Prof Angry Over Loss of Office

Graciela Chichilnisky, a professor at Columbia since 1979 whose research helped lay the groundwork for the Kyoto Protocol, does not have a departmental office.

Neither the statistics department nor the economics departments has been able to offer the tenured professor an office, which continues a string of entanglements between Chichilnisky and the administration that stretches back almost 15 years. While Chichilnisky points to the impasse as further evidence of gender discrimination at Columbia, administration officials insist the situation only underscores the University's desperate need for more academic space.

Fighting with the University is not new for the embattled economics professor. Over the years, she has waged a series of lawsuits against Columbia-some still ongoing-alleging that the University regularly discriminates against female professors.

Chichilnisky refused to conduct an interview with Spectator on the record, but she did provide an e-mail statement.

"It's almost impossible to believe this is happening," she wrote. "The destruction and removal of one's office space, without notice is like a violation of one's physical space."

For several years, Chichilnisky kept a statistics department office in the Mathematics building to facilitate her work with that department. But this fall, when she started teaching classes exclusively in economics, her Mathematics office was emptied.

The UNESCO Professor of Mathematics and Economics first learned of the move when students and teaching assistants reported that the statistics department was turning visitors away.

"The man in the reception on the 10th floor said that your office hadn't been in this building since last year?" Herdis Steingrimsdottir, one of Chichilnisky's teaching assistants, wrote in an e-mail.

Chichilnisky complained to the University, prompting an e-mail response from Associate Provost Roxie Smith.

"Last year you announced that going forward you considered your full-time effort as once again being in the Department of Economics," Smith wrote. "In practice, if not on paper, once you shifted your work effort to Economics you have made little use of the offices that Statistics has made available to you."

For her part, Chichilnisky contends that she used the office frequently. Most recently, she hosted a few visitors in August before the academic term was underway.

Unfortunately for Chichilnisky, economics-a department hamstrung with space crunches after adding 10 full-time faculty members over the summer-was in no position to take on another professor.

"The stress on space in [the International Affairs Building] has been real," said Donald Davis, the economics department chair.

Although he said hew was not "personally acquainted" with Chichilnisky's situation, Davis said he was "hopeful" the issue could be resolved soon.

A coalition of Chichilnisky's frustrated students, teaching assistants, and research assistants wrote a letter to Smith, Davis, statistics department Co-Chairs Daniel Rabinowitz and Zhiliang Ying, Provost Alan Brinkley, and University President Lee Bollinger expressing their dissatisfaction.

The "Columbia Injustice Petition"-which currently bears 65 signatures-names Chichilnisky as "the only professor on campus who has been left without an office space."

"We feel that the recent actions taken regarding Professor Chichilnisky have undermined our rights as students at this university as well as the rights of a tenured professor," the letter stated. "We feel that not only was it untactful to not inform a professor about taking away her office, but it was also irresponsible of the department to not secure an alternative space on campus."

"Whose interest does this serve? Who gains?" Chichilnisky asked.

Rabinowitz declined to comment about the situation on account of ongoing litigation between Chichilnisky and the University. Smith and Zhiliang did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chichilnisky does have an office in the neighborhood-a research post in the Interchurch Office at Claremont and 119th. But she insisted the off-campus location is inadequate. The building does not support swipe access with CUIDs, she pointed out, making it more difficult for Chichilnisky's students to meet her outside of class.

University representatives consistently contested her claims.

"I have been repeatedly assured by University officials that there are no barriers to her holding office hours currently in her Interchurch Office," Davis said.

Nonetheless, the University is working to find a permanent solution. Smith affirmed that the economics department would work to find an office for Chichilnisky, although she admitted that "it could be a while before anything materializes."

Once the department completes its planned relocation to Knox Hall, Davis said giving Chichilnisky an office would only be a formality. But according to the University's latest estimates, the move is still about 28 months away.

Chichilnisky views her battle for an office as a larger part of fighting sexism at Columbia.

"Along with many other women, I am involved in a pursuit of justice," she wrote. "I don't know when this will end, but I do know this quest for justice has begun."

A letter from the Support Committee for Graciela Chichilnisky, headed by fellow economist Randall Dodd and addressed to Bollinger, described the current situation as "scandalous."

"Everyone's best interest will be served if settlement discussions are immediately resumed and completed expeditiously," the letter continued.

"President Bollinger has said that the issue of women in the sciences is important to him... I do hope his actions will match his words," Chichilnisky added.

In a response prepared on behalf of the University President, Associate General Counsel Patricia Sachs Catapano expressed her concern that the Committee's letter was making unfair accusations about Columbia's "well-documented" record of gender discrimination.

"There is no such record," Catapano's rebuttal stated flatly.

While highlighting the University's years of effort to resolve the dispute, Catapano affirmed that, "I am confident that the University will prevail in the case in all respects."

But Chichilnisky's resolve remained firm.

"I don't want to fight. I want to teach and do science," she wrote. "I feel I have no choice."