Message regarding COVID-19 from HRHP Concentration Director, Professor Elazar Barkan

Dear Students,

I hope this note finds you safe.  I am staying and working at home with my wife, following the various instructions for keeping safe. 

I write to let you know that the Concentration is available and committed to be in touch and to offer help to you in every way we can.  You might notice that I did not write inquiring whether you are well, because I do not think anyone is entirely at ease now. I know we each face situations that impact us and our loved ones differently. Tension and anxiety have spread more quickly than COVID-19, and we need to develop spaces to address these. Suggestions are welcome. I urge you to share with us any affirming stories, and/or methods of reaching out to others with help and assistance (apps, groups, websites, etc.) that you have been participating in, or have encountered. We should not succumb to pessimism. 

As you may have heard me say on different occasions, I am full of admiration for your choice to give up more lucrative careers in order to choose an ethical profession that focuses on supporting the disenfranchised, the destitute, and the oppressed among us and around the world. You have come to Columbia to improve your knowledge and skills to pursue this career, but your moral commitment preceded your enrollment. Now we face together the most destabilizing global challenge since WWII. The university is doing what it can, and you are receiving notifications about them, sometimes before the faculty does. I will not duplicate those; I do however wish to solicit ideas and examples of what is troubling you most. These can be shared privately (confidentiality will be kept) or with the whole community.  Some people are finding this crisis an opportunity to pursue an even greater commitment to social and human rights activism. Let’s work together to pursue our commitments and our needs as a supportive community.  

Finally, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights and the HRHP Concentration have created a Slack group to facilitate knowledge-sharing and to help Columbia human rights community members communicate and support one another during this difficult time. The Concentration has a specific channel (#sipahrhpconcentration) only open to HRHPers, and there are other channels devoted to sharing information with the larger community (and #takeabreak for non-COVID content!). Please be aware that we will be manually adding students to the Slack group following this email.

We will also proceed with our scheduled Community Hour on Thursday, March 26th at 1pm via Zoom. Please feel welcome to join and we can use the space as needed, and we ask that you kindly RSVP so we know how many students to expect. 

Sincerely,

Professor Barkan