Tag: Messages

  • Lawmakers Confront Columbia President About Old Messages

    Lawmakers Confront Columbia President About Old Messages

    Shipman has been Columbia University’s acting president since March.

    Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia University, apologized Wednesday for writing messages in 2023 and 2024 that House Republicans say “appear to downplay and even mock the pervasive culture of antisemitism on Columbia’s campus,” Jewish Insider reported. 

    “The things I said in a moment of frustration and stress were wrong. They do not reflect how I feel,” Shipman wrote in a private email the outlet obtained Wednesday. Shipman said she was addressing “some trusted groups of friends and colleagues, with whom I’ve talked regularly over the last few months.” 

    The apology comes one day after the House Committee on Education and Workforce sent Shipman a letter asking her to explain the intent of internal messages she wrote about antisemitism on the Manhattan campus following the start of Israel’s war in Gaza and the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. During the time frame in question, Shipman, who became acting president in March, was co-chair of the university’s Board of Trustees. 

    In its letter, the committee, which has subpoenaed numerous documents related to antisemitism at Columbia, cited a message Shipman wrote to now-resigned president Minouche Shafik on Oct. 20, 2023, that said, “People are really frustrated and scared about antisemitism on our campus and they feel somehow betrayed by it. Which is not necessarily a rational feeling but it’s deep and it is quite threatening.” The committee told Shipman her statement was “perplexing, considering the violence and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students already occurring on Columbia’s campus at the time.” 

    The committee, which has already compelled Columbia and numerous other universities to testify about their responses to campus antisemitism, also cited in its letter several messages from Shipman that convey alleged “distrust and dislike” for Shoshana Shendelman, a Jewish member of the university’s board who has been outspoken about perceived inadequacies of Columbia’s antisemitism response. “I just don’t think she should be on the board,” Shipman said in a January 2024 message. In April 2024, Shipman wrote that she was “so, so tired” of Shendelman. 

    In addition to ongoing scrutiny from Republican members of Congress, the Trump administration has attacked Columbia for months, accusing the university of not protecting Jewish students sufficiently and cutting off more than $400 million in federal funds. Although Columbia agreed to the administration’s demands, including overhauling disciplinary processes, Trump hasn’t yet restored the university’s funding. Instead, the Education Department reported Columbia to its accreditor, which has since issued a warning to the university.

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  • Three Take-Home Messages From the 2022 Annual Conference – CUPA-HR

    Three Take-Home Messages From the 2022 Annual Conference – CUPA-HR

    by CUPA-HR | November 2, 2022

    Thank you to all who attended the CUPA-HR Annual Conference and Expo in person and virtually last week! It was wonderful to welcome new (300+ first-timers!) and familiar faces and to learn about successful projects and initiatives from higher ed peers at institutions across the country. 

    For those who weren’t able to attend, here’s some food for thought from our three outstanding keynote speakers:

    • Stand-Out Leadership — Opening keynote Sara Ross applied her passion for brain science to a key element of stand-out leadership: accountability. Ross explained that employees would rather have leaders who hold themselves accountable for their actions than perfect leaders. One way HR professionals can be stand-out leaders and hold themselves accountable is by using Ross’s SLOW strategy when responding to critical situations on campus. The SLOW strategy helps us respond in a way that is reflective of the positive impact we want to make in our roles as HR leaders.
      • S – Stop. Intercept your emotional reaction. Our brains are designed to process emotions first and logic second. By pausing and checking in with your emotions before responding to a situation, you prevent adding more fuel to the fire.
      •  L – Language. Check your body language. No really, look in the mirror! Pay attention to how you are presenting yourself. People are honed in on your body language, so you must make sure your body language is aligned with your message.
      • O – Oxygenate. Consciously slow your breathing to push back on your fight-or-flight instincts. Research shows that slowing down for as little as two minutes and deepening your breath can decrease the amount of cortisol in your system by up to 20 percent, which is essential when responding to an already stressful situation.
      • W – Wonder. Step outside your perspective and challenge yourself by thinking from someone else’s perspective. This simple practice helps reset our sensitivity and tap into empathy.
    • How to Citizen — Sunday’s keynote speaker, Baratunde Thurston, spoke about how racial injustices during the summer of 2020 motivated him to launch his podcast, “How To Citizen With Baratunde.” He challenged the audience to think about the word “citizen” as a verb rather than a noun. “Citizen” as a noun can carry divisive and exclusive undertones, but as a verb, it gives us something to do to improve our society. According to Thurston, there are four principles that serve as the foundation of how to “citizen.” The four principles are showing up and participating; investing in relationships with yourself and others; understanding power and what we give our power to; and to do all of these things to benefit our collective selves, not just our individual selves. What specific ways can you begin to “citizen” at your institution?
    • Reinvent HR — The take-home message from David Ulrich’s energizing talk about reinventing HR is that HR is not about HR, but about creating value for stakeholders inside and outside the organization (students, family, employers, community, alumni) so that our institutions and communities can succeed. Here are five ways HR can lead in this area: 1) Empower the next generation by making sure people feel better about themselves following their interaction with a leader, 2) Shape the future by establishing a compelling vision/mission, 3) Engage today’s talent by living the Es (empathy, emotion, energy, experience), 4) Make things happen by delivering on promises and creating a positive work environment, and 5) Invest in yourself so you can invest in others.

    Don’t Forget! Conference attendees can watch the sessions they missed or re-watch their favorites on demand. Recordings of our keynotes and livestreamed concurrent sessions are available for viewing in the desktop conference platform and the app.

    Be sure to save the dates for our Spring Conference, April 23-25 in Boston, and our 2023 Annual Conference, taking place October 1-3 in New Orleans! Registration details coming soon.



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