On May 31, Columbia University alumni will hold two distinct reunions.
One is an official university event. The program spans three days and consists of lectures, guided tours, and catered dinners. Tickets cost up to $150, and members of the classes of 2014 and 2019 were encouraged to attend on the official website to celebrate reunions of five- or 10-year increments.
The other reunion, however, is a grassroots event held concurrently and organized primarily by members of Columbia’s class of 2014. As of writing, organizers have just fewer than 500 registered attendees but anticipate more arriving on the day.
Many alumni watched the initial arrests on the pro-Palestinian encampment on Columbia’s campus on April 18 with growing unease, which was intensified by the subsequent show of police force at the second round of arrests on April 30.
“When I think of my relationship to Columbia, I feel a lot of anger for the institution. I feel a lot of disgust really, and just a lot of shame around my affiliation,” said Darializa Avila Chevalier, a member of Columbia’s class of 2016.
“But when I look to the students, and I look at some of the alumni and everybody who really showed up … that’s where I really feel a sense of pride, and I feel a sense of community, and I feel a sense of connection to Columbia as a name.”
Avila Chevalier had been active in Columbia’s alumni activists circles and began connecting with members of the class of 2014 who were looking ahead to their reunion and considering other actions.
“This is a milestone reunion. And many of us really looked forward to being able to reconnect with our friends,” said Safana Khan, class of 2014. “But we also refuse to be complicit by engaging in university programming and contributing financially to our alma mater.”
After the April 18 arrests, Khan and Avila Chevalier, along with a group of about 20 other alumni, began organizing the alternative reunion for people who wanted to protest the original event.
“The root of organizing really is relationship building,” Avila Chevalier said. “And so to have this opportunity to come together and celebrate one another and the relationships that we’ve built over the years is a really beautiful thing, not just for the sake of it, but also in our commitment to one another and to building lasting justice.”
The page for the alternative reunion launched on May 4, featuring an inverted Columbia logo. The website includes a petition listing alumni demands addressed to Columbia University President Minouche Shafik. The petition letter calls on the university to disclose its financial investments, divest from Israel, and reverse the expulsions and disciplinary actions taken against student protesters.
“As a unified coalition, we each pledge to withhold all financial, programmatic, and academic support of Columbia University until the demands in this letter are met,” the signatories state.
As of this writing, the petition has collected more than 2,200 signatures and totals $133,118,781 in self-reported at-risk financial contributions from the boycott. The petition drew signatories spanning more than six decades of Columbia alumni, with graduates as far back as the class of 1963.
For Avila Chevalier, political action was central to her Columbia experience and influenced her decision to attend the institution.
“The history of student activism … was a really big pull when I was looking at where I wanted to go to school. When you look at it retrospectively, the university will be incredibly proud of these students and use them in their marketing,” Avila Chevalier said. “But in the moment, it’s actively not just crushing student protests and putting down their voice, but also investing in the violence that their students are advocating against.”
The alternative reunion is free to attend, but attendees are recommended to reallocate the original cost of the reunion to aid organizations, including the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and Freedom Bakeries.
“We were on the fence about going to the reunion to begin with, but our disappointment in the university’s actions solidified the decision that it would be impossible to support a school-sanctioned event,” said Celine Chen, class of 2019. Though Chen plans to boycott the official reunion, she does not plan to attend the alternative event.
For some organizers of the alternative reunion, the event is a way to continue to foster continued action outside the official confines of the institution.
“When we say we will not stop, we will not rest, we really mean that. And I think these students even more so,” Avila Chevalier said of the current student activists. “I’m very hopeful for what’s going to come, as hard as it’s been to witness all these atrocities. I’m hopeful for the future.”
Columbia’s alumni relations team declined to comment on the alternative reunion or boycott efforts.
