia missed what could have been an exciting and important opportunity to involve students from all four schools in crafting ideals that could be followed for years to come.

The Community Principles Initiative was started last year by several student leaders in the aftermath of the Minuteman Project controversy. Last November, Columbia leaders from across campus were invited to attend a summit, facilitated by ROOTEd, to debate the merits of the draft statement. However, since that summit, very little has been said publicly about the initiative. While the CPI has lofty goals, the actual standards have not been articulated to students, or even to many of the student leaders who attended last November's event.

Students from all four undergraduate schools should have been given an opportunity to read and respond to the principles before they were unveiled. An open online forum or poll would have at the very least provided students an opportunity to debate what ideas were essential to the statement. Additionally, a panel of students selected by application rather than by club position should have been appointed to spearhead the project. This would have provided anyone who was interested a chance to contribute. The principles could have even been incorporated into the classroom–courses like Columbia's Contemporary Civilization and Barnard's first-year seminars are prime opportunities to discuss how University students should hold themselves accountable. Surely this would have shown that Columbia takes this effort seriously.

At their best, the Community Principles could hold all incoming and current students to a set of standards that would create a more tolerant, open Columbia. Ideally, the principles would make it clear that while the undergraduate community values open discussion and a free and forceful exchange of ideas, we decry acts of racism, sexism, and intolerance. Columbia should require that all students who step foot on campus agree to live by these rules. Instead, the University has drafted a statement that is a mystery to many. The University should use tomorrow as a first step to reach out to students to create a statement that is intelligent, strong, and admirable–one that all students have considered, contributed to, and are ready to live by.