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Students and Locals Protest CU Expansion into M’ville
By Betsy Morais
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 12, 2007
Manhattanville residents, Columbia students, and community leaders rallied to protest Columbia’s expansion plans and support student hunger strikers on Saturday to the beat of a djembe drum.
Harkening back to the spirit of 1968, protesters voiced their struggle against forces within the University and among local politicians.
“I think the community will never forget who is with them and who is not with them, ” said Norman Siegel, a lawyer for Manhattanville business owners who have refused to sell to Columbia.
Bundled up on a cold November morning, protesters gathered at St. Mary’s Church on 126th street to begin their march to Columbia’s campus. Tom DeMott of the Coalition to Preserve Community led the way, megaphone in hand. “West Harlem! Our homes! Community Board Nine!” he called, to which the crowd replied, “Not for sale!”
Banners read, “No Displacement of Residents and Businesses” and “1968, 2007—Same Struggle, Same Fight!” Above the street, people peered from their apartment windows to watch and one man stuck his head out to shout, “Hooray!”
Upon reaching the steps of Low Library, protesters organized around Alma Mater to hear support statements from City Councilman Tony Avella, D-Queens, hunger striker Bryan Mercer, CC ’07, and others.
One point of focus revolved around discontent with political representation, or a perceived lack thereof.
“They [local politicians] cannot destroy the fabric of the very community they are supposed to be serving,” Avella, who is chairman of the City Council’s zoning commission, said of his colleagues. He added, “You have my support, I got to tell you, maybe as a lone voice.”
Avella is working on two initiatives that he hopes will enhance local influence on development projects and limit that of larger institutions that have been allowed “to take over neighborhood after neighborhood and destroy neighborhood after neighborhood.”
He is composing legislation that would start the city planning process within community boards and work “from the bottom up.” Avella also seeks to reduce building bonuses awarded to institutions categorized as community facilities, such as universities.
“The politicians have been bought by Columbia,” said Tom Kappner of the Coalition to Preserve Community. He noted the few exceptions, Avella and State Senator Bill Perkins, but explained that there has been a “naked attempt to use economic and political power against the community.”
Citing the philosophy of Malcolm X, Kappner explained, “we will use any means necessary” to overcome opposition.
Columbia released a statement on Saturday to condemn campus hate crimes, show concern for the health of student hunger strikers, and defend procedures taken in pursuit of expansion, “designed to provide multiple opportunities for public engagement and comment in shaping land use decisions that best serve the city’s future.” The statement also noted that “the University is negotiating directly with local community members serving on the West Harlem Local Development Corporation to achieve a legally binding community benefits agreement that will also expand Columbia’s investment in local housing, jobs, health care, educational opportunity, parks and other services to our West Harlem neighbors.”
After gathering on campus, the protesters relocated to University President Lee Bollinger’s doorstep.
But Harlem resident Michael Henry Adams observed: “Obviously Bollinger isn’t at home today. We need to come back when he is home.” The crowd agreed.
The rally returned to campus, stopping at the sundial beside the hunger strikers’ tents.
“They’re not on the side of the people who voted for them,” International Socialist Organization’s David Judd, SEAS ’08, said of politicians who have backed Columbia.
DeMott echoed this sentiment after the rally. “We will not tolerate elected officials who give lip service and then stab us in the back.” He added that if they do not support the demands of the coalition, “we will not allow them to have political life in this city.”
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Your article begins "Manhattanville residents, Columbia students, and community leaders rallied to protest Columbia's expansion plans....," then gives the first quote to Norman Siegel.
I don't believe that Mr. Siegel is a Manhattanville resident, Columbia student, or community leader. As you note, he is an attorney who represents the legal rights and financial interests of the two remaining property owners (neither of whom live in Manhattanville) who don't wish to sell to Columbia.
As such he does not represent residents in Columbia's expansion zone (who are few in number), Columbia students, or the community at large. I would be more careful in the future not to present inadvertently Mr. Siegel's remarks as coming from Manhattanville residents, Columbia students, or community leaders when he is an attorney representing two property owners.
An estimate of the size of the rally would have been helpful to assist your readers in understanding the degree of opposition in the community to Columbia's expansion. The boundaries of the 26th precinct, which has been described by the NYPD as home to 48,000 residents, might serve as a good proxy for the boundaries of the local community: the precinct extends from 133rd Street down to 110th Street and from the Hudson River to Morningside Ave/St Nicholas Avenue. There is an arm of the precinct extending up to about 140th Street that picks up the City College campus and neighborhood. If we can assume there are 48,000 residents in that territory, how many came to a Saturday rally? It's an important part of journalism to give the reader the facts necessary to assess the importance of events described.
Without knowing the number who attended, my assumption is that it was less than half of one percent of the residents of the 26th precinct, and a truly insignificant percentage of the 750,000 (plus or minus) residents of the upper half of Manhattan who might be described as the greater community concerned with the Manhattanville expansion. In other words, the project as put forward by Columbia is opposed by a relative handful of community members, while an overwhelming majority may be assumed to be either neutral or supportive.
I know Spectator is interested in presenting readers with useful information. I for one am truly interested in understanding the depth or lack thereof of community opposition to this important project, and hope Spectator will try to provide more hard data along those lines.
An alumnus
Cool, name-calling! Nothing turns the trick like an ad hominem attack. Your parents will be so proud.
Tony Avella, a term-limited Democratic member of the Silly Council from eastern Queens has gotten himself involved in a high-profile protest far from his home district? Gee, I wonder why? Did anybody at Spectator think about asking him about his intention to run for Mayor in 2009, or think about mentioning it in the article?
I know this is a lot to ask of a busy Spectator writer (or editor, for that matter), but you might consider showing up to class once in a while. Some of your professors are trying to teach you to think independently. It might make you better reporters.
It was mentioned in the web article over the weekend: http://www.columbiaspectator.c...
"Avella did not forget to mention that he is running for mayor in 2009."
You might consider reading the paper once in a while before acting like a jackass.
How NOT to have a hunger protest:
(1) Protest many different things at one time. You are sure to not get a response. Any serious protestor should know that to cause change, target one thing. Do you think the administration is really likely to give in to all your demands? They may be more willing if it was only one demand. The only good reason to have multiple demands is to try to get more people involved. And that's not a good reason.
(2) Choose the coldest days of the season to protest - you are sure to get more involvement
(3) If you get hungry, go to the hospital and put more strain on America's already strained healthcare system. btw., maybe you should add universal healthcare and the war in iraq to your voluminous list of demands
(4) Protest something that has little or no bearing on you. If you go to Barnard, protest Columbia's core. Maybe you can protest my high school's new uniform policy. I wasn't too happy about that. Also protest Harvard's expansion into Allston and Penn's expansion in Philly. I think they were about to displace a few beaver's that I sort of liked.
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