Commemorating the Past, Securing the Future: The 1996 Columbia Student Strike for Ethnic Studies April 21, 2006

Ten years ago, protests by Columbia University students of color culminated in a 15-day hunger strike, the takeover of 2 main buildings, and 21 arrests in support of the creation of an Ethnic Studies Department.
Today, Columbia?s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race announced plans to commemorate the historic occasion by bringing back to campus former student leaders of the strike, Columbia alumni of color, and nationally recognized leaders in the field of ethnic studies.?Over 200 students, led by a coalition of students of color, were involved in the 1996 strike, which helped to institutionalize comparative ethnic studies at Columbia,? noted Center director Gary Y. Okihiro. ?We intend to honor that past by documenting its events, and by building a Center that will educate all of Columbia?s students and assume a leadership role in the field.?The April 21-22, 2006 conference, titled ?Commemorating the Past, Securing the Future: The 1996 Columbia Student Strike for Ethnic Studies,? will feature an opening plenary with former student strikers, a dedication of the Center by Native American dancers and unveiling of a commemorative mural, sessions on major comparative ethnic studies in the U.S. and on Native American studies, a future direction of Columbia?s Center, a closing session by current Columbia students, and a reception with alumni of color organizations.
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Fri, April 21
Deutsches Haus*

2-2:30 Welcome, by Robin D. G. Kelley
Purposes of the Commemoration and Program, by Gary Y. Okihiro

2:30-4:30 Session 1, Remembering the Strike
[4 student strikers recall 1996]
Ann Douglas, Columbia University

[a current student, moderator]
This session begins the process of commemoration through memories of the strike, its prelude (events leading up to the strike), its causes and purposes, the event, and its outcomes. The intention is to inform attendees of the larger struggles of racialized minorities against unjust exclusions and for social transformation, including in U.S. higher education and Columbia specifically. Key ideas include history (or process and agency), resistance as a means for social change, responsibility borne by all of us, and a dedication to the ongoing pursuit of equality and justice. The final message, dedication, introduces us to the next program event and continues the passage of commemoration.

5-5:30 Dedication of CSER Seminar Room, 420 Hamilton Hall
[Native American group, Red Hawk, dedicates the space; introduced by Michele Scott, chair, Native American Council]
Appropriateness of a Native American dedication because they are America?s first peoples and original caretakers of the land on which Columbia stands, and because the CSER?s future rests in institutionalizing native/indigenous studies. After the ceremony, the unveiling of the mural by Ronnie Dukes with an explanation of his work by the artist.

6-7 Reception, Deutsches Haus
[hosted by vice provost for diversity Jean Howard; vice president for Arts & Sciences, Nick Dirks; assistant dean of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Melinda Aquino; and director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, Farah Jasmine Griffin]
Before the reception, each will explain their office and program and their responsibilities to and aspirations for the Center.

9-11 Open Mic, Broadway (Game Room), Lerner Hall
[hosted by USCC]
To promote undergraduate student involvement in the program, the theme will include the ideas of commemorating the past and commitments for the present and future.

Sat, April 22
Deutsches Haus*

9:30 Coffee/Tea

10-12 Session 2, The State and Future of Comparative Ethnic Studies
Evelyn Nakano Glenn, Director, Center for the Study of Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley
Michael Denning, Director, Program in Inequality and Migration, Yale University
Andrea Smith, Program in American Culture, University of Michigan

Manning Marable, moderator
Panelists will address models for and future of comparative ethnic studies, including institutional forms, curricula, and scholarship from their divergent disciplines and institutional settings.

12-2 Lunch

2-4 Session 3, Columbia?s CSER and Its Future
Gary Y. Okihiro, Columbia University
Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, Yale University
Karina Walters, University of Washington
Nisha Kunte, University of Southern California

Elizabeth Povinelli, moderator
Okihiro will describe CSER?s first eight years, its intentions of ?social formation,? transnationalism, and comparative studies (intellectual foundations of the Center), Mt. Pleasant, a Barnard student during the strike, co-founder of the Native American Council, and now a postdoctoral fellow with specialization in American Indian studies will reflect upon her years at Columbia and the prospects for American Indian studies at Columbia, and Walters, a former Columbia professor, will discuss Columbia and New York City and American Indian studies. Kunte, a former CSER major and now a doctoral student in comparative ethnic studies, will speak to CSER and comparative ethnic studies.

4-4:30 Coffee/Tea

4:30-6 Session 4, Student Activism and Educational Transformation
[student organizations to arrange this closing session, pointing to the future]
This session will come full-circle around the theme of commemoration the past to ensure our present and future. Panelists will address our commitments to past struggles, Columbia?s and our present responsibilities, and higher education?s and comparative ethnic studies? obligation to advance and secure a more equitable future.

6-7 Reception
[hosted by Columbia?s alumni of color organizations, Asian Columbia Alumni Association, Black Alumni Council, and Latina/o Alumni Association of Columbia University; special guest, Lee Bollinger, president of Columbia]
Before the reception, the heads or representatives of each alumni association will speak about their organizations, their purposes, and their activities. They will also have tables to distribute their literature and information.

*All of the conference activities, except for the CSER seminar room dedication and open mike, will be held in Deutsches Haus, south side of 116th Street, between Amsterdam and Morningside. For more information contact CSER at 212-854-0507

Official Website: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cser