graduate-students

On Wednesday, the Columbia Global Centers announced the creation of the first Columbia University Scholarship for Displaced Students, an initiative that grants 30 scholarships for refugees or asylum-seekers to cover full tuition, housing, and living assistance across all 18 Columbia schools. The scholarship is the first University-wide scholarship at Columbia, and first such scholarship for displaced students in the world.

Pastel tulle and strings of marigolds lined the walls of Roone Arledge Auditorium as fairy lights lit up the stage and yellow flower petals laid scattered around the venue’s floor. The smell of samosas wafted through the room as students and visitors mingled over chai, slowly taking their seats, eager for the night ahead.

Senators raised concerns surrounding a lack of available campus housing for graduate students and faculty in light of an expanding student body, specifically citing barriers posed by salary requirements for international students, at Friday’s senate plenary.

As this semester began, a 17-year-old incoming Harvard University undergraduate was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Boston Logan International Airport. Nine returning Arizona State University undergraduates from China were denied entry at Los Angeles International Airport. The visas of at least a dozen graduate students from Iran were revoked abruptly, barring them from boarding United States-bound flights.

After years of fighting for union recognition, Columbia graduate students found themselves at the forefront of a landmark case when in 2016, a 3-1 decision by the National Labor Relations Board overturned a decades-long precedent in favor of allowing graduate students to unionize at Columbia and other private universities across the nation—.

With union elections approaching at the end of the month, the Graduate Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers are faced with a pressing debate: Barnard undergraduate teaching assistants—many of whom teach courses within Columbia departments—still cannot participate in or vote on union decisions.

Exiting Provost John Coastworth highlighted multiple academic and administrative policy changes including the official Consensual Romantic and Sexual Relationship Policy between faculty and graduate students, along with updates on union negotiations in his final annual newsletter to faculty and staff on Tuesday afternoon.

Congratulations once again, class of 2023, on your acceptance to Columbia and Barnard! Some of you baby lions and bears will be joining us from places from far, far away and will probably be attending the International Student Orientation Program at Columbia or the International Pre-Orientation Program at Barnard.

The percentage of female graduate students in science and engineering fields at Columbia has remained virtually unchanged since 1998. However, this stagnation shrouds a more complicated picture underneath.