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Historical Periods of CSER at Columbia

Timeline Overview

           1960s -- 1995

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Whereas the strike of 1996 was an independent student movement, it was informed by the culture of college activism and precedents of west coast universities instituting an ethnic studies department through student demands. It is also a product of a lineage of university protests, the most notable being the 1968 student protest which became a landmark student activism moment.

           1996 -- 1999

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Tired by the administration’s delay in offering
a track for ethnic studies, African-American, Asian-American, and Latinx student activists who had been waging individual fights come together to demand the school imminent change. In a negotiated proposal, Columbia establishes the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnic Studies by fall of 1999.

           1999 -- Present 

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Currently, CSER is a center which lacks full faculty-hiring power & ability to host graduate research as well as being under-funded and has to host certain programs under adjunct departments. What are its prospects for the future and how can we take an active part?

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"Asian American studies is not a priority - it never has been. Latin American studies has never been priority. Neither has Native American studies... the experiences of people of color in the United States are not a priority at Columbia."

Marcel Agueros, CC '96 and 8 other students in an editorial for Spectator

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