Support staff of the Local 2110 Technical, Office, and Professional Workers Union  picketed on College Walk this week in support of a contract with higher wages and more comprehensive health protections. Twitter accounts and chants from the union said that organizers will attempt to shut down Columbia College’s commencement ceremony on May 17 if they cannot negotiate a new contract with the University.

The School of Engineering and Applied Science has announced National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronaut Sunita Williams as its 2022 Class Day speaker. Williams joins a group of 2022 Class Day speakers that includes “Hidden Figures” author Margot Lee Shetterly and former mayoral candidate Andrew Yang, Law ’99.

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has overwhelmingly approved the addition of a senior lecturer seat to the Policy and Planning Committee, the powerful nine-person body charged with faculty governance. The change comes after years of advocacy by lecturers, who have long sought more political power in a university that disproportionately relies on its contingent faculty.

The Columbia University School of Nursing has announced its first full-tuition scholarship, made possible by a $5.2 million gift from Columbia alumnus and lifelong donor Richard Simmons, Law ’58, in memory of his wife Mary Bleecker Simmons, Nursing ’60. The scholarship will provide full funding through the doctoral level to one student in need of financial assistance each year.

Former University President Michael I. Sovern, CC ’53, Law ’55, who passed away in January 2020, was honored on Tuesday in a memorial service at Faculty House. Speakers included University President Lee Bollinger, New York State Supreme Court Justice Rolando Acosta, and Law School Dean Gillian Lester.

Many Columbia students entered classrooms unmasked last week for the first time since March 2020, following a decline in positive COVID-19 tests by over 85 percent. But across different courses and undergraduate colleges, the official–and unofficial–masking rules are varied, leaving some students and professors unsure of how to proceed.

When the Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers voted to ratify a contract nearly a month ago, it gained new rights and benefits that surpassed the protections offered by many colleges and universities. The union’s victories have spurred student-worker unions across the nation to fight for similar goals.