Dear Provost Olinto,
Over the past several months, our jobs have been thrust into precarity – first, through the attempted reductions in indirect costs, next through termination and censorship of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and climate-related grants, then by the rescission of many diversity-targeted fellowships, and most recently by the specific targeting of research and training grants at Columbia.
On May 6th, Columbia announced that at least 180 of our coworkers will be terminated or not renewed with further layoffs likely to come. Columbia annually receives over a billion dollars of federal funding in the form of contracts and grants. Our research work – the data we produce and the grants we write – wins Columbia that funding. Columbia should join us and the more than 100,000 academic workers in our national movement fighting back against these cuts, rather than threaten our jobs.
Therefore, we demand that your office and Columbia as a whole make the following commitment to materially support research:
1. Commit to no layoffs as a result of the research funding cuts
2. Fund at least one additional twelve month appointment where the research worker and PI agree one is warranted.