Dear TC Community Members,

I write to you on TC’s Admitted Students Day, where I feel much gratitude for the faculty, staff and current students who have taken the time to engage with our admitted students, whether in person through today’s events, or through continued outreach as these students make their decision to enroll. And special thanks to our team members in our Division of Enrollment and Student Success, who set up such a robust and inviting program. It was a great day, and a pleasure to see the enthusiasm of those who will hopefully join us as TC scholars in the summer and fall.

As we continue to navigate the challenges in higher education, it’s been wonderful to see so much dedication to scholarship and research. In that spirit, I want to share some updates on our efforts to move forward in the face of federal actions that have impacted our work. 

TC is now a member of the Learning and Education Academic Research Network (LEARN) coalition of education school deans, which has begun efforts to engage the administration in restoring the core research, evaluation and data functions of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). We are also coordinating with higher education associations including the American Council on Education. Continued partnership and open communication between university leaders is critical as we go forward — as is continued communication within our community.  

Last week, we held an Advancing Community Together (ACT) open forum for staff, and Professor Lalitha Vasudevan moderated a panel in partnership with TC Take Action and Research@TC featuring faculty members Tom Brock, Nathan Holbert and Sonali Rajan, who talked about the critical value of education research. Both events were well attended and we appreciated the opportunities to gather, and will look to provide more.

We are also working to promote TC’s very real and positive impact on the public good — and the harms that these cuts will have in the long run. Toward that end, my thanks to Professor Judith Scott-Clayton, who was featured in a round-up of researchers impacted by grant cuts this week with an op-ed, “Is Work-Study Working?” in Inside Higher Ed, and many other faculty members who are sharing their expertise in the external media. We also published on our website a summary of TC work affected by the cuts. Stay tuned as our Institutional Advancement team continues to raise awareness and galvanize public support, and I encourage all faculty members to please reach out to marcomm@tc.columbia.edu with ideas and examples of your work that they might include.

With thanks to our Government Relations team, we have also launched a Take Action 2Day campaign: two actions everyone can take each day that will make a difference. The TC community has written nearly 600 letters to Congress in support of education since March 7. Look for an invitation to join a Talk to Your Representatives online series, on April 11 at 3:00 p.m., and April 16 at 3:00 p.m. 

Finally, I want to take a moment to thank Caroline Ebanks, who joined TC just a year ago as our Vice Dean for Research, with the mandate to grow our research program, which of course depends on federal funding. Caroline has been working tirelessly with individual faculty members who have been affected by the cuts, and is building up a series of programs to support our research community.

As we continue our vital work, it is just as important that we stay in touch and stay together, and I appreciate the sense of community I have felt over the last months as we forge ahead.

I am grateful to you all.

Sincerely,

Thomas Bailey
President
Teachers College, Columbia University