Columbia Injustice

President Lee C. Bollinger,
Provost Alan Brinkley,
Vice Provost Roxie R. Smith,
Chairman Donald R. Davis, Economics Department
Co-Chairman Daniel Rabinowitz, Statistics Department
Co-Chairman Zhiliang Ying, Statistics Department
Columbia University, New York
N.Y. 10027
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October 3rd, 2005
As students, teaching assistants and research assistants of Professor Graciela Chichilnisky, we were very concerned to hear that our professor has been left without an office within the University.
Although we can understand the argument of the Statistic Department, that Professor Chichilniskys office should be in the Economic Department, we find it unacceptable that her office was taken away without informing her beforehand. It seems unprofessional and untactful for any department in a university to take away a tenured professors office without due notice. Unfortunately the Economics Department has no available offices until they will move to Knox Hall, which will only occur in 24-36 months; clearly, this will be too late for her current students to meet with her in a proper office space. 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. It is the responsibility of the University to ensure that a tenured professor is not left without a proper campus working space for that long.
Not only is it very important for professors to have a working space within the University, where they are in a thriving academic environment and can communicate with other professors, it is also very important for us, the students, to have access to our professors on campus. The professors hold office hours every week, where we have the opportunity to meet with them and discuss course material as well as personal research. This is obviously a very important part of the professors job as well as the education of the students. Opportunities to personally meet with the professor are a substantive part of what makes a strong and appealing university. By leaving Professor Chichilnisky without an office, the University is making it very difficult for her to do her job properly and we find this unacceptable. 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.
It has been suggested that Graciela holds office in an off campus building the Interchurch Center. However this building is unrelated to Columbia and is not an academic building. It also requires special Interchurch building IDs, and hence, Columbia students will not even be able to enter the building.
In addition to this sudden and unannounced removal of Gracielas office came a "block" that the University imposed on students attempting to register online for her courses. As one can image, this only aggravated the situation, making it even harder Graciela to communicate as she should, and would like to, with her students. Her past students, current students as well as her research assistants have all expressed what an honor it is to be taught by her and work with her. She consistently provides and shares only the highest quality of knowledge and simultaneously sustains strong relationships, which are rare to come across in large institutions.
Professor Chichilnisky is the only professor on campus who has been left without an office space and should be provided with one immediately. We sincerely hope that the University understands the importance of this issue and resolves it without further delay.