Gentrification and displacement are a complicated topic especially when it relates to areas of historical significance. Harlem specifically has a rich and dynamic history that is especially meaningful to minoritized communities. Specifically, as this topic relates to Columbia University, Harlem residents have formed coalitions with students beside them (UFAD New York Branch, 2021) to fight against gentrification and displacement. Other residents have taken legal action as far as the Supreme court only to lose property that was built in the 1920s, a similar story to many other buildings in Harlem (Kensinger, 2018).  Therefore, the impact of these actions aid in solidifying concepts of displacement and lack of belonging in one's own community.  This is also often due to rising housing costs, landscape changes, demographic changes and at time discriminations (Zapatka & Beck, 2020).

What do you know/think about the relationship between Harlem & Columbia University? 

• "It's complicated!"

Teachers College Student

• "I began my legal career in NYC at a Harlem law office.  Former CU President Lee Bollinger sought to expand the campus into Morningside Heights. There were protests and accusations that CU would gentrify to community and displace Harlem residents. 

Check out the Amsterdam News from 1990 for more information."

     JD and Teachers College Biobehavioral Student

• "I don't live in Harlem and, unfortunately, I don't know a lot about the relationship between the area and Columbia. I've read about gentrification affecting local residents, but I don't have any deep knowledge on the subject. "

      Teachers College Anthropology and Education Student

• "I don't know much about the relationship between Columbia university and Harlem, so all the arguments are hypothetical and purely based on my opinion. I think Columbia university has a bad image of Harlem or is doing low key stuffs that automatically give a bad image of Harlem First of all, the public safety police car roams around Morningside and Harem. Where I come from, universities even when they were located closed to ' infamous' neighborhoods, didn't have any sort of policing, Students and people just lived with it. Whereas here, by implementing policing around the area, Columbia sort of gives a bad image of Harlem as being unsafe, poor and dangerous. I know they're doing this guarantee their faculty members' safety but still harms the image of an entire neighborhood. That being said I think the amin problem is the policing and I feel like the policing here much more important, and present compared to other universities maybe because Columbia is located close to Harlem. I also think it's because it's New York and New York is known for being relatively unstable compared to other cities."

Columbia University Engineering Student

• "I think that Teachers College attempts to form a relationship and connection between their institution and the surrounding Harlem community. However, it seems surface level to me. I do not know many tangible ways in which Teachers College gives back to the community in which they are situated. To be fair, I do not live in Harlem so I might not have the most nuanced understanding."

Teachers College International and Comparative Education Student

• "I think the relationship between Harlem and Columbia University needs more work. There are so many misconceptions a number of students and their families have about the Harlem area (e.g., safety concerns) and a general lack of knowledge of so much of the amazing history and current culture of the area. Teachers College's Graduate Student Life and Development (GSLD) hosted Harlem Celebration Week this year (in the past it's been called Taste of Harlem)."

Teachers College Mental Health Counseling Student