DearColumbiaCommunity,

The Activities Board at Columbia (ABC) has received concerns regarding potential bias intheABC.Asan
organization, the Activities Board at Columbia strives to deliver fair decisions regarding both space and
funding for our 165+ student groups. The boardtakesthisjobextremelyseriouslyandspends hundredsof
hours each year discussing and debating topics such as what the most efficient uses of student life fees
are. DuetohowseriouslythetreatmentofstudentgroupsistakenbyABC,theboardtakesconcernsabout
bias in decision making extremely seriously. It is absolutely unacceptable for any student group to be
treated differently for any reason including identity, mission, demographic, or activity. All decisions that
occur regarding groups are made with efficient use of resources and fairness tothebroadercommunityin
mind. The ABC takes care to expose any conflict of interests during discussions and requires individuals
thatareincapableofmakingobjectivedecisionstoabstainfromvoting.

With this, recent allegations that cultural organizations governed by the Activities Board at Columbia
(specifically in the Black,Latinx,andNativeAmerican category)aretreatedunfairlyordifferentlythanother
organizations was and continues to be very serious. Through an email sent by a representative on the
Activities Board at Columbia,concernsofskewed decisionmaking duetobiasagainstculturalorganization
werebroughtforth.

In an effort to further understand andinvestigatethisissue,theABCheldaforumlastWednesday(11/18),

in place of the regularly scheduled board meeting, to discuss these concerns. Many community members
attended and expressed larger structural concerns as well as possiblesolutions.TheABClistenedintently
as leaders throughout the community expressed concerns. Many of the points made centered around a
feeling that the Activities Board at Columbia lacks sensitivity and understandingwhendealingwithcultural
organizations. The board has made a point to internalize the issues brought up and active measures are
being taken to ensure that our community never has to feel as though ABC does not fully appreciate the
purposeandmissionoftheirorganization.

Concretemeasuresinclude:
Sensitivitytrainingfortheentireboard
Openingupseatsintheboardroomforculturaladvocates
Adjusting the Activities Board at Columbias informal and official decision frameworks to
increasethefocusonculturalactivity
Institutingmoreconcreteandtransparentconstitutionalexamination

Conversationsthatthishasopenedup1 (*indicatesaconstitutionalchangeisrequired):
Separation of the Black, Latinx, and Native American category into 3 distinct categories with
onerepresentativeforeach*
Creationofaculturalcosponsorshipfund
Increasedgroupagencyovercategoryplacement

Manyofthesestillneedtobevotedonbyourrepresentativesaswellasourcommunity
membersinthecaseconstitutionalchanges.
1

Discretionaryfundingsforrepresentatives

In additiontobothcontinuingthe conversationsstartedatthisforumandtheactivestepsmentionedabove,
the Activities Board at Columbia has reviewed data applicable to its current structure2. This investigation
focused on observing bias in decisions made by the ABC. Funding decisions were used as a proxy for
decisionsasawhole3.
The main sources used for the analysis were allocation decision data from the past three years and
cosponsorship data from the past two. Cosponsorship data from last year was focused on sinceonlytwo
cosponsorshipshavebeenapprovedsofarthisyear.

Figure1:Cosponsorshipsfromthe20142015academicyear

Figure2:Allocationnumbersfromthe20152016academicyear

Inalargestructuralchange,theABCshiftedtoadirectdemocracy3yearsago.Datafromperiodsbefore
thiswasnottakenintoaccount.
3
Thesefundingdecisionscomeoutofmultipledecisionsanddiscussionsovertheyear.Ifthereisbiasin
decisionmakingitwouldmostlikelyshowupinfundingdecisions.

2013AllocationDecisions
Category

%Increases

%Decreases

%Nochange

Black,Latinx,Native 55.56%
American

0.00%

44.44%

AllCulturalGroups

44.44%

0.00%

55.56%

AllABCGroups

38.13%

8.75%

53.13%

2014AllocationDecisions
Category

%Increases

%Decreases

%Nochange

Black,Latinx,Native
American

41.67%

25.00%

33.33%

AllCulturalGroups

25.00%

30.00%

45.00%

AllABCGroups

31.25%

26.25%

42.50%

2015AllocationDecisions
Category

%Increases

%Decreases

%Nochange

Black,Latinx,Native
American

69.23%

15.38%

15.38%

AllCulturalGroups

62.50%

20.00%

17.50%

AllABCGroups

45.00%

26.88%

28.13%

Based on this information, there appears to be little evidence of any bias with regards to cultural
organizations in termsofdecisions reached andpassedbytheActivitiesBoardatColumbia.Discrepancies
in funding are to be expected, as some groups are more established than others or happen to hold more
programming simply due to how their organization hasevolvedovertime.However,thedistributionoftotal
allocation numbers, cosponsorships decisions, and the frequency/magnitude of allocation increases and
decreases all fail to provide substantial evidence for claims ofbiasdecisionmakingbytheActivitiesBoard
atColumbia.

The initial correspondence which prompted this investigationincludedexamplesmeanttoimplybiaswithin

the ABC boardroom. Further analysis showed that these examples were misrepresented or taken out of
context. ABC takes concerns of bias very seriously, and after further investigation and conversations with
bothcommunitymembersandboardmembers,theaforementionedclaimsappeartohavelittlevalidity.

Concurrently, this concernhasbroughtaboutanotherinvestigationintothevoice thatculturalorganizations

have ontheboard.Throughmanyconversationswithpastrepresentativesaswellascommunitymembers,
there appears to beinadequaterepresentationofculturalorganizationsontheActivitiesBoardatColumbia
specifically in the Black, Latinx, and Native American category. Multiple individuals have beenspokento
and it appears that the organization of the board room has made it difficult to bring up concerns. As
mentioned above, it is unacceptable even in the face of equality in decisions to have inequality in the
volumeofyourorganizationsvoiceforanyreason.

The ABC is working actively,asmentionedabove,tocombatthisissueandensurethattheboardroomisa

safeplaceforpeopletovoiceconcernsoruncomfortabilityifeitheroccurs.

The Activities Board at Columbia looks forwardtoensurethehighestlevelofobjectivityandunderstanding

in all decisions moving forward. If any community members have any other concerns please feel free to
reachouttotheexecutiveboardat
ABC@columbia.edu
.

Respectfully,
TheActivitiesBoardatColumbia