Columbia Public Health FORWARD

History

After members of the Black and Latinx Student Caucus (BLSC) called for the Columbia Mailman School to grapple with and dismantle issues of institutional racism at the Mailman School and Columbia University overall, Dean Linda Fried and the School's senior leadership team launched Columbia Public Health FORWARD (Fighting Oppression, Racism and White Supremacy through Action, Research and Discourse).

FORWARD Now

Columbia Public Health is committed to meeting the needs of diverse identities while building an inclusive community to thrive together. FORWARD is a vehicle to accelerate the transformation of our School into an antiracist, multicultural, and fully inclusive institution in all aspects of its culture and operations. FORWARD members include a diverse community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni. FORWARD’s commitment to combat othering and oppression is inclusive of the many ways that make human beings diverse, including but not limited to, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, culture, age, disability, language, and country of origin.

In addition to sponsoring the FORWARD Fellowships, FORWARD uses the Inclusive Excellence Framework to engage in goal-setting, discourse, and solution development to reach our shared vision.