CAMPUS NEWS: As students seek COVID-19 refund, Columbia University faces possible financial hurdle

Photo by Yiyang

By Margaret Andersen (MPA ’22)

Last week, a group of graduating SIPA students circulated a petition to students, faculty, and staff at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) demanding a refund of $8,000 for each student in the Class of 2022. 

The petition cites SIPA’s failures in employment training and support, support for international students, help from administrators, poor facility management, and inadequate access to health care. Penned by current students in the Class of 2022, the petition has obtained more than 400 signatures. 

This is not the first time students have recently sought tuition refunds from Columbia University. In 2020, the graduating classes across Columbia’s graduate and undergraduate programs, forced online on short notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sought financial concessions citing poor learning experiences, inadequate transitions to online classes, lack of support for emergency travel, and collected fees for facilities and health services that went unused by students forced into quarantine around the world. Columbia settled this case for a total of $12.5 million.

The students seek to leverage the past settlement and secure financial compensation for SIPA students in the Class of 2022 for what she sees as degradation of the SIPA learning experience during the hybrid learning of the 2020-2021 school year. They are seeking concessions for these inferior hybrid learning conditions, in comparison to those offered in past years and expected of the Columbia name and reputation. 

The petition singles out the Career Advancement Center (CAC) as a key deficiency at SIPA. Multiple students have left CAC in tears, and the availability of career counselors  in the 2020-2022 time period has been poor. For example, CAC has drop-in hours for students only nine out of the 40 hours per week that the office is open.

In a recent email to students, CAC updated students on their goings-on. The Career Advancement Team wrote, “Unfortunately, during the pandemic, we were not permitted to have in-person networking events. Happily, that ban was lifted this spring, so we hosted a student and alumni mixer.”

This recent in-person networking event for current students and recent 2020 graduates was, CAC noted, successful, with just over 100 students and alumni attending. However, the event was out of registration spots shortly after its publication on Columbia’s online career platform. With a population of over 1,200 students, many current students feel that this networking event that served less than 10% of the population was inadequate.

One second-year SIPA student, who requested anonymity to prevent retaliation, highlighted the frustration that many of their peers feel. “We came in with certain expectations based on the massive tuition costs, and last year doing hybrid classes was essentially a year of taking podcasts, not the networking and learning we paid for.” 

However, CAC highlighted in the aforementioned email to students that they have been “busy this year hosting 190 employer information sessions and posting 5,420 internships and full-time jobs” virtually, due to Columbia’s COVID-19 policies. 

The petition adds to the growing list of offenses levied against Columbia by students, faculty, and staff. In its early stages of circulation, and taking advantage of a ripe moment of transition, the petition comes after the recent announcement that Columbia University President Lee Bollinger is stepping down in June 2023. 

Recently, Columbia University’s image has also taken a hit in the media for inflating its national rankings and for the university-wide student worker strike that ended earlier this year, with an agreement ultimately approved by the student union. The strike emerged in response to claims of underpay, inadequate benefits, and rampant sexual harassment.

Margaret Andersen (MPA ’22) is completing her MPA degree this May in International Security Policy with specializations in Technology, Media, and Communications and International Conflict Resolution. After SIPA, she will begin a Presidential Management Fellowship in Washington, D.C.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article named one of the petition’s authors, who later requested anonymity after publication to prevent retaliation.