Messages from the Dean
I hope most sincerely that this note finds you and yours well. The situation in NYC, across the country, and around the world has continued to worsen, in accordance with the worrisome predictions we’d been given.
I am writing regarding the coronavirus outbreak. Please know that School and University leaders are monitoring conditions very closely, and that the well-being of our CSSW students, faculty, and staff is of the utmost importance to us.
With news headlines consumed by the outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, there have been reports of xenophobic reactions against Chinese, Chinese-American, and other Asian communities at Columbia University and beyond.
Tuesday, December 10th, marks the 100th day since I’ve had the pleasure of joining the wonderful community at the Columbia School of Social Work (CSSW). It’s a good time to reflect and take stock. I’d like to share some of my thoughts about what’s been happening and where we are headed.
As the semester ends, I write to say THANK YOU. We have accomplished an extraordinary amount over the past 4 months. Thanks for working together to deliver:
I am deeply honored and absolutely delighted to become the next Dean of the Columbia School of Social Work.
June 28 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, which took place at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village.
Since Dean Garfinkel composed this message, an anti-Semitic act took place closer to home. On November 28, 2018, an act of vandalism was committed against a Jewish faculty member at Teacher’s College.
Many of us watched in outrage and horror as white supremacist and Nazi demonstrators marched on Charlottesville, VA, and took the life of counter-protester Heather Heyer in a terrorist attack.
We, the faculty at the Columbia University School of Social Work, write this statement to denounce President Trump’s discriminatory and unconstitutional executive order on immigration banning individuals from six Muslim majority countries from entering the United States.