QUICK NEWS from the Listening Tables
Our initiative is growing! We are looking for volunteer hosts and student coordinators. Contact us if you want to participate. Learn more below or email us.
New sessions are announced weekly. Check our event schedule for new locations and dates.
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Listening
Columbia has been torn by deep divisions in the last year between vital political activism and the need for the University to continue its regular activities of research and learning while preventing protests from deteriorating into harassment of others. There are ongoing discussions on campus about what it means to have empathy for others—and their feelings when confronted with various actions, symbols, and words. People in our community think differently about how far to extend the principle that speech and conduct should avoid what is experienced by others as threatening and hurtful. While salutary, at a certain point, this principle can become an excuse for censoring uncomfortable but important speech. Discovering this point—or just understanding the myriad points of view and experiences among us—can only be done through face-to-face conversation. Listening is vital to conversation. It opens up a space where curiosity about another way of thinking can take the fore, where we can genuinely listen to each other’s point of view, and where discomfort can be explored safely. This is the goal of our new experimental initiative, Listening Tables.
A diverse group of Columbia leaders will shepherd this experimental project to set up Listening Tables—usually one or two at the start—in neutral areas around the Morningside campus for the use of Columbia faculty, students, and staff. These pilot Listening Tables are meant to generate connection and understanding as well as a reservoir of feedback and new ideas in these most difficult areas. We know this will not be easy. But we are hopeful that such a vision of true listening across significant differences can work. It will take us all working together and compromising. The University must always be a place where we can imagine something better than the world we find before us. In this, we believe Columbia has the capacity to be a model where even the hardest problems can be discussed, where minds can meet and people can grow, and where community can be co-created.
Where and When to Find Listening Tables
Inspired by similar efforts on other college campuses, faculty from many points of view have volunteered to host as neutral facilitators of discussion, working from guidelines developed by the Trust Collaboratory, or to simply be present for one-on-one or small-group conversation at the tables. The forms these conversations will take may vary, as befits experiment—there may be one host or several, with groups from 2 to 10 or so. We hope to recruit new hosts as we go along. The tables are for Columbia students, faculty and staff only and may not be commandeered by any one point of view. Food will be provided from time to time there, since breaking bread together is a positive way to find space for people to connect. Everyone is welcome to join these conversations, and as we experiment with this format, our schedule will be updated with new times and locations. Look for Listening Tables in different spots around the Morningside campus; they will be recognizable by their purple tablecloths.
Our event schedule will be continuously updated with new times and locations. Stay tuned and visit us again!
Schedule
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Philosophy Lawn, Morningside Campus
Location Info:
1150 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027
(Click to see the location on Google Maps)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Gil Eyal, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Trust Collaboratory
Session 4:00 PM -5:00 PM
Sarah Cole, Dean of the School of the Arts -
Philosophy Lawn, Morningside Campus
Location Info:
1150 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027
(Click to see the location on Google Maps)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Dima Amso, Professor of Psychology -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts:
Session 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Rebecca Kobrin, Associate Professor of American Jewish History & Larry Jackson, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
Session 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Mary Sormanti, Professor of Professional Practice and Associate Director, DBT Training Program
Alternate Locations (in case of rain):
Hamilton Hall -
Lerner Hall (1st Floor Ramps/Game Room)
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)This session will be hosted by the Columbia University Chapter of BridgeUSA.
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South Lawn East (near Hamilton Hall)
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions (Table 1 & 2):
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Gil Eyal, Professor of Sociology and Director of The Trust Collaboratory & Susan Ellingwood, Associate Vice President of Public Affairs
12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Angela Olinto, Provost of Columbia University1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Katrina Armstrong, President of Columbia University
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Frances Negron-Muntaner, Professor of English and Comparative Literature & Emmanuelle Saada, Associate Professor of French and Romance Philology
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Amy Werman, Lecturer in the Discipline of Social Work & Larry Jackson, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Director of the Center for the Core Curriculum
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Dennis Mitchell, Senior Advisor to the President on Inclusion and Belonging and Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Abi E. Wright, Executive Director, Professional Prizes, Graduate School of Journalism
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Jeannette Wing, Executive Vice President for Research and Professor of Computer Science
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
Maya Sabatello, Associate Professor of Medical Sciences & Eugenia McGill, Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of International and Public Affairs -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Amy Hungerford, Executive Vice President for Arts and Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences & Peter Bearman, Professor of Sociology
Session 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Katrina Armstrong, President of Columbia University & Tom DiPrete, Professor of Sociology -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 11:45 AM - 12:30 PM
Sam Sia, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Vice Provost for the Fourth Purpose and Strategic Impact & Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Professor of Practice in International and Public Affairs
Session 12:30 PM - 01:45 PM
Danushi Fernando, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Strategic Partnerships, Columbia Engineering & Hans Bernier, Associate Director of Practicum Learning and Lecturer in Social Work -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 11:45 AM - 12:30 PM
Gil Eyal, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Trust Collaboratory,
Session 12:30 PM - 1:45 PM
Abi Wright, Executive Director, Professional Prizes, Graduate School of Journalism & Ryan Hagen, Lecturer in Sociology -
Earl Hall Lawn
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
BridgeColumbia - this session will be hosted by the student-run Columbia University Chapter of BridgeUSA.
Session 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Mary Sormanti, Professor of Professional Practice, School of Social Work, Program Director, Narrative Medicine, SPS -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Peter Dixon, Associate Professor of Practice in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, School of Professional Studies
Beth Fisher-Yoshida, Program Director, M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution; Professor of Practice
Adlar Garcia, Associate Dean for Columbia College Alumni Relations & Engagement -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
Hosts & Sessions:
Table 1 - 11:30 AM-2:00 PM
Maria Martinez, Jaxon Williams-Bellamy, Bruce Goumain, University SenatorsTable 2: - 11:30 AM-2:00 PM
Roger Lehecka, Professor Emeritus, English & Comp Literature
Keith Goggin, Trustee of Columbia University
Ian Rottenberg, Dean of Religious Life, Director of the Earl Hall and Associate Chaplain, Religious Life -
Butler Plaza
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Session 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Ivan Corvin, Professor of Mathematics & Amy Werman, Lecturer in Social Work
Session 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Priscilla Yuen, Assistant Dean, Specialized Degree Programs, SIPA
Session 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Matthew Beck, University Senator -
Location Info:
Columbia Morningside Campus
(Click to see the location)
Hosts & Sessions:
Jonathan Rosand, Trustee of Columbia UniversityMichelle Arbid, Alumna of the Conflict Resolution Program in SPS
Scott Barry Kaufman, Professor of Psychology
How to Host and Attend
We invite faculty, students, and staff to host and attend Listening Tables. All members of the campus community can walk in and join the conversation. We encourage registering your attendance before a session to better support the work of our hosts, particularly if you are a larger group.
Hosting involves facilitating a 60-minute listening session. The goal of each session is to create a place where faculty, students, staff, and other members of the Columbia community can hear from others who may differ from them about how they relate, personally, to events on campus and off campus. If successful, hosts will enable participants to hear what is uncomfortable to hear without feeling threatened and, by the same token, to put themselves in the other’s shoes without feeling censored. To help facilitate a conversation, we have prepared a guide for hosting. If you wish to volunteer as a host, please submit a query to our team.
Please note that registrations for hosting and attending require a Columbia email address.
Join the Experiment
Do you want to share an experience, suggest how we can improve this format, or get involved? We look forward to hearing from you.