University Statements and Announcements

Columbia University fully supports the right to peaceful protest and gatherings on our campus consistent with our Rules of Conduct. The University maintains a policy of Affirmation of Zero Tolerance which makes clear that organizations that promote violence or encourage disruption of our academic mission are not welcome on our campuses.

Cloudflare has notified the University that their services are now operating normally, and University websites and services accessed through our sites are fully operational.

This morning, Columbia University websites, and many other websites globally, were experiencing intermittent outages caused by a widespread issue with a web services vendor called Cloudflare. This Cloudflare outage affected access to the University’s Columbia.edu domain and some services attached to our domain. 

A message from Acting President Claire Shipman on supporting our community. 

Columbia Community Service provides support to over 50 local organizations that help some of our most vulnerable residents—the homeless, older adults, low-income families, and children.

Many of you have expressed interest in our ongoing advocacy with lawmakers, and in our joint efforts with other institutions. Both are critically important right now, and I write to offer a few updates and insights after time in Washington earlier this week.

I write to share the wonderful news that I have appointed Dr. Melanie Bernitz as Executive Vice President for University Life and Wellbeing, a role she has been expertly fulfilling on an interim basis for the past year. In this role, Melanie will continue overseeing both University Life and Columbia Health.

As we reflect on the fiscal year ended June 30, and the activity represented in these results, I want to express gratitude for the tremendous focus and commitment required to steward the resources of this institution over the last year.

There is no question that our FY25 financial results reflect continued resilience in our operations and strength in financial management during a turbulent time.

We are very grateful that Dr. Mitchell will take on the role of Dean in a permanent capacity. 

I am so grateful for the immense efforts that were undertaken across our institution this past spring and summer to support our incoming international students. Nearly all of the international students and scholars who chose Columbia have made their way to New York and are now here with us on campus.

It has come to our attention that members of our community are planning an unapproved activity on campus today in the vicinity of Low Library in violation of our pre-notification policies.