To be the very best place for learning, research, scholarship and community, Teachers College must continue to foster an inclusive, welcoming and collegial community that supports the free expression of ideas, and remains unwavering in its commitment to learning and scholarship.
TC’s Advancing Community Together (ACT) is a new initiative designed to support the health and strength of the Teachers College community through a range of strategies and actions in two broad categories: community engagement and infrastructure. Throughout the year, this site will provide ACT information, and highlight opportunities and resources for TC students, faculty and staff members to join together in cultivating a healthy and vibrant community.
Recent Announcements
Goal: Community Engagement
Provide new avenues and structures for community consultation, create additional pathways for information-sharing and communications, and offer opportunities for our community to discuss controversial issues.
TC Actions
Education and Awareness
It is incumbent upon all educational institutions to provide support for its community to be educated on the history and context of complex issues, and especially so for Teachers College. To that end, we will offer training sessions on antisemitism and Islamophobia, and background resources on antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Black, anti-Asian and other forms of discrimination and how they play out contemporaneously and historically.
Following the education offerings, TC will host a dialogue session for students, faculty and staff to engage in a conversation about the Israel-Palestine conflict. We seek to engage expert facilitators to lead the dialogue through a nonprofit organization that specializes in creating social change through dual narrative education.
We recognize the need for individuals across campus to be able to facilitate smaller sessions around difficult topics, for example, within academic departments or individual classrooms, or among faculty or staff group meetings. We will enlist a small group of trained, experienced facilitators to lead training sessions and to help build these skills among TC community leaders.
Listening and Understanding
In August, the Office of Institutional Research launched a survey of returning TC students to better assess and understand the campus climate and student experience over the last year. Those surveyed are students who were on the TC campus in 2023-24, returning in 2024-25. Survey results will be analyzed and interpreted to inform our listening sessions and further actions this year.
TC will host several listening sessions in the 2024-2025 academic year for groups of students, staff, and faculty, led by faculty and administrators with extensive experience in such efforts. The listening series will add to our understanding of how individuals experience our community.
Goal: Infrastructure
Build additional supports for students, clarify our procedures and policies, provide expanded training on discrimination issues, build greater transparency around our processes and decision-making.
TC Actions
Over Summer 2024, we formed three College-wide working groups to review, update, and create a range of College policies. Each working group includes student, faculty, and administrative representatives.
- An Infrastructure and Facilities group focused on revising policies around campus postings and flyers, along with guidelines for tabling activities.
- A Community Standards group reviewed the TC’s student conduct policy and the guidelines for guest speakers, and also created policies for protests and public demonstrations.
- A Communications group reviewed policies concerning the official use of several TC communications channels, and public communications by faculty, staff and students.
As a matter of course, all policy recommendations are reviewed and approved by TC’s Policy Review Committee, which was established to ensure consistency and compliance.
As of September 6, 2024, the following eleven (11) policies are now completed and posted in TC’s Policy Library. Please take time to read through and familiarize yourself with the policies.
- College-Wide Campus Access Policy
- College-Wide Tabling Policy
- Postings & Flyers Policy: Bulletin Boards/White Boards & E-Boards
- Student Conduct Code: Academic Integrity & General Misconduct
- Event Guest Speaker Policy
- Protest & Public Demonstration Policy
- Name Use and Brand Policy
- Social Media Policy
- Email Governance Policy
- Special Event Approval Policy
- Statement of Ethical Conduct
We are training a volunteer cohort of staff and faculty to liaise with student organizers around demonstrations and protests. The TC Community Representatives will serve as a bridge between students and administrators, acting as a first point of contact in preparation for events, as well as through on site presence, to advise on community guidelines and facilitate communication.
An important component of addressing discrimination is ensuring that community members are aware of how to report such incidents as well as our process of investigation and response. Through our Office of the Vice President for Diversity and Community Affairs (ODCA), TC has a clear process for reporting, investigating and addressing acts of bias and hate. We will redouble our efforts to communicate these systems as we also promote our common values of inclusion and mutual respect. We will ensure that information is shared widely and frequently regarding how students, faculty or staff experiencing discrimination can report incidents to ODCA. This will include the process we follow to investigate and hold individuals accountable for misconduct.
Recognizing that members of the TC community would like to be informed about events occurring at CU or TC that could influence their access to or experience on our campus, we have put in place a system for updating the operating status on the TC Safe App, and providing updates as needed by email.
Resources
Questions and Feedback
Please direct questions or feedback to tcACT@tc.columbia.edu.
Report a Bias Related Incident
Through our Office of Diversity and Community Affairs (ODCA), TC has a clear process for reporting, investigating and addressing acts of bias and hate.
Download TC Safe App
TC Safe App is the official safety app of Teachers College. It is the only app that integrates TC’s wellness, safety, and security systems in one common mobile dashboard. You can download the app on Google Play or in the App store.