Early this morning, Columbia Prison Divest distributed this press release in regard to their "Week of Engagement"
Tuesday, April 15th, 2014
We, Columbia Prison Divest, have organized a number of activities and events on Columbia’s campus during the week of April 14th–18th, titled “People, Prisons & Profit: Where do we fit in?” The purpose of this Week of Engagement is to continue the ongoing campus-wide conversation about what divestment from the private prison industry would look like and why it is important, in a way that is accessible to as many community members as possible. We are also organizing to reiterate our previously voiced demands, including a long-awaited meeting with Columbia University President Lee Bollinger.
We have created this Week of Engagement to demonstrate that members of the Columbia community will not support an industry that profits off of the commodification of human bodies and the destruction of vulnerable, marginalized communities. But our work is not occurring in isolation on Columbia’s campus alone. We are also organizing in solidarity with the actions of divestment campaigns at several campuses across the nation, including the University of Central Florida and schools in the University of California system. We position ourselves within a growing anti-mass incarceration student movement that works to hold ourselves and our schools accountable to investment practices that are just and humane.
Columbia Prison Divest’s Week of Engagement will consist of events, performances, discussions, and interactive activities across campus in collaboration with a number of Columbia student groups, including Students Against Mass Incarceration (SAMI), AlterNATIVE Education, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), cIRCa, Radical College Undergraduates Not Tolerating Sexism (Radical C.U.N.T.S.), LUCHA, Columbia Prison Reform & Education Project (PREP), Freedom School, Original Green (O.G.), and Potluck House.
Our schedule consists of the following:
On Monday April 14th, CPD will be tabling and flyering in Lerner and on the sundial, and will also host a teach-in on Education as it pertains to the prison industrial complex at the Malcolm X Lounge from 6-8pm with PREP and AlterNATIVE.
On Tuesday April 15th, CPD will be tabling again, and will also be hosting a film screening from 7-10 pm in 409 Barnard Hall with a discussion facilitated by neuroscientist and Columbia professor Dr. Carl Hart.
On Wednesday April 16th, CPD will be featuring student art, music, and spoken word performances at the sundial with cIRCa, and will also be facilitating a conversation about criminalization from 7-9pm in the Malcolm X Lounge with LUCHA and SAMI.
On Thursday April 17th, CPD will have an interactive display on the Low Steps during the day, and will also host both a teach-in with SJP on Low Steps at 3pm. In the afternoon, we will co-host discussion on sexual violence, punishment, and healing with Radical C.U.N.T.S. from 5-7pm in the Malcolm X Lounge, before participating in and supporting Take Back the Night’s annual march and speak-out.
On Friday April 18th, CPD will close the week on Ancel Plaza (in front of East Campus) from 2-5pm with a speak-out/cypher, and then finally end the week with a kickback co-sponsored by the IRC’s Original Green committee at Potluck House (606 w. 114th St.) at 7pm.
Columbia Prison Divest openly invites any and all members of the community interested in becoming more involved with the campaign to attend any and all of the aforementioned events, and to approach us with your questions, comments, and contributions.
