Hosted by Multicultural Affairs, this week-long series honors the life, work, and teachings of Audre Lorde LS'60 and takes place annually during her birthday week. Programs and activities invite students to reflect on her writings and words as well as to engage with and apply her philosophies as actualized ways of being in community with each other.
Year round, students can learn more about Audre Lorde by visiting the Audre Lorde Community Space in 505 Lerner, participating in Multicultural Affairs programs and dialogues inspired by her texts, and take courses that bring her work into the classroom.
Saturday, February 10: Tour de Bookstore (NYC Outings)
11:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. | Both tours depart from 505 Lerner | Register
"I write because I am a warrior and my poetry is my primary weapon."
Join Multicultural Affairs for one of two staff-guided tours across New York City of bookstores that center social justice education, liberatory texts, and underrepresented stories. Learn about their history and how they impact their local communities. One tours Lower Manhattan, and one tours Brooklyn. Learn about their history and how they impact their local communities.
Metrocards will be provided. Limited space; open to Columbia College, Columbia Engineering and Columbia GS undergraduate students.
Tuesday, February 13: Creative Workshop
6:00–8:00 p.m. | 569 Lerner
"I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't.”
Hosted by the Intercultural Resource Center's Arts, Media, and Culture committee and Multicultural Affairs, this interactive space will explore the power of the written word (other creative mediums are also welcome!), engage in reflective exercises, and provide space to collectively workshop pieces.
Thursday, February 15: Open Mic Night
7:00–8:30 p.m. | Intercultural Resource Center, 552 W 114th Street
“...poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action... ”
Honoring Audre Lorde's belief in the power and necessity of poetry, the IRC's Arts, Media, and Culture committee and Multicultural Affairs follow-up Tuesday's Creative Workshop with an open mic night. Share your work, and support fellow creatives. Prizes may be awarded based on committee and audience choice.
Friday, February 16: Audre Lorde Summit
11:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m. | Location and details will be provided to confirmed registrants | Apply
"There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not lead single-issue lives. Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone. What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities.”
This inaugural summit brings together student leaders who are committed to justice, the amplification of silenced voices, and liberation. Acknowledging the exhaustion, heaviness, and pain that often comes with fighting injustice, we hope this will be an opportunity for students to come together and think creatively about how to sustain themselves and each other as they continue to enact their activism on campus and beyond. Some topics we will explore include: exploring personal cost/ risk (time, safety, mental health); understanding intra/inter-community dynamics; challenges and opportunities while working in solidarity and building coalitions; and individual and group strategies to sustain the social change work.
Sunday, February 18: Audre Lorde's Birthday
In celebration of Lorde's birthday, Multicultural Affairs invites the Columbia College and Columbia Engineering community to reflect on Lorde's words:
Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression. But community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that these differences do not exist. [Excerpt from ”The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House”]
Across our social media platforms, we will share the reflections on these questions: How do you envision “liberation” for yourself and for your community?
